Disclaimer: Animorphs isn't mine, it's KA Applegate's from what i know
"Just a glimpse of your face..."
It was dark in the meadow, one of those nights where you can't even see the stars or the moon because it's so cloudy. There was no wind, so every rustle of a tree made my hawk senses jump, as well as my human ones.
It was too dark, too quiet, too still… and I didn't like it. I didn't like it at all. Ax was safe in his shack, and everyone else was in their houses. Warm and cosy in their beds, maybe sitting up to read by their bedside lamp. Finishing homework even I was jealous of. It'd been so long since I'd done homework. It's one of those things, those things that you're so used to that, even if you complain about it and say you won't do it, it's still always there, you still always know that really you're to have to do your homework.
One of those things, those normal things… I missed homework. I really must be crazy.
Ruffling my feathers as a gust of dry wind drifted past, barely lifting the leave on the tree that I was perched, I looked around myself, carefully scanning the sky for owls or other birds and the ground for mice or rats. Maybe eating would get my mind off what I missing.
Of course, my eyesight wasn't exactly meant for the night, but when I saw an owl swoop down to catch a mouse then drop it, I just couldn't resist the risk. Pushing myself off my perch, I dived under the owl and scooped up the still creature in my talons, banking hard to the right when I felt the owl turn to follow me.
Then I realised how stupid I'd been, taking that owl's mouse. The creature in my talons was already cooling down, the last of its blood being squeezed from its dead body, but I knew it'd be no use giving it back to the owl now. Animals aren't like that. A problem isn't solved if you just give back what you've taken.
I was like a burglar stealing someone's jewellery then just apologising and giving it back, hoping that I wouldn't get in trouble for stealing in the first place. As if.
Tightening my grip on the mouse I clipped my wings and dipped down quickly as the owl came at me again, and this time I felt the scrape of his talons on my back. I wasn't going to be able to escape from this guy.
Quickly, I ran through what I could do in my head. I could land and hope that I could morph in time to scare the owl away. Unlikely. As long as I still had this guy's prey he was going to chase me. I could keep running, and hope that I lived. But where could I run to? Rachel's? Too far away. Cassie's? She'd be asleep by now. Ax was closed up in his shack. Marco would just laugh if he saw me chased by an owl. Jake? No, Tom was there. I couldn't go to Jake's.
But something was nagging on the edge of my mind. Something that someone had told me that mattered. Something that could help me.
The owl made another dive at me, and this time I dodged up, catching a light breeze which helped me up above him. Well, at least I had a plan for now.
Feeling the owl come in again from behind me, I dodged up again, and waited a second for the owl to appear below me before dropping my load.
The dead mouse fell through the air, it's tail looking lime some sort of sick kite string, before it his the owl. No matter how big the bird was he definitely hadn't expected to have a mouse dropped on him. I smiled inwardly as I felt him fall back, indecisive between getting his prey and getting me.
Well, at least Rachel would be proud of my tactics, no normal bird would've thought to drop a dead mouse on their pursuer.
Catching another slight breeze under my wings I pumped them to get myself higher up, and, squinting as much as a hawk could, I could see the lights of Cassie's house. Soaring towards there didn't take long, and once I noticed that the light were on I knew that she couldn't be the only one home.
--Right-- I said myself, mentally rolling my eyes. Rachel had mentioned that she sleeping over at Cassie's tonight. That was what I'd forgotten. Heading straight to what I was pretty sure was Cassie's window, I'd forgotten about the owl when he came in for his next attack.
All I knew was that suddenly I was going down, instead of straight ahead, and what seemed like a 747 was looming down on me overhead. Apparently, the owl had decided that because I lost him his old prey, I was the new prey.
Letting out an involuntary squawk, I tried to adjust my wings so that I could get to Cassie's window, but the bird above me was forcing me down to the ground, unable to grab me properly while I was still flying.
--Cassie! Rachel!-- I called desperately, trying to turn just a little and escape from underneath the owl.
My ears picked up on the sound of a window opening, and as I shot past the window I could see Cassie's head poked out it, watching in horror as the owl bore down on me.
--Help!-- I repeated, trying to get across the urgency in the situation. Withdrawing her head back inside, Cassie closed the window and disappeared. Tried turning a sharp corner and managed to gain a little bit of altitude, but still the owl pushed me further down. I felt one of his talons strike my back and instinctively dived further down.
It shouldn't have surprised me when I felt my chest touched the ground, but it did, so ended up landing with a forwards roll before coming to a stop. The owl hovered above me, wide amber eyes looking down at me greedily.
I was the burglar, and he was the cop. Only cop didn't usually eat lawbreakers.
--Help!-- I shouted out one last time, desperately scrabbling on the stony ground.
"Shoo!" Cam a much louder voice from behind me, and I twisted my head around to see Rachel running towards me and owl, waving her arms around to scare the owl. Looking shocked, I could see the moment of thought in the owl's eyes as it fought two instincts: guard its prey and run from predators. Deciding that Rachel was more trouble than I was worth, it took off, disappearing above our head faster than I'd thought possible in the still air.
"Tobias!" Rachel called, arriving by me and kneeling down next to me. "What were you doing?" Her tone was a mix between worry, scolding and relief, but she smiled when I hopped to my feet, looking up at her with my piercing hawk eyes.
I'm fine.-- I said, squawking quietly as I ruffled my feathers. –Just a bit of a situation.--
Cassie arrived next to Rachel, rubber boots on her fee and pair of thick gloves. "Rachel, you shouldn't have gone near that owl without gloves!" She said. "What if it had decided to attack you?"
Rachel laughed. "As if an owl would attack me."
"It could of," Cassie insisted, looking away from her best friend to check that I was okay. "Did it get you?" She asked me, her 'vet voice' on.
-- yes, I think it might've cut my back earlier -- I answered only now remembering it scrape my back as it had forced me down.
Cassie immediately turned me around to look at my back; I stood still and waited for her to finish her examination, wishing I could still see Rachel.
"Why was an owl chasing after you, anyway?" asked Rachel, moving her legs so that she could lie on her front next to me, now in my sight.
-- I might've taken its mouse. -- I said, still a bit embarrassed from the entire ordeal.
"Why did you do that?" she asked, sounding more amused than concerned by now.
"I'm going to go get some ointment for this cut," Cassie said from behind me, reminding me of her presence. "Wait here."
Me and Rachel both watched her go before I shook my head and started morphing. There's a much faster way to get rid of injuries when you're an animorph.
Once I was fully human I looked down at Rachel, smiling self-consciously.
"So why did you take that poor owl's mouse?" She asked standing to meet my eyes.
I shrugged; glad to be able to master at least one human expression.
"Were you hungry?" she asked, worried again.
"No, I'm getting plenty of food."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," I answered insistently, meeting her eyes with a confidence that I'd never had before being a hawk. "I'm fine. I was just bored or something. You don't need to worry about me."
She rolled her eyes. "I'm gong to worry anyway. While I'm nice and safe and warm in my bed and you're out on a branch in the middle of a cold, exposed meadow. So don't ask me not to worry."
I laughed. "I like you worrying," I admitted. "It makes you more Rachel, less Xena. I don't think I remember Xena ever worrying about others."
"She must have," Rachel said. I just shrugged again.
There was silence for a moment, as I looked Rachel up and down. It seemed that in her haste to help me she hadn't bothered to change from her pyjamas, and it looked strange seeing her in her white nightgown out on Cassie's lawn.
Her hair was tied back in a simple bun, but a few wisps of it were falling over her face. I smiled as I reached out my hand to brush them back behind her ear. It was stranger still to see Rachel blush at my tiny gesture of affection, and the red tinge in her cheeks made her even more beautiful in my eyes.
After a moment, we both looked down, embarrassed, but my eyes flickered up to meet hers pretty soon.
A movement by Cassie's house caught my eye, and I saw that she'd opened the front door and was coming back outside, a bottle of ointment in her hands. Shaking my head, I began morphing back to hawk, my gaze fixed on Rachel's flawless face as I shrunk back to the ground and feathers started sprouting on my body.
Cassie was a little put off when she found out that I'd gotten rid of the cut, but just left again, telling Rachel that she'd meet her back in her room.
We stayed there for a while, just Rachel and me. Hawk and girl. Beauty and beast, if you like.
"I'm glad you're okay," she finally said, breaking the trance and looking down at me. I nodded, dipping my little hawk head at her, then clambered up the arm she offered me, perching on her shoulder.
Although it made the hawk in me uncomfortable, it felt wonderful for the human part of me when she turned her head and placed a soft kiss on the side of my neck. I knew that hawk didn't really feel attachment to anything. The only things that they really cared about were themselves, their territory and their prey, but anything past that was just par of the world, not really the hawk's business. It was nice to be human. To be able to feel that human attachment to people. To be able to like them like that. Like how I liked Rachel. Much more than admiration, which would be a stretch for any creature. Sure, the hawk knew that the owl was more powerful than him, but he didn't admire him, he didn't respect him, it was just a fact. Owl beats hawk, simple, like how a hawk beats a mouse.
Noticing Rachel's bright blue eyes on me, I touched my beak swiftly to her cheek before pushing off her shoulder and soaring into the night sky.
I wasn't worried about how I'd fel when I got back to my tree. The too dark sky and too quiet clearing weren't as intimidating now. All I'd had to do was to see her, to know that she'd make sure I made to tomorrow, and every day after that as long as she could help me. It was nice, being cared about.
And even in the pressing dark where no moon or stars could be seen past the clouds, when I closed my eyes I could see Rachel, feel her lips on my feathered neck and her eyes boring into mine. All I'd needed was glimpse of her face.