Apparently really not wanting to do papers is an incentive for writing chapters in this fic….I shall have to remember that. This time, since there are only two reviews, I can actually do the acknowledge thing.
DH: Awesome! You're still reading! happy And, yeah….Reese tends to think with her stomach. Lol. I know what you mean about the reactions…..And Reese didn't even want to be an Animorph. Oh, yes. Definitely lucky Marco was there.
Lily of the Shadow: Thanks! Sorry for the wait, is this better? Lol.
Disclaimer: "We can't run, that would be wrong….Can we hide?"
Chapter Thirty Part One – Daniel
Part of my walk home was accompanied by Rachel, Jake, and Cassie. But Cassie left by the time we got to her house. Rachel and Jake lived in different neighborhoods then I did, so eventually I was walking alone. It gave me some time to think to myself.
The thought of having the morphing ability… it had been a fantasy of mine since I read the first book. And now it had come true. I was one of them. An Animorph. My friends and I had acquired the morphing ability, but not without loss. The original Animorphs had to witness the murder of Elfangor. David experienced an attack first had, and then watched his parents lost to the Yeerks.
Us however, ours was different. Sammie and I, we both at least somewhat knew what was going on. But Reese...she was guilted into becoming one. That was my small loss. I lost a bit of a friend in the process.
I got home and went straight to my room and straight into bed. I didn't even change from my clothing of three days. I climbed into my bed and lay there. So tired…
But sleep didn't come. Probably because it was about six in the afternoon. I sighed and climbed out of bed. Now what? Well, I walked out of my room and did the only logical thing for me to do: go on the computer. I sat down and waited for it to be done getting ready. Then I typed in my password and got online. Now you know what I do in my spare time.
Anyway…I blew a good four hours on that. I chatted with random people, went to random websites, nothing too productive. But while I was talking to my friends, I couldn't help but wonder. How many of them were truly my friends? How many of them were truly talking to me, and not being controlled by a parasitic alien?
Paranoia followed me until I was offline and back in bed. The thoughts of infestation of my friends and family remained in my mind until I fell asleep.
School the next day was mostly normal. But I was nervous and excited. I would be acquiring my first morphs. My thoughts drifted in class about morphing, and my lack of focus strangely didn't help me understand the subjects any more.
"What do you think Visser Three would say about flaming roly-polys?" I asked Marco quietly during math.
"What?" he responded, giving me a 'I'm-so-not-going-into-battle-with-you-if-you're-serious-look'.
"You know, a 'Flaming Roly-poly of Doom' or something…" I said with the straightest face I could come up with…before it collapsed into a grin.
He smirked at me and we both turned our attention to the teacher and tried to pay attention. We both failed and ended up falling asleep. Go us.
I met up with Reese and Sammie during lunch, and we all spoke of normal things. But we could all see that we were anxious about what was going to happen. None of our hearts were really in the conversation.
After that, I just waited for the end of the day to roll around, and for the next step in becoming an Animorph to begin.
Chapter Thirty Part Two – Rachel
We were a strange little group in Cassie's barn, lounging around while she force-fed a coyote some pills. Marco had flopped down on one of the bales of hay, and Reese was perched carefully on the one next to him, looking at us all warily.
Reese wasn't as angry as yesterday, but she still seemed a little distant. I guess I couldn't blame her. A lot of us had reacted the same way when this first happened.
I was leaning against one of the walls, and Danny was standing by me. Sam was standing by some of the other cages, and Jake was next to Cassie, watching all of us. Tobias was perched in the rafters as usual, and Ax was in his human morph.
Finally, Cassie locked the coyote's cage and glanced at Jake.
"Well, we've got two birds right now…" Cassie said, gesturing to the cages. "The smaller one is a Cooper's hawk, and the other one is a red-tail, like Tobias."
Jake nodded. "Since there's only two, two of you will have to share, so…I guess you can go ahead and pick."
"I call the red-tail." Danny said immediately, raising his hand.
Sam glanced at Tobias and winked. She then looked at Jake. "Actually, I had a question…You remember Skysong, the red-tail with me the other day? You think I could acquire her? She gave her permission, so…"
Jake glanced at all of us.
I shrugged. I didn't care.
Jake nodded. "Uh, sure. Go ahead."
Sam smiled, looking happy. "Oh, good. She's on her way, then."
"Okay. Danny, you want to acquire the red-tail?" Jake asked.
Danny nodded and stepped forward. Cassie opened the red-tailed hawk's cage and he reached a lightly shaking hand in. He stroked the hawk's head, closing his eyes as he concentrated. In a moment, he backed away.
"Let's hope that worked." Danny said.
Cassie looked over at Reese. "Reese? Did you want the Cooper's Hawk?"
Reese shrugged and stood up. "Yeah, I guess so. Can't argue with anything that has Cooper in its name. So I just touch it?"
Jake nodded. "Touch it and concentrate on the hawk."
"Okay…" Reese walked over the Cooper's hawk cage. She carefully stuck her hand in. After a moment she, too, moved off. "I don't feel any different."
"You won't." I said. "Not until you start morphing."
About then is when a female red-tailed hawk swooped into the barn. She landed on Sam's out-stretched arm, ruffling her feathers slightly.
Sam took a deep breath, then pet the hawk's back. The hawk stayed still for a few moments after Sam drew her hand away. Then, she fluffed her feathers again and took off.
The three of them looked at Jake.
"Well." He said. "I guess it's time for you to morph. I don't suppose you happen to have on morphing outfits?"
Danny and Sam nodded.
Reese scowled. "If you're referring to the shorts and tanktop Sammie made me put on, then yes, but there is no way I'm taking off my coat. It's freezing."
"You're going to lose the coat when you morph anyway." Marco said.
"Man, it's cold." Danny muttered as he pulled off his sweatshirt and jeans, leaving him in a black t-shirt and black shorts.
Sam, too, stripped off her outer clothing and was left in black Darth Maul shorts and a black Batman tank top.
"Nice." Marco said approvingly, which drew laughs from various people.
Reese grumbled under her breath, but slowly peeled off her jacket and other clothes. She, too, had a tanktop and shorts, but hers were blue and her shorts had little stars and crescent moons all over them. "Happy now? I'm freezing my butt off."
"Okay, who wants to volunteer to take them to Gardens?" Jake asked.
"I'm going. Obviously." Cassie said.
I'll go. Tobias offered.
"Me, too." I said.
Jake nodded. "Okay, then. Get them some morphs, and we'll meet back here in…I dunno…four hours?"
"Four hours it is." Cassie said.
Cassie and I went down to our morphing outfits, too, and stood there shivering.
"Okay, we'll go first, to show you how it's done." Cassie said.
We began to morph. I felt my internal organ shrinking and rearranging as my bone hollowed to become bird-like. A feather pattern sprouted on my skin, then turned into actual feathers. I started shrinking, and a hard beak began to grow where my mouth and nose once were. In a minute or so, I was fully eagle.
I swung my head over to Cassie, who was also finished, then looked back at the three of them to see their reaction.
Reese had her hand over her mouth, like she was trying not to throw up.
Sam looked disgusted and fascinated at the same time. "Oh, that is so not pretty."
"Yes. Definitely not very good looking." Danny agreed.
Yeah, yeah, well, it's your turn now. I grumbled.
"I'll go first." Sam said.
She closed her eyes. She shrunk almost immediately, becoming roughly the size she was going to be before any other changes happened.
"Well, that's new." Marco commented.
"Oh, look, now she's even shorter!" Reese said cheerfully.
Her feet shifted to become talons, and her head shaped itself birdlike, even though she still had a human face. Feathers sprang up on her body in patches, then her arms flattened and stretched out to become wings. Finally, her face shifted and became the beak and fierce eyes of a red-tail.
Okay, now, get ready for the instincts. Cassie warned.
Sam turned to look at her and noticed Rachel. She screamed a warning and launched herself into the rafters. She then noticed Tobias, a male red-tail, and hesitated. She flapped over to land on his rafter, screeching another fear-laced call to the eagle on the ground.
"Wow, they really do take over." Danny commented.
Sam, listen to me. You're human, okay? You're not a hawk. Your name is Samantha. Cassie told her.
"Be one with the hawk," Danny added helpfully.
Sam flared her wings, looking disgruntled. In a moment, though, she blinked. Oh. I, uh, knew that. Man. That was strange. She realized where she was and scooted away a little. Sorry. My morph thought you were safe.
It's okay. Tobias said.
"I guess I'm next, then." Danny said.
The first thing to change on Danny was his head. It reformed and stretched, turning into a complete hawk's head. The glasses on his face melded into his hawk feathers. For a moment, nothing else changed, and he had the head of a hawk and the body of a human.
You know, that's kind of cool-looking. I commented.
Feathers erupted all over his skin, covering him in them. His fingers melted together and his arms thinned, then grew into wings. He began shrinking only then. As he shrunk, his body changed until he was almost completely hawk, except for his still human-feet. Then, his talons appeared, and he shifted his gaze around the room.
Uh-oh. We've got two male red-tails now. Cassie said, right as Danny screamed.
"Tseeer!" He yelled to Tobias, flaring his wings in challenge and puffing himself up in an attempt to look bigger.
Oh, wonderful. Danny, snap out of it! I said.
Yeah, you really don't want to attack me. Tobias added.
Danny hesitated, then folded his wings. Oh, geez. That hawk was ticked. He looked around for a moment. Wow. You guys were never kidding when you talked about good vision.
"Joy. And now I get to go." Reese muttered.
Her feathers came up first, covering every inch of her skin. Then her beak pushed out of her face. Her toes melted together to form claws before her talons were fully formed, then she began shrinking. Her body shifted, becoming hawk-like, and her legs suddenly shortened into bird-legs. Fortunately, she was small enough that that didn't make her fall over, although Marco did snicker. Her wings came in, then, and her talons formed. Last to change was her eyes.
Reese's morph was the smallest of us, so when she saw the other birds of prey, her eyes widened in fear. She screeched, surprisingly loud for a bird just over a foot in length. Then she back-pedaled, getting as far away from us as she could.
Reese, you're not a hawk. You're a human. Sam informed her.
We're not going to hurt you. Come on, Reese, remember? Cassie asked.
Reese stopped. Oh, this morph rocks! I mean, except for the fear…Doesn't like you people. She paused. Can we fly now? She asked.
Apparently, the hawk mind had ebbed away a bit of her anger. Either that, or she just wanted to fly.
Sure. Cassie said. Let's go.
Have I mentioned that I'm afraid of heights? Danny asked. This should be fun.