Disclaimer: I don't own Animorphs. I wish I did, but I don't. - Anyways this story and any characters that are made up are mine and Cassie's. So don't use them without asking.
Just so people now this isn't just my story. My friend Cassie and I came up with this together. We're co-authors. I come up the ideas and she types them up. And the chapters will switch between Kitty's POV and Loren's POV. Enjoy!
Loren's POVOn top of having to go home to a very mad parent, the sky opened up, and it started raining on my way home. I liked the rain, but this time it only put me in a worse mood than I was already in. I wondered what had happened at home this time. I hated when my dad got in one of his moods. He'd always take it out on my mom. He wouldn't hit me, but he'd yell and blame it all on me. I looked at the ground, and kept trudging home.
The grey sky didn't show any signs of letting up, and it lent an eerie feel to the streets I was walking. It wasn't a short distance to walk. I was walking slow as it was, and the rain didn't help. But I just kept trudging home. I hated leaving Kitty's house and going home like this.
Most of the way home, I thought about what I would say to my dad when I got there. I debated over what kind of mood he'd be in. Sometimes he got all fired up, and other times, he sat in his chair, smoking cigarettes. I didn't know which one it would be this time. He didn't like me going over to Kitty's all the time, though, so he could be really mad at me.
I shoved it out of my mind as I rounded the corner to my street after about an hour of walking. I was soaked to the bone, and shivering. The houses here were bigger, and more expensive. I didn't know how I got to live here, but I did. I had decided to just wing it with my dad. I walked the rest of the way to my house, and stopped. I really hated this. I composed myself, and went up the driveway.
My house was relatively large. It wasn't the largest house in the neighborhood, but it wasn't the smallest, either. Compared to Kitty's house, though, it was huge. It was grey with black shutters, and it had a black door on the right side of the front. The left side lead to the garage. The roof was almost black, but it was really a dark grey, and the rain gave it an even darker look. It looked like some sort of asylum, you know, where they keep insane people. I hated it. I took a deep breath, and opened the door.
The inside wasn't much prettier than the outside. It was bigger inside than it looked, however. The front hall was a big round room with a black slate floor. There was a china cabinet pushed against the far wall, and there were two doorways leading from the front hall. One was to the living room and one to the kitchen. The walls were painted in an offensive shade of green in the front hall, and around the house it usually was grey. It also reeked of cigarette smoke. I shook my head, and walked forward, into the living room.
My dad was sitting in front of the TV in he living room, smoking another cigarette. There was an empty pack next to him, and the TV was showing some really depressing news show. I sighed, and he looked up at me with bloodshot eyes. He must have really done my mom in this time. I shook my head, and turned to go up to my room. I was dripping all over the place; I would have to come back down and clean it up.
"We're going to the hospital in an hour," he said angrily. He bit off each word as if it hurt him to say them. I didn't answer him. I went upstairs to my room.
My room was very neat, and very large. I didn't take any notice, even though I was never there. I flopped down onto my bed, which sank in quite a bit. I laid there and stared at the canopy over my bed. It was plain, white, lacy stuff. I hated it all. I laid there with my wet hair clinging to my face, fighting back tears.
All of a sudden, I was very angry. I hated it here, and I hated my family. I wanted out! I picked up my stuffed bunny sitting in the corner gathering dust, and threw it as hard as I could. It hit the far wall with a satisfying thump. With that, I turned over, and cried, still very wet. I hadn't bothered to change.
I woke up to my dad standing over me, looking menacing. I jumped, and sat up quickly.
"It's time to go," he said gruffly. I almost asked where, but then I remembered: we had to go see my mom in the hospital. I nodded, and he left my room. He was a big man, about 6'4", and very muscular. He was going bald, and also had a temper to rival an Irishman.
I stood up and stretched. I went over to my bureau, and pulled out some dry clothes. I didn't even care that I had gotten my bed all wet. I never used it, anyway. I didn't see why I should care. I changed quickly, and went out to the garage, where my dad was waiting in the car. I got in, and he squealed out of the driveway. I grabbed the dashboard so that I wouldn't fly forward. Then he switched into drive, and took off. The car was small and compact, and accelerated very well, as my dad loved to demonstrate. But there was no love or even liking in his face. He was just plain hopping mad. I was surprised that he didn't drive into a tree or something.
It was a very short drive to the hospital, for which I was extremely glad. Even in the rain, my dad drove like a madman. We got out of the car, and trotted into the building, to get out of the driving rain. We asked at the front desk where my mom would be. They told us which floor, and my dad led me to her room. We started to go in, but someone tapped us on the shoulders.
"Where do you think you're going?" a man asked us. We both turned around, and saw that it was a doctor. He had on a white coat, and his nameplate read Dr. Harmon.
"Uh, we're just going in to see her," my dad said. "We're family."
"She is in no condition to be seen right now. Maybe you could come back later." My dad gave the doctor a look that spelled out big trouble, and then sat in a purple chair across the hall. After about five minutes of total silence, and my dad brooding, I stood up. I couldn't stand just sitting there, waiting to see what he had done to my mom this time.
"You're not going anywhere, young lady," he boomed, looking up at me.
"And why not?" I shot back, backing away from him.
"Because I'm sick of you running off all the time!" he bellowed.
"Too bad. I'm not waiting around here for hours while she recovers enough for you to go in and see her so that you can yell at her some more."
"Why you little-"
"Bye dad," I said. I ran. After a few wrong turns, I made it out into the open air. It was still raining, but who cared about rain? I took off for my house. I didn't want to go to Kitty's house; I didn't want her to see me like this. I hated showing her that I couldn't take things. She was always so strong, and I looked like a child compared to her.
I took a deep breath and started running. I ran past houses, through puddles, and across lawns. I didn't know where I was running to, I just ran. Running was helpful. It helped my cool off. After a while, I wasn't so mad anymore, and I was just running for fun. Eventually, I stopped at a huge tree, and looked all around.
I had never been to this part of town before. Kitty and I had gone near it a couple of times, but we'd never stayed for long. I didn't take much more notice of my surroundings than that, though. I was exhausted.
I leaned against the rough bark of the big tree, which was still relatively dry, thanks to the dense covering of leaves above me. It wasn't too much farther to my house. Only a couple miles. I had come a long way, though. I should have kept moving, because I could smell a storm in the air. But I didn't. I leaned against the tree next to a deserted road, and sorted through my thoughts. I thought about what had happened that day. I slumped against the tree, deep in thought. I hated when he hurt my mom like that.
He was going to be furious with me when he got home. He was probably already furious with me, but he couldn't do anything about it. He had a good reason, too, for once: I had walked out on him in public. There was no telling what was going to happen when he got home. Well, there was, but I didn't like thinking about that. I shivered a bit. Not because of the cold, but the enormity of what had happened that day. I was worried about my mom, too. She was tough, but I didn't know if she was tough enough to take it again. I wanted to go to Kitty, but I ran to her too much. I couldn't depend on her like that. It just wasn't right.
I cut of that train of thought. Obviously thinking wasn't going to sort much of anything out. I took another deep breath, and plunged out into the pouring rain again. I wanted to run again. I was very grateful that I was in good shape.
The dreary landscape depressed me more than I already was. Rain was fine, when I was in a decent mood, and not trying to run two miles back to my house before the storm hit. I stopped running after a bit. It wasn't worth the effort. I wasn't going anywhere important. I ignored the fact that a big storm was coming, and walked slowly home. I watched the scenery, trying to cheer myself up, and to think of a way to tell Kitty what happened. No, I would deal with this one myself. I wouldn't run to her for this one. I was stronger than that! I stomped angrily down the streets, growing ever closer to my house.
The storm broke when I was about a quarter of a mile away from my house. I swore under my breath, and kicked up the pace. The storm was basically on top of me. Lightning was striking within a mile of me. And even though the house wasn't that far away, it seemed like it was a great distance away. The rain started coming down in sheets, drenching me more than I already was. Then the wind picked up, blowing the rain straight into my eyes, and driving needles of cold into my body. I shaded my eyes, and kept slogging towards home. Terror urged me on, but running was out of the question; I couldn't see beyond my hands. Thunder clapped right over my head, and I ducked instinctively. I started to trot, which was not the smartest of ideas. I tripped over the curb, and scraped my elbow. I could barely see it, but I could see that it was bleeding.
I rolled, and stood up. I continued walking as fast as I dared. I looked up, and saw a street sign. I was at my street, finally. I sighed thankfully, and walked down the street. Lightning struck behind me, and the thunder almost deafened me. I leapt to the side, and stood on the grass, watching the rain and the lightning. All I could hear was thunder drumming in my ears. I started walking again.
I finally made it up to my house, which seemed to fit in perfectly with the drab weather. I plodded up to my door. It was a trick to get it open and closed because of the wind. I stood in the front hall, leaning on the door for a few moments. I closed my eyes, and believed that nothing had happened, that I hadn't gotten stuck out in the storm that shook the house, that I hadn't gone to the hospital. I convinced myself that I had just gotten home from Kitty's. I went into the living room to look for my dad. He wasn't there. That's when all my convincing went out the door. I knew that he was at the hospital still, probably arguing with the doctors about whether or not he could see his wife.
I sighed, and walked wearily up the steps to my room. I changed into some old dirty clothes. After dumping my wet clothes down the hamper, I opened my closet doors. I turned on the light in my closet, and looked up. I pulled the cord that came down from the white ceiling. A trap door opened, and a ladder descended. I climbed up, and pulled the ladder up after me. I went to pull the chain for the light, but I remembered that the light had broken a few years ago. I looked around.
The crawlspace was not large by any definition. About the only thing it was good for was hiding small things. I crawled to one side of the crawlspace, and sat down Indian-style. I looked for the candle that I always kept up there. As it turned out, I didn't have to look for it. What I wanted cast a light of its own.
The blue box I had taken was in the far right corner, where I had left it. I hadn't even let Kitty know I had it. I was still debating whether or not that night was real, but it had to have been. I crawled over to the luminescent cube carefully, and lifted it in my hands. A tingle went up my spine. I shivered involuntarily. I went over to the middle of the space, where the roof was the highest, and stood up with the box in my hands.
Standing there with the cube in my hands, I started wondering. I wanted to know what had really gone on at the library. Who were those people? What were those people? Were they even human? Were we really the only hope that earth had? Was it even possible to change into animals? How could we fight something we knew nothing about? My head was spinning with questions. I thought about them for a good long while, just standing there, contemplating. I finally snapped out of it, with no answers to be found.
The cube was heavy, but light at the same time. It was almost as if it were a weight in the mind. My arms weren't tired, but they felt weird. I didn't know why the cube cast the blue light, but it did. It was smooth, and perfectly symmetrical. I thought about the night we had gotten it, about the Andalite, and the cave. And then I thought about the wolf we had touched in Kitty's barn. I concentrated on that wolf. I wanted that wolf. More than anything, I wanted to be that wolf.
The changes took place slowly. At first, I stopped them, and looked at myself in the tall mirror and stared. My hands and feet were turning into paws, and soon I wouldn't be able to stand up. My nose was elongated, and I had a stump of a tail. I concentrated on that wolf again. The changes started happening faster. My clothes dropped to the floor beside me. I was zooming toward the ground. I fell forward onto four legs, just as my tail began to grow to its full size.
I lifted my mouth in a howl. An eerie noise came out, which shook everything around me. I was inside. Why was I inside? I wanted out. I wanted to run.
I scampered across the strange floor. I wasn't used to that kind of surface. It was smooth and glossy. Not like the dirt or stones I was used to, that I wanted. My nose bumped into some sort of barrier. Maybe a tree, but it didn't smell like a tree. I howled again, and again, the barriers shook. Then something from the inside started gnawing at me; I was hungry. I wanted food, I wanted the hunt! I sniffed around, and strange smells pervaded my senses. This was like nothing I had ever known. There was one thing, though. I smelled a human. That was the only familiar thing I could discern. I looked around in the semi darkness. It may have well been light, though. I had wonderful sight, and even better smell and hearing.
There was a pile of some sort near the other side of my cage. I scampered over to it. It smelled strongly of human. I picked some of it up in my mouth, and shook it around. No food there. I was hungry, and I wanted out. Both those things made me anxious, and an anxious wolf is not a good thing. I started clawing at the barriers, and howling. I needed to get out of that enclosure!
I shook my head. This wasn't right! I wasn't a wolf, I was human! I was human. I shook my large grey head, and loped over to my clothes. I like the wolf body, though. After some trial and error, I was able to push the wolf mind back, and put mine superior to it. I nosed my clothing, and reminded myself of my humanity.
It didn't dawn on me until I was human again that I was stark naked. I couldn't change in clothing. I had to do something about that. I wondered if I could morph in anything. I would have to ask Kitty or her mom I blushed, even in the dark, and put my clothes back on. I hid the cube again, and descended the ladder down to my room.
It was much darker than it had been when I had gone up into the crawlspace. I couldn't hear any more thunder, though, and recalled that I hadn't heard any while I was up there, anyway. I went downstairs, expecting my dad to be there. He wasn't. No skin off my teeth. I shrugged, and went to the fridge. As usual, there was nothing decent to eat. I was tremendously hungry, though, so I managed to crack a few eggs, and scrambled them.
As I was eating them at the table, I noticed the time: it was almost eleven. I shoveled the rest of my eggs into my mouth, and got ready for bed. I passively wondered if my dad was going to come home. I didn't much care, because all he would do was yell at me and go smoke some more. I sighed. I didn't want to think about home life. I wanted to think about what had happened.
Of course, I couldn't tell Kitty. Not yet, anyway. I had to figure out what really had happened, and how the animal's mind had gotten control of me, and if there was a way to take control from the start of the change. I thought about it for a long time, and I even dreamed about it. I dreamt that I was a wolf, and that I was out prowling the woods at night. Very cool.
I woke up with sun streaming into my eyes. I looked out my window; the sun was really high in the sky. Then I looked at my clock: it was almost ten. Even though I wasn't a morning person, so to speak, I never slept in that late. I jumped out of bed, and went to look for Kitty. Wait, Kitty wasn't here. I was at my house. I shook my head, got dressed, and went downstairs.
It was totally silent. There was no TV going, no breakfast burning on the stove, nothing. I looked around for my dad, but he wasn't there. He'll be home soon, I figured. I made myself a quick breakfast, and went outside, to look what the storm had done.
Outside, there were trees knocked over, power lines down on the next street, and a lot of debris in the road. All in all, it looked like the storm had not been too pleasant after I had gotten inside. I saw a group of people trying to haul a tree off of someone's house a few streets over. I went over to help them. It would give me something to do, and would take my mind off of everything.
Helping clean up took most of the day. We cleaned up the whole neighborhood. I was very glad it was a weekend, and I didn't have school the next day. I was exhausted. After many thank you's, and offers to go over to people's houses for dinner, I made my way home to a still-empty house. I grabbed some food to satisfy my growling stomach. Then I went back up to the crawlspace.
Up there, I started to take my clothes off first, but then I thought about it. Maybe I could change with clothing. I remembered Kitty's mom saying something about tight clothes. Maybe that's what they changed with. I hoped so. I didn't like ending up without the clothing I started in. I climbed back down the ladder, and pulled out a very old tee shirt that was from second grade, and fight very tightly, and I found an old pair of leggings. I put both of them on, and went back up to the crawlspace.
I concentrated on the wolf, and on keeping my clothing on, however uncomfortable it was. If this worked, I would have to buy something more comfortable, because even in the dark, not having clothes is embarrassing. I changed into the wolf, more rapidly than before, and this time, it felt like the clothes had stayed on. That was a good thing. Next, I focused on the wolf's mind, and on controlling it.
It worked. I had full control if its senses and movements. My sense of smell was so much better than a human's was. I could smell what I had eaten for breakfast up here, and it was past dinnertime. I smelled something else, too. It was odd; I'd never smelled it before. I had no idea what it was. I let the wolf mind surface; it was a human scent. It was me! I smelled me. Very weird, but neat at the same time.
My hearing was a lot better, too. I could hear little ants or termites in our walls. I didn't think we had any bugs in our house. I tried moving my ears. They worked individually. That was very cool. I could hear everything inside the house, and a little outside it as well. Nothing was going on except the tiny scritch-scratch of the insects.
Then I tried moving. It took me a while to coordinate all the muscles properly, but finally I could move successfully. Four legs were harder to manage than two. The floor was slippery as well, which didn't help. Then I noticed that the ladder was still down. A pair of eyes looked up curiously at me. I didn't think they saw me, so I moved quietly and quickly back to the farthest corner of the space.
"Hello?" an unfamiliar voice said. "Is there someone up there?" I stayed absolutely silent. "Well, if you are, are you all right? The door was open, so I just came in. With the storm and all-" he trailed off. I changed quickly back to human. He started climbing the ladder. I threw my clothes over the cube so he wouldn't see it. "Hey, are you all right?" he asked as he spotted me sitting in the corner.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied. I recognized him from earlier that day when we were cleaning up. "I helped you clean up today, remember?"
"Oh yeah. Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, obviously worried.
"I'm fine," I repeated.
"You're all alone, and up here. How come?"
"I like it up here. It's isolated. I'm not much for social contact."
"But what about your parents?"
"They're out for the weekend," I lied. I hoped that my dad would come back soon, but I had no way of knowing.
"All right then," he said. "But if you need anything, I'll be happy to help you."
"I'll be fine, thanks though." I smiled at him. He climbed down the ladder. I waited until I heard the door shut behind him. I stayed where I was for a moment.
How could I have missed him in my wolf form? I had superior senses of smell, hearing, and probably everything else, too. I must have been concentrating too hard on other things, I told myself. Now it's time for you to get some sleep.
I scurried down the ladder, and looked up at the crawlspace. I sighed. I knew that I couldn't tell Kitty about it yet. She probably didn't even believe it. I didn't even believe it yet. I closed the trap door, walked over to my bed, and flopped onto it. I knew that my dad wasn't home yet, and I was starting to get worried. Yeah, he left sometimes, but never for two straight days. I cleared my thoughts, and went to sleep.
When I woke up, it was about eight. I still didn't have school. Even if I'd had school, I wouldn't have gone. There was too much going on. Besides, we were coming up on a break, and only had one day of school that week. I jumped out of bed, and noticed my attire. I laughed, and pulled some decent clothes on. I bounded outside, giddy for no reason. I usually hated mornings, but this change was all right with me.
I went over to see Tommy and Jason that day. They were partying, as usual. I stayed with them all day, forgetting everything that had happened in my crawlspace. I had fun, and came home late. My dad still wasn't home, and neither was my mom. I knew that she should be home at least. That was weird. I decided to go over to Kitty's. I had no food at my house anymore. I had eaten what little we'd had.
I went upstairs, and got out a little bag. I stuffed a few changes of clothing in there, not that I didn't have enough over at Kitty's, but because I wanted to, and then I went up to get the cube. I didn't know why, but I took it with me. I looked around my room for the last time, and left. I even locked the door, which was something I'd never done before.
When I got to Kitty's, she was in the barn. She took one look at me, and dropped everything she was doing. She knew that something had gone seriously wrong. I knew it too, but it didn't present itself in that way.
"Why do you have a bag? You never bring one," she said with concern.
"I'm not going back," I said softly. I loved the idea of never having to go back, but I hadn't really wanted Kitty to know yet. She hugged me, and we went inside.
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