Her day at school passed pretty much like all the others before it, and soon Cassie found herself heading back home with her father. He was listening to his music, but this time she was a bit too distracted by her thoughts to pay attention to it. She would have probably been grateful for that, if shed been aware of it at all.

Once theyd made it back to the house, Cassie had a quick snack, and then told her dad that she was going to be taking care of the animals for awhile. He thanked her for her help, while Cassie herself winced internally at the half-truth, and then headed for the barn.

Once she had fed, watered, and otherwise taken care of the animals being treated in the Clinic, Cassie started up the ladder to speak with Shara. She didnt know quite what she would find, since Slade and Shara were both so different than they had once been; a fact that she was now fully aware of.

She hadnt wanted to worry Shara or possibly annoy her, given that she didnt seem to like to talk about what she was or what had happened to her and her brother and there hadnt been any time to get into that kind of a discussion besides, but when she had morphed into Shara, shed found herself feeling oddly lethargic. The morph hadnt even been that strenuous, since she had retained the same organs and basic configuration throughout. Still, when shed fully become Shara, she had felt tired.

She didnt know if it had had something to do with what had happened to her and Slade, but she wanted to find out; maybe there was something she could do to help.

When she found Shara and Slade, curled up together like a pair of wolf pups, and fast asleep under the blankets that she had provided for them, Cassie couldnt help but find it cute. Even as she wondered just what could make the both of them so eager to sleep all the time.

"Shara?" she called softly, not wanting to wake Slade if she could help it, but wanting Shara to hear her.

"Cassie?" Shara said, sounding mildly disoriented.

"Cmon," she said softly, helping the other girl to her feet. "Weve still got to find out what happens to you when you transform. And," she said, glancing over at the still slumbering form of her brother. "I dont really think youd want to do this in front of Slade."

"Yeah," Shara said, looking back at her brother. "I dont think I would."

The expression on the other girls face was unreadable, and as they climbed down the ladder and concealed themselves behind one of the partitions that kept the predators from the many prey species, Cassie couldnt help but wonder what Shara had been thinking. Shed probably never find out, though, so she decided to put it out of her mind.

Focussing on the newest morph she had acquired, Cassie could feel her body slimming down and gaining muscle mass. Her eyesight became sharper and more motion-oriented, to the point where she could clearly make out the subtle movements of Sharas chest as she breathed. It was strange; almost like Rachels descriptions of being a cat.

"Cassie, are you all right?" Shara asked, looking confused and a bit concerned.

"Im fine, Shara," she said, in the other girls voice. "Its just taking me a bit longer to get used to these new senses of yours than I thought," she smiled slightly. "At least now I know now why you two always seem to talk so softly," she said, making an effort to modulate her own voice.

She also knew now why Shara had always seemed to be trying not to noticeably wince when any of the others spoke to her, and for a moment she wondered at the fact that Slade didnt seem to have the same problem. Maybe Shara remembered more about being human than she let on, even if she couldnt consciously recall it. Or, it could just be that Slade had a higher pain-tolerance than she did.

There really wasnt any way for her to know without asking invasive questions, which she wasnt going to start doing.

"How do you and Slade transform?" she asked, having searched in vain for some kind of mental trigger; since Shara had always seemed to close her eyes before she transformed, Cassie had thought that that had been a safe bet.

"I dont know," Shara admitted, shaking her head. "I always just seem to manage it, somehow."

Just after she said that, Cassie watched as Shara closed her eyes. Then, she felt a pulse of power rippling through the room, something that left her slightly breathless in its wake. Just as she would have asked Shara what it was, Cassie saw the other girls eyes start glowing right through the lids.

A glow that was as bright pink as the light that sprang up whenever she used that strange transformation of hers. Lines of pink light, tracing some kind of pattern that she didnt have the time to really analyze, before they were washed out by a sudden burst of bright pink light.

Closing her own eyes, Cassie tried to remember the feel of that strange energy, searching for the core of power that Shara had accessed with such ease. When she finally managed to connect with it, it almost felt like she had grabbed onto a bolt of lightning, or tried to swallow one. Her head was snapped back by the sheer force of the energy now coursing through her body, eyes snapping open to stare at the ceiling.

Her fingers splayed out, twitching slightly as the Teknocircuts that shed copied from Shara were activated for the very first time. The clear, unobstructed view she had of the barns rafters was briefly obscured by a sudden burst of bright light, but it was gone almost as quickly as it came, and it left her vision substantially clearer in its wake.

Relaxing as the energy flowing through her body stabilized at a more manageable level, Cassie looked over at the armored form of Shara standing in front of her. Lifting her own hands to eye-level, Cassie found that she was wearing just the same kind of armor that Shara was now clad in. Still, even without confirming it visually, she would have known that something was different.

She felt well, powerful.

It wasnt a feeling that she had been particularly expecting, and it was kind of unnerving. It was almost like she had morphed into one of the large predators that Rachel enjoyed so much. She didnt have too much fondness for the morph on that level alone, but there was something else

Some other presence seemed to be watching her. Something that was as much a part of this new mind of hers as it wasnt. Something that seemed to stretch from her to Shara to Slade, and then beyond the three of them to encompass people or things that Cassie didnt want to think about right now.

Maybe maybe it had something to do with what Jake had said happened to Slade back before their mission involving the soldiers and Area 51. She didnt know, and for the most part she didnt want to know. She was only using this morph to help Shara get the hang of her own transformation, like the other girl had asked her to.

It wasnt as if she was ever going to have the need to use this morph again; at least, she hoped not.

"Cassie, are you feeling all right?"

Sharas voice broke her out of the thoughts that had been troubling her, but it didnt make her forget the fact that that whatever it was, was still there.

"Im all right," she said, not wanting Shara to worry about her any more than she might have been doing already. "But, I think theres someone or something watching you, somehow."

"Its probably Darkon," Shara muttered, sounding bitter and helpless at once.

Cassie was about to ask who Darkon was, but then she abruptly realized that she knew on some level; he was the supreme commander of this particular group of Radam soldiers. The one who had been responsible for creating them in the first place. He was the one she had been born to serve, and Wait, what am I even thinking?!

"I I think I know him," she said, feeling a chill at the thoughts that she could remember running through her mind when she had thought about him. "What happened to me?"

"Im pretty sure that that was a carryover from what happened to me," Shara said calmly, though not without a hint of bitterness. "Anyway," she said, seeming to force herself to smile calmly. "Thats not really what were here for."

"Yeah," Cassie responded, trying to ignore the lingering uneasiness that she felt; if Shara could deal with this for as long as she had, then she could deal with it for as long as she needed to. "I guess we arent."

Taking a deep breath, more out of a sense that she should rather than any pressing need to do so, Cassie focused on the energy permeating her body. As she turned the problem of how to transform out of this armored form she was in, the energy seemed to recede. It felt like she was pulling it all back inside her somehow, though she couldnt have really explained how.

Like morphing, Sharas power seemed to be controlled by thoughts alone. That was good, since it made it easier to deal with thanks to the superficial similarities.

Once she had managed to suppress the last of the energy flowing through her body, Cassie opened her eyes and looked around. Everything seemed; not exactly blurry, but less sharp than it had been when she had been wearing the armor.

"Well, I guess that wasnt one of my more brilliant ideas," Shara said, looking ruefully at the pile of clothes next to the wall that they had stood behind to conceal themselves from anyone coming into the barn.

Cassie could tell that her own clothes had been obliterated by the same energy that had consumed Sharas, but she wasnt quite sure what to do about that. She knew that she had to demorph soon, or else risk getting trapped in Sharas body, so that was what she did. Looking back over at Shara, she saw the other girl was dressing up.

Heading over to the pile of clothes after Shara had gotten done with it, Cassie pulled some out and started dressing herself.

"I dont think we should really try this again," she said. "I mean, after what almost happened," she continued, remembering the strange presence she had felt; the feeling that she was being watched by a creature not even her worst nightmares could have conjured up. Someone who, in his own way, was even worse than Visser Three.

"You might be right about that," Shara conceded. "I guess Ill just have to get the hang of these powers on my own."

Nodding, Cassie went over to the pile of would-be giveaway clothes and picked out some that looked almost exactly like the ones that she had destroyed while trying to help Shara. Her parents werent likely to notice the small differences between the two sets of clothes, and even if they did they were more likely to write it off as an artifact of them not really paying attention to her than anything else.

At least she wouldnt be required to lie to them any more than she already was.

With a quiet exchange of wishes for the other to have a good night sleep, Cassie watched Shara climb back up into the hayloft, then turned and left the barn herself. She needed to get some sleep so shed be able to function decently in school tomorrow, and she also needed to deal with what was left of the giveaway clothes before she did so. It wouldnt be good for her parents to find the pile of clothes shed taken in for her and Shara to use in their experiments.

Picking up the clothes as she made her way out of the barn, Cassie made her way to the garage to put them back up.