Chapter 5
"Your father had that," I could hear James telling me. I guess I was daydreaming, wondering why we had to do this.
"Like Father, like daughter," Lee was telling everybody, they laughed.
Suddenly I snapped out of it, if I was the leader then I chose that everybody got this done fast.
"Ok guys-," I began.
"And gals," Ruthi interrupted.
" Lets just get this done fast, if the rain builds up it will be harder to get home," I said, I guess I wanted to go home and just forget about today. But in honour of the sacrifices today, I knew what had to be done. The Empax had to be out of the picture.
I came back to myself and realised James, Lee & Ruthi had deserted me, looking for suitable birds to acquire. I couldn't see Lee or Ruthi, so I ran over to James who was just around the corner looking at some kind of hawk.
"What is it?" I asked him.
"It's pretty cool, I believe he's a white-tailed hawk," James replied, stroking the beautiful creature's feathers.
"Really?" I asked, I'd heard of white-tails, I didn't really know much about them. I knew more about other birds. I guess I'd only ever read a small paragraph about them in a book.
"White tailed hawks live in the prairies and Savannas along the Texas Gulf Coast and south into the Americas. They prey upon small birds and mammals, lizards, snakes, frogs and even large insects. White tailed hawks are a threatened species in the state of Texas," James read aloud from the framed board next to the Hawk.
I decided to leave James to his own fascinated thoughts about the White Tail and move on to try and find Ruthi or Lee.
It was Ruthi I found first, or rather, Ruthi found me.
"Hey, Tina! I did it, I acquired a morph!" she was shouting across the bird habitats.
"Don't shout! You're not supposed to be here, only I am, so be quiet or someone'll hear you," I said to her when we got closer. But before I could ask Ruthi what kind of bird she'd acquired we both heard footsteps coming our way.
"We're in trouble now," I muttered.
"Come on!" Ruthi yanked me by the sleeve and told me to follow her. I'm still not entirely sure she knew where we were going. In the end she hauled herself and me into a small room.
"Ow!" I crashed against the wall.
"Where's the light?" She asked me.
"There probably isn't one," I told her, she didn't seem to like the idea that there was no light.
"Comon! There's gotta be one," Ruthi fumbled about for a switch, while I worried about the noise she was making. She suddenly stopped fumbling about, you could hear a pin drop at that moment.
"What about James and my Brother?" She asked quietly. I didn't know what to say, I didn't know where they were or anything.
"I don't know," I admitted. We listened for the footsteps.
Gone.
Ruthi unlocked the door, the light outside wasn't really Very light, but once you'd been stuck in a spooky old dark room for a while it's like being blind all your life and seeing for the first time.
"Let's go and find the boys," I said. And as quietly as possible, we walked slowly around the birds area of the Gardens.
We didn't find anybody.
Ruthi and me circled the Bird section of the gardens again and again.
"It would've been quicker if we'd walked home," Ruthi moaned.
"They're not here, that's for sure," I ignored her complaints.
Hey, over here, I spun round to see nothing more than a White Tailed Hawk flapping his wings continuously.
Can we get out of here? There's no air currents whatsoever in here, The Hawk, James, whined.
"Uh, OK, do you know where Lee is?" I asked him.
James stared at me with the ferocious Hawk stare I heard about (From Parents & the other Animorphs,) so many times.
I thought you knew, said James, he thought for a moment, I'll demorph and help, he said. We stood and watched James demorph, it was the first time I'd seen someone (besides an old Animorph) morph, I planned for it to be the last.
"That's disgusting," I said, as James became James except for the small beak.
"Sorry, I can't control it like Cassie could," he replied. We'd all seen my Mom morph, it was kinda pretty. Like watching a show really.
"Anyway, are we going to find my brother or not, " Ruthi asked, breaking into my thoughts, "'Cos if we're not then I want to go back," Ruthi added.
"I guess so," I led the way, having no idea where to go, but I knew this place inside out so it was easier for me to lead the way than anybody else. After walking for ten minutes, I stopped briskly.
"Why'd ya stop?" was the first thing I heard, coming from James.
"If somebody morphs, Lee can hear us through thought speak," I said.
"Yeah, but everyone else can too," Ruthi said.
"Not if we send it to only ourselves," said James, and he started morphing immediately.
"No, I don't think so James, you've already morphed once, it's our turn now, I'm morphing now," I said, and I began to focus on the Peregrine Falcon.
"I'm morphing too," said a stubborn Ruthi, and then slowly started sprouting feathers.
"Huh, is this a girls world or something? You just watch me morph, I'd look stupid talking to two birds," A completely human James started becoming his hawk morph again. I finished morphing completely, and then I snapped, or tried to snap, Fine.
