All five Animorphs opened their wings and let go of the rafters, gliding out through the open window, then letting the slight breeze blowing outside bear them up. Of course, they still had to work hard for every bit of altitude they gained, since there were no convenient thermals near the barn for them to hitch a ride on.

As he flew, Slade started to notice the other mind that seemed to reside in his head. Prodding it gently with his telepathic powers, Slade found that this was the mind of the raven he had morphed. It seems to know what it's doing, Slade thought to himself. I might as well let it fly, since that seems to be all it wants to do right now. Relaxing his control a bit, Slade let the raven take care of the mechanical aspects of his flight.

This way, Slade heard Tobias call out, watching as the hawk turned east. See over there, off a ways to the east? Notice how all the clouds are piled up over there, and that slight ripple in the air?

Yes, I see them, Cassie said. Is that a thermal, Tobias?

A serious thermal, the hawk replied, sounding exited, despite all the time he'd spent as a bird. We'll be able to ride that a mile straight up!

Inwardly, Cassie smiled, glad to see that Tobias could enjoy something that was probably more routine to him than she would ever know. Even with the distance that the five of them were forced to keep between themselves, owing to the fact that none of their morphs would flock together naturally, they were still able to keep up with each other and head in the same direction.

Half a mile ahead of them was the thermal that Tobias had spotted. Slade didn't know why the others were so eager to get into the airspace that was occupied by those strangely shimmering clouds, but the raven mind that was sharing space with his own seemed to be just as anxious to get there as the other Animorphs, and since Slade's wings were now starting to ache, he decided not to ask any questions.

Without the slightest hint of warning, the Animorphs were suddenly inside the pillar of warm air that made up the thermal. All of them opened their wings, Slade following the lead of the others a few seconds after. The warm winds bore them up almost without effort, although they still had to flap their wings sometimes.

Hah-hah! Oh man, I love this! Rachel exulted, soaring with the aid of her Eagle morph's broad wings. I love this, I love this, I love this! Yeeeee-haaaaaa!

So you're saying that you love this? Marco asked teasingly.

Damn, this is so… so easy! Slade opened his wings, and almost immediately went shooting straight upward, laughing all the way.

As the five of them circled even higher, all of the structures on the ground diminished to practically nothing. But even as everything on the ground fell away, if any of them had looked down, they could still have seen every detail of the land beneath them.

Look! Tobias said suddenly, drawing the attention of all the others. It's a flight of geese, up ahead a ways.

Indeed, there were about ten of the large waterfowl. They were heading in the same general direction as the Animorphs, but they were moving at a steadier rate than the five morphed humans.

Let's go catch them! Cassie exulted, reveling in the speed and power of her Osprey's body.

Yeah, right, Tobias laughed. See the way they fly? They're like machines; they never stop flapping. They can travel hundreds of miles. Have you ever watched a dog trying to catch a passing car? That's what it would be like, us trying to catch those geese.

As it turned out, Tobias was right. The flock kept pace with the five Animorphs for only a few minutes before quickly moving on to their unknown destination. It didn't take long for the entire flock to move out to the edge of even the Animorphs' raptor vision.

How long until we get to the Dry Lands? Rachel asked, flapping her massive wings.

A long time, but we're getting good altitude, Tobias said. That'll help.

This'll be so cool! Marco exulted. Area 51! We're going to penetrate the very heart of the government's conspiracy to cover up alien visitors!

Marco, just how big of an idiot are you? Rachel asked, sighing silently in exasperation. We've seen real aliens. We know that they look absolutely nothing like those stupid pictures that you see inside all the lame books that are supposedly about them. We know that the real aliens, the Yeerks, don't go around kidnapping backwoods goobers and experimenting on them.

The Radam might, Marco pointed out, snickering slightly. But c'mon, maybe there are more than just these two groups of aliens. Maybe there are the ones who crash-landed out here back in the fifties, then the Yeerks and the Radam more recently.

Sure there are, Agent Mulder, Rachel huffed sarcastically. Earth just happens to be the crossroads of every passing alien. We're the great, universal Macdonald's by the side of the road.