Chapter 9

I woke up earlier than I would've expected. Marco was gone. Again. This time, however, he wasn't downstairs making breakfast. Instead there was a text telling me he wanted to try to spend some time with his dad today. I smiled. After our late night talk, I couldn't blame him.

My parents were already up. We're not much on breakfast, really. Both of my parents are too busy to cook anything in the morning and Tom and I are old enough to take care of ourselves. My mom usually spends her Sundays in the garden before she heads off to see friends or hang out with her sister, my aunt Nicole. My dad likes to make coffee, maybe sit with the paper or a book, and relax. Saturdays are usually spent on housework and he goes jogging or biking in his attempt to stay heart-healthy. So Sundays are his quiet days. Which actually means Sundays are my busy days.

I had to finish my English paper - my last major homework assignment for the year - before I went to school tomorrow. On top of that, I had to mow the lawn and this was my preferred laundry day. Ugh, how I hated laundry.

I sat down at the kitchen table, made myself a cup of coffee and grabbed a banana. I checked my messages and tried to make sense of my day.

Rachel was going to be spending more time with Melissa. Apparently the sleepover had gone better than expected, at least from the social angle. From what Rachel had seen of things, neither of Melissa's parents had left the house, though our vice principal was spending a lot of time in the basement. Melissa said they were renovating their rec room or something, but Rachel thought it worth noting.

I asked about Tobias. I didn't like her response.

Tobias was missing in action. First Elfangor and now Tobias.

Unlike yesterday, I wasn't in a position to drop everything and run off. For one, I had my other responsibilities. I was going to arouse suspicion if I kept running off. I had to maintain normalcy. And Elfangor had gone missing from Cassie's barn, so I'd had someplace to start from. Rachel last saw Tobias in a tree outside the Chapman's backyard. I couldn't think of a way to show up to a random stand of trees and not look out of place.

There wasn't a whole lot I could do besides wait and try to take care of the tasks at hand. I couldn't really go find Elfangor till Cassie got home. And Tobias could be anywhere. Most likely, he'd gone home and was sleeping. According to Rachel, he'd morphed and demorphed over and over last night, at least five times, so I had to imagine that'd wipe a guy out. I'd only seen Elfangor morph twice, but he didn't seem to particularly enjoy the process.

I thought about my dog, my golden retriever Homer.

Maybe I should try a practice morph?

I went into the backyard and squeaked a tennis ball. Homer came running like he always did. I threw the ball and watched him run after it. I hadn't been home much the last few days, so for about twenty minutes, I just played fetch with my dog. When I was tired of throwing the ball, I grabbed his favorite rope toy out of the old milk crate we kept out for dog toys. Homer loved a good game of tug o' war, and as he tried to wrest the rope from me, I started petting him.

I concentrated. I could feel the thrum of energy that Tobias mentioned, and I felt Homer relax a little, like he'd just nodded off a bit. But just like that, the moment passed and Homer pulled the rope free of my hand. He shook it and ran off into the yard with it, content as though nothing strange had happened to him.

I closed my eyes. I didn't really want to do this, and I suddenly felt nauseous for even thinking about it. But I focused on Homer in my mind. When I opened my eyes, the world was different. Colors were muted, the late-spring noises of birds and insects seemed louder, I could already tell my sense of smell was getting stronger. I felt an exuberance, an energy I'd forgotten I'd ever had, like being a toddler again. My eyes darted everywhere in the backyard.

But then I looked down to see gold-brown fur on the back of my hands.

I freaked out. I couldn't do this. I couldn't just become a dog. What the hell was wrong with me? Images of Tobias's cactus feathers flooded my head, and I wanted to be sick.

Suddenly the colors became more vibrant, sounds muted, and the fur on my hand vanished.

I felt my heart pounding, I could hear the blood rushing in my ears. I felt dizzy for a minute and I went back into the kitchen. I poured another cup of coffee. I needed to settle my nerves.

I changed into my work clothes and got the lawnmower out of the garage. My dad wanted me to learn the value of hard work when he taught me how to mow the lawn. Well, that's what he said, anyway. Part of it may well have been true. But I strongly suspect he just didn't want to do it anymore and Tom and I were old enough to do it.

When Tom made the basketball team, I took on some of his chores. I couldn't really complain about it, though at the time I wasn't pleased. Tom mowed the yard every weekend for about three years before it had become my job. I never did go out for sports, though. I liked basketball, and I was good at it. My dad and Marco both told me I could probably make the varsity team. But I just didn't care for it the way Tom did.

I played basketball because I enjoyed it. I think Tom saw it as his way out, and nothing else. He'd been approached to play college basketball for larger schools with larger sports programs, but Tom had turned those all down to go to the local college. I think mom and dad were shocked he wanted to go to UCSC, but he shrugged it off.

I made my way around mom's flower beds, minding the woodchip mulch. I felt the vibration in my hands, the simple power of the mower. Thinking about Tom, mowing the yard, I wondered about grown-up life. Tom was going to be moving out in a few months. He had a part-time job during the off-season, and he was volunteering on weekends apparently. Something about looking good on the college transcripts, I guess. Honestly, I still had a sneaking suspicion he'd gone to one of the senior parties to partake in some underage drinking, but that's not to say he wasn't doing both.

Maybe it sound like I'm being philosophical or something, but I was sixteen, and this was one of the first times I'd really contemplated adult life. And what bugged me was that I just couldn't see it.

I couldn't ever get the grades to become a doctor or a therapist like my parents. I'd never be a lawyer like my aunt, or a basketball phenom like Tom.

Part of me had always been worried that I was going to grow up to be no one special. I was a point guard when I played basketball, and I wasn't bad, but I wasn't the best at it. I would never be a center. When I played football, I was a cornerback. I would never be the quarterback or the wideout. I got decent enough grades. I'd get the occasional C- in math, but I was more or less a B+ kind of student. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but I'd learned back in fourth or fifth grade that I was never going to be the valedictorian. I wasn't the most athletic, I wasn't the smartest, and like I told Marco last night, I wasn't artistic or creative like Tobias. I wasn't politically-invested or socially responsible like Rachel.

There's something a little humbling when you realize you're just never going to be more than the middle of the deck. Marco told me I was a Hufflepuff. He said it was a good thing. There's nothing wrong with being the hard-working, loyal-to-a-fault, reliable type. It was a good sentiment, I guess. It also made me feel like a pickup truck.

But it is what it is, I guess.

I put the mower back in the garage when I was done, and ran upstairs to grab a shower. I was happy to get the smell of grass, sweat, and gasoline off, but mostly I was just stalling.

There were no new texts from Rachel, Marco, or Cassie when I got out of the shower. I had really been hoping when I came back in that I'd have something, that someone would know where Tobias was. I couldn't text anyone. Marco had gotten less sleep than I had, and if he was working on stuff with his dad, I couldn't interfere with that. It was too early for Cassie to be home from church. Her parents sometimes took her out for donuts afterward, it was kind of their Sunday thing, I guess. Rachel was with Melissa, and I didn't want to foul up our little surveillance operation.

Jesus, my life was so fucked up.

I rubbed at the bridge of my nose, applying pressure, trying to curb my oncoming headache. It wasn't from mowing. Mom is very safety conscious and she'd throw a conniption fit if I mowed the lawn without hearing protection.

I already knew I couldn't clear my head enough to think about the English paper. I knew I needed to write it, and I knew procrastinating now was going to bite me hard in the ass later tonight. I knew when I picked up my keys that I'd probably be up till midnight writing, but whatever. I had other things on my mind.

There wasn't a lot for me to do, so I did one of the the things I could do. I'd already decided to get the Boardwalk passes, but I needed Cassie and Tobias to be there for the photo on the card. So that could wait.

But Tobias was the only one of us without a cell phone, and I couldn't just let that go. It obviously didn't solve the problem at hand, but if he'd had a phone, I wouldn't be so worried right now. There was a Boost Mobile kiosk at Best Buy, and I decided I had to do it. Part of it was that he needed a phone. There was a pragmatism to it. But in a lot of ways, I always felt like Tobias was family. Or at least, that he should've been. Before he had moved to Pennsylvania with his aunt, I think mom and dad had seriously considered adopting him. They hadn't, obviously. There were some legal issues, my mom was still upset about Loren, and of course mom assumed Tobias would be happier with his aunt.

I wondered if I should tell her about his uncle.

That'd be a conversation for later.

About twenty minutes later, I was coming out of Best Buy with a prepaid cell. It was a Samsung Galaxy J3, with a prepaid card. It wasn't the best phone in the store, but it was under fifty bucks and it wasn't bad for the price.

It was about noon. I texted to Cassie to let me know when I could come over. To my surprise, she texted back in just a few minutes. She was on her way back from church already. She just needed to change. I didn't bother texting Marco. He'd text me when he was free.

I decided to cruise through Tobias's neighborhood, but I didn't see him. I wasn't brave enough to knock at his uncle's apartment. I headed past the movie theatre again, hoping he'd be there, or maybe at the art store next door. But no such luck. I really wanted to drive past the Chapman residence. I wanted to see if I could spot his backpack from the street, but I didn't want to take any chances.

There was nothing else I could do to find him, not right now.

I stopped to put gas in the SUV, and I took a few minutes to set up Tobias's new phone. I installed Netflix and put in my password, made a new profile for him. I added our phone numbers to his contacts, and added Tobias's number to mine. It killed enough time for Cassie to give me the go-ahead to come over.

I pulled up to her property yet again. I didn't see her dad or her mom this time. I found Cassie in the barn as usual.

I keep saying "the barn" but really the property had a few buildings. We just weren't allowed in any of the others. There were two separate buildings for the WRC, because some of the animals had to be kept segregated or quarantined. And half of the other barn was set up for veterinary surgery. There was the other barn that housed the horses, and only Cassie was allowed in there. Cassie's family owned two horses, but they just stabled up to twenty at any given time, and Cassie's parents had a deal with a nearby equestrian school that took care of all that stuff, so Cassie wasn't responsible for the other horses.

The only building we were actually allowed in was the main barn. There were often deer, hawks, foxes, and bobcats in there, but a large part of the barn was hay, old farm equipment, and veterinary supplies. These were animals on the mend. And these were usually the placid animals. The wolves, coyotes, and anything of the biting, human-mauling kind had to be kept away from the deer and such. Apparently, there was a pair of black bear cubs in there at the moment. And that was the only reason the bobcat had been moved into the other barn.

Anyway, I caught up to Cassie. "Any new developments?"

She shrugged. "I haven't heard from Rachel since this morning. No word on Tobias. Anything on Marco?"

"Far as I know, he's spending time with his dad this morning. Is Elfangor here?"

"Not that I know."

There was an awkward few minutes of making sure none of the animals in the barn were actually an alien or a teenager in morph, and we checked the hayloft for Tobias. But he wasn't there. And so it was that we ended up walking back through the Moore Creek trails.

We held hands, which I know doesn't sound like much, but still seemed to matter so much. I had a girlfriend. I couldn't recall for sure if I'd actually called her that, yet. But I enjoyed holding her hand. I liked feeling close to her.

We crossed the open area of the Preserve, but apparently when we approached the creek bed, Elfangor heard us coming.

*Jake, Cassie. I assume you are looking for Tobias.*

"Yeah, we are," I called to the overgrowth. I still couldn't see Elfangor from here. We kept walking.

*He is resting.*

"He's there?" Cassie asked.

*He is.*

Cassie and I hurried down the steep banks into the wooded part of the creek valley. It was reasonably hidden from the trails on the open fields, but it was a pretty decent drop to get in here. It felt sheltered, though.

Tobias was asleep in a little grassy area, his worn hoodie draped over him like a blanket.

*He arrived shortly before dawn. He has been sleeping for a few hours now. Should I wake him?*

I shook my head. "No, there's no need for that right now. Let him sleep. Rachel said he morphed and remorphed at least five times last night."

Elfangor nodded. *Morphing can be a little taxing. Sequential morphs, even more so.*

"Rachel says Chapman hasn't left the house all day. He's apparently spending time in the basement, but as far as we know, he hasn't been to the pool yet."

"Any thoughts on what we're going to do tomorrow?" Cassie asked.

Elfangor looked at us quizzically. "We have school five days a week. Saturdays and Sundays we're off, but tomorrow we go back to school and we're not going to be able to be here with you without people noticing that we missed school."

Elfangor nodded again. *This Controller, Chapman, he is an instructor at your school?*

I shrugged. "He used to be a history teacher, I think. Right now he has more of an administrative position. He's in charge of the teachers, or however that works out with the school board."

*If you have to go to school tomorrow, then he does as well.*

"Yeah, that's a fair point, but he works in the office. He's not going to be in front of two dozen kids all day like the teachers; I'm not sure how we can keep tabs on him without missing classes."

*The simple solution would be for me to morph something inconspicuous and have you take me to your school.*

"Are you sure?" Cassie asked, "We're in school for like eight hours, and Chapman will be there earlier than we are and stay later. We're looking at ten hours, and you can't be seen demorphing."

*You are correct. I will need assistance. Are there any areas of the school where I could demorph without being seen?*

"Bathrooms might be an option. I think you'd fit in a handicap stall. There are a few places in the libraries where no one would see you."

"Don't forget the roof. Or the janitorial closets. You're going to have to morph something small, something innocuous… Is there a limit how small you can morph?"

*I could not morph certain microscopic forms, like bacteria or protozoa. But most forms of multicellular life are morphable.*

"What do you have in mind?"

She shrugged. "Not sure. A mouse might work, but if he's seen, that's going to go south fast. Maybe a fly or a spider?"

I thought for a minute. Something small, something that could keep an eye on Chapman for a while, but agile enough to get out if needed. "God, this would be so much easier if we could just break into his office and install a spy camera."

Cassie looked up at me.

So did Elfangor.

*What exactly would that entail?*

I put my hand on my face. Ugh, this wasn't happening. "Seriously?" I asked.

Cassie smiled. "What, you're expecting me to be the good girl all the time?"

"The thought had crossed my mind, babe."

"Oh, now it's babe, huh?" she said with a smile. Our banter was getting fun, but I wasn't sure I was on board with this.

*Jake, please explain your comment. Why is that plan unfeasible?*

I sighed. "Okay, we could possibly get a small wifi camera, break into the school, and install the camera in Chapman's office. It's crazy, though, because breaking into the school isn't my first choice. We could get caught."

*Forced entry to the building is a risk. I understand. And I do not wish you to break human laws. But does the one-time risk of entering the school tonight outweigh the multiple risks of exposure smuggling an Andalite into the building tomorrow?*

I hesitated. I didn't want to agree with him, I didn't want to do this. But he was right. "I'll be upfront with you, if we do this, we might very well have to steal the camera. That's going to add to the plan."

"And unless Marco knows how to wire it… I mean, I know nothing about electronics."

"What's going on?"

We all turned to Tobias.

"Hey, you're awake," Cassie said. "You know, I think we have some camping equipment in storage. Set up a tent, sleeping bag, I think we even have an old air mattress."

Tobias shrugged. "Might not be a bad idea."

"Isn't your uncle going to flip out? This is the second night in a row you haven't gone home."

Tobias shook his head. He didn't blush or anything, but I could tell he was embarrassed.

"Honestly, Cassie, I doubt the fucker noticed."

Cassie looked surprised. She looked to me, then back at Tobias. There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes.

"Oh, bud, I got something for you."

I took the new phone out of my pocket and handed it to him.

He held it for a long moment, just looking at it. It was suddenly excruciatingly obvious that he wasn't used to getting gifts. He ran his fingers over the screen, looked at the apps for a bit, and slid the phone into his pocket. "Thanks, Jake."

"No problem, man. I was worried when we couldn't find you, so I figured you needed one." Tobias didn't respond. He didn't look like he could without crying. Cassie squeezed my hand, but she didn't say anything. I don't think she wanted to run the risk of embarrassing him. "I've got the charger and your user pamphlet in the car."

He nodded, rubbed his eyes, and said thanks again. "So what were you guys planning?"

Cassie laughed. She answered before I could say anything. "We're breaking into the school."