Chapter 5

I think I must have managed to get around four hours sleep before I was shaken awake by Philip. Not bad, considering I was sleeping in the dirt, with a log for a pillow.

--Hey,-- he said softly. --You're on watch duty now.--

I sat up and stretched, trying to ease the stiffness in my neck. It was night time now, and the temperature had dropped. I shivered, eager to grow some fur. Philip was still in morph, as wolf. He was watching me, but I could see his large black ears twitching this way and that at the slightest of sounds. It was probably his wolf instincts more than his hearing something suspicious.

"Anything interesting you saw?" I asked, starting my own morph to wolf. Like Philip's it was the best tool for the job - great eyesight, great hearing and fabulous sense of smell. I had an owl morph which might have been even better in terms of hearing and eyesight, but it wouldn't be much use if I'd needed some strength.

--No, not really,-- he said, beginning to demorph. I couldn't really see him in the darkness with my human eyes but I knew he could see me as if I was standing under a spot light. --Just a few a- --

He stopped abruptly, having crossed the line back to normal speech.

"Just a few aeroplanes," he finished.

"Good."

We finished our morphs, and Philip wandered back over to where the others were lying. Sam was restless, tossing back and forth. Ferdie, like always, was sleeping like a log. He was even snoring a little.

--Make sure you get some sleep, Philip,-- I said. Knowing him, he'd be up half the night analysing the situation with a fine tooth comb. --We can't do anything about anything till morning.--

"Thank you, mother," he said with a slight laugh. "I think I will. I don't suppose you'll listen to me even if I do lie here talking to myself anyway, will you?"

--Not a chance,-- I said amicably. --I don't want to hear a peep out of you until Ferdie wakes you up.--

"That would be something to look forward to," he said wryly. "I never get a good wake up call these days. Last time it was that ridiculous foghorn, the time before that it was Ferd calling my own private 'stand to' at a hundred decibels." He lay down in the grass and fell silent as he stared up at the stars.

I trotted over to a random tree and sniffed the bark, slipping into my wolf brain. I took little notice of what smells entered my nose, my mind wandered away from Philip to wondering where we might be. There was no way we could find out until we reached a town. The worst possible scenario, other than being captured by the Yeerks, was to have swam in an enormous circle and drifted back to Europe. Another was to have reached the other side of the Atlantic, but to be thousands of miles away from where we were aiming. Or we could have travelled north, ending up in Greenland.

Not likely, I told myself. Philip's sense of direction is excellent. And sharks can sense the magnetic field of the earth - they knew which way was West.

Plus it was too warm to be too far north, but not warm enough to be too near the equator. I pushed the thoughts from my mind and stared up through the trees at the stars. From one of those stars came the Yeerks. And from another, the Andalites.

After what I guessed was about two very boring and non-eventful hours, I yanked my mind back to the task in hand and trotted over to Ferdie.

--Flawless,-- I said. --Wake up.--

He rolled over, mumbling to me to go away. I pawed him in the nose. He twitched and brushed me away.

--Get up, lazy. You're on watch duty. Otherwise I'll bite you.--

He grudgingly opened his eyes and sat up.

"It's far too early, Mags," he muttered. "I didn't even get to sleep."

--Yeah, right,-- I said. --You were probably the only one who slept. Come on, get up and morph.--

He stood up and attempted to give me the evil eye, but not having the night vision I did, he didn't really achieve the effect he wished for.

"What are you, anyway? I hate the dark."

--Both Philip and I went wolf,-- I said. --Why don't you go lynx?--

"I prefer my stag morph," he said. He narrowed his eyes for a moment, concentrating on the image of the deer. In a matter of seconds, rust coloured fur began to cover his body.

"Aren't you going to demorph?" he said. "Or do you want to stay up and keep me company?"

--Yeah, right,-- I said. --I'm just staying wolf till you finish your morph.--

"And you had me hopeful and all," he laughed. He started to say something else, but was suddenly interrupted by a low, moaning sound.