Chapter 5

I spent the next hour or so in the living room, half doing homework, half thinking about the evening ahead. It was going to be a busy night. A meeting at Cassie's, followed by some spying on the Sharing. There was no way I could do that alone. I'd have to rope one of the others into coming along with me. Tom was already expecting Marco, and it would be useful for one of the new guys to attend a meeting as well, to see how the organization worked.

At ten to six, I made an excuse to skip dinner and went up to my bedroom locking the door. I stripped off most of my clothes and stepped into my morphing outfit. None of us have been able to morph normal clothes like jeans or sweaters, and never shoes, but at least the tight suits kept us from dying from embarrassment when we morphed in front of each other.

I opened my window fully and began to focus on the DNA of my bird of prey morph inside of me. Soon, the changes began. A light feather pattern appeared all over my skin, like the invisible man was drawing all over me with a tattoo pen. Suddenly, the feathers popped out of my skin, becoming three-dimensional. I began to shrink, although so not much as when I'd morphed the lizard. And the shrinking wasn't making me feel any weaker, either. If anything, it was making me feel stronger.

My hair disappeared into my head. My nose and mouth hardened and pushed outwards, forming a sharp, hooked beak. My eyes became huge and dark, my eyesight became laser sharp. A raptor's eyesight is incredible. I could see little ants crawling around in the undergrowth at the far end of my garden. My hearing was amazing, too. I could hear Tom moving about in his room next to mine. No doubt getting up to some more Yeerk business.

Finally, my arms stretched out into wings and a tail appeared from my backside. I felt the bird's mind, hungry but possessing a good deal of self control, surface beneath my own. I gave a squawk and flapped up onto the window sill. I was a peregrine falcon.

I flew straight over to Cassie's farm, wondering what the Yeerks were up to, in order to have Visser Three at a Sharing meeting. Then, I wondered whether I'd be able to get through the evening without morphing a tiger and taking the guy down there and then.

--Hey, Jake.-- I head a voice below me. --That is you, right?--

I looked around and saw a red tailed hawk circling above me. He swooped down past me, accelerating into a dive, heading for Cassie's.

--Yeah, it's me,-- I called to Tobias. --Cassie got you the massage?-- I pulled my wings back and went into a dive, soon over-taking Tobias. Tobias might have had far more practice than the rest of us in hawk morph, but there are some things in nature that just can't be beaten. And a healthy peregrine falcon, the fastest animal on earth, cannot be out-flown.

--Yeah, I'm just showing Philip back to the barn. We've just been out flying.--

I strained my eyes, and saw a large brown hawk - a British buzzard - riding the thermals above me.

--Cool,-- I said, swooping down. Tobias and Philip followed me and we landed on the roof of Cassie's barn. We hopped in through the roof-window, and Philip and I fluttered down on the floor of the barn. Tobias stayed up in the rafters, keeping watch. He didn't need to demorph.

"Hey, guys," said Cassie, walking into the barn carrying a big bucket of dirty water. "It's ok, you can demorph. My parents are both out now. Hey, Philip. You found the way back ok?"

--Yeah, Tobias showed me the way,-- Philip replied, demorphing. Philip is one of the new Animorphs, one of the fugitives, who'd come all the way from the UK on the run from Visser Five, to help us out with the fight against the Yeerks. There's also Philip's brother, Ferdinand, Ferdie's girlfriend, Sam, who's kind of their leader, and a hot-headed Scottish girl called Maggie.

I finished demorphing, and laid back on one of the bales on hay in the barn. Cassie's barn is really the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic, a kind of care-center for injured animals. The barn is full with cages holding birds, foxes and other wild animals, and is always very noisy and very smelly. Out in the yard, there are paddocks and fields for goats and horses, and a big green pond for the ducks. Both Cassie's parents are vets. Her dad runs the clinic, and her mom works up at the Gardens, a kind of combined zoo and amusement park. Cassie was the one who'd got us access to most of our morphs, and knows more about animals than the rest of us put together.

"Are the others here yet?" I asked. By the others, I meant all ten of us. The five of us, Ax the Andalite, and the four new guys. It was strange, there being so many of us now.

"Maggie's here," Cassie replied. "She's been helping me groom the horses. And I think Rachel took Sam out shopping. Not sure where Ferdie, Marco and Ax are, though."

Just then, Maggie entered the barn. Like Cassie, she was dressed in old, mud-splattered overalls and muddy boots. She dumped the brushed she was carrying down by one of the cages and grinned at me.

"Heya, Jake," she said, her accent reminding me of Willy from The Simpsons. She ran her hand through her bushy red hair, trying to remove some of the dried dirt that had settled in it.

"Hi, Maggie," I said. "You been helping Cassie with her chores then?"

"Aye, I don't mind at all though. I love animals. My parents did this save-the-rhinos project in Africa a few years back."

"I don't suppose you want to give us a hand, do you, Jake?" Cassie asked.

"Sure," I said. Like I could say no to her. I picked up a broom and started sweeping up some of the hay that was scattered on the concrete floor.

--Whoa, am I dreaming, or has Cassie finally managed to rope Jake into doing her work?--

Marco, in osprey morph, came sailing in through the roof window. He settled down on the floor and began to demorph. He smirked at me sweeping away and sat down on an upturned bucket. That made six of us.

I heard a giggling outside, and turned round to see two girls enter the barn. One was Rachel, my super-glamorous cousin, carrying a sports bag on one shoulder and way too many shopping bags over the other. She smiled when she saw Tobias. The other girl was a tall and muscular, with coarse, light blonde hair and strangely dark eyes.

"Hey, people," the curly-haired girl said. She went quiet for a second, and I watched as her features shifted subtly. Her black eyes became a light hazel color, her hair became dark brown, almost black, and straight. She became a couple of inches shorter, a little less muscular, and her clothes became a little baggier.

"How's it going, Sam?" I asked the girl, who was an expert in partial-morphs. Sam was the leader of the four British Animorphs, and with me being the unofficial leader of us American Animorphs, I hoped we'd be able to work well together.

"All good," she replied. "Rachel and I have just been shopping together." She placed a handful of bags - mostly marked with a big red Sale sign - down by one of the cages and nodded to the rest of us.

"They had some great sales at the mall," Rachel said happily. I saw she was wearing an expensive-looking new jacket. "Sam really needed some new clothes, and we managed to get some awesome bargains!"

"I don't see how you two have time to shop," Marco complained. "All I've been doing all afternoon is homework."

I stole a glace at Marco. He gave me an innocent look back. How can he lie so naturally like that?

"I persuaded Rachel to go to a kick-boxing class, too" Sam said. "I used to do it before this whole Yeerk thing, and I thought she'd enjoy it."

"Yeah, it was brilliant! Maybe not as brilliant as fighting a bunch of Hork-Bajir in grizzly morph, but it was sure a great way to kick some butt."

I laughed. Rachel might look like some air-head fashion victim, but in reality, she's more like a gung-ho army solider. Marco calls her Xena: Warrior Princess. She lives for the thrill of the battle, and is usually the first to go for something dangerous or perilous. Sometimes, it even scares me a little.

At last, the final two members of our team turned up. Ax, in his northern harrier morph, fluttered in through the open door and settled sensibly on a hay bale where he began to demorph.

--God after noon, Prince Jake,-- he said. Somehow, Ax has got in into my head that because I'm the leader, he has to call me 'Prince'. It really bugs me, but I've given up on asking him not to do it. I had no idea what he'd call Sam. To be honest, he probably wouldn't even acknowledge her as our second in command.

--Hey, Ax,-- said Tobias from the rafters. --How's it going?--

--It is going fine, Tobias.-- Ax replied. Ax and Tobias are pretty close. They both see themselves as outcasts, and have made their home in the woods just beyond Cassie's farm. I turned away from watching Ax demorph. Going from hawk to human is not a pretty process. Going from hawk to Andalite is even worse.

"Is Ferdie here?" Sam asked Ax. I think Ferdie and her are going out together.

--Yes, Sam, he should be on his way right now,-- the Andalite replied, beginning to morph to human. Having a blue-furred, scorpion-tailed deer about was bound to attract attention.

Without warning, a piercing scream filled my mind.

--Yeee haaah!-- A tiny little falcon, called a hobbie, suddenly soared through the roof window at a thousand miles an hour. It circled the barn, skimming out of the rafters for a few movements, the dived down towards the ground, pulling up just seconds from hitting the floor.

"Sheesh, Flawless," said Philip. "Make sure you grab everyone's attention. Just try not to kill yourself before I do."

--Lighten up, Philip,-- said Ferdie, landing on the ground and beginning to demorph. --Just because you got lost on the way here.--

"I didn't get lost!" Philip retorted.

--Yeah, you did. Tobias had to rescue you.--

"That is by no means accurate. Tobias and I went flying together."

I laughed to myself. The two brothers squabbling reminded me so much of Marco and I at the arcade.

Ferdie finished demorphing, and threw himself down lazily on to a hay bale. He was a tall, muscular guy, a year or so older than I was. He had shaggy, strawberry blonde hair, and tanned, freckly skin. I guess a lot of girls would say he was cute, although being a guy, I wouldn't know for sure. Sam obviously liked him. She came down over to us and sat beside Ferdie.

"We got you guys some more clothes," she said to Ferdie, Philip and Maggie. "Rachel and I have been hitting the sales!"

"Marvelous," said Ferdie. He had a very strong British accent, and in my opinion, sounded rather full of himself. The two brothers are some kind of English aristocrats, and it certainly shows in their self-confidence and Andalite-like arrogance. Philip sounded a lot like Pierce Brosnan in James Bond. Ferdie looked, and sounded, more like Prince Harry - he had the same cheeky humor and reckless nature. A lot like Rachel, I came to realize.

"Let's have a look," said Maggie, helping Cassie change the bandage of a goose. "What did you get?"

"A few changes of clothes to take down to the valley," she said. "Not sure how we're going to get them there, but I guess we'll find a way."

The four new Animorphs have been living down in the Hork-Bajir valley the Ellimist created for us. As their names and faces are well known to the Yeerks, it is dangerous for them to walk about in the city, or rent a hotel room, incase they are recognized. The six of us had briefed Toby, the leader of the Hork-Bajir, on their situation, and they'd been more than willing to help them out. Tobias and Ax had been spending the last few days flying down and helping them build shelters, tree houses and gather clean water. Philip, apparently, had been an officer in the British army for a few months, and knew a thing or two about living in the field.

"Cool," Maggie, taking a bag of clothes from Sam and rifling though it.

"Rachel chose most of the stuff," Sam told her. "You cannot drag the girl away from a sale!"

Rachel laughed and tossed her long, blonde hair over her shoulder. She began passing out the rest of the clothes.

"I thought these would suit Ferdie," she said. "I think I managed to get your style. Smart but casual, and with plenty of designer labels."

"Great stuff, Rachel," said Ferdie, flashing her a smile of dazzling white teeth - very unlike most British mouths I'd seen! "Loving the polo shirt!"

"Some 'trousers' and a navy lambs wool sweater for Philip - or 'jersey', I should say!" Rachel laughed, passing Philip a neatly folded pile clothes. "And some combats and tee-shirts for Maggie."

"We got some new morphing outfits, too," Sam said. "I think ours are reaching the end of their lives." She glanced at Maggie's red leotard, which was full of holes and tears. "Two weeks crossing the Atlantic really took it's toll."

"How did you get the money for all that stuff?" Marco asked. "That sweater looks really expensive."

"Oh, I gave them the money," said Ferdie casually. "I've got an on-line bank account. Philip just created some program to prevent anyone from finding out that we'd accessed the account from the US, and I transferred the money electronically to Rachel's account."

"Don't do that too often," I laughed. "Rachel can go mad when it comes to having a sale. And maybe you should ask Ax to help you create a program next time. He knows more about computers than any human can."

"Programming a human computer is remarkable simple," said Ax. "Simple. Im-pul. Pul. Remark-cab-ly simp-ul."

I sighed. Since Andalites don't have mouths, it is common for Ax to want to play around with 'mouth sounds', as he called them, when he's in human morph. At least there was no food about. Andalites only have a limited sense of taste, and Ax around a cinnamon bun is one dangerous and disturbing being.

"Well, if we're all here, perhaps we could get to business," I said. "Although I can tell that in the future getting us all together like this is going to take a whole lot more planning that we're used to."

"Right-ho, Fearless Leader," said Marco, emphasizing to Sam who was in charge. "Let's get on with this. I've got shed-loads of work to do and don't really want to be up half the night planning our next suicide attempt."