Текст книги "Animorphs - 03 - The Encounter"

Автор книги: Katherine Alice Applegate

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"We had one male and one female," Cassie explained for the tenth time. "If two of us morphed into the male, we'd have two males. Two male wolves might decide they had to fight for dominance."

"I could control it," Marco said.

"Marco, you and Jake already fight for dominance, and you're just ordinary guys," Rachel pointed out.

17 "She's right," Cassie said sadly. "I'm afraid your primitive male behavior might slow us down."

"Hey, when I morphed into a gorilla, I handled that gorilla brain okay, didn't I?" Marco demanded.

"Sure, Marco," Rachel said. She batted her eyes. "But that was different. You and the gorilla were already so much alike."

Cassie and Rachel gave each other discreet high-fives.

"Hugely funny," Marco said.

"We flipped a coin, fair and square," Jake said. "I got to be the male. You're one of the females. Get over it."

"Let me see that coin again," Marco said suspiciously.

Jake just smiled. "Let's just do this. Cassie, you want to go first, to see what it's like?"

We had learned from hard experience that morphing can be extremely disturbing. Jake had morphed into a lizard and been almost overpowered by the animal's fearful brain. The same had happened to Rachel when she'd morphed a shrew. She still had nightmares about the shrew experience – its fear and, worse, its hunger for bugs and rotting flesh.

On the other hand, Jake had morphed into a flea, and according to him it was kind of a big nothing. Like being trapped inside a very old, very bad video game where you could barely see anything. The flea brain had been too simple to make trouble.

"Okay. I'll let you know." Cassie closed her eyes and concentrated. Then she opened them again. "Wait. Let me get down to my morph suit first. I don't want to get tangled up in my clothes."

She removed everything but a leotard, kicked off her shoes, and stood barefoot on the pine needles.

The first change was her hair. It went from very short black to shaggy silver in just a few seconds. It traveled down from her head, down her neck, over her shoulders, around her neck.

Long, shaggy fur.

Then her nose bulged out.

I shuddered. You never really get used to seeing people morph. It is something straight out of a nightmare. Even though Cassie seems to have some kind of talent for it. She's never quite as gross as the others. I guess it's because she's so close to so many animals. Maybe she just has a special feel for them.

Still, as the wolf snout began to push out from her face, it was not a pleasant sight.

Her ears grew furry and pointed. Then they slid straight up the side of her head till they almost touched on top.

18 Her eyes went from brown-black to golden brown.

All over her body, the fur replaced the bright pinks and greens of her leotard. A tail suddenly shot out from behind. I could hear the grinding of her bones as they rearranged. Her upper arms shortened. Her lower arms grew longer. Fingers shriveled and disappeared, leaving behind only stubby black nails, There was a sickening crunch as her knees changed direction. Her legs shrank and thinned and grew fur.

Suddenly she fell forward, no longer able to stand erect.

It had taken about two minutes.

Cassie was now a wolf.

"How is it?" Jake asked.

Cassie jerked suddenly at the sound of his voice and spun around to face him. She bared her teeth and snarled a warning that would have made a Taxxon back up.

She had very impressive teeth.

"Let's all stand really still," Jake said.

"Good idea," Marco agreed. "Really, really still. Because those are really, really big teeth."

Everyone stood motionless. They had all been through similar experiences. We knew what was happening. Inside the wolf's head, Cassie was fighting to gain control of the wolf's wild instincts.

"Sorry," she thought-spoke at last. "I have it now."

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked warily.

"Yes, it's fine. I'm fine. In fact . . . it's really kind of wonderful! The sense of hearing. Wow!

And my nose. Whoa, that's incredible. I've never morphed an animal with such a strong sense of smell."

"Then I'm extra glad I put on deodorant," Marco joked.

"Who had bacon for breakfast?" Cassie turned her wolf head this way and that. "Rachel?

Bacon? I thought you were going to go vegetarian!"

Marco laughed at the guilty look on Rachel's face. "Oooh, busted by Cassie the wonder-nose.

"

"Let's get busy," Jake said. "The two-hour clock is now running. Tick-tock."

One by one they each stole a glance at me. I'm the handy reminder of what happens if you stay in a morph for too long.

19 20 CHAPTER 7

I was jealous.

I mean, okay, if you ever have to be stuck as an animal, I think being a hawk is the coolest choice of all.

But still, I was jealous. My friends were really enjoying being wolves. I guess it was a strange experience for them.

I flew above the forest, skimming the treetops, while down below they ran. They moved so fast it wasn't always easy for me to keep up. Not that their actual speed was so great. It's just that they never stopped. Never rested. They just moved at a constant twenty miles an hour or so. Over fallen logs. Between trees. Under bushes. Nothing even slowed them down.

Well, actually, that's not completely true. Two things slowed them down a little.

One was Jake. He was the dominant male. In wolf packs that's called an "alpha." So he had a special wolf job to perform.

"Jake, just how many more times are you going to pee?" Rachel demanded after his fifth stop.

"I . . . I don't know. I kind of have to do it a lot," he admitted.

"Why? Did you drink too much soda before we left?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "I just keep getting this urge to pee."

"You're scent marking," Cassie explained. "You're marking out a territory."

"I am?"

"Yes, you are. It's normal. For a dominant wolf. At least that's what my wolf book said.

Although it's a little gross for the rest of us to have to watch." The other thing that slowed them down was when they stopped once and started to howl. It was Jake who started it. It caught everyone by surprise. Including Jake himself.

"OWWW-OOOOOOO-yow-yow-OOOOOO. "

"What the – " Marco started to say, but then he was doing it, too.

"Yow-yow-OOWWOOOOO!"

Cassie and Rachel weren't far behind.

"OOOOO-yowww-OWW-OOOOOOO!"

I heard the yowling, of course, so I took a quick turn around a tree and headed back to them.

"What are you people doing?" I demanded. "We're in a hurry here. You guys can only stay in morph for two hours. Why are you wasting time howling?"

21 "I don't know," Jake admitted sheepishly. "I just suddenly felt like it would be a good idea."

"Once he started I . . . I kind of felt like I should join in," Rachel said.

"I think it's a way to warn all the other wolves that we're here, so we don't run into any other packs and get in fights," Cassie suggested. Which sounded perfectly reasonable. Until you saw that "Cassie" had her head tilted back and her snout pointed at the sky and was yodeling like an idiot.

I flapped my wings and broke out from under the trees. The city and the suburbs were far behind me now. We had traveled pretty far in an hour's time. It was about the same time of day as my second sighting of the invisible ship. The time when it had been heading toward the mountains.

I swooped back down into the trees. "You guys keep moving. I'm going up top to look around."

"Be careful," Rachel said.

I banked left around a tree, then flapped my way back up into the sun. I climbed hard and fast, using a lot of energy. The exercise helped distract me. It's hard feeling sorry for yourself when you're working out big time.

After a while I was able to catch a nice thermal and get some easy altitude. I could still see the little wolf pack, moving like it had a single mind, flowing around the trees, swift and sure.

I tried to imagine what it must be like to be a wolf. The amazing sense of smell. The incredible hearing. All that confident power, those ripping teeth, the cool intelligence.

Maybe later I would ask Jake or Rachel about it.

Then you could ask them what it was like to be human. Maybe they can tell me about that, too, I thought bitterly.

Stop it, Tobias, I ordered myself. Stop it.

I guess I felt that if I ever started to feel really sorry for myself, I might never stop.

I kept a sharp eye out on the sky above, but it was probably still too early for the ship to come. If it even came. There was no reason to think it kept some kind of schedule.

Then, down below, I saw something that caught my attention. There was a convoy of trucks and Jeeps moving along a narrow, snaking dirt road. Maybe five vehicles. They had the markings of the Park Service. But they seemed to be in a big hurry.

They drove to a lake that I had just glimpsed up ahead. By the shore of the lake, they pulled off the road. Then, to my surprise, several dozen uniformed men jumped from the trucks and began to fan out through the woods.

They were carrying guns. But not rifles or even pistols. I could see them clearly. They were carrying automatic weapons.

22 Suddenly, movement in the sky! What the -

To my left I spotted a pair of helicopters. They zipped just inches above the trees. They began to circle the lake. These also had Park Service markings.

This is all wrong, I told myself. These guys don't act or move like Park Rangers. These guys move like an army.

And as I watched, half a dozen of the armed men surrounded a small patch of bright yellow.

It was a tent.

Two people – they looked like college types – were cooking over a little fire outside the tent.

I could see the expressions of total amazement and fear when they suddenly realized they were surrounded by six men with automatic weapons.

The two campers were marched back to the nearest truck and driven away at high speed.

I don't know what story the two campers were told. Maybe the Park Rangers told them there was a dangerous fugitive in the area. Or maybe they said there was a forest fire. I don't know.

I just know those two campers were out of there before they knew what hit them.

The two choppers circled the lake. Then they landed in a small clearing at the far side of the lake at the same time.

It was more than a mile away. Far, even for my hawk's eyes, in the slanting light of afternoon. But I could still see what came out of those helicopters.

Out they leaped, one after another.

Seven feet tall. The most dangerous-looking creatures you'll ever want to see. Foot-long, razor-sharp blades raked forward from their snake heads. More blades at their elbows, wrists, and knees. Feet like Tyrannosaurus rex.

The shock troops of the Yeerks.

Hork-Bajir warriors.

23 CHAPTER 8

"Hork-Bajir!"

The first time I'd seen them was at the construction site. I was still fully human then. It was while Visser Three was taunting the fallen Andalite. The five of us had been cowering behind a low wall. A Hork-Bajir had been within a few feet of us.

The Andalite told us they had once been a good people, the Hork-Bajir. That despite their fearsome appearance, they were a gentle race.

But the Hork-Bajir were all Controllers now. They all carried the Yeerk slug in their brains.

And they were no longer gentle.

I made a sharp turn back. I had to warn the others. I passed over a group of the Park Rangers, and swooped low enough to read one man's watch. My friends had been in morph for more than an hour.

Great. Low on time, and the Hork-Bajir are here.

I soon spotted the wolf pack, still trotting along resolutely, never tiring. Pausing only for Jake to pee.

I dived toward them. Just over their heads I pulled up suddenly.

"Yowl! Yip! Rrawr!"

They yelped and scampered around. Jake bared his fangs at me.

I came to rest on a decayed log.

Instantly, as if on command, the others started fanning out around me, encircling me. The five of them were acting like a wolf pack surrounding prey. In their own way they kind of reminded me of Hork-Bajir.

"Hey, it's just me, relax," I said.

No answer. Jake snarled a brief command at one of the others.

Wait a minute. Five? Five wolves?

Jake, who wasn't really Jake, leaped at me.

Whoa!

Wolves don't usually hurt humans, but they will definitely eat a bird when they're hungry enough. And one thing you don't ever want to see is a hungry wolf, yellowed fangs bared, gold-brown eyes glaring, fur bristling, coming at you.

I flapped my wings hard.

The big male wolf went shooting past. Barely. But the rest were all around me!

24 I flapped again and got airborne, but just a few inches. I was skimming wildly over the pine-needle carpet, flapping for all I was worth, with five determined wolves hot on my tail.

SWOOOOM! I caught the tiniest headwind, but it was all I needed.

I was up! Up and out of there, while the wolves yowled and snapped their powerful jaws in frustration below me.

Ten minutes later I found a second wolf pack. This time I counted. Four wolves.

Still, I was cautious. "Is that you guys?"

"Who else would it be?" Marco asked.

"Don't ask," I said. "Look, we have trouble." I flapped down to a low branch and rested my wings. I was still a little shaken up from my close call with the wrong wolves.

"There's a lake just a little way ahead. It's crawling with Park Rangers who aren't really Park Rangers."

"Yeah, I thought I smelled water. And humans," Cassie said.

"How do you know they aren't real Park Rangers?" Jake asked.

"Because real Park Rangers don't carry machine guns," I said. "Plus, they don't hang around with Hork-Bajir."

"Hork-Bajir?" Cassie asked shakily. "You're sure?"

"Oh yeah," I said. "It's kind of hard to confuse them with anything else. The Park Rangers are clearing out the area around the lake. They hustled some campers out of there real fast. At gunpoint."

"Hork-Bajir," Marco said with distaste. "I really don't like those guys." Rachel asked, "This lake, it's in the same direction your big invisible ship was moving?"

"It's in a perfectly straight line," I said. "Whatever that ship was, I'd bet anything it was heading for that lake."

"And judging by the way you say these Park-Ranger Controllers and Hork-Bajir are acting, it's on its way again," Marco said thoughtfully.

"I'll tell you one thing," I said. "These guys all looked like they'd done this many times before. You know what I mean? Like this was a real common routine. They had it down."

"We don't have a lot of time left in morph," Jake said. "But it would be a shame to miss the chance to find out what this is all about."

"I say go for it," Rachel said.

25 "You always say go for it," Marco muttered. "If just once you would say, 'Hey, let's not do this,' it would make me so happy."

"You have about forty minutes left," I told them. "The lake is about five minutes away."

"Okay. Let's go. But in and out fast," Jake warned. "Just enough to see what's going on." They took off, with Jake in the lead. "Remember, just act like wolves."

"Yeah, so if anyone sees the Three Little Pigs, don't forget to huff and puff," Marco said.

I went airborne again, but this time I stayed close by.

"Park Rangers just ahead," I said.

"Yeah, I can definitely smell them now," Rachel replied. "And hear them, too."

"Okay, look, wolves would try to steer clear of humans," Cassie advised. "So a little slinking would be perfectly normal."

They moved in a cautious circle around the phony Park Rangers. But I could see that the Rangers had spotted them. They tensed up, then relaxed when they saw it was just a wolf pack minding its own business.

I decided to get some altitude. Unfortunately, since there were no convenient thermals, I had to flap my way up. I was a few thousand yards high, able to see my friends and the lake, when I felt its presence again.

I looked up.

The invisible wave. The slight ripple in the fabric of the sky. It was there. It was moving slowly overhead. Even more slowly than before.

And then, as I watched, it was invisible no more.

26 CHAPTER 9

"Don't act suspicious or freak," I called down to the others. "But look up."

"Oh my God," Rachel gasped.

"It's . . . it's huge!" Cassie cried.

It was huge. But the word huge doesn't really begin to describe it.

Have you ever seen a picture of an oil tanker? Or maybe an aircraft carrier? That's what I mean by huge. Compared to this thing, the biggest jumbo jet ever built was a toy.

It was shaped like a manta ray. There was a bulging, fat portion in the middle, with swooped, curvy wings, one either side. On top of the wings were huge scoops, like air intakes on a fighter jet, but much bigger. You could suck a fleet of buses in through those scoops.

The only windows were in a small bulge at the top. The bridge, I realized. Focusing on it, I could see the shadowy shapes of Taxxons inside.

But mostly that ship was just big. Really big. As in, it blocked out the sun, it was so big.

Suddenly, out from behind the ship, a pair of Bug fighters zipped into view. We had seen them before. They are small, for spaceships. You couldn't park one in your garage, but you could land it on your front lawn. They look like metal cockroaches with two serrated spearlike protrusions pointed forward on either side.

"I have Bug fighters up here," I called down to the others, "A pair."

"Who cares about Bug fighters?" Marco asked. "They're nothing compared to that . . . that whale!"

"The Bug fighters are circling the lake. I guess they're looking around for troubles "Try not to look like trouble," Jake advised dryly.

I did my best to look like a normal, harmless hawk. Doing normal hawk things. But the main ship was unbelievably intimidating. I mean, nothing that big should be floating in the air.

Suddenly one of the Bug fighters went shooting right past me, low and slow. I could see in the window. Inside was the usual crew: one Hork-Bajir and one Taxxon.

The Taxxons are the second most common type of Controller. Imagine a very big centipede.

Now imagine it even bigger, twice as long as a man. So big around, you couldn't get your arms around it if you wanted to give it a hug.

Not that you'd ever want to give it a hug. Taxxons are gross, disgusting creatures. Unlike the Hork-Bajir, who were enslaved against their will, Taxxons chose to turn their minds over to the Yeerk parasites. They are allies of the Yeerks. I don't know why, and I probably don't want to.

The Bug fighter shot past, not interested in me.

27 The huge main ship sank slowly down toward the surface of the lake. "Are you guys seeing this? It looks like it's going to land on the lake."

"Are we seeing it? No. We've totally missed the fact that a spaceship the size of Delaware is hovering in midair."

Marco, of course.

"It's incredible," Rachel said. "Incredible."

"You know, I hate to be a pessimist," Marco said, "but when I look at that thing I get a bad feeling about our chances. Four hounds and a bird versus a ship the size of ldaho!"

"A minute ago it was just the size of Delaware," Cassie pointed out mildly.

"What's it doing here? That's what I want to know," Jake said.

They had reached the shore of the lake and were prowling along, looking like wolves should look. But they were also glancing regularly up at the massive ship. I worried a little that some Controller, human or Hork-Bajir, would notice that they were paying a little too much attention.

"You guys? Watch how you act. The Yeerks will be looking for any animals that act strangely," I said. "They're on the lookout for Andalites who can morph."

"He's right," Marco agreed. "Jake? Start peeing on things again."

"Very funny," Jake said.

Then something began to happen. "Hey. Look!"

From the belly of the ship, a pipe began to lower into the water. Then a second pipe, and a third.

"They're like straws," Cassie said. "They're drinking!" I could hear the sucking sound. Thousands, maybe millions of gallons of water being sucked up into the ship.

"That's why it's so big," Marco said. He laughed. "Well, well, well. What do you know? We have just discovered that the Yeerks have a great big weakness."

"A weakness?" Rachel demanded. "You can look at that ship and talk about weakness?" But I understood what Marco meant. "It means they need something," I said.

"Exactly," Marco said. "Those big scoops on the sides? I think those are for air. That's why they fly so far through the atmosphere when they come down. They're scooping up oxygen.

And now they are sucking up water."

"It's a truck!" Cassie cried. "That whole huge ship is really just a truck!" 28 "Yeah," I said. "It carries air and water up to the Yeerk mother ship in orbit. I guess they need Earth to supply them."

"So. It's not like Star Trek, where they can just make their own air and water," Marco mused.

"As long as they are up there in orbit, the Yeerks need the planet to supply them with air and water. Well, well. I think that's the first hopeful sign yet."

"We're running low on time," Cassie reminded everyone. "Time to get out of here."

"Okay, but everyone be cool about it," Jake advised. "We act like we're just sauntering off to go kill a moose – or whatever it is wolves saunter off to do." They drifted back from the shore of the lake. I stayed behind. I no longer have a time limit to worry about.

The Yeerk ship was creating a warm updraft, so I spread my wings-wide and rode it up. The two Bug fighters were still circling low and slow. On the shore all around the lake, the bogus Park Rangers and the few Hork-Bajir kept up their patrols.

Then I saw her.

I know to human eyes, every hawk looks pretty much alike. But I knew-right away it was her – the hawk I had freed from the car dealer.

She, too, was riding the thermal, a thousand yards higher than me. Without even really thinking about it, I adjusted the angle of my wings and soared up toward her.

She saw me, I was sure of that. Hawks don't miss much of what goes on around them. She knew I was coming toward her, and she waited.

It wasn't like we were friends. Hawks don't know what "friend" means. And she certainly did not feel any gratitude toward me for saving her from captivity. Hawks don't have that sort of emotion, either. In fact, in her mind there may have been no connection between me and her freedom.

Still, I soared up to her. I don't know why. I really don't. All we shared was the same outer body. We both had wings. We both had talons. We both had feathers.

Suddenly I was afraid. I was afraid of her. And it was insane, because there I was, floating above an alien spaceship so big it could have been turned into a mall.

But it was the hawk that frightened me.

Or maybe not the hawk herself. Maybe it was the feeling I had, rising up to meet her in the sky.

The feeling of recognition. The feeling of going home. The feeling that I belonged with her.

It hit me in a wave of disgust and horror.

No. NO!

29 I was Tobias. A human. A human being, not a bird!

I banked sharply away from-her.

I was human. I was a boy named Tobias. A boy with blond hair that was always a mess. A boy with human friends. Human interests.

But part of me kept saying, "It's a lie. It's a lie. You are the hawk. The hawk is you. Arid Tobias is dead."

I plummeted toward the ground. I folded my wings back and welcomed the sheer speed.

Faster! Faster!

Then, with eyes that Tobias never had, I saw the wolf pack below. And I saw the danger before them.

30 CHAPTER 10

My four friends stood stock still. They were staring with deadly focus at five other wolves.

The two packs had run into each other. Between them lay a dead rabbit. It was the other pack's kill. My friends had stumbled into them. Now the two alpha males were locked in a deadly dominance battle.

One of those alpha males was Jake.

The other was an actual wolf.

Jake had human intelligence on his side. But if it came to a fight, the other wolf had more experience. He hadn't gotten to be the head wolf in his pack by losing fights.

I would have laughed if I could. It was ridiculous! But at least it took my mind off the female hawk. Off the feeling that drew me to her, that called out to me, even while Yeerk ships zipped in a deadly dance through the air.

Then it hit me with a shock: The time! They'd been low on time when they'd left the shore and started back. How much time had elapsed?

I swooped down low. "What are you guys doing?" I demanded.

"Shut up, Tobias," Jake snapped tersely. "We're in actuation here."

"Yeah, I can see that. Back away from them."

"I can't. If I back off, I lose."

"Lose what?" I yelled. "You're not a wolf. He's a wolf. Let him be boss wolf. You guys are way low on time!"

"It's not that simple," Cassie said. "If Jake looks weak, the other alpha may attack. We screwed up. We're in their territory. And they think we're trying to steal their kill." Suddenly the other big male snarled and took a step forward. Instantly Jake bared his teeth still further and stood his ground.

The dead rabbit lay between them, only a few feet from the vicious teeth on either side.

"This fight's over the rabbit, right?" I said.

No answer. Everyone was so tense they were quivering. At any second this would explode into all-out gang warfare of the wolf variety.

I knew what I should do. But it went against every instinct in the hawk's brain.

And Tobias the human wasn't exactly thrilled, either.

I flapped up to gain a little height. I would need the speed. Then I locked my eyes on that rabbit and prayed that I was as fast as I thought I was.

31 "Oh, maaaaaan!"

Down I shot. My talons came forward.

"Tseeeeer!" I screamed.

Zoom!

A wolf on each side.

A dead rabbit.

Thwack! My talons hit the dead animal and snatched at the fur.

I flapped once, twice. The rabbit came off the ground.

The big wolf lunged. I could feel his teeth rake my tail.

I flapped for all I was worth, scooting along the ground, half-carrying, half-dragging the dead rabbit, with the wolf racing just inches behind me.

"Tobias!" Rachel cried.

"Get out of here!" I yelled. "I have to drop this thing. It's too heavy!" Fortunately, when he isn't being an idiot wolf, Jake is quick and decisive. "Let's go while we can!"

I dropped the rabbit just as the wolf caught up to me.

SNAP!

Jaws that could kill a moose scissored the air a tenth of an inch from me. I'm telling you, he was close enough for me to count his molars.

I felt the tiniest bit of a breeze. It was enough. I opened my wings and let the breeze lift me up and away.

"Oh, that was really not fun," I said.

"Are you okay?"

"I think I lost some tail feathers," I said. Tail feathers grow back.

I caught up with the others. They were moving as fast as wolves can move. Time was running short. I didn't know exactly how much time. It was one of the continuing problems of morphing. Even if you could wear a watch, you wouldn't want to. A wolf or a hawk with a watch looks slightly suspicious.

32 "I'll see if I can get a time reading," I said. I was tired. Very tired, after the long flight here and not one but two close calls involving wolves. The hawk in me just wanted to find a nice branch with a view of an open field and take a rest. But I knew I couldn't.

I gained a little altitude, not too much. Just enough to spot one of the Park Service trucks.

The Controllers were off somewhere, but there was a clock in the dashboard.

I stared at the number in disbelief.

It had to be wrong! It had to be!

33 CHAPTER 11

I wasn't tired anymore.

At top speed, I raced back to my friends. I felt sick. I felt like my heart was going to burst.

They had missed the deadline! It was too late. Too late, and they would all be trapped. Like me. Forever.

"MORPH!" I screamed as I closed in on them.

Thought-speak is like regular speech. It gets harder to hear the farther away you are.

"Morph back! Now!" Maybe the clock in the truck was off. Maybe five minutes one way or the other wouldn't matter.

There! I saw them. Four wolves moving relentlessly toward the distant city.

"Morph! Now!" I screamed as I shot like a bullet over their heads.

"How much time do we have?!" Marco demanded.

"None."

That got them going. I landed, exhausted, on a branch.

Cassie was the first to begin the change. Her fur grew short. Her snout flattened into a nose.

Long, human legs swelled and burst from the thin dog legs.

Her tail sucked back in and disappeared. She was already more than half human by the time the first changes began to appear on the others.

"Come on, hurry," I urged them.

"What time is it?" Jake demanded.

"You have about two minutes," I said. It was a lie. According to the clock, they were already seven minutes too late.

Too late.

And yet Cassie was continuing to emerge from her wolf body. Skin was replacing fur. Her leotard covered her legs.

But the others were not so lucky.

"Ahhhh!" I heard Rachel cry in my mind. Her morph was going all wrong. Her human hands appeared at the end of her wolf legs. But nothing else seemed to be changing.

I looked, horrified, at Marco. His normal head emerged with startling suddenness from his wolf body. But the rest of him had not changed. He looked down at himself and cried out in terror. "Helowl. Yipmeahhh!" It was an awful sound, half human, half wolf.

34 This was worse than I had feared. I figured they could be trapped as wolves, like I had been trapped as a hawk. But they were emerging as half-human freaks of nature.

They were living nightmares.

Cassie ran from one to the next. "Come on, Jake, concentrate! Focus! Rachel, bear down, girl. Picture yourself human. See yourself like you're looking in the mirror. Fight the fear, Marco!"

I saw Marco roll his human eyes up and stare at me. His gaze locked on me. It was like he hated me. Or feared me. Both, maybe.

I didn't move. If Marco needed me to concentrate, that was fine.

But it sent a shiver of disgust through me. I suddenly saw myself as they all must see me: as something frightening. A freak. An accident. A sickening, pitiable creature.

Slowly, slowly, Marco began to emerge. Slowly, slowly, the human body appeared.

Rachel, too, and Jake. They were winning their battle.

"That's it, Jake," Cassie urged. She held his hand tight between both of hers. "Come back to me, Jake. Come all the way back."

I watched Rachel. She still had a small, shrinking tail. Her mouth still protruded. Her blond hair was still more like gray fur. But she was going to make it. The clock must have been fast. A matter of five minutes one way or the other had determined their fates.