Chapter 2
The little black speck – Maggie in beetle morph - was not moving.
--Maggie!-- Sam screamed earnestly. –You need to get in control of the beetle's mind! You need to picture you human form!--
"God, Sam, does she not know what's going on?" I asked, shocked. None of us had morphed a bug yet. We'd only done reasonably intelligent animals, such as mammals and birds. I had no idea what the instincts of a tiny, mindless beetle would be like to control.
--I don't know!-- Sam said. –She's been in morph for over half an hour, so I guessed she would have gained control by now, but it's her first morph ever and I haven't heard a word from her. Come on, Maggie – answer me!--
"It's a miracle you managed to hang onto her in your talons for this long," Philip said, shifting over to make room for Samantha's growing body.
--I know,-- said Sam, in between calls of 'Maggie, demorph!'. –I kept looking down, like, very five second to make sure I still had her.--
Samantha was almost human again, the last of the brown feathers disappearing rapidly into her skin. She knelt down on the ground, shivering in her blue morphing leotard, her breaths coming in rapid gasps as she tried to get Maggie to respond.
"Come on, Maggie!" she moaned. "Please answer me! Concentrate on your human form! You're a beetle right now – but you need to become human again!"
Philip joined in.
"Human, Maggie!" he said. "Picture yourself as human!"
Sam shook her head. "We should have stayed as birds," she said. "I don't know if beetles have ears like we do. Can they can even hear?" She swallowed and looked up. "Philip – morph back to hawk and try thought-speaking to her…"
But, just as Philip began to change, the beetle began to grow.
"Sam - look!" I exclaimed. "Maggie! You're doing it! That's it! Be human!"
Sam breathed out a sigh of relief. The beetle was growing, slowly – ever so slowly – but it was definitely growing. I realised I had been holding my breath and let out a sign myself. The growing beetle was changing in more obvious ways now. The shiny back shell was softening and becoming pink and soft. Long red hair was sprouting front its head. Suddenly, the beetle's six legs were sucked into its body like spaghetti – and replaced by four fully human limbs.
--Arrrghhhh!--
Maggie! She had finally got her voice – or at least, her thought-speak voice – back!
Sam quickly moved in to try and calm her.
"Come on Maggie, you're doing really well! You're almost human! Shut your eyes, like you did before!"
Pink eyelids closed over the still black beetle eyes. I tried not to throw up as I watched the last of the changes happen to this child-sized half human, half insect monster before me. I really was not looking forward to doing my wasp morph any time soon.
At last, Maggie's face emerged from the beetle's head. The last traces of any insect dissolved. A short, plump, red haired girl crouched on the floor, trembling. She opened her huge brown eyes and stared at Sam.
"What the hell just happened to me?" she gasped.
"Congratulations," I said, taking her hand and shaking it. "You're now a fully-fledged member of the Corporation for Applied Insanity."