Chapter 5: Sarah

                      Hey, it's Sarah again. I don't have much to say right now, so I'll go straight to our story.

                       As scheduled, we met at Cassie's barn that afternoon. My parents couldn't drive me there, so I decided to walk. I didn't want to travel in my dog form, just in case anyone thought I was a stray and tried to pick me up.

                       I was still digesting what Jake and the others had told us earlier today. The whole thing about us being the only hope for Earth was somewhat hard to swallow. I was still thinking the whole thing was yet another one of my strange dreams; but, deep inside, I knew it was all real. Too real, in fact. I had spent my whole childhood wishing for an adventure of such graphic proportions, and now that one had finally come, I wished it would just go away. Part of me was thrilled about having the chance to be a hero, but another part of me wished everything was back to normal. It's funny how mixed people's feelings can be; mine were contradicting each other right now.

                       I walked along the sidewalk that was alongside a major road. Beside the sidewalk were come woods .I was halfway tempted to go into those woods explore, but I had places to go.

                       I was fingering my cartouche, an Egyptian necklace with my name on it in hieroglyphics, and thinking the whole time. My cartouche was a good luck token of sorts, and it seemed to comfort me during difficult times. Now was most certainly a difficult time.

                       I wanted to tell my parents, but I didn't know if they were Controllers or not. The way my mom was acting lately…Even if they weren't Controllers, they probably wouldn't approve of me being an Animorph anyway since I was their only child.

                     A shadow flying over me yanked me out of my thoughts. I looked up to the sky, blocking out the sun with a single hand. Overhead flew a red-tailed hawk. I could've sworn that this hawk was the one from my home, but I was too far away from my home for that to have been true.

                     ~Sarah? Is that you? It's me, Tobias~ the thought-speech made me jump in shock.

                     "Tobias? You're a hawk?" I gasped.

                     Tobias flew lower and landed on a telephone pole above where I was walking.

                    ~It's a morph I picked up at Cassie's the last time I was there. Pretty cool, eh?~

                     Tobias, if only you knew you would be eventually stuck in that morph.

                     ~Hey, why don't you head into those woods over there, and I'll let you acquire this morph so we can fly to Cassie's together?~

                     I grinned and nodded. I was ecstatic about being a hawk. It was another one of my childhood fantasies coming true.

                     I walked into the woods that were alongside the sidewalk, trying to look normal.

                     Tobias flew in after me, and landed on an eye-level branch in front of me.

                     ~Go ahead. You'll love this morph!~

                   I hesitantly laid a hand on the side of the hawk's head. I gently stroked his feathers as I thought about being a hawk. He fell into a sort of trance. I had just met him today, but we were already getting along great. He seemed so shy when I first met him, but now he was hardly shy at all. I had met him when I defended him against some bullies at school.

                     ~Oh, I forgot to ask you: Do you have your morphing outfit on?~

                    "Do you mean my skintight clothes? If that's what you mean, I do. But I'm not sure that my parents will approve of me losing my other clothes."

                     ~We can just come back here and pick them up~

                   "Alright, let's go then."

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                    We arrived at Cassie's on time. We morphed back as soon as we got there. Everyone else was there, except for Cristina and Andrew. I had suspicions as to where they were, but I didn't want to voice them.

                      "I guess the meeting will have to be postponed until they get here." Jake sighed.

                      "I'll take care of the animals until they arrive." Cassie said. Cassie's barn was full of sick and injured animals. Cassie's family rescued and cared for them.

                      My eyes lit up. I happened to love animals.

                      "Can I help?" I asked.

                       Cassie smiled.

                      "Sure!" she laughed.

                       Cassie had a few birds of prey, wolves, foxes, a snake, a beaver, some shy deer, and a few horse in the back. She also had many other animals, but I never got to saw them. We had been caring for the animals just a little bit, when Cristina and Andrew stumbled in.

                      "We have you been?" demanded Oliver. Marco rolled his eyes.

                     "We got lost," explained Andrew. Cristina nodded in agreement.

                      Most of my suspicions were cleared, but not all of them.

                     "Okay. We all came here so we could do a bit of planning. We," said Jake as he gestured to the original five Animorphs "were planning on invading the Yeerk Pool, but we can't do that without some powerful morphs. So, I think we should go to the Gardens and try to get some."

                      "Since my parents work there, we can get in the back of all the exhibits and get to the animals that way." Cassie explained.

                      "I'll do it!" exclaimed Rachel, Cristina, and I in unison. Marco rolled his eyes again.

                       All of the others agreed; Marco had to get persuaded before he agreed.

                      "Alright. Let's meet there tomorrow at 3:00 then." Jake said. Tomorrow was Saturday, so that was good for all of us.

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                      The Gardens were an amusement park and zoo all in one. Its rides were awesome, and its zoo held the largest assortment of animals in the state. I had been to the Gardens frequently, and I loved it every time. This time, we were on a mission.

                     We all arrived on time this time, and went into the hallways behind the exhibits shortly after.

                      "Be careful. Security guards often walk around back here. If they see us, we're in trouble" Cassie instructed quietly. We all nodded.

                      She led us through the hallways carefully. She obviously knew where she was going.

                       The hallways were damp, and made of concrete. They smelt strongly of animal poop and food. It was an alright smell, in my opinion, but Marco and some of the others wrinkled their noses in disgust. Cassie and I were used to the smell, and had almost gotten to the point of liking it.

                       "Hey kids! What are you doing in here" yelled a voice from behind us.

                        We had been caught.

                         "Split up!" shouted Oliver. We all agreed instantaneously. The hallways split up where we were at, so we broke up without any problem.

                          Tobias and I went one way, Jake and Cassie went another, Marco and Rachel went another, and Andrew, Cristina, and Oliver went yet another way. I don't know how we hoped to get powerful morphs now.

                        The way Tobias and I had taken lead back out into the public areas of The Gardens. We ran into the crowds then slowed down to a walk. We blended in with the throng.

                       "How are we going to get what we came for now?" moaned Tobias.

                       I grinned mischievously. "Follow me."

                       I grabbed his wrist and lead him through the cluster of people. We soon came upon the big cat exhibit. I lead him up to the jaguar exhibit.

                      The jags were in a large cage that was separated from the public by a large fence. There wasn't a crowd around the cage, and a young man was feeding the jaguars inside the cage.

                     "Wow! How do you feed them like that? Aren't you worried they'll bite you?" I called to him. I smiled sweetly at him and batted my lashes. Tobias gave me a look that said he had no clue what I was doing.

                     "Oh no, man! These jaguars are as tame as housecats! They wouldn't hurt anyone!" he laughed from within the cage. His face was a deep red. My plan, though it was a makeshift one, was working.

                     "Really? I don't know if I believe you. Are you joking?" I asked.

                     "No, I'm not joking!" he exclaimed.

                     I raised my eyebrows at him and hoped I looked doubtful.

                     "Come and see for yourself then, if you still don't believe me." The man in the cage said. "Just climb over the fence."

                     I turned and winked at Tobias. I then climbed gracefully over the fence.

                     "Now, don't approach too quickly. Come up to the cage and pet the black one through the bars."

                     I walked up to the beautiful black jaguar, and made a show of being really nervous. Tobias watched me with a look of disbelief on his face. I gently stroked the jaguar. It looked at me with its beautiful gold eyes before it fell into a trance. I had acquired it.

                 "I think he likes you. Now, you better get back on the other side before I get in trouble."

                 "Thank you sir!" I said sweetly. I climbed back over where Tobias was waiting. We heard a commotion at the tiger exhibit.

                 "There's two kids in there!" someone shouted.

                 Tobias and I exchanged exasperated looks before we dashed over. We came face to face with Jake and Cristina, who had just escaped the tiger's pit.

                "Hey guys!" Jake said. Cristina grinned excitedly at us.

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                  The mission was successful. None of us were captured by the security guards, and we did acquire some powerful morphs. Jake and Cristina had acquired tigers; Cristina's was a beautiful white one. Andrew had gotten a rhino, and Rachel had a brand new elephant morph. Oliver somehow managed to get a polar bear, and Marco had gotten a gorilla. Now, we had the weapons we needed to fight.

                 We were ready to invade the Yeerk pool.