That's good, at least we know he's not a Controller, Cassie said.

All right, now that everyone's all back together, maybe we should go and do whatever we were going to do at the barn, hmm?

Yeah, let's get going, Jake said.

Jake and Cassie had demorphed and remorphed, so they didn't need to worry about the time limit. As before, Slade ran along behind Jake and Cassie.

Tobias, go get Ax. We're going to need him for this, Jake said.

I'm on my way, Jake.

Good luck, hawk-boy.

Thanks, Slade.

No one turned to watch Tobias leave, since all of them were running too fast to risk throwing off their momentum that way. The trip back to the barn took only as long as the trip to the cabin had, but the three of them were silent the whole way. Slade was wondering what would happen when the three of them met up with Tobias at the barn. And just who was this Ax, anyway?

Soon, they were safely back inside the barn.

So, Slade, where did you get those new clothes? Jake asked.

"I found them in the closet."

Cassie and Jake had both started to demorph at this point, and Jake had reached the stage where thought-speak was no longer possible, but he still wasn't human enough to speak normally. Cassie, however, was a different story.

"What did you do with my dad's old clothes?"

"I – well, I kinda left them back at that cabin. They're in a hamper."

"You did what?" Jake had just now regained the ability to speak.

"I'm sorry, Jake. I wasn't thinking clearly."

Slade wondered what kind of disciplinary structure Jake had, what kind of things he did to his soldiers when they failed him. Slade didn't think he'd done anything worthy of outright execution, but Jake was still a bit of an unknown quantity. Jake seemed fair enough, but time would tell if that assessment had been true. But, whatever came, Slade would face it. He was still a warrior, after all.

***

Jake could hear Ax's hoofbeats getting closer, and noticed that Slade seemed to be waiting for him to do something.

"Let's just forget about the clothes. With any luck, whoever that guy was, he won't come anywhere near this place."

And even if he did, I'd see him long before he got here.

"Hey, hawk-boy. Back so soon?" Slade asked.

Ax was easier to find than usual.

Jake got the feeling that, if he could have, Tobias would have shrugged when he answered. About a minute later, Ax came racing into the barn.

I came as quickly as I could, Prince Jake, the Andalite said.

"Don't call me prince. And thanks for coming so quickly, Ax."

Yes, Prince Jake.

Why do I even bother? Jake thought, exasperated.

Prince Jake? Slade asked, incredulous.

Turning to Slade, Jake mouthed the words "don't ask" at the older boy. Slade shrugged, turning to study Ax more closely.

"So who's this, Jake?" Slade asked.

"Slade, this is Ax. Ax, I think you remember Slade, right?"

Yes, Prince Jake. I remember. Why does he have the Escafil device?

"We managed to recover it. Now, we're going to use it."

"Use it for what?" Slade asked.

Jake turned to Slade, inwardly wincing at not asking his opinion before making this decision. That wasn't like him at all.

"We were planning, or at least I was planning, to use the blue box to make you an Animorph. Like the rest of us. I'm sorry that I didn't ask your opinion first."

Jake had expected Slade to be, at the least, annoyed with him for making this decision without even asking Slade for his input. He did not expect Slade to shrug it off. That, however, was just what he did.

"It's at your discretion whatever you want to do. You're the leader, after all."

"All right," Jake said, trying not to seem surprised by how Slade had reacted. "Come here, we'll do it right now. I'll take care of telling the others when it comes to that."

"All right."

Slade came up to where Ax was standing, still holding on to the blue box.

"Slade, you'll have to give the box to Ax."

Without a word, Slade handed the blue box to Ax. Once Ax had a good grip on the box, which took a bit longer than it would have if he had been human, Ax held it out to Slade.

Place your hand on the side that is closest to you, Ax instructed, much the same way Elfangor had done, all those months ago.

Slade looked at Jake, as if he was asking for permission. Jake nodded, so Slade pressed his right hand against the front of the box, then jerked it back suddenly.

"I think it shocked me," Slade said uncertainly. "Was it supposed to do that?"

"It's the same thing that happened to us," Jake said. "I think that's just what it does when it gives someone the morphing power."

"Now, we need to get you a morph that can fly," Cassie said, smiling.

"Sounds fun." Slade grinned back.

They walked over to the long row of tables, that in turn held a long row of cages. Most of them were filled with animals that were sick or had been injured in some way. A scarce few were empty. Then, far away from the land animals that were being cared for, there were the birds.

Most of them were injured, but that had no bearing on the state of their DNA. Morphs recreated from these birds would share none of their physical problems. Slade headed over to the table that held the cages with birds in them, trailing behind Cassie like an obedient first-grader, happy and eager to please.

"So, what are some of these birds called?" Slade asked.

"That one's a Merlin," Cassie said, pointing out the small bird with the broken wing. "This one, is a Bald eagle. This is the morph Rachel uses for flying, in fact."

"Rachel's your friend, right?" Slade asked.

"Rachel's a friend to all of us, really. She's another Animorph."

"Oh, that's interesting. Hey, what's this bird called?"

Cassie turned to see what Slade was looking at.

"Oh, that's a raven," she said.

"A Raven…" Slade trailed off. Why? Why does that name seem so familiar to me? It's just a bird… Right?

Slade shook that off, it looked like a good enough morph to use for flying. Now, how to get what he needed from it? Why not ask the expert? Slade turned back to Cassie.

"So, what do I do now?"

"You've chosen the bird you want to morph?"

"Yeah, I have."

"Which one?"

"The Raven." Slade shrugs.

"Okay." Cassie opened the raven's cage, motioning Slade to step forward at the same time. He did, still looking to her for directions. "Reach in, and put your hand on the raven's back." Slade did so, looking at the thick, white bandages that had been wrapped around its wings. "Now, all you need to do is concentrate. Form a picture of the raven in your mind, and focus on that."

"You've been doing this for a long time, huh?"

"There are times that it seems like it's been forever," Cassie said with a soft, rueful chuckle.

Slade smiled back, before tuning out his surroundings and focusing on the image of the raven that he'd just created in his mind. His eyes slipped closed of their own volition, helping him to better focus. Once he was done, Slade blinked himself out of the mild trance that he'd fallen into.

"Whoa. That was interesting," he said, shaking his head to help clear it.