Shara, as she winged her way back into the air following her brother and Cassie, found her attention turning back to Marco. While it was true that she hadnt known what to say to him while he was surrounded by the other Animorphs, and she still didnt quite know how to make him feel better after what hed obviously been going through. She wasnt completely sure, but it seemed that his problem stemmed from the sharks they had faced earlier.

(Hey, Marco?)

(Yeah?)

(You know, if you ever want to talk to me about anything, Im right here.)

(What would we have to talk about?) he asked, sounding genuinely curious.

(Maybe we could talk about the things that seem to be bothering you,) she suggested amicably.

(Nothings bothering me,) he said, a bit too quickly. (I mean, why would you think anythings bothering me?)

(Ah, against the Guy Code to talk about, huh?)

(Who told you about the Code?) Marco demanded good-naturedly.

(I lived with my four brothers,) she said, chuckling. (Believe me, I know about the Guy Code.)

Marco laughed a bit, and she laughed with him; knowing beyond all doubt that that was all she was going to get out of him. It was kind of sad, the way he seemed to think he had to keep all of when he was feeling inside; but it was his business if he did, and she wasnt going to pry any farther.

To say nothing of how rude it would be, Shara didnt want to drive a wedge between herself and the rest of the Animorphs. They seemed to be a pretty close-knit group, and she knew that they would need that kind of camaraderie to have a chance of dealing with the Yeerks.

She and Slade were the only ones who really had a chance in hell of dealing with the Radam.

XX

Later that night, when all of the normal day-to-day routines had been handled and excuses made for those who needed them the eight Animorphs winged their way toward Ocean World. Marco, whose father had said to call him if he needed a ride, flew in the rough middle of the group. He was still mulling over what Shara had said to him, mildly surprised at the way she had been so willing to let him confide in her; they hadnt even known each other for a week.

It was also a startling contrast to the way she had acted in the fight with the sharks; but she really didnt seem to want to think about that, so he wasnt going to bring up the issue. It was fair, after the way shed dropped the issue of his mom, after all. Even if she hadnt known what she was asking, she still hadnt been ready to push.

That meant something.

As their group closed in on Ocean World, Marco pushed the thoughts of Shara, the shark, and what his mother and/or Visser One were doing right now, out of his mind so that he would be able to focus when the time came.

All eight of them tucked their wings and dove toward the ground, landing and starting to demorph. As he grew from a tiny seagull into a fairly average-sized if slightly shorter than normal human, Marco started to feel slightly uneasy. This was a marked difference from the relief he usually felt she coming out of morphs that size or smaller.

Still, with the gloom and the shadows all around them, it was blatantly obvious that they werent supposed to be here. Plus, the lack of ambient light made it really easy to see that both Slade and Sharas eyes were glowing. They looked eerily like cats, only their eyes glowed in two distinct colors.

Slades green wasnt that bad, but hed never seen a cat with pink eyes before.