You see her yet?
Give me a chance. I can't exactly see very well, Jake snapped. Then Duh.
"Come on, come on!" Cassie was hopping from one leg to another by the door that led to her house. "David Attenborough doesn't exactly rabbit on forever!"
Anyone would think the girl was agitated by something.
Huh.
"Are you sure she's in there somewhere?" Jess asked for probably the billionth time, looking at Tobias.
Jess, he replied solemnly. I cannot be sure if it is indeed your sister in here, but an irritating little voice keeps singing about talking to birdies and eating blue green cheese in a bouncy rubber room. Pause. Sorry! But it is irritating!
As one, everyone with eyes blinked at the bird. What?
I looked over at Jess. She was hunched on a bale of hay, looking upset and kind of peed off, mixed with a tinge of nausea. I guess it can't be easy learning that your twin sister is not only one-and-a-half-millimetres tall, but is currently somewhere on the resident Bird-Boy.
"You okay, Jess?" I asked.
She looked over at me, made eye contact, but there was something in her gaze that completely freaked me out. It was like her eyes were hollow or something. Like there was nobody in, so to speak, and some part of me wondered if maybe all this was my fault. It was, after all, me who had made the case for the twins to join us against the Yeerks, and me who had persuaded them to come along to the barn.
Rachel was going to kill me when this was all over. Luckily (for me) she was otherwise occupied at the moment. She and Jake were on a Lora-hunt. Literally. Around the world in 80 days, I think the book was called. Well, this was Around the bird in 80 minutes. Two fleas on an epic journey to locate a midget who should be taller than me in an ideal world.
It had been suggested (quite forcefully by Rachel) that I join in on the search as well, but I had opted out. Me and fleas…no. No way. At the moment, spider was the smallest I'd go, and spider would be useless on this particular mission. Ax was AWOL with the cube incase the Helmacrons came back, and Cassie had to keep an eye on her parents. She had a taped British documentary by some bloke famous for wildlife shows over there (David Attenborough, never heard of the guy) for just such an occasion. Her parents would be absorbed until Armageddon, or possibly the end credits.
Whichever came first.
Have you told her to keep still? Rachel asked.
Repeatedly, Tobias sighed. She's sitting next to a feather, he added as an afterthought.
Gee, thanks. Jake. Look for a feather to find the shrunken English girl. I'm on a bird, for Pete's sake!
"Now is not the time, Marco," Cassie said warningly, as she saw my mouth open. Damn her. Damn her, knowing what I'm doing before I even know. Takes all the fun out of being me.
Instead, I smirked innocently and said, "Time check?"
She sighed with a half-smile and looked at her watch. "Thirty minutes."
Roger, Jake answered. Cassie and I exchanged a look. That boy was brought up on far too many war stories for his own good.
Hang on a sec, Rachel said. I think I see her.
Jess all but leaped off the hay mound. "What? You sure?" she asked in the direction of Tobias.
I think so, was the reply.
Let me try, Tobias interrupted. Lora? Can you see - aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
He started jerking this way and that, like he was in shock. That or being electrocuted.
I raised an eyebrow. "More singing?"
I'd say Rachel's found her. Tobias said shakily. God, that girl can scream. And I thought it was bad last time. Jeez
"I know," Jess commented. "So what do we do now?"
Get her off Tobias and find Ax, Jake answered.
I raised a hand. "I have a question."
Cassie looked at me.
"How and why?"
Cassie and Jess both gave me fish-eyed looks.
I rolled my eyes, unseen. "How do we get Lora off Tobias and why the hell Ax?"
Ax says he can build a machine to track the Helmacrons' movements. We find them and get them to unshrink Lora. And for your first question, Lora grabs hold of the flea and doesn't let go.
"That's insane."
You have a better idea?
Hmm…