CHAPTER 6: The First Meeting
(MIKE'S POV)
I silently watched as Cassie melted away, and a horse emerged. In the books, it quite often said that Cassie was the best morpher in the group; sometimes even making the morph look elegant and beautiful. There was nothing beautiful about this morph, but since this was her first morph (and it just so happened to be a horse morph) I supposed that I could make this time an exception. Even so, I could already see her potential for being the best morpher, just by how much smoother the transition was. I doubted it was intentional, but the changes seemed less random than when I had morphed.
Cassie's hair darkened in colour slightly before shooting out, growing at an alarming rate. Her face started to stretch out as her eyes moved further apart and her mouth began to expand. Fur burst out from beneath her skin, while her legs lengthened until she lost her balance and dropped down onto all fours. Her toes sort of melted together into hooves and I could hear the bones in her legs growing and changing. It was a good thing I'd managed to convince her to change into a skin-tight leotard before she started the morph, as she would have ruined the boots she was wearing when the hooves appeared. I know that some guys my age might have 'forgotten' to tell her about the clothing problem, but I like to think I have a strong sense of decency and honour. Besides, Jake would've killed me.
Cassie's morph time was also a little faster than mine (another morphing trait that she was well known for), and in just under 3 minutes, Cassie had four legs, long fur, hooves and a mane.
"Cassie, are you okay?" I asked her after several seconds of silence.
--Yeah I'm fine Mike,-- she answered. --Am I really a horse?--
"Yes, it's real Cassie," I told her softly.
--What happens now?-- she asked. She finally seemed to accept the fact that she had turned into an actual horse.
I smiled. Then I walked over to the door and pushed it open.
"Now we have some fun!"
--YEEEEEH! HAAAAA!-- Cassie cried.
--WAHOO!-- I yelled.
Cassie and I had spent the last ten minutes out in the fields having fun with our newly acquired morphs. Cassie had been sprinting at top speed across the field, while I had flown overhead, diving down and pulling up at the last second. I really couldn't believe how quickly I was learning the complex manoeuvres involved in flying.
--I'd like to stay longer Mike, I really would,-- Cassie said. --But my parents are going to start wondering where I am soon. After all, I only came out to check on the animals.--
--It's okay Cassie, I should probably get going too,-- I said.
--Let's head for the barn,-- Cassie suggested. --I can demorph in there.--
We headed for the barn. I flew in through the hayloft, and Cassie ran through the door before skidding to a halt next to a pile of hay.
--Alright Cassie. Demorphing is just like morphing. Just concentrate on your human body to turn back. It's easy.-- I reassured her.
--That sounds simple enough; I just have to concentrate on becoming me right? Nothing to it?-- she said.
--That's right,-- I told her. --But when you do try to picture yourself wearing the leotard.--
I watched from the rafters as she demorphed to Human (admittedly she had improved slightly). She was now standing in a black leotard and looking rather pleased with herself. Understandable as it's not everyday you turn into a horse. She tilted her head to look at me.
"Thanks for showing me how to do that Mike," she said. "I would never have figured that out on my own." I had to struggle not to laugh as when she said that!
--Something tells me that you'd have worked it out eventually,-- I told her truthfully. --You are really smart after all.--
She blushed at the comment, and then waved as I took to the skies.
(MIKE'S POV)
It was about midday and I was once again on my way to Cassie's house to meet with the other Animorphs. Tobias had called me an hour earlier to tell me about the meeting (I had given him my phone number last night at the Mall). It was kind of unnecessary since I already knew, but it was nice of him just the same.
I flew on until I caught sight of Cassie's barn, and spotted the other Animorphs. Jake, Marco, Tobias, and Rachel, were all standing outside the barn. Cassie was some distance away in horse morph, galloping through the fields at top speed. I carried on flying until I'd reached the others, before landing in front of them while Jake was reading the newspaper.
Rachel looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face.
"Weird bird," she muttered.
--Do you have a problem with my bird morph Rachel?-- I asked her with mock anger.
Rachel froze.
"What the–" she started.
"Glad you could make it Mike," Tobias said. "What kind of bird are you?"
--It's a Harris hawk.-- I answered.
"You better demorph Mike. Remember what the Andalite said, two hours and you're trapped." Jake reminded me.
--Don't worry about me Jake,-- I said. --I've only been in morph for about fifteen minutes. Besides, I can keep watch on you guys from the sky; we don't want to be overheard.--
Jake nodded and I took to the skies. Of course, I could still understand every word of what they were saying. Hawk hearing is as could as its sight.
"Look, why do we have to deal with this?" Marco asked. "I say we just forget it. We never talk about it. We never morph. We just deal with our own lives."
If anyone else had said those words, I would have argued with them. I made an exception in Marco's case; I knew he had his reasons. So when Tobias gave Marco a side-ways glance I spoke to Tobias privately.
--Marco isn't a coward,-- I told him. --He has his reasons.--
Tobias looked up at the sky at me with a puzzled expression on his face; then he shrugged.
I kind of tuned out after that until Cassie showed up. I wanted to see how much better she'd got at morphing. I watched as she started to demorph.
Cassie had definitely been practicing her morphing skills. I was very impressed at how fast she was improving.
Suddenly I heard a loud siren in the distance, and cursed myself for not remembering about the police officer.
--There's a cop car heading our way! Stand in front of Cassie while she demorphs!-- I yelled. The others all rushed to conceal Cassie from the approaching cop, the one I knew had a Yeerk in his brain.
"Morning," he said. "You kids, uh… hiding something?" The Policeman-Controller asked my fellow Animorphs.
"Hiding something?" Jake asked innocently.
"Step aside, all of you," he ordered.
They did, revealing Cassie. Fully human, as I'd known she would be.
The policeman looked confused, even disappointed, as if he had been expecting something different. Then he shrugged it off.
Even though I was a hundred metres above them, I could still see the wave of relief wash over them. It's amazing what you can notice with those hawk eyes. Tobias would make one hell of a detective.
Well too bad, I told myself. I'm not going to let Tobias get trapped in morph, not if I can help it.
"Can we help you, officer?" Rachel asked the Policeman in her best 'responsible' voice.
"We're making some inquiries," he said, still looking at Cassie as if he expected her to change into some kind of mutant space monster. "We're looking for some kids who were shooting off fireworks in the construction site across from the mall last night."
Suddenly Marco started coughing for 'some reason.'
"Something the matter with him?" the Policeman questioned.
"Nope," Jake told him. "Nothing wrong with him."
"We want these kids," the policeman said. "We want them real bad. See, it was dangerous what they did. Could have been someone hurt. So we want to find the kids."
Yeah, so you can force one of your filthy brothers into our heads you Daspen filth! I thought maliciously. (Author's note: "Daspen" is a Yeerk swear word from book 9, for those of you who don't remember.)
As the police Controller went on to talk about the Sharing, it occurred to me that he was probably one of the guys at the construction site last night, laughing as Elfangor was murdered in cold blood. I was momentarily tempted to swoop down and give the guy a spare eye socket.
The time for revenge will come, I told myself. But not today…
"Well," the policeman said. "You call me if you hear anything about those kids in the construction site. I should warn you – they may come up with some wild story to conceal their guilt. But you're too smart to believe a bunch of crazy lies, aren't you?"
"He's a regular genius," Marco said, indicating Jake.
The policeman got back into his police cruiser, and took off...