"Go away, Jordan," I mumbled. "'M sleepy."
"I'm not Jordan. Get up."
{Wake up, Rachel.}
"Aah!" I jumped up as a sharp beak nudged my hand. "I'm up! Get off me!"
{Well, I feel loved,} Tobias said dryly.
I suddenly felt uncomfortable and embarrassed. Jake was standing with folded arms and Tobias was flapping back up to land on the chair in the shack. Both had probably been awake for at least a half hour, and I'd been sprawled on a dirty floor sleeping for hours. I felt oddly guilty for needing sleep.
"Sorry," Jake apologized. "We'd been at you for ten minutes before we started poking you."
"Yeah." I stood up and brushed my hair out of my eyes, thinking that if Marco was here he'd make some smart comment about my hair not even being dirty. I grabbed a clump of hair and examined it. A little dirty. Not much.
{Rachel, what are you doing?}
"Channeling Marco." I pushed the strands behind my ear. "Sorry I slept in."
"You deserved it," Jake said. "Tobias told me how much you've been through."
I shrugged, thinking I hadn't handled everything as well as I should, but accepted the compliment. If it was a compliment. "Yeah. No excuse to start slacking off. We need to get Marco and Cassie and Ax back."
"And we need to get Erek and Lourdes out of the school," Jake agreed. "You don't know what could happen to them if they're caught."
I stared at him for a moment, realizing that for the past few weeks I had been completely in control of what I did and I had answered to no one, and that now, Jake was the leader again. I wasn't sure whether or not I was relieved to give someone else the proverbial reins, and decided that having Jake back was worth it. I'd take having the group back over my independence any day.
{What are we going to do?} Tobias asked, ruffling his feathers slightly and preening at his wings. {Jake, what do we need to know that we don't?}
Jake sighed. "There's a hole with no bottom."
"First things first." I waited until both of them were looking at me. "We have to get Cassie and Marco back. At least they go to school. Ax doesn't. If they find out what we're doing they'll put Chapman's office under higher security and Erek will be running a serious risk."
{She's right. But Jake, you shouldn't go. It's too dangerous. Rachel and I have done this before.}
Jake looked like he was going to protest for a moment, but then he nodded. "You two go in. I'll morph falcon and make sure no one's watching you."
I took a deep breath. "Another mission today, huh?" I said with my trademark smile. "Well, it's just as well. Life was getting boring. Let's do it."
{Erek?} Tobias called. {Erek. If you can hear us, turn off the office light and then turn it back on.}
It flicked on and off. {Let's hope it's him in there and not a Controller,} I muttered.
{Let's go.} Tobias spilled air from his wings and swept into a steep dive. {Turn off the force field, Erek,}
{Is this what they call trust?} I wondered, a split second before we rocketed into the wall. I braced for impact but passed harmlessly through Erek's hologram. Relatively harmlessly, anyway. I did crash into the desk.
"Graceful, Rachel," Erek said, shedding his imitation of Chapman. "Don't worry; there's another hologram over the office door. No one can see us. You can demorph, Rachel."
We did. I immediately began remorphing to grizzly. {Make sure we're invisible, Erek,} I requested uneasily.
"Will do. I put an extra hologram in front of the back wall. You can hide there."
{Hope there's enough room.} I lumbered into position as black claws sprung from my pink nails.
Tobias dropped on the floor beside me. He chuckled. {I feel so awkward without something to perch on.}
{It should be over fast.}
"Ready?" Erek asked.
{Yeah,} Tobias answered. {All morphed, Rachel?}
{Absolutely,} I confirmed as the last change finished. {Let's do it.} I felt better once I said that.
"I checked her class schedule. I know where to page her," he said unnecessarily, and I realized he was nervous too. Of course he was - posing as a Controller in a Yeerk's office with massive security. He punched a button on the intercom and cleared his throat. "Hello, Ms. Moore. Please send Cassie to my office."
"Of course," a young woman answered. I dimly remembered that she'd taught chemistry.
I was supposed to take that next semester. Yeah, right.
"She'll be here in a second." Erek relaxed behind the desk. "It's comfortable in here. Lots of books. Nothing I haven't read before, but enough to keep me busy."
{We appreciate what you're doing, Erek,} said Tobias. {Hopefully it will be over in a few days. We just need Marco and Cassie back, and then.}
{It might actually be to our advantage to wreck this office,} I voiced thoughtfully. {Let them try to cover that up. At the very least, there would be questions. It's not like they could claim some kids did it.}
{They could claim some kids used dynamite to do it,} Tobias suggested.
"Nonetheless, she's right," Erek agreed. "There would be questions."
{Yeah.}
{Yeah,} Tobias echoed me.
I shifted my massive bulk. {So.} I paused. {There she is.}
Cassie opened the door and closed it with a soft click behind her. "Is there a problem, Iniss?"
{More of one than you might think,} I answered for Erek, stepping out of the wall. I grabbed a book from the shelf and struck her hard with it. She fell.
{You know, you could have just hit her,} Tobias rebuked me.
{It probably hurts worse to be hit with grizzly claws than a book,} I defended myself. I glanced at the book. {I hit her with Calculus.}
{I hear that's a heavy course,} Tobias deadpanned.
{Ha, ha.} I grabbed her around the waist and threw her over my shoulder like King Kong kidnapping whomever he kidnapped. {Let's get out of here.}
{Are we clear, Jake?} Tobias called.
A voice from the sky answered, {Looks like it. But you'd better hurry.}
{We'll be covering you, Rachel,} Tobias told me as he opened his wings and flapped upwards, rejoining Jake. {Thanks, Erek.}
"Anytime," the android answered.
{The Animorphs Recovery Project,} I said triumphantly, bolting for the woods, {is underway.}