Chapter 4
Now what? (Tobias)
My name is Tobias.
Apart from being Tobias, I'm also Bird-Boy, Chicken Legs, and the assortment of nicknames Marco calls me.
Anyway, we were swimming. A regular, everyday pod of six dolphins swimming. Yeah. Right. Normal explains everything but us. After all, we are the Animorphs.
We had been swimming for hours. We had been morphing and remorphing for the past sixteen hours, thanks to Ax's internal clock. I was exhausted, to say the least bit. Most of my dolphin enthusiasm was drained.
Land ho! cried Marco suddenly. That snapped me out of sulking. Where!? yelled Jake joyously. Dead ahead, cap'ain! Marco replied with a fake accent. Sure enough, right in front of me was a large island. England: The Island Nation.
We have used one-hundred-ten of your minutes, Prince Jake. said Ax helpfully. Ax, they're everyone's minutes. As long as you're on earth, they're your minutes. Marco said haughtily. We have approximately nine of your minutes left. Ax said, venom in his thought-speak.
Everyone, demorph. Jake said, starting to demorph himself. The first things to go were my dolphin eyes. My excellent hawk eyes quickly replaced them. I started to shrink. Meanwhile, my beak was formed out of the long, dolphin muzzle. The dolphin flesh was suddenly one huge tattoo of feathers. The feathers became 3D and real. My tail shrunk and my deadly talons grew from the dolphin's underside. I felt my bones and guts contorting and crunching as they became lighter and smaller. Not pretty.
I gave a shriek when I was done. A pair of human hands reached down and pulled me out of the water. I looked up into the owner of the hands' face. Thanks, Cassie. I said. I flapped my wings and took off. "No problem, Tobias." Cassie said in reply.
I watched my friends swim to the shore while I flew strenuously overhead. There were no thermals over water, so I was forced to flap relentlessly. Tired, I landed on Jake's shoulder. He was standing on the beach. "I think you should morph human, Tobias. I'm not sure if red-tail hawks are native to this place." Cassie said. Sure. I said breathlessly.
I morphed human. Still not pretty. "It's cold!" Marco said, shivering. "Well, we're in England, idiot. What did you expect, palm trees and coconuts?" Rachel asked, shivering in her leotard.
Jake pulled some money out his pocket. "I think we should buy some clothes." He said, his lips starting to turn blue. "Capital, my dear Watson!" Marco said brightly. Gooseflesh rose on my arms and legs. I rubbed my arms with my hands and nodded.
We bought some clothes in a nearby shop and left, hearing the cashier muttering about "crazy Yanks". We changed into our clothes quickly. Instead of getting American dollars back for change, we got British pounds. Jake stared at it blankly, but sighed and shoved it in his pocket.
"Now what? I mean, we don't know where this place is, do we?" I asked. This seemed to have just dawned on Jake. The others looked to him for an answer. A sigh escaped his still-blue lips. "All Erek said to me was that it wasn't on a map, and that we need to go to a place called King's Cross Station and take the train off Platform 9 ¾." He said. My expression brightened. "I saw a sign for it around here somewhere!" I said.
Jake turned to me. "Where?" he asked. "A little ways back." I said. Tobias and I have to demorph in the remaining time of five of your minutes. Ax said in thought-speak, even though he was in human morph. Why didn't you tell me sooner? I shrieked in thought-speak, running for the nearest bathroom, dragging Ax with me.
We demorphed and remorphed in there. We walked out with me yelling at him. "I could've been stuck! Again!" I said, exasperated. "I am sorry. Ree. Sooooorr. Reeeee. Sorry!" Ax said in reply.
"Not stuck, are you?" Jake asked when we got back. I shook my head. "No, but it was a close call." I said. We walked to King's Cross Station from there. My feet were starting to get sore.
"Okay, Platform 9 ¾… don't see it, do you?" Marco said, look around, "9… 10… no 9 ¾. Maybe Erek was joking." Jake looked at him sternly. "It's gotta be here! We came all this way…" he said. Jake put his head in his hands and leaned against the barrier… and fell right through.
I jumped back in shock. "Jake!" yelled Cassie, startled. "Whoa!" Marco said edging away. Rachel poised into a position so she was ready to attack. Ax rubbed his chin thoughtfully and peered at it. "Amazing… Maaaazing. Uh-May-Zing!" he said, laughing at the sound.
"I'm all right… You should see this!" said Jake's voice from within the barrier. Rachel, needing no explanation as to what she should see, strode into the barrier right after Jake. "I am coming, Prince Jake. Jay-kuh." Ax said, following Rachel. I took a deep breath. "I'm going in too." I said, watching Cassie run into it before me. "This is INSANE!" Marco said, following me into the barrier.
I started to retort, but the words died in my throat. The platform I had entered was beautiful. Human hands couldn't have created this work of art. It seemed almost magical.
"Well, we found Platform 9 ¾." Rachel said, pointing to a large sign. "There's no train and only God knows when it's coming back!" I said. "Well, why are we waiting?" Marco said, shutting his mouth after long last, "Morph bird and follow it." Jake smiled at his best friend. "Good idea, Marco. You heard him! Morph bird!" he said. Grinning, I demorphed.
