Chapter 16

At long last, we began to see signs that we were coming back into civilisation. Roads were begoming more frequent, and the forest was thinning out. It was early afternoon and yet another sweltering hot day. The four of us had demorphed several times to prevent us from going over the two hour time limit, using the sun and Philip's survival brain as a rough guide to the time.

--Are we there yet? It's sooooo hot!-- I moaned. --It wasn't like this yesterday!--

The four of us had quickened our pace for the last half an hour or so - Philip and Maggie trotting effortlessly as wolves, Sam and I performing the stag's characteristic 'bound' - a movement where all four hooves bounded onto the ground at the same time, like springs. Sam was now slowing down, and we all followed suite.

--Well, we've probably been going for a while now,-- she said. --We can do the last bit of the journey as hawks, I should think. It's been hours since we last sighted a potential Controller. And we'll need the raptor's eyes to help us find our way. Let's demorph, get ourselves a drink, have a rest, and be off in about half an hour.

It was good to rest. The four of us were pretty tired, not only from the travelling, but also from all the morphing and demorphing. The adrenaline bursts had helped, but they could only provide energy for a short time, not hours on end. I had no idea where we were. For all any of us knew, we could be totally lost and in some random farm in Scotland! But, as much as I hated to admit it, I was proud of my brother's navigation skills, and trusted him to know where we were.

"Mmm… that's so much better!" I said, after plunging my entire head into the river. "Very cool and refreshing". I shook my head like a dog to get rid of the water - most of which went over Philip and Sam.

"Sam!" I exclaimed. "You're all wet!"

"Hmm... I wonder why?" she laughed, cupping water into her hands and drinking it.

Maggie was trying to run her fingers through her knotted hair. "I don't suppose anyone thought to bring a hairbrush?"

"Sorry," laughed Sam. "I know what you mean though, my hair's become a nightmare over the past day. Look how frizzy it is!"

I laughed at the two of them, with their girly problems. I ran my hand through my shaggy mane. "You don't need a hairbrush!" I laughed. "Let your hair live wild, and free!"

"Aye aye, and end up looking like you?" Maggie joked.

"Darn right, like me," I laughed.

After a while of lounging around, Sam decided we should get going again. I was all up for lazing about even more.

"Arr, Sam, what's the hurry?" I said, lying against a tree trunk. "It's gonna take weeks to get to America, what difference is another hour going to make?"

"I don't think we should stay in one place for too long, that's all," she replied. "And I want to try and get to Cardiff as soon as possible so we know what our options are. Come on, Ferd, you want to get back in to your hobby morph again, don't you?"

I couldn't argue with this. Sam knew as much as I did how much I loved flying. "Yeah, yeah, you've got me, I must say," I grinned, focusing on my falcon morph and feeling the changes begin. A pattern of feathers was being drawn all over my skin and over the top of my morphing outfit, as if an invisible tattooist was at work. It didn't hurt - morphing never does - but it did tickle a bit. Suddenly, the patterns popped up, out of my skin, becoming 3D. I felt myself shrink - a process that feels just like one is falling, but with their feet still on the ground. My arms stretched out, allowing for the falcon's large wingspan. My teeth melted away, my lips hardening and bulging outwards to form a sharp, hooked beak. My nose simply vanished. My eyes became black and round, and my vision suddenly improved greatly. Suddenly, I could see every tiny detail possible, from ants crawling up a tree twenty meters away, to all the yummy little mice and voles scampering around in the undergrowth.

--That really is a huge morph you have there, Maggie,-- said Philip, looking at Maggie's massive White-Tailed eagle morph. She was about three times the size as I was, with at least an eight foot wingspan. Sam was her lanner falcon, a bird similar to my own falcon morph. Philip was his magnificent (but now, rather puny looking compared to Maggie's eagle) buzzard.

--Ready, then, guys?-- asked Sam when we were all morphed. --Lets get airborne!--