Very strange.
Tobias had come to rest on a rafter. But I could feel his eyes on me. I froze. I froze completely. Not even my tail twitched. I just clutched onto the wall and froze.
But I couldn't keep it up. That torrent of squirrel energy would not let me stand still for long.
Suddenly, with barely a glance to the side, I launched myself through space. I flew. I mean, I just jumped and hurtled through the air for what seemed like half a mile, but was actually just ten feet.
SLAM! I landed on the wooden beam that runs above the horse stalls.
Bad move. Tobias had seen my movement. Out of the corner of my eye I saw his vast wings open. He swooped down, talons raked forward.
But then ... a new movement. Something large and furtive. A board in the side of the barn pushed open. A head poked inside. It was just below me. An intelligent, alert face, looking up at me and wondering if I was dinner.
A fox! Aha! My mystery bird-killer.
I had to get control of the squirrel brain. It al ways takes a minute in any new morph, at least, to control those wild animal instincts, but I didn't have a minute.
Tobias swooped.
Suddenly it was insanity everywhere. Birds in every cage began to squawk and shriek! The wolves in the next room decided to start howling. The horses were whinnying shrilly.
Tobias sheered away, startled.
Too late. I had jumped again, and now I was falling toward the straw-covered floor of a stall.
Fall ing toward the fox.
I hit the ground and blew out of there, leaving a storm of dust and straw in my wake.
The fox came after me. He was fast. Very fast.
"Tobias! Help!" I yelled in thought-speak.
"What the ... Is that you, Cassie?"
I dodged left. The fox dodged after me.
7 He was faster than me and almost as agile. Unless I could find a place to climb up and away, I was done for!
"Yes, it's me!"
"Well, why didn't you tell me?!" he said, sounding grumpy in my head. "l was considering eating you."
"l just morphed. I just got control of this crazy squirrel brain. Now would you PLEASE save me?"
The fox's jaw snapped at my tail. I felt his teeth comb the fur.
"Good grief," Tobias said. He opened his wings and came hurtling down, straight at the fox.
The fox saw the shadow of the big hawk. He stopped dead in his tracks.
Too late. Tobias raked him with his talons and shot past.
The fox decided this was more trouble than he needed. He bolted for his secret passageway.
Tobias came to rest on a crossbeam and looked down at me with his fierce hawk's gaze.
"Cassie? Why are you out here at midnight turning into a squirrel?" I was already starting to morph back to human shape. "Well, we've had some birds taken in the last couple of days. We figured it was a badger or a raccoon or a fox, but we couldn't figure out how he was getting in. So I decided to morph and wait to see when he showed up."
"Well, I certainly can't criticize anyone who wants to rescue birds," he said. He fluffed his wings and began preening some ruffled feathers.
I was halfway back to human shape, growing up from the floor, feeling my legs sprout beneath me. But my human mouth was not back yet. "So, what are you doing here, Tobias?
Looking for a squirrel sandwich?"
Tobias had almost completely accepted the fact that he was permanently stuck in the body of a red-tailed hawk. Recently he had begun to hunt and eat like a hawk. He was still a little sensitive about it, but I thought if I just made a joke out of it, he would realize I wasn't grossed out or any thing.
"Squirrel sandwich?" he said. "No, I was thinking barbecue. Sorry I scared you."
"It's okay, my friend," I said in my own voice. My mouth had formed. I was almost back to normal, all but this huge tail, which was still poking out of the back of my morphing outfit.
Normal, for me, is about average height, I guess. Whatever "average" is. I'm kind of solidly built, not skinny and not fat, with hair I keep short because I don't like messing with it. As my friends would tell you, I'm not exactly Ms. Fashion. Mostly, if you want to know what I look like, picture a girl in overalls and leather work gloves, biting her lip as she concentrates on trying to force a pill down the throat of a badger.
8 Jake once took a picture of me doing exactly that. He has it next to his computer in his room.
Don't ask me why. I would be glad to give him a picture of me in a dress or something.
Rachel could loan me the dress. But Jake says he likes the picture he has.
"l hear something," Tobias said, suddenly alert.
I strained my ears. Human ears are so lame. Almost any animal can hear better. But then I heard it, too. A voice.
"Is someone in there?"
"My father!"
"You still have a tail!"
Too late. The barn door swung open. My fa ther stood there, blinking sleepily and holding a flashlight. "Cass? What are you doing out here?"
I stuck my hands behind my back and tried to hold my big squirrel tail down while I attempted to morph it away at maximum speed. "N-n-noth- ing, Dad. I-I-I just couldn't sleep.
"
He nodded. "Okay. Well, go to bed now," he said crankily. My father is one of those people who needs about an hour and three cups of coffee to wake up.
"Okay, Daddy," I said.
He hesitated. "Cassie? Turn around."
"Turn around?" I repeated in a squeaky voice.
"Yeah. Turn around. It's . . . just turn around."
Slowly I turned. As I did, the last of the tail shwooped back into my spine.
"Huh," my dad said. "I gotta get back to sleep. I swear I thought you had a tail."
"Heh heh," I laughed weakly.
When he left I collapsed back on the straw. "I really should have just stayed in bed," I said to Tobias. "Dreams or no dreams."
"Dreams?" he snapped. "What kind of dreams?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. These kind of weird dreams about the sea."
"The sea," he echoed. "And a voice, calling out to you from beneath the water." It was warm in the barn, but suddenly I felt really cold.
9 Chapter 3
N o, I haven't had any weird dreams about the sea," Marco said. "I've had weird dreams about my sheets trying to strangle me. I've had weird dreams about falling from way up high and when I finally land I'm in Mister Rogers' Neighborhood talking to King Friday. I've had weird dreams about that woman on Baywatch . . . hmm, well, that does kind of involve the ocean, I guess."
"You have dreams about King Friday?" Rachel asked him. She put on a worried look. "I see."
She shook her head slowly and made a tsk, tsk sound.
"What? What's the matter with dreaming about King Friday?" Marco demanded.
Rachel shrugged. "All I'm going to say is you should think about seeing a counselor before your condition worsens." Rachel turned so Marco couldn't see her and gave me a wink.
"Very funny," Marco sneered. But he still looked a little worried.