Jake
I hiked through the woods after watching the yellow buses pull away. I hoped everything would go smoothly, but I found I can never afford to be too optimistic. Not that I didn't trust my friends to do the right and necessary things. It's just that, as much as I hate to admit it, I knew their strengths and weaknesses and how to exploit them. I knew Rachel would always choose the direct, violent option. I knew Marco would argue just to be contrary, but would do what had to be done in the end. I knew Tobias would sometimes do stupidly courageous things either to impress Rachel or to overcompensate for being a casualty. I knew Ax would follow every order to the letter yet have enough mental flexibility to know just when to jump in and save the day. But I also knew he could be a liability in human morph.
And I knew Cassie would always offset me when I thought I knew everything about these people.
Cassie. I should go see her. It's not like I had anything else to do this week. My parents thought I would be at school. The school thought I'd be on the field trip, so it was just a matter of ditching class for a week. Another talent I'd gotten really good at since that night at the construction site.
I morphed to peregrine falcon and took off for Cassie's farm. Her mom was at work and her dad would be out in the barn, so I flapped straight for the house. She had left her windows open. I fluttered in and demorphed. Only after I was human again did I notice she was fast asleep. I knew how hard it was to sleep with this disease, having just gotten over it myself. I turned toward the door to leave, but stopped.
She really was beautiful. She didn't think she was, and most people would say Rachel was prettier. She didn't care about clothes and makeup. She was naturally a nice person; not all fake like some people. She sort of…shined from within. I knew it sounded saccharine. What I'd have to endure if Marco ever heard me saying these things… But Cassie and I, well we'd been through a lot together.
I realized I was just standing there watching her sleep. Ugh, creepy. Time to go. I should be following Tom or tracking Visser Three or checking up on Marco and the others. Why had I even come here? There were a million things I could be doing.
As I turned to go, she stirred and coughed a little.
"Jake?" she said groggily.
"Yeah, Cass," I answered.
"I feel awful."
"Yeah." Such excellent conversation skills, Jake, I chided myself, "Anyway, I'll let you sleep."
"No, stay here." She weakly grabbed for my hand. I sat down on the bed and put my arm around her. She rested her head on my chest. It was still burning hot.
I sighed and settled in. Maybe Tom and Visser Three and the Animorphs could wait for a little while.
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Author's Note: Ok, a mushy J/C interlude. Back to the action soon, I promise. I just couldn't resist.