Author's Note: Thank you Ember Nickel, estrid2006, Flame Vixen and SouthrnBelle for your reviews. They are very much appreciated. :)

Text in italics represent thought-speak. Hope you will enjoy this chapter.

Green grass and brown trees stretched for as far as Rachel's eyes could see. A sliver of the sun's fiery body lay across the horizon. Sunrise was fast approaching.

Rachel zoomed in to what she was looking for. Her eyes searched and found their target.

The love of her life (and afterlife) was perched on a nearby tree, catching his last few moments of sleep.

Rachel's heart gave a painful wrench. He looked thinner. Bonier. She sat down in front of the tree, and watched him sleep. He looked so peaceful.

She felt as if she could sit there forever, just watching over him. At that moment in time, it was her sole desire.

A few blissful minutes later, he stirred. His eyes flicked open. For a moment, he looked like a normal hawk who had just awoken and was ready for another day of hunting. And then, it was almost as if something had clicked in his mind. His beak dipped and his feathers drooped. If there ever was a bird who looked like it was tired of living, he would be it.

Pain shot through Rachel's heart. And suddenly, she knew exactly what she wanted to do in her last few moments with Tobias.

She wondered if being dead affects your ability to morph.

It didn't.

Focusing on the bald eagle DNA in her body, she began to change.

Just as the final adjustments were being made to her body, Tobias took to the air.

Rachel quickly completed her morph and took off after him. Ahh…Rachel sighed with pleasure as the thermals lifted the two raptors up, up, up into the sky. This was what she loved best about being in her bald eagle morph: flying with Tobias, and letting the thermals take them to the skies.

The sun was beginning its ascent by now. Slowly, it spread its rays throughout the earth, turning everything it touched into gold.

As she admired the magnificent view of the world beneath and felt the brush of Tobias's wings against hers, she felt as if she were already in paradise.

They flew for a long time. Rachel enjoyed every minute of it. They soared over a field filled with red roses. It was a breathtakingly beautiful scene. Suddenly, Tobias killed his speed and began to dive towards the field. Before Rachel could access the part of the eagle's mind that knew how to dive, he had swooped up into the air again-but with a deep red rose in his beak.

Got yourself a new girlfriend, have you! That's fast! she fumed, jumping to the first conclusion that passed through her head.

But jealous and hurt though she was, she knew that Tobias had to move on sooner or later. And underneath her jealousy, a more powerful force lurked. Curiosity. Was his new girl hawk or human? She didn't know many of either variety that could compare with herself.

Chuckling inwardly at her narcissism, she continued to follow him. They flew for a short distance, and then Tobias began to dive towards a group of trees below. Puzzled, she prepared to do likewise. But the questions in her head interrupted with her focus, and she forgot to let the eagle take over the dive. By the time she got close to the trees, Tobias had disappeared underneath the foliage.

Definitely human. she thought. She circled in the air a few times, trying to catch a glimpse of Tobias. But all she could see was leaves, leaves and more leaves.

Then, she realized that there were fewer trees ahead. She might be able to see him from there.

Sure enough, she saw a head of dirty-blonde hair bobbing underneath the trees. She followed it until it came to a halt. Straining to get a closer look, she killed her speed and began to fall, aiming for the tree branch next to Tobias's head.

But she was out of practice, and snagged some of her wing feathers on another branch. Ow! she cried in pain, and watched as her feathers floated onto the ground next to Tobias.

Now, she had a better view of him. And as soon as she saw what he was doing, she knew she had been wrong.

Her "cheating" boyfriend was removing the wilting rose from the top of her monument, and replacing it with the new rose. Sunlight bounced off the tears that were already forming at the corners of his eyes, making them shine.

Oh, Tobias…she sighed. She landed on the ground and began to demorph.

As she was demorphing, Tobias's gaze fell on the feathers on the ground next to him. He picked one of them up.

"Bald eagle." he said softly, his voice rusty from lack of use. And then, a millisecond later, his eyes lit up, and he cried "Rachel!", He looked around frantically, searching the tiny glimpses of sky above him, and the space all around him. And then, realizing that his thought-speak would have a wider range, he shouted RACHEL!

"I'm here…" Rachel shouted, crying, "I'm here."

"Rachel, come back!" he shouted, almost angrily.

"Rachel…"

Realisation dawned in his eyes. It could have been any other bald eagle. Not Rachel. Angry tears of frustration rolled down his face. He had had a ray of hope for a minute there, and then it had been snatched away. His heart now felt twice as empty. Twice as sorrowful. Twice as lonely.

He did not feel a thing as Rachel hugged him as tightly as she could. Her face, too, was wet with tears of frustration. She wanted so much to talk to him, to tell him she was still here. But how? He couldn't hear her. Couldn't feel her. "Think, Rachel, think!" she forced herself to focus. There had to be a way around Crayak's rules.

Finally, an idea materialized in her head. "I'll be right back, Tobias." She began to morph to eagle again.

As she morphed, she could hear the faint clopping of hooves in the distance. Hooves? she thought, puzzled. And then, as the clopping got louder, it was joined by the sound of heavy footfalls…

Cassie racked her brains. Where would Rachel go next? To see Tobias, of course. She would have gone home, then to Jake's, then to her. And then to Tobias. Cassie was sure of that. And where would Tobias be? He would be in his meadow. "No", she corrected herself. He would be at Rachel's grave. He left his meadow first thing every morning and spent the rest of his day in front of Rachel's grave. He would only leave it late at night, to sleep in his meadow.

Yes. That was where she should go. But first, she needed to contact the others.

"This is crazy…" she thought to herself. She was only working on a hunch. What if she was wrong? No harm trying, though. She rushed to her phone, and dialed Jake's number.

Author's Note: Sorry to leave you hanging! I'll be away for a few days, so the next chapter will take a while to post up. In the meantime, please drop me a review. :D Thanks.