Chapter 17
We flapped onwards, Philip guiding us over villages, houses, gardens, woods. I could see the layout of our little town. The roads – how they curved and joined together. The big cloverleaf junction as we flew over the motorway. And later, as we flew over the moors, wild goats and horses. They all looked so tiny and insignificant from the air. We flew for about half an hour – it was about eight miles to the zoo as the crow flies – literally in this case. We managed to keep an eye on the time by looking at people's watches. The crow had pretty decent eyesight. Better than a humans', at least. I swooped down every so often whenever I saw someone wearing a watch. From about fifty feet up I could still see the hands. It was like having a fairly good pair of binoculars strapped permanently to your eyes. It was just reaching two o' clock as we finally descended towards the zoo.
The zoo was set in the grounds of a magnificent Jacobean house, which, like the Lawless's, possessed an air of shabby splendour one associates with nobility. Even from the air, my bird eyes could still pick out the centauries-old furniture inside the some of the upper rooms, the cracked brickwork and gnarled old trees around the grounds. The estate consisted of the house itself, part of which was open to the public, the immediate formal gardens and a quirky maze and around five thousand acres of parkland, most of which was now a wildlife park.
Philip led the way, flying in front, lower and lower as we neared a suitable place to land and demorph. Whilst still in the air, I could already pick out some interesting morphs. The bird's eye view gave me the perfect map of the place. A big section of the park acted as a mini safari park. Within the tall, barbed wire fences of the enclosure, I could spot several lions dozing in the sun. Nearer the house itself were several enclosures for small primates, birds of prey and other big cats. Surrounding a children's play area were smaller, single story buildings, which looked to be home to snakes or lizards. There were fields which were home for a variety of grazing animals – buffalos, mountain goats, and smaller wallaby-like creature. Further out, possibly beyond the grounds of the park and overlooking the mountains, were several fields of deer.
Philip guided us – straight over the ticket booths – round the back of the house.
--We'll be ok to demorph here. Ferdie, we'd better let Uncle Ed know we're here.--
He went silent for a moment, presumably to let the crow brain help him land, then said to me and Asha,
--The paying guests all wear wrist bands,-- he explained, starting to demorph. --Some of the estate staff might not recognise me so it would be useful for my uncle to be able to explain that we're his nephews, should the staff ring for security.--
--Good thinking,-- I replied, landing rather clumsily. I had decided that, however fun flying was, landing was the worst part. Even though the crow's brain knew instinctively what to do, I couldn't shake off the natural human reaction of panic as we seemed to plummet straight for earth. I flapped my wings to help me regain my balance, and started my own demorph.
I found it easier going from animal back to human. It was much easier to picture your own self, your own human body, than it was to picture the animals'. The change is less disturbing too. Even if you've enjoyed being an animal, you can't help but feel relief as you see your familiar human skin appear from the feathers of an almost unknown animal. My own feathers were rapidly disappearing. They seemed to run together, like hot wax, before becoming lighter and softer. My legs began to grow, so I shot upwards like I was wearing a jet pack. Human feet and toes emerged at the ends of the thickening crow legs. The wings were an interesting change. The long bones, mostly still bird-like, at the end of my wings (metacarpals, I think they're called) began to shrink and rearrange themselves into the fingers and thumbs of my human hands. My shoulder joints changed, beginning designed for throwing and swinging, rather than for flapping.
"That is one funny-looking morph," laughed Ferdie, who seemed to be the opposite of me, with a human head and hair and an oversized birdie body.
--You don't look so brilliant yourself,-- I replied, watching the last of the changes. My face was the last to transform. My beady black eyes became larger, sprouting eyelashes and brows. The solid black lightened as the whites of my eyes, my brown irises, and pupils, became more distinguishable. My beak softened and formed my nose and mouth. My gums itches as teeth reappeared. Finally, my dark, shoulder-length hair grew at top speed from my head. I stood there like a dumb out-of-place gymnast in my morphing outfit and waited for the others. Philip was human before I was even half-way through. I guessed maybe he had some kind of talent for morphing – if there was such a thing. I was still trying to get used to the whole thing! At last though, the four of us were all finished, and ready to go.
"I suggest we split into pairs, and each go off and acquire some morphs," I said, when Philip had let his uncle know of our presence. The four of us were now headed to the main part of the park, each glancing nervously at the various potential morphs.
"You guys are both allowed back behind the enclosures, right? So maybe one of us gals could each go with you guys," I said. "Philip, you and Asha and me and Flawless?"
"Absolutely," said Philip. "What sort of morphs are we looking for, then? Considering we've got about five thousand miles to go."
"Well," I said, trying to remember what the Andalite had told us. "We're mostly going to need morphs suitable for travelling over all terrains. So that's land, sea and sky. Perhaps a couple of dangerous animals in case we ever get ourselves into a fight."
"Sure," said Philip. "They've got plenty of animals here. I think we should get a bit of variety in regards to each other's morphs. If we all had exactly the same morphs, we wouldn't be able to count on a different animal's strengths if we became aware of any weaknesses with our own. Plus, if we all morphed exactly the same animal, and it had distinctive markings, or whatever, then if a Controller spotted us, they might become suspicious."
"Good plan," I replied. "Although we'll have to have some of the same kind of morphs. I think we should all get eagle or hawk morphs, for example. And some kind of water-based morph."
"Definitely," agreed Philip. "Shall we agree to meet up in an hour to so then? That should give us time to acquire some animals."
"Ok. Let's say, three-thirty by the falconry arena."
