Disclaimer I do not own Animorphs or Ben 10
Chapter 3: Seen Behind Trees
Cassie's POV
The week passed by fairly quickly. Me and Rachel have been hanging out like in the old days. Before the we knew about the invasion. Before we knew about the Andelites and the Yeerks. Sometimes after school we would head to the mall and just talk. I guess that was why the week was fast. There wasn't really anything happening. We hadn't heard of anything that the Yeerks were planning from Erek and the other Chee.
Things were so normal for the week. We didn't need to meet up at my parent's barn or at Ax's scoop. Nothing really happened, everything was just normal.
It isn't as if i didn't enjoy everything being normal it's actually refreshing. I don't have to constantly worry about what the Yeerks were planning next. I didn't have to think about what would happen if they found out who we are and go after our families. It was a good change from the constant planning and attacking the Yeerks to try and slow down their secret invasion.
I guess the only notable thing that happened is that there was a new kid in our school. Normally i wouldn't give new kids much attention. I'm not one of those girls that are into gossip and rumors. But the new kid for some reason gave me a weird feeling.
I think he just came on monday. I only knew about him when I over heard a couple of my classmates talking about a new kid coming. When the teacher came in and started the class as normal, some of the girls seemed disappointed.
It wasn't until lunch break that I saw him. I met up with Rachel in the hallway as we were headed to the cafeteria. We got our food as we talked about normal things, well Rachel was talking, I was mostly listening. She told me about the new kid and pointed him out to me. I asked her what his name was but she didn't know.
When I looked over to the table he was sitting at I saw that he was talking to two of my classmates. The ones that I overheard talking about him. He looked like an ordinary kid. He looked like he was wearing a white jacket and black t-shirt with a pair of jeans and his hair was a bit longer than a boy would normally have. Nothing out of the ordinary there. I looked away and saw Jake sitting on a table a little ways away and he was looking in our direction. I waved, he waved back. Me and Rachel ate quickly since there wasn't really much to talk about when eating.
When we were done we headed towards where Jake and Marco sat. I put my hand on his shoulder to get his attention. Asking whether or not we would meet up at the mall later. We will. Me and Rachel left the cafeteria and got out stuff just in time for the bell to ring, signaling the end of lunch period.
When school was over, me and Rachel headed to the mall. Rachel always tried to make me fashionable but I didn't really see the point of getting new clothes when I'm perfectly fine with my normal clothes. She dragged me around the mall for about an hour and half before she suggested we go get something to eat at the food court. That kinda came as a surprise to me as she normally would go at least two hours before heading to the food court. So we headed over there. Coincidentally we met up with Jake and Marco on the way to the food court. They told us that they just came from the arcade.
We got some food and talked like normal kids. We talked about normal things. I am glad of these times when we can just be normal kids once in a while. I think everyone else thinks so too.
While listening to everyone else talking I unconsciously looked around the food court and saw the new kid.
"Hey Jake?" I asked him.
"Hm?" He answered.
"Isn't that the new kid from school?" I asked, pointing over his shoulder to the table where the new kid was sitting. "What's his name?" As I watched him sip on some kind of drink.
He turned around and looked over to where i was pointing at. "Ben Tennyson." He said with his back to me. Then after a moment he turned back and said. "It's him alright."
"We saw him back in the arcade" Said Marco as he grabbed a french fry from the pile that we were all sharing.
"Did he just move into town or something?" I asked Jake. "I haven't seen him from around here before.
"Maybe." He answered. "I haven't seen him from around here either."
"You know, he's kinda cute. . ." I heard Rachel say, then I looked over at Marco as he chuckled when she said it.
We kept talking for a little while longer until Jake took a look at his watch and said. "Hey guys I gotta get home soon." We all murmured in agreement. I had to get home too.
We left the food court and went our separate ways. Me and Rachel stayed together for a bit as we headed outside of the mall. There Rachel's mom picked her up and offered me a ride. I accepted of course and we got in the car.
In no time at all we reached my house. I got off and thanked Rachel's mom for giving me the lift. She said that it was nothing. I said bye to Rachel and when they left i turned and went to the barn. I looked up to the sky and saw that it was getting kinda dark.
I was welcomed by the sound of chittering, squawking, mewling and many other noises of several injured wild animals inside. Both my parents work as Vets. My mom works in The Gardens, which is a zoo slash amusement park and deals with the animals in the zoo portion of it. My dad works with injured wild animals. He has taken care of everything from deers hit by cars to eagles electrocuted by power lines. The barn was his clinic and it was called the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic.
We have been using it as a meeting place ever since we found out about the invasion. Apart from being private enough to hold out meetings it allowed us to easily acquire morphs.
I opened the lights and looked over at the cages and read the notes about each animal and their injuries. I went through the normal pace getting the proper medicine and changing the splints and bandages of the caged animals. I was in the middle of giving a male fox with a broken leg it's medicine when i heard a quiet fluttering sound.
"Hey Tobias." I said not looking up from the fox and in one fluid motion i pushed a pill down its throat and closed it's mouth shut making it swallow the pill.
(Hey Cassie.) He said using thought speech as i got up to look at him.
Tobias was on top of the rafters I could see a red-tailed hawk looking down at me. Morphing may be a powerful and useful tool but it has a limit. You can stay in morph for only two hours, and after those two hours are up you are trapped in that morph forever. That's what happened to Tobias, he used to be human but he went over the two hour limit and is now trapped in the body of a hawk. Now he lives his life as a hawk, hunting to eat and fighting to survive. He couldn't morph until the Ellimist gave him back his ability to morph and acquire his DNA of his human body.
"Anything you need?" I asked him as i went to the next cage checking on a wolf's bandaged paw.
(Nothing much.) He said.
"Anything you wanna talk about?" I asked him.
(Yes.) He sounded relieved.
"What is it?"
(Well you know. . .) He started.
He talked of his life as a hawk. I let him ramble and talk about what was happening. His life now is hard, he had to survive as a hawk which was such a drastic change from his life as a human.
(Thanks for listening Cassie.) He said.
"Anytime." I said and he flew off.
I finished doing the rest of my chores and headed to my house.
The next day, school passed quickly. Me and Rachel didn't go to the mall as she had other stuff to do. So I went straight back home to see if my dad was there and if i could help him with anything around the clinic. I didn't see his pickup at the barn so I assumed he went somewhere to either treat or pick up a injured animal.
I did my usual chores around the barn and house and before i knew it there was nothing to do. Everything was done. I thought of morphing into a horse and going out to run. It was something that we had discovered early on when we got the ability to morph. When you morph and animal your mind and the animal's are both there. So when i morph a horse its mind is there along with mine and when i go run, the horse's mind as it runs feels happy and as my mind is there along with the horse's i also become happy.
Then I looked over to the horses that we had. Before I knew about the invasion i used to ride them all the time, but since then I had fallen out of the habit. I knew how the horse felt as it ran and i wanted them to be happy too. So I saddled up my favorite horse and went of to have a easy ride in the forest. I wasn't used to riding anymore, but after a while i started getting the feel for it again.
I rode for a good long while, the sun was still pretty high in the sky. I made sure to stay in the parts of the forest that i was familiar to. I didn't want to get lost in the forest with a horse. Wolves and other predators would be more likely to go after me and the horse with its stronger scent. I knew that they would pick up the horse's scent before mine, since i had been a wolf before.
It wasn't as enjoyable as being a horse but the way that they horse moved under me felt so familiar and the familiarity of it calmed me. It was a different calming than that of when i run being a horse but it was as if I calmed myself down. I know it sounds weird but when I'm a horse it's mind is the one that calms me down. I haven't calmed myself for a while, it felt good.
I passed by a river and let the horse drink from it and give me some time to check the straps and make sure none of them were getting loose or worn from the ride. I pulled up on the reins before the horse drunk too much water.
I followed the river upstream a bit and turned to my right and entered the forest again. I knew a small part of the forest pretty well so i wasn't entirely worried about being lost. I looked up at the sun, it was still pretty high in the sky so i could stay out here for a little while before i needed to get back before it got too dark. The forest was beautiful this time of year. The shadows of the trees in the sunlight gave the forest a fairy tale feel. It felt strange, it was as if I was transported to another world. Maybe i was, I wouldn't have been surprised. The Ellimist had done stuff like that before.
The Ellimist is a cosmic being. We had met him before. He saved our lives when we were being attacked by the Yeerks. He told us that we are pieces in a game of an intergalactic scale that he and Crayak played. The Ellimist told us that he wanted to help species find peace and grow prosperous, while Crayak, he told us was evil and that the Yeerks were one of his pieces that he used to spread chaos and destruction.
I kept riding, the forest was still familiar so i doubted that i was somewhere else. The forest was still very beautiful though. I kept admiring the scenery for a while before my horse started whinnying and snorting, stomping it's fore hooves nervously.
"What's wrong girl?" I said as i patted and stroked her neck trying to calm her down. Were there any predators around? It was still pretty bright out so it might not be wolves. Mountain cats? Maybe, but i was pretty far from the mountains. I doubted that they would've gone out so far from their territory. I looked around knowing that it was useless looking for a predator that didn't want to be seen. I had been both a wolf and jungle cat, I knew that they could see me even if i couldn't see them.
I saw a blur of movement out in between the trees and foliage. I thought i saw a hint of blue but i kept my guard up. I pretended not to notice the movement, looking back at my horse trying to calm her down. If it was Ax he would've just gone out into the open and talked to me. 'Was it Visser three?' I thought. I knew that he had a certain area of the forest to feed his andelite host from that time we saved Ax from the suicide mission that he went on by himself. I doubted that he counted me as a threat. He doesn't know that the Andelite Bandits were nothing more than just a bunch of kids with the ability to morph. I bet he just assumed that i am just a regular girl on a horse ride out in the forest and unless i encountered face to face with one of his guards of worse the Visser himself i would be taken to his blade ship and forcibly made into a controller just because i had seen him or his guards.
My horse was still nervous as i kept patting her and talking to her in a low voice not wanting to test my luck if it really was Visser three. I pulled up the reins and turned her around back to the river and headed back to the barn. Looking back up to the sky i didn't need the idea of being captured by the Yeerks to start heading back home. I didn't want to risk staying out here and let it get too dark. I followed the river downstream until i reached to where I first reached it. I headed back into the woods in the direction of my house.
Again in between the trees i caught a glimpse of blue. I was pretty close to my house now. I really doubt that it was Visser three. He would never get too close to civilization otherwise someone might see him, but if it was Ax I guess he saw me riding or was looking for me.
I didn't call out to see if it was Ax, I just continued on my way and got to the barn. I removed the saddle and rubbed my horse down. and let her loose to go with the other horses.
No one came out, I guess it wasn't Ax or Visser three. . .
'I must have just imagined it.' I thought to myself.
Authors Notes: Hi! How did i do the characters this time? I hope that they were more IC now. How is my style? Did it improve? Is it better or worse? How can i get them more IC? Did i do Cassie alright? Please tell me! Also I really urge you to read Evil Will Always Find You. You would be able to understand the story better if you read it first.
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