Chapter 3

We swam onwards towards land. It wasn't too far, only a mile or so, and only took us a few minutes at full speed. None of us were eager to stay in the water any longer than we had to now. The land had looked a lot closer when we were birds, as our vision had been quite a bit stronger then. As humans, it had looked a lot further away. And of course, as sharks, we were under the water, and couldn't really see a thing!

--My belly just brushed against something,-- said Philip suddenly. --I think we're coming into shallow water.--

My stomach brushed something too. I couldn't look downwards - the shark's body wouldn't allow for this movement - but I could sense we were in shallower water, too. The current was weaker, and my shark's brain was feeling uncomfortable. It prefered the depths of the open water.

--Right then guys,-- said Sam. --This will be the dodgy bit. We have to demorph here without anyone on land spotting us. Luckily we're nowhere near than boat any longer. But we'll have to leave the water as humans - we can't morph straight to our land animals or it will look seriously strange to see horses and wolves emerge from the sea!--

--Maybe one of us should go first,-- advised Philip. --Keep a look out so make sure no one is watching us.--

--Good idea,-- said Sam. --I'll go first then, and you guys start demorphing once I'm human.--

The four of us started swimming in a tight circle so that the water could continue to pass through our gills. Sharks are supposed to keep swimming in order to breath. I couldn't really make out which of the other three was Sam - they all acquired the same shark and so have the same, identical morph. I'm the only one with a different shark morph, as I didn't get my morphs until later on.

Just then, one of the sharks started writhing and twisting. It was turning a pinky-peach colour, with patches of blue which was obviously Sam's morphing outfit. Short dark hair shot out of it's head, making it look like one of those cute beanie toy sharks with hair. Sam's shark tail suddenly split down the middle, into two human legs. They lost the triangular fins, forming normal feet and toes. Sam began to kick furiously to keep herself steady.

--I think that must be once of the strangest morphs yet, Sam!-- laughed Ferdie. --A shark with human legs, pink skin and hair.--

--Like a kid with a Barbie doll and a toy shark swapped over the body parts,-- I said.

--Well, it can't be any worse that some of the ones we've seen,-- Sam grumbled. --Flawless - your goose demorph a few minutes ago looked like something I might find in the frozen section in Tesco!--

She completed her demorph. She paddled water for a bit, her toes still not quite touching the sea bed. Then, she ducked her head under the water and gave us the thumbs us.

--Alright people,-- said Philip. --Let's demorph.--

The demorph was a lot quicker than the morph - it's easier to picture your own body than it is to picture an unfamiliar animal. Philip, the fastest morpher, was fully human before Ferdie and I were even halfway.

"Who wants to be first to step on American soil?" asked Sam.

"Hope we don't get asked for papers!" said Ferdie. "Anyone got a visa or passport on them?"

"I don't think they'll bother asking wolves and hawks for passports,-- laughed Sam, throwing him an affectionate grin. Philip rolled his eyes.

"Come on children, I want something to eat," he said, breaking into a front crawl and swimming towards land.

The three of us took after him, struggling against the breaking waves, and eventually coming to water shallow enough for us to wade up the beach. We trundled out of the water and onto the sand, dripping wet, looking like four drowned rats making their way to dry land.

"At least we don't look too out of place in our morphing outfits," I said. Our leotards and tight shorts and tee shirts fitted in well for a change. "I guess people will just assume they're swimming costumes or wetsuits."

"Unlike the time I got some strange glances buying those take-aways in Leeds," said Ferdie.

"I wonder where we are," said Sam, gazing up and down the beach. To be honest, it wasn't really a beach at all, just a place at the edge of a set of shallow hills where the land crumbed away into the sea. There was a stretch of dead land, with shallow dunes and small shrubs, and what was probably the edge of a wood further field. Beyond those, I could make out forests and low mountains and hills. There were very few people around, just a couple out hiking and a guy with a dog. I couldn't hear any urban noise, so I guessed we were a long way from any major towns or cities.

"Well the whole eastern seaboard is huge," said Sam. "We could be anywhere from Florida to, err, anyone know any US states on the eastern seaboard?"

"My geography's rubbish even when talking about British counties. I don't know anything about states in America. I don't even know how many there are!" remarked Ferdie.

"We could be in Canada or somewhere. Or some random island in the middle of the Atlantic," I said.

"Well maybe we should find a town and get hold of a map to find out where we are, and what we're gonna do next," replied Sam. "All I know is that we have to get to California and that's over two thousand miles west of here."

"Maybe we should find somewhere to rest first, though," said Philip. "We haven't had a proper sleep for days and everyone's tired and hungry."

"I couldn't agree more with you, Philip," said Ferdie.

"Well, I think there are some rocks up ahead," said Sam. "We could morph in those and then maybe head for those woods. I still think we should avoid birds for the next few hours, just in case any Controllers noticed us and got suspicious."

Sam led the way over the rocky dunes in over to an area sheltered by rocks and more shrubs. It wasn't exactly a cave, but it did prevent us from being right out in the open.

"I thought maybe I should just morph falcon really quickly, just to see if I can see any nearby towns," said Sam. "Not enough for me to get spotted though. Then we could head out to the woods with an idea of where we want to be going after that."

"Cool," I said. "I don't mind trekking through the woods later on anyway. Flying is cool but apart from swimming, it's all we've been doing for the past few days."

"I wouldn't mine trekking, either," replied Ferdie. "I might do my horse morph."

Sam nodded and morphed to falcon. She flapped up into the sky, did a couple of large circles to scan the area, then flew back down to us and swiftly demorphed.

"There's a small town about ten miles inland," she said. "I guess that's west. So I think we should morph and head out that way now, settle down and wait till morning, then make our way in that direction through the forest"

"Sounds good," agreed Philip. "Up for another night in the woods, Flawless?" he asked his brother.

"Right now? I'll sleep anywhere!" he laughed.

"Ok then," said Sam. "Pick a ground morph you like, and lets go!"