When the rest of the Animorphs had all gathered together in Cassie's barn, Shara found herself wondering just what all of them had in mind for this particular meeting. Leaping lightly down from the hayloft, once the last of her friends and fellow Animorphs had all gathered together in the barn, Shara smiled over at Marco as the younger boy turned a surprised expression on her.
"Nice of you to drop in, Shara," Marco said, once he'd managed to regain his composure.
"Thanks," she said, smiling slightly and mentally adding one more point on her mental "Marco and Cain would have liked each other" tally. "Are we here to plan some new mission against the Yeerks?"
"No, we're going to be meeting up with Erek," Cassie said. "Would you mind calling Slade down here, too? We need to leave quickly."
Once Shara had called her brother down from the hayloft, she and Slade both morphed into their respective bird forms, following along with the rest of the Animorphs as they made for the edge of the forest bordering the land Cassie's family's house and barn stood on. She and Slade demorphed quickly, once the two of them plus Tobias had determined that no one was close enough to see them doing so.
"And now, we're here to discuss how Ax ate enough Cinnabons to make himself explode," Marco said, grinning ever more widely. "So, there I was," he said, settling down on a nearby, flat-topped rock. "Cruising through the food court, minding my own business, thinking 'Hey, why not snag a taco'? when I notice the paramedics and this crowd all gathered around the Cinnabon. And, I swear, it was like this sudden, psychic premonition. I mean, I just knew, somehow that the Ax-man was involved. So, I go over and ask someone in the crowd what's happening, and she says-"
"She?" Rachel cut in, folding her arms and giving Marco a distinctly unimpressed look. "Let me guess: some good looking girl who normally would never have even looked at you, but you figured that, since there was a medical emergency, you figured it would be a great time to talk to her."
"Exactly," Marco said smugly; Shara rolled her eyes. Cain would have had words with Marco about that; really, so would Ness, if her other older brother had been in his right mind. "Anyway, she tells me 'some kid went crazy and ate an entire pan of cinnamon buns'. Now who, I ask you, who do we know that would eat an entire pan of cinnamon buns?"
(I was not aware of the precise specifications of human stomachs,) Ax responded, seeming a bit defensive. (It seems that there is some sort of limit on the quantity of any object that may be consumed. Passing that limit caused an unpleasant sensation in the stomach area. It also caused me to become dizzy.)
"The sugar rush of all time," Cassie said, shaking her head, an expression of amused disapproval on her face.
It was an odd combination, to be sure.
"I was about to mention that Erek was late, but I guess it's still earlier than I thought it was," Jake said, checking his watch after all of them had gathered together at the edge of the woods.
(He's coming now,) Tobias reported. (He can move very quietly when he wants to, but I can see him from up here.)
The sound of someone approaching their position, someone whose footfalls were heavier than any others Shara had ever heard before, drew her and Slade's attention before any of the other Animorphs had turned their heads in that direction.
"Who are these two?" Erek asked, gaze locking on her and Slade as he made his way over to where all of the Animorphs – with the notable exception of Tobias – had gathered.
"That's kind of an involved story, Erek," Jake said, glancing briefly at her and Slade, before turning back to…
Whatever kind of creature Erek was.