We waited at the entrance to the hallway, waiting for the speaker as subtly as three kids in spandex could. We saw him walk by and take a turn into another hallway. The posters we had seen in the convention hall said that he would be doing a workshop soon, but he was heading away from the hall in which the convention was set up, and toward the parking garage. Was he going to leave, right before his event? I also noticed his strange way of walking, taking really big steps and ducking under doorways.

Suddenly, as if he'd forgotten something, he stopped, rubbed his hands together, and then walked back to the main hall. I quickly got a drink at the water fountain, with Rachel and Tobias leaning against the wall next to me, talking enthusiastically about hawks. He gave us a weird look, probably jealous of our great outfits, so we gave him some space before following him again.

‹We couldn't find the red-haired man,› Ax's voice sounded in our heads. ‹We found his clothes on the ground, but haven't been able to find anything else.›

‹No blood or scorch marks?› Tobias asked him.

‹No evidence of a struggle. He seems to have just disappeared,› Ax replied.

"Oh no!" Rachel joked. "He's been raptured!"

I chuckled, and Tobias laughed with no emotion on his face.

"Are you guys talking about raptors?" asked a man in a bird-print Hawaiian shirt.

"Sorry, no," Rachel responded, and we took off after the speaker.

Once we got closer to the event hall, he approached a brown-haired woman in a blue dress, who was flagging him down, an excited smile on her face. We couldn't get close enough to hear what they were saying without arousing suspicion, so Rachel slipped away, and a couple of minutes later, a tiny shrew scampered across the carpet. She ran under a table near the two, tablecloth draped down to the floor.

‹I'm in!› Rachel said. After listening for a bit, she went on. ‹They're talking about some bird migrations...Now the variations between species of pigeons...Now, the woman's saying she received her tickets for the convention earlier than she was expecting. Guys, this isn't as fun as I thought it'd be.›

‹Hang in there, Rachel,› said Tobias. ‹We've got to figure out how this speaker guy relates to all this.›

After another pause, Rachel said, ‹He's saying he loves something. I missed what exactly, but he actually said "Holy mackerel, I love those". Who says that? And why does that sound familiar?›

‹The red-haired man used that phrase in the construction yard!› said Tobias.

"And in the note!" I whispered to Tobias. Things started to click into place. His peculiar phrasing, the strange way he walked…

"It's Zenguh! The Yeerk!" I whispered urgently. "He talks that way, and he's used to being in that much taller body, so he's walking weird!"

Tobias relayed my discovery to Rachel.

‹Should I hitch a ride on his pants cuff?› she asked.

‹Not yet. Keep listening, and we'll let you know if he looks like he's going to leave.›

"But what happened to the red-haired man, Dave, I mean?" I asked Tobias. "Ax says he wasn't in the room. If there weren't any blood or burn marks either, then I don't think he got Dracon beamed."

‹I agree. We know he's morph capable. He could have morphed and escaped once Zenguh got out of his head. The note said he could also be a bee?›

That made me worry. "Tobias, tell Ax to get the others to regroup with us, and keep their eyes out for a bee."

"Will do," he replied, then stared off into the distance for a second, thought-speaking.

"Although…" I began. "Do we even need to find the red-haired man? If Zenguh's got the bird guy now, then Dave's not a Controller anymore. He's probably getting as far away from here as he can. We just want the Yeerk that was in him."

‹Guys, I can't stand listening to these two talk about birds much longer!› came Rachel's exasperated thought-speak voice from under the table.

"Something feels off," I said.

‹You're right,› Tobias agreed. ‹Why would a Yeerk abandon a morph-capable body?›

"Yeah!" I said, a bit louder than I meant to. I calmed myself down a bit and continued. "Even if they can make more morph-capable Controllers, a freed morph-capable person could morph in front of a news reporter and prove that something was going on!"

‹They couldn't just play it off like they're some crazy person seeing UFOs,› Tobias said. His voice was slow, like he was thinking hard, even though I couldn't see it on his expressionless face.

‹I'm done with this! These two are the worst!› said Rachel, and I saw a shrew dart out from under the table, and behind a convention booth curtain.

"Oh no," I gasped, as Rachel walked up a few minutes later. "I think I figured it out."

"I've only been able to hear Tobias's side of the conversation," she said. "What's up?"

"The note said that Zenguh acquired a bee and his own Yeerk body through Dave," I said. "What if he turned Dave into a Yeerk, and took over this new speaker guy's body?"

"A Yeerk within a Yeerk within a host?" Rachel asked, eyes wide.

"That would explain the clothes on the floor earlier," Tobias said, no longer needing to thought-speak, since we were all there. "So, we need to follow this bird enthusiast for a couple of hours, and see where the Yeerk drops out."

"That won't be hard," Rachel said. "That lady kept going on about how great the bird section at The Gardens is. He seemed really into it. I bet he's going there. Maybe he's gonna get some cool bird morphs?"

"Hold on," Tobias said, slowly, trying to piece it together. "So, he morphs himself into a Yeerk, and somehow takes over someone else's body. I bet he's delivering hosts to the Yeerk pool, one body at a time. We should follow him."

"And he loses a set of clothes every time?" asked Rachel. "That's definitely not how I'd do it. I'd at least carry a backpack to put them in. But we should follow him. We were lucky to even figure out that he changed bodies in the first place."

I noticed the speaker turn to leave, and I nudged Rachel so she'd see too.

"It was great talking with you!" the woman in blue called, as the speaker hustled away. We moved inconspicuously through the crowd and followed him out of the building. The man took his keys out of his pocket, got into a sky-blue Prius, and drove out of the parking lot.

We got out of the open, and morphed into birds, being careful not to alarm any birdwatchers this time.