Tobias had just arrived at the barn. Looking around, he found that no one was in the barn, not even Slade. Tobias flapped around the barn calling to Slade, trying to convince himself that he had just missed spotting him. But in the end, Tobias had to admit that there was no way his hawk's eyes could have missed someone Slade's size.
This isn't good. I don't even want to think about what might happen if what happened to Slade last night happens again. Cassie? Tobias called, hoping that she was near enough to hear him. Can you come out to the barn?
For five minutes, Tobias received nothing in the way of an answer. But then Cassie came striding back into the barn.
"What is it, Tobias?"
Slade's missing. Do you have any idea where he might have gone?
"No," Cassie cocked her head, thinking. "Why are you so worried, I think he can take care of himself."
It's not him I'm worried about. Something happened last night, something I think all of you should know about.
"Well, the others should be arriving soon, so why don't we wait for them? That way you won't have to repeat yourself."
Good idea.
After the two of them had finished talking, a Peregrine falcon fluttered into the rafters of the barn. Swooping down to the hay-strewn floor only after it had found a suitable landing area. Jake started demorphing immediately once he was on level ground, shooting up to his normal height and losing all the features of his bird form.
Once Jake was done demorphing, the other Animorphs quickly flew inside. Rachel was the first of the second group to start demorphing, followed by Marco and Ax.
"So," Rachel began. "What are we going to do about these Horse-Controllers?"
That can wait, Tobias said. I have some more important things to tell you guys.
"What is it, Tobias?" Jake asked.
Last night, Slade left the barn, actually he ran out. But that wasn't the weirdest part. When I tried to talk to him he ignored me. Entirely. And his eyes were glowing green; that was one of the creepier parts of the night.
"What happened after that?" Rachel asked.
He attacked me.
"He did what?" Jake demanded, standing up suddenly from his position lounging on one of the hay-bales scattered around on the barn floor.
He had some kind of weird sword-thing that he pulled out of nowhere, Tobias said, flapping a wing to work off some of the tense energy that the memory of the battle with Slade stirred up. It was like he was a completely different person.
"I can't believe that he would do something like that," Rachel said, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes. "He seemed like such a nice guy, even if he was a little strange."
That was not Slade's true personality.
Jake's head snapped up, looking for the source of that telepathic voice even though he knew now that he wouldn't find it. How do you know that, Starfire?
I have fought the Radam all of my long life, and I have a very good memory.
Can the others hear you? Jake asked.
Not as yet, but they will soon.
The other Animorphs were all staring at Jake with varying degrees of worry evident on their faces.
"What happened, Jake?" Cassie asked. "You looked like you were a million miles away a second ago."
Whatever Jake might have said was destined to be ignored in light of the new, mistlike, transparent figure that was taking shape in the middle of the barn. The figure was tall, seemingly even topping Jake in height. As far as the other Animorphs could see, this new figure was human.
Jake knew better, though. Even when most of his features were either hard to make out or completely missing, Jake knew that this was the Tekkaman Starfire.
"What is that?" Marco wondered aloud. "Is that some new form that the Ellimist is trying out?"
Before anyone else could say so much as a single word, there was a flash of bright blue light from the region of the figure's eyes, and then…
