Jake woke up; knowing without a doubt that what he had just seen was no dream. It had been almost like the time the Ellimist had come to them. Of course, Starfire hadn't taken him all over the world like the Ellimist had. But he hadn't needed to, not to make his point.
Jake knew that the Animorphs would need to retrieve the blue box, and there was only one person who could take them to it. Jake knew that Slade, judging by the way he hadn't even remembered his own name, wouldn't be able to lead them to his house. But, Tobias had said that he'd followed Ness when he'd taken the box, so Tobias might be able to lead the Animorphs there.
***
Slade blinked, slowly coming awake. Looking at his surroundings, Slade had a rather unnerving thought. I shouldn't be here. This isn't right, I should be… It took Slade a few moments to realize it, but he found that he didn't know where he was supposed to be. All he could come up with was "not here". He didn't even know where here was.
"Oh, you're awake."
Slade's head snapped around, pinpointing the owner of the voice with a hard stare. It was a girl, smaller than him, and with skin the color of fudge brownies. Not a threat, Slade's instincts told him.
"Who are you?" Slade asked, his tone sharp so she would know to answer him quickly.
"I'm Cassie. Who are you?"
"I remember someone calling me Slade," Slade unconsciously pulled a lock of his long black hair. "That's all I can recall."
Slade's voice had gotten softer as he spoke, since there was something about this girl that triggered protective instincts that Slade wasn't even aware he'd had. As if she reminded him of someone, but he couldn't remember who.
"I brought you some clothes," Cassie said, showing Slade the bundle of assorted fabric she was carrying. "They're my dad's old clothes, so they might be a little big for you."
She handed the clothes to Slade, who unfolded them and looked at them. He opened his mouth to say thank you, and the most unexpected thing came out instead:
"These aren't really my style."
Where the hell did that come from? Slade wondered, once he realized what he'd said. He turned back to Cassie, to apologize for being ungrateful, and saw that she was smiling at him. Huh?
"Sorry, you just sound like my friend Rachel. She wouldn't be caught dead wearing things like this, either."
Slade smiled back, not caring at the moment that he didn't know who Rachel was. Cassie was happy, and for some reason that made him happy too. Just then, a gray and white bird came swooping into the barn.
Cassie, have you seen Tobias?
Slade stared hard at the bird, somehow knowing exactly where the new voice was coming from. He was not surprised to have someone speaking directly to his mind, and for a minute he wondered why that was. He noticed that Cassie seemed to be confused by this new development.
Who are you? What are you doing here? Slade demanded of the bird, worried about how Cassie seemed to be getting frightened by the voice.
I'm Jake, hi Slade.
Slade narrowed his eyes, wondering how this bird knew his name. He was just about to ask, when said bird swooped down and landed. Then the bird started… changing.
That was the only way Slade could describe it. He wasn't just growing, since Slade's keen eyes could see that the feathers were starting to run together. Slade quickly put on the clothes that Cassie had given him, stepping forward after he was dressed. Whoever this "Jake" was, if he wanted to hurt Cassie, Slade wanted to make sure that he would at least be able to protect her.
Once the bird had finished changing, it had turned into a boy. Jake, as Slade had heard him call himself, was a bit younger than Slade himself. Maybe three or four years. But, the strange part was that Jake was almost as tall as Slade was.
Cassie walked right past him then, going up to Jake. Slade tried to pull her back, since his instincts were telling him that this Jake guy was dangerous.
"Jake, is something wrong?" Cassie asked.
What the hell? Slade wondered. She seemed… concerned about him. Slade looked back at Jake, reassessing the other boy. The look on his face when Cassie came up to him… Oh yeah, this guy was dangerous, but not to Cassie. Good for him, Slade thought privately.
They were talking about finding someone named Tobias, and also about finding some blue box. What's so important about a blue box? Slade wondered. As he continued to listen, Slade began to form a more complete picture of the people he had fallen in with.
They were talking about turning into animals, and since Slade had seen Jake change from a bird into a young teenage boy, Slade certainly wasn't one to question their conversation. But Cassie was talking about the same thing, in reference to herself. Could Cassie be able to do that too?
At this point, Slade was starting to become confused. How many people were there in this group anyway? Slade had heard Jake mention someone named Marco, but he got the feeling that there was still a lot that they weren't telling him. Finally, Slade got tired of waiting for them to let him in on whatever they were doing.
"What are you two talking about?" Slade asked, walking over to stand with them.
Jake turned, looking at Slade as if to say 'I was wondering when you'd ask me that'.
"We were just going to look for Tobias. One of our friends," Cassie said.
Jake nodded. "That, and we were going to try and find the blue box."
"Yeah, I heard you talking about that. What's so important about a blue box, anyway?"
"You'll find out," Jake said absently, already turning back to talk to Cassie.
Slade crossed his arms, shooting a look at Cassie. From the way he had spoken, both now and during his conversation with Cassie, Slade got the feeling that Jake was the leader of this group. However large it was.
