Ch.7 Gearing Up
It had been roughly six hours since we'd done it. My sister was an animorph now. She followed me outside the log cabin without hesitation. [You're clear] Tobias called down. He was flying cover for us, and would let us know if anyone was coming. There were plenty of animals in the forest. The trick was catching one. We were looking for something like a rabbit, so that Jordan could get her first morph. It didn't take Tobias long to find one. [There's a rabbit about two feet to your left Rach] he said.
I stopped moving, and found the rabbit next to my feet. It offered no resistance as I picked it up. "Aww, cute bunny!" my sister exclaimed. "So how do I?" she asked. I should clarify something. The morphing power doesn't make us acquire animals automatically. I still touch something normally. Acquiring an animal requires a bit of concentration. "Touch it," I instructed. "Now imagine yourself as the rabbit." My sister touched the rabbit and closed her eyes. A few seconds later, the animal seemed to fall asleep. Except it wasn't. That was the trance an animal goes into when it's being acquired.
It only took about a minute for Jordan to acquire the rabbit. I let it go, and it hopped away. "So I can turn into it now?" she asked. [Congradgulations] Tobias called down. She looked to the sky knowingly. "Thanks, Tobias," she replied. We went back to the cabin, where my mom was waiting. "How did it go?" she asked. My sister smiled as she replied, "I can turn into a rabbit now." My mother didn't know how to respond. "She needed a practice morph," I said. My mom nodded. "I wanna see," Sara said. Jordan was only too happy to oblige.
She began concentrating, and the first thing that happened was her head sprouted bunny ears. Her entire body began sprouting fur. As all of this was happy, she was shrinking. Her clothes ended up in a pile. I'd have to throw a morphing outfit together for her. [This is awesome] she said. I smiled. "Isn't it?" I asked. [Wait, you heard that?] she asked. I remembered that thought-speak was a little hard to get used to. I wondered how she'd deal with the rabbit's instincts. That was always different. You never knew how a specific animal's instincts would react.
"Ok, demorph," I instructed. [I'll be hunting] Tobias said. With that, he flew out the window. I sensed part of it was out of modesty. He knew that when Jordan demorphed she'd be naked. A few minutes later, and my sister was just putting her clothes back on. "That was too cool," she said happily. I decided we'd wait until nightfall to go to The Gardens. We didn't have Cassie's backstage access, and it would be too suspicous trying to jump into cages in broad daylight. Not to mention stupid. Tobias returned about a half hour later with a freshly caught mouse. I noticed him eating outside.
[Wanna talk about it?] he asked. If there was one thing that could be said about Tobias, he knew me inside and out. I had went outside to get some fresh air, and I really needed to think. "I just keep thinking that I'll wake in my bed, and this will all just be a very bad dream," I replied. He showed no emotion on his hawk face, but I could tell he agreed. [We'll find a way to fix this. We always do.] I wasn't so sure this time. We'd barely managed to keep Jake contained for three days after he'd been infested by a Yeerk.
"I don't know. How are we gonna keep four morph capable beings restrained for three days each while their Yeerks die?" I asked. I made no attempt to hide the frustration in my voice. [We did it with Jake] he said sadly. I nodded. "Yeah, but it took all five of us. Five to stop one." [We'll find a way.] I could tell from his tone, that he wasn't so sure either. "You have no idea what it felt like to watch that. They took Cassie first." Tobias bobbed his head ever so slightly. [I watched it too, remember.] I would never forget the look of fear on her face as she was forced under.
[I felt the same way with Ax.} Tobias replied. "And now, my sister is involved, and I don't even know how I'm gonna protect her." I could feel fresh tears rolling down my cheeks. He finished his mouse and flew off the roof. He began morphing to human as soon as he landed. As soon as he finished, he pulled me close in a hug. "Look Rachel, I don't know how, but we will make it through this. We will find a way to rescue the others, even if we have to be constantly on the run." It was easy for him to say, he'd been a hawk for so long. He wasn't even looked for when he went missing.
I dropped the conversation and went back into the house. He followed, but didn't say anything further. He knew I needed to be left alone for a while. The time passed quickly enough, and soon it was time to go to the city. It took a while, because we had to walk. We figured it would be best if Mom stayed back with Sara. As the locked gates of The Gardens came into view, Jordan tugged my shoulder. "How are we going to get in?" she asked.
"Easy," I answered. "Remember your rabbit morph?" I asked. She nodded. "Use it." [It's now or never] Tobias called from above. We hadn't spoken since that afternoon. As she went to rabbit, I focused on the rat that was in my bloodstream. Within seconds, we were in. I managed to put together an outfit so that Jordan wouldn't be naked. Tobias had it easiest. He simply flew over the fence. He landed and morphed human to join us.
"I figure we'll get her a battle morph and a bird of prey morph," Tobias said. I also thought she could use some insect morphs, but time was of the essence. The less time we spent here, the less likely it was that we'd be captured. "See anything you like?" I asked as we found a map. Tobias was watching for security guards. She studied the map for a second and then pointed.
"Are you sure about this?" I asked. We were inside the lion pen. The Gardens had one male lion. He was asleep at the moment. "Ok," I said in a whisper. "Touch him. Remember to imagine becoming him." Jordan nodded. I focused my mind on the grizzly bear. "What are you doing?" Tobias demanded. "I'm making sure I can protect her," I answered back. Jordan shook her head. "I've got him." She acquired the lion and we got out of there. "That was fun," she said. My jaw dropped. "We've got company," Tobias announced.
My friends came walking out of the darkness. "Well well, what have we here?" Jake asked. The battle lines were drawn.