The convention was a mess. Everyone had gone pretty crazy from the strange bird-and-wolf sighting. All of us had some sort of evidence of the commotion Cassie had created on our clothes: dirt, food, various drinks. Well, all of us except Rachel, of course.

"Rachel, how, how, HOW are you clean?" I asked. All I got back was her supermodel, ridiculously great white smile.

Just then, Tobias came swooping down but missed the landing, sliding into a cheese tray.

‹Tone down that smile, Rachel,› Tobias complained. ‹Also, birdwatchers? Really? It actually happened?›

"Sorry, Tobias. I'm as surprised as you are," she apologized, the smile now gone. "Are you okay?"

‹I'm fine,› Tobias answered, clearly flustered as he shook out his wings. ‹What's the plan?›

"As awesome as it is to stand out here barefoot, maybe we should head inside," I suggested, gesturing toward the doors of the convention center.

Most of the bird watchers had moved inside, leaving us alone in a food tent. I dropped a piece of salami. Man, I was feeling lazy today. Rather than bend down to get it from under the table, I quickly morphed poodle, dove underneath to eat the meat, came back out, and demorphed.

‹That is some next-level laziness, Marco. Well done,› Tobias remarked.

"Thanks!" I said brightly. "I practice a lot."

‹Little sidenote, does that salami you just ate as a poodle count as calories toward your human self?› Tobias asked me. ‹We used that to our advantage that one time with polar bears, but I feel like there's a lot there to explore.›

I thought for a second. "Bird-boy, I really don't know. I guess I'm not too hungry now. Seems like that's something we should dwell on later, though."

"I agree, let's get inside," Jake insisted. Then, giving Tobias a strange look, added: "You okay, man?"

‹Oh, I'm fine,› Tobias said, in mid-morph to human. ‹Just been thinking over some morphing details recently. I have a lot of spare time, you know. A meadow isn't the most exciting place.›

Once inside the building, we were less worried about being noticed. The main conference room was very large, and also very packed. While we looked ridiculous, bird watchers are kind of strange people on their own, so we didn't stand out as much as we expected. There was a speaker already walking up to the podium on the front stage. The crowd quieted down as he raised his hands.

"Why do birds fly to warmer climates in the winter?" the man asked, possibly rhetorically. "Because it's easier than walking!"

There was some scattered applause and chuckling among the crowd.

"Oh boy," Rachel whispered. "And I thought Marco's jokes were bad."

"Well, this is a bit HAWKward," the man continued, laughing at his own joke this time. "I didn't mean to BIRDen you with such a terrible bird joke, but my wife says I'm a hoot, so I have no egrets."

The crowd groaned.

The speaker was pretty short and a bit heavier, with a thin black beard, thick black glasses, and a Chicago Blackhawks hat. As he droned on about birds, I glanced over and saw Cassie watching the crowd, staring pointedly at something. I moved closer to see what she was looking at.

"There's a tall, red-headed man over there," she said quietly, pointing over the crowd. "Tobias, Marco, is that our guy?"

"I think so," I answered. Tobias agreed. The plan was to get even closer. But before we could make a move, the speech was suddenly over, and everything happened at once. The main speaker walked off stage. The audience began milling about. The red-head, or should I say Zenguh in Dave's body, began meandering through the crowd, and we tried to keep up.

"Guys, let's split up," Jake said softly. "I'll go with Ax and Marco to follow this Controller. We need a thought-speaker in this group anyway, and Tobias, you can be the one for Rachel and Cassie. You three, stay by the door in case we lose him and he tries to get away."

Tobias, Rachel, and Cassie split off. I followed behind Ax, passing the speaker stage and watching intently up ahead. Looking ahead through the crowd, I saw Zenguh take a turn into the same hallway that the speaker had walked through.

"Jake, is Zenguh going after that speaker?" I wondered aloud.

"Maybe. Seems like it. Marco, keep following both of them!" Jake said. "In here, Ax," With that, the two of them ducked into a small room.

I turned my attention back to the hallway, which went left at the end of the corridor. As we turned the corner, I could see that a single-person bathroom was the only remaining door. Did Zenguh have the morphing cube piece with him? Was it in that room? I waited outside the door for a few minutes, then ran back to the room with Jake and Ax, who were almost completely turned into flies at this point.

"Obligatory 'eww, gross'," I said. "Anyway, there's nowhere else for them to go. I'm coming with you. It's morphin' time! Hey, how have we never said that before?"

Moments later, three flies were buzzing along the hallway. It took us a few tries to figure out the correct direction to go. Compound eyes were still something to get used to. We finally figured out where to go, but before we could get to the door, we saw the main speaker walking back the way he came. He was alone this time, without Zenguh following him. We hesitated, unsure what to do next. We watched the speaker walk kind of strangely down the empty hallway and back to the main conference room. I couldn't quite put my finger on why his walk was so weird.

‹Tobias, the speaker is headed back your way,› Jake said. ‹We are going to stay on this side looking for Zenguh. He's gotta be in the room at the end of this hallway. He's not following the speaker anymore.›

‹On it,› came the answer from Tobias.

‹Follow me,› I said to Jake and Ax, and three flies zipped and flipped to the single-person bathroom, easily squeezing underneath the door. We let Ax demorph first, as we were eager to see the situation inside the room and find our Controller, but did not want this Yeerk to see other humans capable of morphing. We did not expect Ax's next statement.

‹Prince Jake, Marco, there is no one here, only a pile of human clothing,› he said. ‹The Controller is nowhere to be found.›