[Stop!]

But the Andalite wasn't interested in stopping. He ignored me completely and left the food court.

Asshole.

[Cassie!] I shouted. [Tobias!]

[On him.]

From the table Tobias had ducked under, a bird shook itself out of a pile of Tobias' clothes. A crow, to be specific.

[I'll follow him,] Tobias said to me.

[No, find Cassie,] I ordered him. [Make sure she's safe. I'm going to grab the Andalite and see if I can make him morph human again. We can't have the cops seeing an Andalite. They'll kill him, Controllers or not.]

[Got it.] Tobias hopped onto a chair, flapped his wings, and he was gone.

I called out for Cassie in thought-speak and got no answer. It was likely that she couldn't hear me. We've learned that thought-speak has a limited range, and the mall was pretty big.

All I could hope for was that she got out of the mall before the cops locked it down. My school did active shooter drills, so I knew the SOP. The police would surround the mall, set up a perimeter to keep people from coming in or out, and then a SWAT team would enter the mall to clear out civilians and hunt down the shooter. We had minutes before they showed up.

I needed something that could catch up to the Andalite and, if need be, drop him and force him to listen to me. My bird and snake morphs were not up to the job. But my malinois might be.

My dad was part of a K9 unit. He was assigned a malinois named Chance. Chance was the first morph I acquired. The first of us all. I quickly pulled off my clothes and concentrated.

Morphing isn't all that complicated. You just acquire an animal, picture it in your mind, and then concentrate. In a matter of seconds, your body will twist and mold itself into the morph you chose. You expect it to hurt, always. But it never does.

The first change that came over me was the fur. Short, course fur sprouted from my hands, arms, and chest. It spread to every part of my body.

My arms and legs started bending to form dog legs, and my hands and feet scrunched up into adorable little paws. Dull, thick claws grew from my new toes. They would give me more traction as I ran and help me grip whatever I pounced.

My ears extended and tapered and rose to the top of my head. My face bulged out and out and out, and I felt my teeth multiply in my new set of jaws. My vision went from seeing lots of colors to seeing significantly less.

Then my nose kicked into gear, and finally, the dog's instincts mingled with my own.

HAPPYHAPPYJOYJOY -

I was familiar with this sensation. The first time I morphed Chance, I walked around my room just sniffing and exploring. The second time, I morphed in front of Jake, and went nuts over an old baseball.

But I wasn't just any dog. I was an attack dog. Malinois were trained to follow directions, but they were bred to maim. Underneath all the normal doggie borks and bluster was the genetically modified mind of one nasty, territorial beast. I nearly bit Jake's head off when he tried to take his baseball back from me before I managed to clamp down that part of Chance's personality.

I was designed to seek and destroy. Find the target. Run down the target. Then, pounce and force it to the ground. And finish it off.

But right now, I needed the nose and speed more than the claws and teeth. I leapt onto the counter and sniffed the air, looking for a smell I couldn't recognize.

I smelled the sugary frosting of sticky buns, still cooling on metal pans in the kitchen behind me. I smelled the fear-sweat BO left behind by the many shoppers who had fled the food court.

I smelled the coppery odor of fresh blood oozing from the dead Controller.

And I smelled…

...something like a horse covered in ranch dressing.

Bingo.

I felt the malinois' instincts perk up. Chance had just found something all dogs, big and small, crave more than anything else on this Earth.

Something to chase!

Go get him, boy!

I barked and jumped off the counter. My nails went clickety-clack across the floor as I sped out of the food court at twenty-something miles per hour.

I barked again as I blew past the dead Controller. Barking is fun. Dead people are not. Besides, Chance liked barking.

Rachel may have been nervous, stressed out and agitated, but Chance was having a heckin' good time.

Chasechasechasechasechase!

The mall, thankfully, was empty. The people who hadn't fled the "active shooter" were hiding like they were supposed to. [Tobias! Cassie!]

[We hear you.]

Cassie. Good. [Where are you guys?]

[The pet store on the second floor,] she told me.

That was perfect! I had hoped that we could get the Andalite to remorph and walk it out of here as a human, but there was a small chance someone had told the cops that we were involved and gave them a description of us. Hiding would be less risky, and I couldn't imagine a better place to hide a shapeshifting alien than a pet store.

Now we just had to get the Andalite there. My nose led me down the main walkway, past potted plants and saplings. I found the Andalite standing just inside the mall foyer. I could see red and blue lights winking on and off outside.

I barked. The Andalite's stalk eyes looked back at me. He kept his main eyes on the police congregating outside. I mentally estimated the length of his tail and parked myself just outside of striking range.

Let no one ever say I never learn my lessons.

[Well, this is a pickle,] I said brightly.

He ignored me again. I watched the Andalite, wondering how I was going to talk him into coming with me. So far, I'd encountered three different aliens, and all three had tried to kill me within seconds of meeting me.

Maybe that said something about me.

[Hey! What was all that, back there? Why'd you take off like that?]

[You said we had to leave,] the Andalite replied. [So I left.]

Great. First, he tries to cut my head clean off. Now, he sasses me. Maybe there is something about me. [Okay, Murder Smurf, listen up.]

The Andalite focused on me. That was better. [Any second now, all of those guys your watching, then ones with the guns, are going to bust in here and try to kill you. I want to keep that from happening. So you need to do exactly what I say. Okay?]

The Andalite was quiet. [Okay?] I pressed him.

[I will follow no orders but those of my prince.]

I rolled my doggy eyes. [For fuck's sake, dude. It's really, really not the time to argue.]

[You said his name.] Now the Andalite turned completely around to face me. [Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul. You said his name.]

I nodded. Amazing how many human mannerisms and gestures make it into our morphs. I bet that looked weird, a dog nodding in acknowledgement of something. [Yes, I did.]

[But you are not an Andalite.]

[No, I'm not.]

[But you know my prince.]

I rolled my eyes again. [Yes, I did.]

[Did?]

[How about this?] I stood up on all fours and shook myself. Chance and I were both getting antsy. [You come with me. Let my friends and I hide you. And while we're all hiding, we'll tell you all about Prince Elfangor. Deal?]

The Andalite watched me. [How can you morph if you are not an Andalite?]

[If you really want to know,] I patiently answered, [come with me.]

The Andalite hesitated. He looked tense. [Where are we going,] he finally asked.

[Second floor,] I told him. [To the pet store. Come with me.]

I took off at a trot. The Andalite followed me and kept pace next to me.

[What is a 'pet store?'] the Andalite asked me.

[It is a place where, um, humans buy animals,] I answered. [It's full of creatures you can morph and hide yourself among.]

[Clever.]

[I thought so, too.]

We made it to the escalator. The Andalite paused.

[No, it's fine.] I walked past him and sat on a stair just as it came up off the floor. [Like this.]

[Ah. I see.] He was too big to simply sit on a stair, like I was, but he planted his front feet on one and allowed it to carry him for a short distance, before stepping on another a few steps below it. We got up to the second level without difficulty. I led the way to the pet store.

There wasn't much to look at. There weren't dogs and cats, but smaller animals like rabbits and guinea pigs. I looked around. [Cassie, Tobias, where are you?]

I saw a snake poke its head out from underneath a shelf of pet supplies. [Yo,] Tobias greeted me.