Back at the barn, we were gathered around like usual. Tobias keeping a lookout in the rafters, Marco sitting on the tractor, Jake sitting near Rachel on the hay, Ax near the horse stalls, and me standing up getting ready to read the Yeerk's note to the group.
"I sure am glad roaches are so hard to kill!" said Marco. "Though you've got to admit, I would have made great floor wax."
The barn was noisy today. My dad had just received a shipment of chickens with severe depression, and was keeping them in crates in the barn when he wasn't giving them therapy. Chickens are already loud birds, but they were pretty tense at the sight of Tobias, so the barn was particularly loud. Rather than shout the note's potentially sensitive information over the noise, I started to morph. My arms began to grow thick fur, and my nose started lengthening. My legs shortened and thinned out, and as they did, I fell forward onto all fours. A long tail erupted from just above my butt, and finally, long teeth filled my mouth. The chickens went berserk.
Good ol' wolf morph.
I no longer had hands to hold the note, so I pinned it against the dirt as I read.
‹Dear Diary,› I began.
Marco laughed. "Sorry, no, he sounds really cool."
I started over. ‹Dear Diary, my name is Zenguh Two-Zero-Zero-One, and I currently inhabit a tall human named Dave.›
"Dave, huh?" Marco interrupted again. "Ugh, remember when we had to deal with a David before?"
I looked over at Rachel, expectantly. She rubbed her stomach, stared into the distance, and said, "Yep!"
I didn't know what to make of that.
I continued, finding my place, and read out loud:
‹...tall human named Dave. He tells people that he's Conan O'Brien's stunt double, but I don't think I believe that Conan needs to do many stunts. I'm writing this because I have plans, big plans, and I need to keep track of them somewhere. Today, I was patrolling the old construction site where Visser One ate that Andalite, Elfangor, and I found something amazing. It's a piece, just a shard really, of the device that the Andalites use to bestow morphing powers! And now it's mine! I don't think anyone knows I have it, although someone was near where I found it and shouted "Elvis" or something. I ran to find Visser One at the mall, and on my way, a bee stung me. I decided to test out the shard, so I acquired and turned into the bee! I flew for a while, and it was exhilarating! I morphed back to human, and found myself naked on 14th street. If it were my body, I'd be embarrassed, but it's not, so I pretended I was The Terminator. I love that movie. I went back for my clothes, and started walking to the mall again. On the way, I decided to practice acquiring new DNA some more. The most convenient source was, of course, myself. I acquired my own Yeerk DNA through this host's brain, since my body is always in contact. Now, I can morph into a bee or my own Yeerk body. When I got to the mall, I ran to tell Visser One about my discovery, and he yelled at me for interrupting his cinnamon bun, and that made me think. I don't think he really appreciates me, and I don't think I'm going to tell him about the shard after all. I know he got to where he is by taking a morph-capable Andalite body, so maybe I can get a big promotion too, thanks to this shard. Visser One just caused a huge scene at the mall, and if any of the Andalite bandits were there, they would definitely know that I'm a Controller, since I talked to him. I'm gonna go shake anyone who's following me. Then I'm going to that convention downtown later today. Holy mackerel, I can't wait!›
There was a palpable silence in the room. No one said anything for a few minutes.
‹Well, now we know that the shard works,› Tobias sighed.
"Now it's extra important that the Yeerks don't discover who we are, or we could have morph-capable Yeerk spies on us anywhere we go," Rachel said.
"Rachel's right," said Jake. "And we need to move quickly. That Yeerk could look like anyone by now, so the sooner we find him, the easier it'll be."
I morphed back to my human form. "Do we have any ideas where he'd be?"
"He said he was going to a convention," Marco reminded us. "On TV last night, I saw the worst commercial I've ever seen, and it was for a convention in town. I was too busy laughing at it to remember what it was for."
"Then it's probably at the convention center," I said.
"Thank God you're here," said Marco. I glared at him.
We all morphed into our usual birds. Tobias as himself, a red-tailed hawk, Jake as a peregrine falcon, Marco as an osprey, Ax as a northern harrier, Rachel as America's bird: the bald eagle.
I morphed back to wolf.
‹I'm just gonna run there,› I explained. ‹I'm feeling a little tense, so a run would do me good.›
Jake sighed. ‹Fine.›
Normally, we fly apart to avoid suspicious eyes, but this was an emergency. We made a beeline for the convention center and got there as fast as we could. Twenty-five minutes later, I arrived at the convention center to hear screams and panicked voices. I hid in the bushes, but soon realized that the screams weren't for me. People everywhere were pointing at the sky, and screaming things like "Those birds don't fly together!" and "The northern harrier is a solitary bird, and furthermore, prefers open habitats, including marshes and grasslands, not a downtown urban environment!"
A quick glance around revealed our mistake. A large banner was draped on the front of the convention center. "11th Annual Bird Watchers Convention."
‹Hide, you guys!› I thought-yelled, as I saw people start to grab their cameras.
‹I can't get to the roof in time!› Rachel yelled. ‹They're going to get pictures of us!›
‹I knew this would happen eventually!› Tobias also yelled.
‹Who yells the word 'furthermore'?› Marco asked.
I knew what I had to do. I howled, and then jumped into the crowd. The screams changed, but now all eyes were on me. There was a meat and cheese table near one of the doors, so I jumped on it, like any wolf would. If there were Controllers here, I'd have to be convincing enough as a wolf to throw off any suspicion that the birds were Andalite Bandits instead of regular birds. I ate all the meat, and then ran off into the woods behind the building.
‹Thanks, Cassie!› said Jake. ‹Meet us out front. We'll be demorphed in front of the main entrance.›
‹Shall I meet by the main entrance in my natural state as well, Prince Jake?› Ax asked.
‹No, Ax. Human, please,› Jake answered. I could imagine Jake pressing his wingtips to his temples.
I demorphed in the woods, and walked back to the entrance. I found the others, enjoying the secondary meat and cheese table just outside the entrance.
"Look at us," said Marco. "Just six kids, wearing bicycle shorts and leotards at a birdwatching convention."
"That's my kind of Sunday!" Rachel chimed in. "Let's catch this guy!"
