Chapter 2: Friendly Strangers
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POV: Rachel
"Y-you-you... saved my i>life /i> ," I finally managed lamely. It obviously only just now dawned on the others; I saw it in their eyes.
"Make haste, young morphers, the Yeerks are sending reinforcements. We have little time to waste; find your fastest beast and use it." The girl didn't seem concerned about the whole naked part, and, apparently, neither did Marco. I jabbed him in the ribs with my free elbow and glowered at him.
Jake moved forward. Jake, our leader-and-commander. "How is it thatyou can morph?" he questioned skeptically. The girl was suddenly confused, her brow wrinkled and her head tilted to one side. "Onlywe were given that ability!" There was a bit of anger to Jake's voice.
"I don't understand your question." The voice was haunting; smooth and dark and smoky. But the peace was short-lived. The young woman spun on her heel, growling, and then hit the ground as a fennec fox.
I was very confused right now. The girl did have the morphing ability, but she was quick; there had only been two or three seconds from human to animal compared to our two minutes. But where did she get this ability?
I didn't have time to answer myself because I suddenly understood why she had wanted us to run. Only a hundred yards behind us we heard grunting. Whatever it was, it was big and mean and under the Yeerk's control. We all new that. Glancing in the girl's direction, I found a wolf form and took off after this stranger, watching her tail and oversized ears as she bounced along a trail I couldn't see.
One moment she was hundreds of pounds of angry wolverine bloody from battle, the next she was a beautiful young woman, and the next she was a petite cream-furred fox.
This was all too much; my head reeled.
POV: Jake
I was tiger right after Rachel, running with all I was worth to keep up with that tiny ball of fur as she darted in and out of view. Although I usually distrusted strangers, I couldn't bring myself to distrust her. For some reason I felt she was a friend I had known for a long time.
Glancing at the others, they looked to be deep in thought as well. This was all a lot to take in in such a short period of time. The grunting grew fainter as we charged through the woods, our destination unknown. Or so I had thought.
The fennec fox we had been chasing for almost a half hour suddenly disappeared. We came to a halt. Rachel stuck her nose to the ground and tried to follow the scent.
It was an unnecessary action, because the little fox burst out of a burrow and scampered behind us. By now, I was very confused. And when I say confused, I mean CONFUSED.
Anyone else confused? I kept it to my friends, who all agreed in turn.
Good. It's not just me, Marco muttered, also in his wolf morph.
The fox took hold of a branch in her mouth and started straining backwards, managing to reveal a fairly good-sized hole in the ground. Go inside. It is safe. I made it many months ago in case I had to make a quick exit. The Yeerks' Jwndin are large and strong, but they have very little in the way of tracking.
Again, I felt hesitant. And, again, I ditched my common sense. I went first, slipping into the hole. It was a fairly large hole, but it was made for something a little smaller than a tiger. My back rubbed the ceiling and my belly scraped the floor. But then it ended, and I found myself in a massive -okay, I say massive, but it could probably hold ten human adults comfortably- burrow. It was very dimly lit, but I could see various piles of things lined up against a wall, and many more things strewn across the dirt floor.
Cassie and Marco followed closely behind me, Rachel insisted on coming in behind the fox, and Tobias awkwardly brought up the rear.
Everyone quickly found their human bodies again, even though our night vision was less than spectacular.
While our bodies were still twisting and reconfiguring themselves, the girl had resumed human form and was tidying up.
POV: Marco
Even as I changed, my bones aching as they stretched and bent in odd ways, I could see the girl. It was near sunset already, and the red glow of the sun cast everything in a blood-hued film.
She was otherworldly to me; pretty in a petite, pale sort of way, her eyes a dazzling, eerie gold, her dark chocolate-colored hair falling gently across her back as she moved gracefully here-and-there. We were almost done changing back completely when she broke open some thick green plant that started oozing all over. It was like sap, except it was a translucent green and smelled slightly sweet.
Rachel jabbed my ribs again so I looked away, but not before I saw the girl smear that oozeinto her wounds. I suddenly felt sick. I looked away, holding in the urge to throw up.
POV: Cassie
The girl was an even better morpher than I was! Still, I had always been the mediator, and we still needed introductions. Clearing my throat, I looked her in the eye and forced myself to keep my gaze from straying down. "Umm... hello. I'm Cassie-"
"Jake, Rachel, Marco, Tobias." The girl nodded. "I know. You are familiar among the animals." She smiled, although I had the distinct feeling it was more of a smirk. "I am Talya."
"What do you mean 'familiar among the animals'?" We had all unconsciously found a sitting position, the burrow too small to stand in comfortably for long (that, and we were tired).
"I live among the animals, and they've told me countless times about the 'humans-that-walk-as-animals' that have been fighting in this area." She turned her gold eyes on Rachel, and I noticed something flicker there; compassion? curiousity? "Here, Rachel, this will temporarilyalleviate your pain." Talya stretched her right hand out, took hold of one of those thick green stalks, and passed it to Rachel. "The sap it secretes can be used as a pain reliever."
"Umm... thanks." Rachel took the foreign plant and turned it over in her hands, confused.
I liked the face Rachel made, and hid a giggle behind one of my hands.
"Why does it take so long for you to morph?" She glanced curiously at me, and I froze.
I didn't know how to answer this and looked around at my fellow Animorphs for help. Jake took the floor, thank heavens.
"It's always taken us that long. That's just how it is. The same way you can morph so quickly." This recieved a nod from the girl. "How is it that you can morph?" Jake gave her a pointed look, and I saw confusion playing across the girl's face.
"I was born with it, of course. And how can you wear clothing? Doesn't it tangle about your limbs?"
Rachel was shooting the nastiest looks at Marco, who was trying his best not to make a smart comment to this seemingly naive young woman.
Jake caught his eye and shook his head, and Marco settled down.
This was my question.
"Our clothes are skin-tight," I pulled at my leotard and let it snap back into place, "so we can morph the clothing with us. It took me several tries to learn that." I gave a friendly smile, hoping to make nice with this stranger.
She nodded, taking this in, and then glanced at the entrance to the burrow. "Your homes are hours away from here I suspect, and night has crept in. I invite you to spend the night here, if you so wish. I understand if you'd rather leave." This last sentence sounded a little sad, though she kept a serious face. The others probably missed that, but they didn't say I could read people like a book just for the hell of it. I opted to avoid the subject until later.
I looked at Jake. We all did.
POV: Jake
What was I supposed to do? Say no and have us all go back out there to walk in the dark with those (what did she call them?) Jwndin running around? I wanted to stay here, yes, but was it safe? She really didn't seem very threatening... but I had seen her fight -and KILL- that Jwndin that had attacked Rachel. That wasn't innocent; that was brutal. But everyone looked tired, beat, pleading. And Rachel was in a lot of pain; she needed rest.
I looked back at the young woman and nodded. "Thank you, that sounds nice. But, I have one term." I felt eyes on me. "I want to keep watch through the night." Thisseemed to bother the girl.
"But don't you need your sleep? Surely you are exhausted. I wouldn't mind-"
"I want to do it." I was adamant. I didn't trust her to watch our backs while we slept, helpless and vulnerable. I also didn't trust her not to slit our throats while she slept.
She looked stung, I saw, but she nodded a terseconsent.
"One more question." Rachel was clenching her teeth, trying not to show the pain was overwhelming her slowly. "Why are you still injured?" Using her free hand, she motioned towards the gaping hole ripped into Talya's chest.
"I suppose I do not heal the way you humans do.Your wounds fix themselves when you leave the beast behind;when I get injured it stays there until it heals on its own." She shrugged, as if it didn't matter. "But I have a rapid healing rate-"
"Cool. Like Wolverine?" Marco's comment, of course.
Talya fell silent, reguarding Marco like he was speaking in an alien tongue.
"Uhh... continue, Talya," I threw a look at Marco to shut up.
She glanced off into space and sighed. "There is a stream not far from hereyou can use to clean up in in the morning. Rachel, leave the sap on the wound and then clean it out tomorrow in the water. I'll give you more sap to reapply afterwards."
Rachel nodded.
My head was starting to hurt real bad now. Without a second word, everyone else retired on the dirt floor and I changed into my owl morph so I could better see and hear in the gloom as I took watch.
Marco curled in his own corner, Tobias did his best to nest in the dirt next to where Rachel and Cassie lay together. Talya was the last to find somewhere to sleep. She used a pile of leaves I guessed was her bed anyways, and pulled some sort of ragged animal fur over her petite form. Perhaps it was the moonlight playing tricks on my eyes, but I was pretty sure I saw tears in her eyes that refused to fall.