Well, I had to go back home soon after, otherwise my dad would get suspicious, but not before telling my friends I'd be back later. I went home, finished my homework and cooked dinner for the boys, then afterwards telling them I was having an early night. My dad worried I was getting sick, but I assured him I was fine, I was just tired and asked that they don't come into my room or anything until morning. I locked the door to my room and stuck a chair against it (the apartment had come fully furnished) just to make sure they didn't come in.
I stuck some of my clothes under the blankets, since there was only one pillow in this room, and changed into my jeans, a white polo shirt and my heavy blue sweater. I slipped my shoes on, then opened my window (since I was the only one lucky enough to have a window) and looked out. There was a fire escape, but it was too far away, and I'd probably die trying to get to it. And the ground was four stories away, so I guess I wasn't jumping.
Oh well, time for the ultimate stuff... I thought to myself, smirking a little. I was going to have to change into a bird to get out of here.
Now our kind of 'change' is definitely one for the record books. We all had so much trouble when we first started. It takes a lot of focus, and I mean a lot, to get the shape of the thing you're trying to change into right. If you start thinking of something else, you'll end up a hell of a mess. Like the time I found myself as an eight-legged deer. That was a messy day.
You have to make sure you have a very clear picture of the thing you're becoming in your head, then you have to focus to change each part of yourself individually. At first it takes time, but when you're used to it you get better at it.
I focused on the image of the barn owl in my mind. The wing pattern, the size and shape of the bird... everything that made it unique.
First came the head. My nose and mouth melted together and pushed outwards, becoming the hard beak of the owl. Then the eyes, and slowly the pattern of the feathers on my face and neck. Then, of course, came the rest of the body. My clothes melted into the grey and white pattern of the feathers on my upper body, then spreading until it had enveloped my jeans. My shoes turned colour, then melted into my changing form and split to become the owls' talons. The feather pattern continued down my arms, slowly becoming the birds wings that I needed to fly out of here. Finally, I shrunk to the size the owl would usually be, finding my room was suddenly now much bigger.
At first, we couldn't... 'add'... any of our clothes into the change, and let me tell you, it was sure embarrassing when we had to become human again. Soon Itheill coached us on melting clothes into the shape as well, so we wouldn't have to worry about that anymore.
I looked around my room, seeing it was almost as bright as day.
Well, here goes I told myself, flapping hard to get of the ground, then aiming for the open window, shooting through when I had enough altitude.
Having this power wasn't all bad. Just being able to fly, like I always dreamed of, was an incredible feeling. Being up so high was amazing, and I laughed happily in my head.
I flew towards the woods, dropping down into the clearing where my friends were, sitting in front of a fire believe it or not.
"It's about time you got here" were the first words out of Robert's mouth "And by the way, your singing stinks"
(Yeah? Well I'd like to see you do better!) I snapped as I returned to my human form. He stuck up his nose at that, getting up and walking off into the woods.
"Don't worry, you're singing's not that bad" Amanda said, laughing a little as I finished the change from bird to human.
"What's his problem? He always has to have a go at me" I grumbled as I sat in front of the fire, feeling the wonderful heat that came from it.
"He's just a grouch" Ithiell poked the fire, still in human form. He had really chosen a good human form. Fiery red hair, green eyes on a pretty boy face, and just as tall as Robert. But that wasn't why Amanda liked him. He always seemed to keep a clear head about things, even when we were at our worst.
"And he doesn't like this Yeerk thing any more than we do" Out of the woods, came a young woman. She was tall, with blond curls like Amanda, and deep blue eyes. She was wearing a very fifties style blue dress with a silver belt, and I instantly knew who it was.
"Rtaia? What are you doing here?" I asked as she came and sat beside me, her cool eyes staring into the fire.
"She was the one who gave us the heads up on this invasion thing, as well as giving us that little device that checks if you've got a Yeerk in your head or not" Ithiell told me calmly poking the fire with a small branch.
"And how do you think we got here so fast in the first place?" Amanda added, smiling at me, making me blush in embarrassment. I hadn't even thought of that.
"I was given a ship by our government. The ship is over in Australia, but it had a fighter in its cargo bay that we used to get here" Rtaia explained looking at me calmly. She was so... placid. And she made Ithiell look like a pile of nerves. In human years, she was probably about twenty or twenty-two.
"So... where's the fighter?" I asked, my eyes searching in vain for the fighter.
"In another clearing, not far off. Don't worry, it's cloaked, and the force field will stop anyone from accidentally discovering it" She assured me, and we all heard the grass behind Amanda and Ithiell crunching.
Just Robert, making sure he was 'heard'.
"You know, I'm surprised you didn't check wonder boy over there first. He's got enough of an attitude" I muttered, folding my arms to try and stay warm. Even though I had warm clothes on, and the fire was amazingly hot, I still felt a chill.
"He did, and you should have seen the scuffle they had" Amanda shook her head, as if not believing what she saw.
"Well, what about you?"
"I took care of her" Rtaia spoke up, and I noticed the shape of her ears had changed, back to her own, that were more like elf's ears. She was probably listening out for something...
After that, none of us really talked to one another. Robert came back, sitting on the other side of Ithiell, and I could tell he was trying not to shiver. Served him right. Amanda and Ithiell got close, cuddling into one another, with Ithiell still poking the fire every now and then. Rtaia turned her back to the fire, her eyes searching the night air. And me, well I just sat there and tried to keep warm.
"We've got company" Rtaia suddenly whispered in my ear, nearly making me jump out of my skin.
"What is it?"
"I don't know yet, but I think you should become something dangerous just in case" She replied, her eyes still searching the darkness, pretending that nothing was wrong.
"All right" I got up, making my voice loud enough for anyone to hear, and excused myself for a few minutes. With that, I took the path that Robert had used, focusing on the animal I wanted to be as soon as I was out of sight. When warm fur replaced numb skin, and the muscles in my arms and legs had more than doubled, I sauntered back, keeping out of sight and at the edge of the tree line.
(What are you gonna tell the others?) I asked Rtaia with my mind, seeing she hadn't even budged.
(Nothing yet. I only thought I heard something, but I could've just heard a small animal in the trees or something)
(Well, I trust your judgment. Plus, with what you've told me, I'd say we have a good reason to be on edge) I saw her head nod slightly, and I tuned my own sensitive years in to listen to the woods around us.
(I just heard it again) she told me.
(Which way?)
(Straight in front of me, and it's getting closer)
(What do you want me to do?)
(Just wait until we can see something) she told me, and I crept ever so slightly closer, my eyes fixated on the spot in front of her, finally seeing the trees moving a little. In an instant, I saw a shadow of the thing that was moving, and I finally realised what it was.
(Rtaia...)
(I see it. The second it...) before she got to finish, it started almost trotting towards Rtaia and the others. That's when I decided to make my move.
I let out a roar, leaping from the cover of darkness, almost landing in the fire, and charged straight at the tiger, teeth bared. It let out a roar itself, taking my challenge, but I was on it before it had time to think. In seconds it was just teeth and claws against an almost identical set of teeth and claws. We scratched and bit, snarling at each other. I knocked its face away with my paw, then moved and bit down on its hind leg, hoping to stop it from trying to attack me and my friends but it scratched my rump deeply, making me roar in pain and pull back. I put myself between it and my friends, who all sounded shocked, even Rtaia.
"What's going on?!"
"What's that?!"
"Is it..."
"What the...?"
(Are you ok?) Rtaia asked me.
(Fine, but it gave me a deep cut and it's starting to really sting) I was breathing heavily, my own tiger body starting to feel a little unbalanced. I looked over at the other tiger, the blood starting to seep from the bite wounds I'd made.
Then, something so incredible happened I almost thought for a second that I was hallucinating. A silverback gorilla came into view, baring its teeth a little at me, then moving over to check on the injured tiger.
"I can't believe what I'm seeing!!" Ithiell cried out, and the others sounded simular sounds of alarm. I braced myself for another attack, knowing if these two attacked together I'd be more than finished.
(Guys, I might need some hel...) I didn't get to finish, because at that moment one of them started to talk. It spoke to us like we did when we were in a different form; it used the power of thought.
(Hey, cool it! We're not here to attack you) they said, and I noticed the tiger had sat down heavily. I guess I had done more damage than I thought.
(You're not? Then what do you call trying to creep up on us?) I growled a little, and I think I startled them too.
(What...?)
"Hey, all of you, just take it easy, ok? We're not here to fight either. You just... well you surprised us, that's all" Ithiell came and stood in between us, putting a hand above my foaming muzzle.
(Ithiell, get back! They could attack you!)
(Well you didn't help when you full on charged) He said, one eye on me.
(I thought the tiger was going to attack you guys. I was trying to protect you... but so much for gratitude...)
"Shut it JD. We'll talk later" he told me, and I finally saw he knew what could happen between three very powerful animals. His chest was heaving at a much faster rate than normal, and I saw sweat was forming on his forehead, in spite of the cold night.
(All right, just take it easy. We're going to demorph now, so please don't sick your pet kitty on us) one of them said, and before my eyes they both began to shrink.
(Oh my gosh...) I whispered as I they became human, and I finally saw who they were. Jake and Marco.
"Know these two?" Ithiell asked me, looking only slightly calmer, and I nodded.
(Yes, I... I...) before I could stop myself, I was shrinking back to my old self, something inside me kicking in the change. Again, I was glad to notice we weren't the only ones completely shocked by all this.
"J-Jade?" Marco asked, and I nodded. I found myself standing in front of him, beside Ithiell. And the funny thing was, I finally realised we were about the same height. It must've been a defence mechanism for shock or something.
"Well, it looks like we all have a lot to talk about" Rtaia said, and as I turned back to her, I caught her smiling for the first time since I'd known her.
Break
The next night, we all decided to meet back in the same place. They brought their 'group' along, and we just came as ourselves. I recognised both girls as Rachel and Cassie, but the other two boys I had never seen before.
We swapped stories, and I found out the two boys were more than just two boys. One was an Andalite, the other was what they called a 'nothlit'. We learned about their power to morph, and how these 'Andalites' had created it. Then about the night they got the power to morph, and the fight with the Yeerks they'd had ever since.
And of course, Ithiell told them all about our story, with Rtaia and Amanda helping him. I stayed silent, still feeling a little guilty about full on attacking Jake before he even came close to my friends.
When it was over, I think both parties took their time absorbing it all. Robert, on the other hand, let out a loud 'humph' before getting up and taking off into the woods. I guess tonight he thought about wearing some extra clothes.
"Well that was rude" Rachel stated, folding her arms and watching him leave.
"Uh, yeah. Don't worry about him, he always seems to have an attitude" Amanda apologised.
"Especially with me" I blurted before I could stop myself. They all turned to look at me, even the Andalite and the red-tailed hawk called Tobias.
"Errr, don't worry about that. What's important is that we focus on what to do about these Yeerks" Ithiell interrupted, turning our focus back on the current problem. He was back in his own body, along with Rtaia, whose skin was more an aqua colour than the blue of Ithiell's. Also she had Elfish ears, whereas Ithiell had two little holes for ears, just like any other lizards.
"Well, right now we have a bigger problem than even that" Jake said, telling us about the 'voluntary' Hork-Bajir that had escaped, and how they were looking for them.
"Well, maybe we can do something to help" Rtaia offered, her ears twitching with the smallest sound from the woods around us.
(We have searched this entire stretch of woods, and as yet we have not found a single sign that they were even in these woods) Ax spoke up, and I couldn't help but look at his two stalk eyes that moved continuously, then to that deadly scorpion tail he had. You definitely didn't want to meet him in a back ally.
"Well, maybe you're just searching in the wrong place" Amanda offered.
"Like we haven't figured that out" Rachel retorted unhappily.
"The problem is we don't know if they've been found or not. And we're running out of time to find them if they still are out there" Jake spoke up, putting his hands out to warm them in the fire.
"Well, we can help you search, and I'm sure the fighter would be able to cover more ground than you all could individually" Rtaia told them, and I could tell she was thinking hard about it.
"Wait a second, you have a fighter?" Marco spoke up, looking surprised.
"How do you think we got here?" Amanda smirked, and from the woods we heard Robert yell out sarcastically,
"No, we used maaaagic!"
"Oh just shut up!!" I screamed at him, and as soon as I saw everyone looking at me, I got up and left the fire and walked further out into the clearing, towards where there was a soft spot of grass, and sat down again. I heard Ithiell start talking to Ax and Jake about a strategy we could use to find these walking razor blades. I lay down in the grass, trying to ignore the cold, and looked up at the stars.
I don't know how long I stayed there like that, before the girl called Cassie came over and joined me. I was surprised that she'd come so far away from the fire, especially since all she had on was a blue leotard.
"Hey, are you all right?" She asked sitting down beside me, and the colour of her skin almost made her invisible in the night.
"Sure, don't worry about me. It's just Robert and me... well, we have our 'differences'" I told her, sitting up so as not to be rude.
"You mean you don't get along?"
"Uh huh, that's about it" I smiled at her, not really knowing if she could see me smile. But she smiled back, and I realised how nice she was. Not like Rachel, who seemed to be a serious grouch.
"Don't worry. There are times when we don't get along either. We have different opinions about how to... fight the Yeerks"
"I guess in every battle in human history there had to have been at least one person who said 'hey, why don't we try this instead?'... or something along those lines" I said, looking back up at the sky, knowing all the times Amanda and I had suggested we try to talk to them, but were ignored.
"Yeah, I guess you're right" I saw her shiver a little.
"Why don't you go back to the fire? You look like you're about to freeze to death" I suggested, watching her trying to warm herself.
"What about you?"
"I'll be fine, just go back. Don't worry, I'm fine" I assured her, and she got up to go sit between Rachel and Marco. I watched her talking to both of them for a moment, before going back and looking up at the stars.
A little while later I heard another set of footsteps, and I turned back to see Marco looking down at me.
"Hey, can I join you?"
"Uhh... won't you freeze?" I indicated to the bike shorts and tight grey t-shirt he was wearing.
"Naa, I can take it" he smiled, and I realised he looked cute when he smiled.
Stop it Jade! You've got to...focus...
"Well then, sure. I mean, if you want. It's not like I'm doing anything anyway"
"That's ok" he sat down next to me, already looking like he was having trouble with the cold.
"Yeah, it's fine if you like cold and boring" I turned back to look at him then, and sighed "I... I'm sorry. It's kind of a defence mechanism I have. I guess... I'm a little edgy about all this stuff you guys have told us. I... I honestly just wanted to get back to a normal life, and now...this"
"Hey, what you guys told us was pretty shocking as well. I mean, being anything you wanted... that would be cool"
"Yeah, just try being a tree. The only sense you have is touch, and that's only when the wind or something else touches you. I swear, I'll never look at dogs the same way again" I told him, and to my surprise he laughed a little.
"Well, I guess if you had unlimited time limit on your morphing powers it would really help you" I guessed as I forced my eyes away from him and back up at the stars.
"Yeah, and so would being able to go from one animal straight into another"
"Well, that part's not easy. It takes a lot of practice" I told him about being an eight legged deer, and how I'd seen a tarantula crawling towards me as I was trying to focus, and I really, really don't like big hairy things with eight legs.
He laughed again, and I was surprised how easy this guy was to talk to. Not like the forever vanishing Robert. To my amazement, I found myself liking Marco more and more. He was nice, cute... a hell of a laugh...
Uh-oh Jade. You've become what Amanda always wanted you to. You've become a romantic. I thought, finding myself laughing into the night sky, with the others probably thinking I was completely nuts.
And they probably weren't far off on that one.