Obviously I was still going to the Gardens. My father is not my keeper.

That same night, we decided through the group chat that it would be better to time our visit after closing. No witnesses, minimal security, and getting in would be as easy and just flying over the gates. We use our crow morphs to get into open-air enclosures, snake morphs to get into cages, and then we'd get out. No problems.

I didn't tell anybody I was grounded. If Cassie told anyone, nobody said anything to me. And I figured if anybody would, it would have been Marco. But Tobias said he couldn't get permission to go. Apparently his grandmother didn't want him staying out late with his "new friends." Living under controlling people is the worst.

Cassie announced the time she'd be by to pick us all up, sometime in the late afternoon, and I sent her a private message saying I'd see her twenty minutes before. She didn't reply, but she didn't say no, either. I waited for Dad to leave for work, then opened my window and morphed crow. A half hour later I was demorphing in Cassie's barn and putting on the change of clothes I stashed there. I was waiting by the van by the time Cassie came outside.

We didn't speak the whole drive back to town, and not when we picked Jake and Marco up at Jake's house. In fact, nobody spoke until Cassie cleared the on-ramp and merged onto the southbound interstate. Finally, Jake asked, "Did everyone pick out a combat morph?"

I had not. After Cassie left, I spent the rest of my evening fuming in my room. "I didn't," Cassie confessed. "I figured I'd just fly around until I found something that felt right."

"Same," I piped up, grateful for the excuse. Cassie glanced over at me in the front seat. I ignored her.

"I did, boss," Marco said cheerfully. He was lounging in the rearmost seat, playing on his phone.

Jake looked back at him. "Really?"

Marco snorted. "No."

Jake sighed and turned back around. "That's fine. I didn't, either."

It was a three hour drive from our town to the Bay. I put on some headphones and watched Netflix on my phone. I think Jake and Marco spent the whole drive teasing each other about what cuddly, harmless animal they would try to morph. Even though I was watching my show, I remembered what Cassie said about Jake grieving for Tom. I took a look back at him and saw him laughing at something Marco had said. Jake didn't look at all like someone who was in mourning.

And Jordan definitely wasn't blaming herself for Tom. Jordan and I barely even liked Tom. He was a jock, and kind of a bully. The only time we really hung out with him was those weekly family outings we went on with Jake and his family. Which…we hadn't done since the last one. When Tom died.

Suddenly my show wasn't all that interesting. I took my headphones off and put my phone away. I looked over at Cassie. "So, you're the expert. What kind of animal morphs are going to able to deal with Visser Three when he turns into that big monster that ate Elfangor?"

Jake and Marco abruptly stopped talking. "I don't think there's anything in this zoo or any other that could take down that thing," Cassie answered evenly.

"Fleas?" Marco suggested. "We could itch him to death?"

Jake raised an eyebrow. "So now you're suddenly Mr. Hopeful?"

"No, I'm just so nervous I'm being weird." Marco sat up in his seat. "So far I've only been a bird. Rachel's been a dog, a bird, and a snake. And we're about to crawl into some cages with some very big animals."

"I'll be honest, Marco. I'm right there with you," Jake said to him. "This isn't normal."

"I still feel normal," Cassie said. She looked troubled.

"Cassie, you can turn into any animal you can touch," Marco said. "Normal people can't do that. Rachel, on the other hand, has always been a beast."

I'm pretty sure he meant it as an insult, but I felt myself grin. "True."

It took another half an hour to reach the Gardens. By that time, the sun had gone down as the sky had gone dark. The parking lots were seemingly unguarded; I guess zoo security cared more about the zoo itself than a giant square of asphalt. Cassie found a far corner out from under the streetlamps and parked as far into the shadows as she could get. Fortunately her van was a dark color, so it was hard to see even if you were standing right next to it.

We undressed, with the boys on one side of the van and us girls on the other, and tossed our clothes in the van. Cassie locked the van and hid the keys behind the front driver's side tire. "I hope nobody finds it under there," she whispered nervously.

"It'll be fine," I reassured her. She ignored me and started morphing. I closed my eyes and started my own morph. Once we all had wings, we took to the night sky, cawing up a storm.

I've only been to the Gardens twice. Once on that field trip Marco mentioned, and once on the rare weekend visit with Mom. But even from the air and under the cover of darkness, it looked more or less how I remembered it. The main part of the Gardens is around the information center, packed full of restaurants, snack stalls, and souvenir stands. Those were all closed and shut for the night. But from the middle of the Gardens are wide walkways that lead out into the exhibits, with most named after a specific region of the world, and an aquarium that holds various fish and marine mammals. It's the largest zoo in the country, if not the world, and boasts as many species of animals as our town had people. And we had the run of the place, provided we didn't get caught by security.

Cassie's mom works here as the head vet. She drives down Monday morning, stays onsite for the week, and the drives home on the weekends. I imagine that if we got caught, Cassie would be in just as much trouble as I am right now. So I resolved not to get caught. Cassie was mad at me enough, already.

Finding our way around was easy enough. We jetted up the main walkway from the gate and landed right in front of a giant sign with a map on it. Or, giant to us crows, anyway. We stared up at the map, just four crows studying a sign. Not weird at all.

[Okay guys,] Cassie said to us. [Where should we go?]

The park was divided into six sections. Amazing Amazon, America the Beautiful (yes, really), The Wilds of Africa, Astounding Asia, Awesome Australia, and a small aquarium called Our Beloved Waters. I was at a loss. [Africa has all the big animals, right?] Jake said. [Let's try the African exhibits.]

No one had any objections, so off we went. A few flaps later, we were soaring over the lion enclosure. No way we were getting close enough to one of them; a young-looking lioness stood up and ran underneath us as we zoomed overhead, stopping just at the edge of the moat that separated her from the edge of her containment. She watched us go, tails twitching.

[How do you guys feel about gorillas?] Cassie said suddenly. Ahead of us was a raised, fake-looking mountain. At various levels of the "mountain" lounged a gorilla, more or less asleep.

[I dunno,] I said doubtfully. [They're about the size of us, by the looks of them. And look at the arms on the one on top. They look like noodles.]

[Those are the females,] Cassie explained. [The males are much larger and heavier. A silverback could bench over four hundred pounds if he wanted to.]

[Say no more, fam.] Marco pealed off and flapped towards the gorillas. [I'm off to get ripped.]

We followed him closely. There was a security guard patrolling near the enclosure. He looked up as we all flew overhead and went back to his rounds without a second glance. A small flock of birds was nothing to be concerned about. The gorillas were equally nonplussed. In fact, they all appeared to be settling down to sleep. At Cassie's suggestion ([We have to look like normal birds, guys!]), we did a quick lap around the exhibit and landed on various sides of the mountain.

[So the last I checked,] Cassie told us as we were all landing, [the Gardens has two silverbacks. One of them, Namu, is much younger and smaller than the other. Big Jim is the dominant silverback. He weights a little over five hundred pounds and prefers to rest away from his troop. So if we're getting gorilla morphs, Big Jim is probably our best bet.]

[I think I see him,] Jake immediately announced. [There's a big gorilla laying on its back, just under an overhang in the back of the exhibit.]

I was closest to Jake, so I could see where he was looking. [Yep. Easily bigger than the others.] I looked closer. [And definitely male.]

One by one, Cassie and Marco made their ways back to us. We perched on the mountain for a moment, mere feet from a dozing female, watching as Big Jim rolled on his side facing us and scratched his belly. He yawned wide, exposing canines as long as my human fingers. He was much more impressive than the other gorillas in the exhibit.

And bigger. Seriously. I read later that silverback gorillas can outweigh females by two hundred pounds or more. And it seemed like most of that weight was muscle. Dude had forearms as big around as small trees and hands the size of my crow body. And crows are not small birds.

Suddenly I was having second thoughts.

[So who's first?] Cassie asked.

[Marco volunteered,] I said instantly.

Marco laughed in my head. [I did! But you should morph him too, Rachel. What is Jorah without Daenerys?]

[We'll all grab him,] Jake said, before I could come up with a witty retort. [We all need combat morphs, and there's a big one sitting right there. No sense in just walking away from him.]

[We can't all go,] Cassie objected. [If Big Jim wakes up and sees four random kids standing around him, he might feel threatened. Do you want to make Big Jim feel threatened while we're in our weak, human bodies?]

[Can we acquire new morphs while in a morph?] I wondered out loud.

[Try that, first,] Jake said. He impatiently pecked at the fake rock he was perched on. [But either way, acquiring morphs puts the animal into a trance, remember? The second we touch him, he'll relax.]

[Cassie still has a point,] I said. [We should take this slow.]

[One at a time?] Cassie suggested.

[Two,] Jake said. [You and Marco, Cass. Rachel and I can keep watch in case the guard comes back. Then we'll swap and head back to the van after we're done.]

Marco took off, with Cassie close behind him. I shuffled closer to Jake as they landed a couple feet away from Big Jim. After a few moments of hesitation, Cassie slowly moved forward and hopped onto Big Jim's outstretched hand. He gave a loud snore, but otherwise did not respond. Cassie stood there for a second, then hopped off. [I just tried acquiring his DNA,] she said to us. [I don't think it worked. It didn't feel like it did when I acquired my other morphs. Looks like we're doing this as humans.]

[Great,] Marco said sarcastically. He started demorphing. Cassie went back to him and started demorphing as well. In less than a minute, Big Jim had two nervous teens standing three or four feet away from him, seemingly none the wiser. Marco crouched down and stretched his arm out as far as it would go, and gently touched Big Jim's hand.

From my vantage point, I saw Big Jim's eyes slowly open and look up at Marco. Marco tensed, but Big Jim just closed his eyes again and relaxed. Marco finished acquiring his DNA and backed away from him. Cassie moved forward.

[Cassie, abort!] Jake suddenly shouted. [Abort!]

I looked up. The same guard from before was watching Cassie and Marco from the viewing area, quietly talking into a radio.


Hello, again! I wanted to apologize for leaving this for so long. The last half of 2020 was not great for me. My engagement fell apart, I got laid off, I went back to school full-time, got another full-time job to pay for it, and then got laid off AGAIN. So...that's where I've been. Dealing with all that noise.

Anyways, I'm back now (read: still unemployed), so when I'm not looking for more work or doing classes I'll be trying to bang the rest of this out and work on outlining Animorphs 2020: The Encounter! Tobias story! Yay!