Slade yawned, all the excitement of the day suddenly catching up to him. Swaying on his feet before quickly steadying himself, Slade turned back to Cassie.
"Sorry to be so much trouble, but is there a place that I could sleep without being seen?" Slade asked.
"It's really no trouble." Cassie smiled at him. "I'll take your blanket up to the hayloft. No one will be able to come in without you seeing them, and no one really goes up there except us Animorphs."
"That sounds good," Slade said, yawning again.
Cassie and Slade climbed into the hayloft, Cassie leading the way. Slade looked around the loft, there was a sparse scattering of hay over the floor, but other than that it didn't look bad. There were also some large stacks of hay-bales on either side of the main area. Cassie kicked some of the hay aside, using her foot as a broom. Then, Cassie lay the blanket that she'd given him down on the floor.
"Do you have any old pillows I could use?" Slade asked.
"D'oh! I completely forgot about that." Cassie slapped her forehead. "I guess I'm just not used to hiding people in my barn."
"That's okay. I'm not used to being hidden in a barn, so I guess it balances out," Slade said, grinning and shrugging.
"I'll go try and find you a pillow," Cassie said, waving to Slade before climbing back down the ladder.
Slade yawned again, sitting and eventually laying down on the floor. Pulling the blanket up over his shoulders, it wasn't long before Slade drifted off to sleep.
*** ***
"Get out of my room, you little psycho!"
"I may be a psycho, but at least I'm still cute!"
"(sigh) It never ends, does it?"
Two blurry, shadowed figures went racing past his vantagepoint, the larger one chasing the smaller.
"Not in our lifetime, N---."
---
"That was out-of-bounds and you know it, C-----!"
There was a net strung on two high poles, dividing the playing area into two equal-sized halves. A larger group of indistinct figures were standing on both sides of the net.
"You're seeing things C---! N---, tell him he's crazy!"
"Oh no you don't! You're not sucking me into your little spat, I'm an official neutral party."
--
"Green oatmeal?"
"Yeah. A whole bucket of it no less."
"Isn't that a little… extreme? I mean, all he did was put a bit of seaweed in. It's not like he ground it up so it'd be impossible to take out."
"It's the principle of the thing, N---! I'm not going to let C----- go on thinking he can put that disgusting stuff in my food, and there won't be any repercussions!"
Arms akimbo, one of the blurry shadows was the picture of unwavering defiance. The other one seemed to be shaking its head, as if whatever was going to happen, he wanted no part of it.
"Okay, but just make sure you tell him that I wasn't involved. All right?"
"Yeah, yeah. I will. Now, did you get the dye or not?"
The figure that had been shaking his head only a second ago, sighed and handed the other one something.
--
"What? Do I have something on my nose?"
"No. I was just thinking. You and C----- look a lot alike."
"Well, duh. He's my brother, what did you expect?"
"You know, if you cut your hair, you'd look like a not-so-much-smaller version of him."
"And? Your point is?"
"Well, I could cut it for you."
"Oh, no way in Hell! I happen to like my hair."
"Come on. You look like a black-haired, green-eyed David Bowie."
"Do not disparage the hair, okay?"
--
"Oooh, cookies!"
"You like them? They're my Home Ec homework."
This new voice was female, and a bit younger-sounding than the one he'd heard last.
"Yeah, these are wonderful, S----. You're really getting the hang of this cooking stuff."
"Thanks, N---."
--
"Hey, it's time for school N---. Wake up, you're going to be late."
"C'mon, N---. If I have to get dragged to the most boring place on earth, you are most definitely coming with me."
"Wake up N---. Come on, time to get up now…"
"Wake up…"
"Wake up…"
"Wake up…"
*** ***
