Later that same day, Rachel and Cassie met up at the barn.

"So, what's he like?" Rachel asked, wanting to know more about the seventh Animorph that Jake had recruited while she was away.

"He seems nice enough," Cassie said, remembering the way Slade had been so accommodating to her and Jake. "He's still kind of strange, though."

"And that's another thing," Rachel said, putting her hands on her hips as if she was ready to start lecturing at a moment's notice. "Why wasn't I called in for this mission?"

Cassie shrugged, looking away from her best friend of so many years. "It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment mission. I didn't even really get to think about it much before we were done."

"Okay," Rachel said in a teasing voice. "I'll accept that. But from now on, I want to be in on all of your future escapades."

"Right, from now on I'll be sure to call you before Jake drags me off on an unexpected Animorph mission," Cassie said, in the same tone.

Rachel and Cassie burst out laughing, not even trying to keep straight faces. When they had finally run out of breath, Rachel looked down at Cassie's jeans and let off a long, dramatic sigh.

"Cassie, Cassie, Cassie. Okay, if you want to go out in public wearing boy's jeans, that's fine. It's even fine if you want to go around with those God-awful Old MacDonald overalls. But the least you could do is buy jeans that fit."

"These fit me just fine," Cassie protested.

"Cassie, you know that you're my best friend in the world," Rachel began, crossing her arms and giving Cassie a sideways look. "You know I'd do anything for you. But those jeans are short enough to wade across the Mississippi and not get wet. When exactly did you buy them, when you were four years old?"

Cassie looked down at her jeans and grinned. She knew that Rachel was one of those people who didn't ever want to go out of her house without having a perfectly coordinated outfit on. In fact, the only time that Rachel hadn't been wearing one of her famously coordinated outfits had been when she had lost her memory.

Rachel had come out of the forest wearing what were obviously someone else's clothes. The jeans that she had been wearing had been shorter than the ones Cassie was wearing now.

"Are you saying that these jeans are too short?" Cassie grinned.

"Not if you think there's a flood coming," Rachel said with a mock serious look. "If there was a flood coming, those would be the perfect jeans to wear. Why don't you come with me? I'm going to… you know, that place. They're having a lot of sales right now. I want you to come with me."

"I'm not going to the mall with you," Cassie stated, knowing what Rachel was talking about.

"Who's going to the mall?" Cassie's father Walter asked, coming into the barn suddenly.

"Rachel's going to the mall," Cassie answered, long used to the way her dad would come and go at a moment's notice. She was just thankful that he'd been away while she had been hiding Slade.

"Will you please make Cassie come with me?" Rachel asked.

"Sorry, Rachel. No can do, I need Cassie right now. Crazy Helen just called, apparently there's a sick horse way out on the edge of the Dry Lands."

Rachel looked down at Walter's own jeans, like Cassie's, they ended above the tops of his shoes. Walter was also wearing mismatched socks.

"Gee, I wonder where Cassie gets it from?" Rachel asked dryly.

"Darn," Cassie shrugged helplessly. "Now I can't drag behind you for three hours while you power-shop and guys drool all over you. Oh, life is so cruel. Oh, whatever will I do?"

Rachel sighed, then started to laugh. "Hey, a sick horse is way more important than buying jeans that go all the way down. I suppose that we could always go to the mall later."

"Why don't you come with me?" Cassie asked, echoing Rachel's earlier question. "We could always use another pair of hands," and I don't want to spend another car trip listening to my dad doing his Stevie Wonder impersonations Cassie made sure not to say.

"Right, I'll have to get back to you on that," Rachel said.

Rachel seemed about to say no, so Cassie offered something that she knew Rachel wouldn't be able to resist.

"Come with us, and tomorrow I'll go to the mall and let you pick out a new pair of jeans for me."


"A real pair of jeans? Not some stupid, blue cardboard-looking bargain jeans? Of course, you'll need a nice new top to go with them…" Rachel trailed off, and Cassie knew that her friend was mentally running through the selection of every clothing store in the mall.