(Jake, I got the chump with the cube.) A voice said in my head. (But I'm pretty much surrounded, and there's also two people from the pet shop cowering inside.)
(Get the cube first, worry about them later.) A second voice instructed. (Are they controllers?)
(I doubt it. They look like they're about to piss their pants.) The first voice said. (And if they were controllers, I don't think their yeerk buddy would be shooting at them.)
(They'd probably take offense to a grizzly bear coming into their shop uninvited, too.) A third voice cracked. I peered cautiously above the desk, and there was a grizzly bear climbing through the shattered window.
I decided that I had gone insane and slumped dejectedly behind the counter. The grizzly bear lumbered across to the store and grabbed the blue cube in its mouth. Meanwhile, all of the animals in the store decided that his would be a very good time to be quiet.
(Got it! I might be able to power my way out of here with some backup, but these two are as good as dead.)
"Grizzly bear? Is there a grizzly bear in here?" Bernice whispered. She could hear the voices too – maybe I wasn't crazy. Or maybe we were both exactly the same kind of crazy.
I peered above the desk again. Outside of the window, red flashes of light lit up the gray landscape. Shapes several yards away from the window looked like they were engaged in a terrible battle.
A gorilla crashed through the front door, followed closely by a wolf. One of the gorilla's eyes was bleeding profusely, and the wolf was limping. The knuckles of the gorilla and the sharp, yellow teeth of the wolf were bloody. I was beyond surprise at this point. I didn't think I was capable of being shocked anymore.
The gorilla grabbed the counter and, with a grunt and visible effort, tore it from its bolted position on the floor. I pushed Bernice up against the wall, and felt her shaking under my arm. It must have been terrifying, not seeing what was going on. Somehow, though, I thought that I had it worse: I did have to see what was going on.
A terrible, 7 foot tall bladed creature scrambled through the doorway. The wolf snarled and leapt at it, throwing it off balance. The creature swiped at the wolf and left a deep red gash across its back with a blade.
The grizzly roared in fury and stood up, towering above even the yellow monster. The grizzly swung a massive paw and slammed it into the long neck of the creature. With a snapping sound, the neck bent at an angle I could tell was unnatural even for this abomination, and it crumpled to the floor.
Another bladed creature tried to force its way through the doorway, but the gorilla swung the counter like a battering ram and sent it tumbling out into the rain like an 8-ball hit by a cue stick. The grizzly slammed the door shut, and the gorilla slammed the counter down in front of it.
(Guys, I can't take much more of this.)
(Neither can my gorilla. We've got to bail.)
(You two grow some wings, and I'll hold off the yeerks.)
The gorilla shook its head. (Nice try, Xena. Your eagle is the only morph we've got that can carry the cube, especially in this weather. We're not leaving you anyway.)
(And what about those two?)
The wolf, gorilla, and grizzly bear all turned to look at Bernice and me cowering in the corner.
(Leave them.)
I was perfectly okay with this idea, but one of them protested.
(Marco! We are not leaving them.)
(They are two insignificant little people! Look, I've seen these two around school, and neither is going to do anything special with their life, trust me.)
(MARCO.)
(Cassie, you know what I mean!) the gorilla punched the floor. (We can't jeopardize the mission to save two random people. C'mon, Xena, back me up.)
The grizzly shifted uncomfortably. It might have been a funny sight if our lives weren't currently being discussed by three dangerous and sentient animals that could talk in our heads.
(Look, I'm all for saving lives, but we don't have a way out for these people. Marco's right, the cube is more important.)
(WHAT IS GOING ON DOWN THERE?) a voice from earlier bellowed.
(We've got the cube, but Cassie is having a moral breakdown over leaving these store clerks!)
(Dammit, Cassie-) the voice swore, but then shifted to a calmer tone of voice. (Cassie, we can't risk the cube for two people.)
(Sorry to interrupt, Prince Jake, but might I make a suggestion?)
(What, Ax?)
(Cassie, Marco, and Rachel have use of the Escafil Device, and they are in a pet shop. Pet shops often have birds, correct?)
(Are you suggesting-)
(Yes, Prince Jake, that is what I am suggesting.)
There was silence. Tropical Storm David raged on, nearly drowning out the sound of the fighting outside. I noticed that both Bernice and I were holding our breaths.
(Moot point.) The gorilla pointed to a cage. Inside were the charred remains of two parrots. (Our boy over there fried the only birds in the shop.)
(Wait.) A new voice chimed in. (They don't need to fly away. We just need to hide them from the yeerks! What better place to hide an Animorph than a pet store?)
(The Purloined Letter? Could work. But who's to say the yeerks aren't going to slaughter every living thing in this place when we escape with the cube done? I wouldn't put it past them, they've done it before. )
(They don't have the time. Once they see the cube is missing, they're going to come straight after us.)
(That's comforting.)
The conversation was interrupted by a yellow fist smashing through the top of the door. The gorilla calmly reached up and grabbed the arm in one of its giant black hands and twisted. The owner of the hand let out a cry and yanked their arm back outside.
(Whatever we do, we better do it fast.)
(Why are we even discussing giving someone the morphing power? We all know what happened last time!)
(There's no time to talk about how jaded we all are.) The wolf stepped forward, and began shifting. (Lives are in danger.)
When I say shifted, I do not mean "made a slight change in position". I mean that the wolf began to change into something else. Gray, bloody clumps of fur were sucked into skin like a kid slurping up spaghetti. Like a reverse werewolf transformation, the form of the wolf began to give way to the shape of a human girl.
Bernice started hiccupping from fright, and I eyed the laser gun. The grizzly bear eyed me.
(Don't even think about it.)
"Please don't freak out," The girl-who-used-to-be-a-wolf said. "I mean, I know this is a freaky situation, so you have my permission to freak out a little bit, but don't overdo it, okay? We don't have a lot of time."
The girl was short, black, and dressed in only a leotard. It was her hair, short and neat, that gave me a disturbing feeling that I may have seen her somewhere before.
She crossed the room quickly and calmly held out her hand to the grizzly bear. "Rachel, give it."
(Cassie…)
"Now." With a grunt, the grizzly bear dropped the slobber covered blue cube into the girl's hand.
(Guys, you need to be out of there ten minutes ago. Tobias and I are holding the front door, and Ax is guarding the window, but we can't hang on much longer.)
"Hey, ignore all of that." The girl said. "Look at me."
"Cassie? Cassie, from History class?" Bernice asked confusedly. "Is that you?"
"Yes," The girl, Cassie, said. "You have to trust me. We weren't the ones shooting at you, we're here to help."
Her voice was calm and steady, and made me want to trust her. This was somewhat counteracted by the fact that she had just been a wolf a few seconds ago, but she still managed to hold my attention. With all of the things going on around me, that was an accomplishment within itself.
(Cassie, you have no time. I'm serious.)
Cassie sighed. "You two have to trust me, okay? Right now, I need you to touch the blue cube."
(Cassie, we need you as wolf if we're going to have a chance of fighting our way out of here. Now.)
I looked at the cube, hesitating. It was glowing slightly, like radioactive things in cartoons except blue. On the side was strange, foreign writing. I moved my finger towards it slowly. Bernice hesitated, squinted at it, and also reached towards it.
Outside of the window, a bladed creature appeared. There was a flash of silver and blue, and the creature toppled over.
(I believe that I am being overwhelmed.)
The grizzly bear dropped to all fours and plowed outside, taking out the part of the wall that was below the window as it went. (I'm coming Ax!)
(Cassie!)
"For the love of-" Cassie snapped, losing her temper. She took the cube, and quickly hit Bernice and then me on the forehead with it. A jolt of energy went through my head. It wasn't like an electric shock – it felt like the skin on my head had fallen asleep for a second and then woken up.
"What did you do?" Bernice demanded.
"Thorry," Cassie said. She was shifting again, transforming back into a wolf. It was done in seconds. (You need to trust me! Do exactly what I tell you.)
The gorilla and the wolf charged towards the window. The gorilla let out a guttural yell as both animals dove into the nearby battle.
(Okay, find an animal, pick it up, and focus on it.)
"This is insane," Bernice half whispered, half sobbed. I remained crouched against the wall with her, almost too afraid to move.
(You two are still crouched in the corner, aren't you?) I could tell that it was Cassie's voice. (Listen, I don't mean to scare you, but if you don't listen to me then you will die. We're trying to hide you from the yeerks. Basically, the yeerks are the people with dracon bea- um, laser guns and the creatures with blades. When I touched you with the blue cube, I gave you the same power that I have. You can turn into animals.)
(I know you think that it sounds crazy, but it's true. Think about it! If somebody asked you yesterday whether ray guns and bladed monsters and animal-people talking in your head were possible, you would have laughed. Now look! Why shouldn't you be able to turn into animals? All I'm asking you to do is pick up an animal and focus on it. You work in a pet shop, you've picked up animals before. This is simple.)
Bernice moved first. She gently pulled her arm out of my grasp – when we had switched from her clinging to me over to me cling to her I wasn't sure – and crawled forward. Over my noise of weak protest, she reached into a cage and pulled out six-week or seven-week old kitten.
The kitten was slightly scorched, the black mark standing out clearly against its white and brown patched fur, but was otherwise okay.
(You need to pick an animal that's inconspicuous and not very unique. Think cat, or dog, or snakes if you have a lot of them.)
Bernice squinted at me. "Come one, Nat. What's the worst that could happen?"
The fighting was fading away. Maybe the talking animals had made it away? That would mean the earks, or yeerks, or whatevers, would be coming back here.
Inconspicuous?
I stood up shakily and made my way over to a shelf near the back. There were a handful of clear plastic containers filled with dirt, most of them cracked and spilled out onto the ground.
Ant farms.
I reached into the mixture of plaster, dirt, and plastic and extracted a struggling black dot.
What's the worst that could happen?