"Head to the water," Jake said. "Morph to fish."
"Jake," I panted. "Trout. . . they're freshwater fish . . . this is saltwater."
"You have a better idea?" he asked.
BAM!BAM!
"No," I said. We splashed into the boiling surf. As I ran I pictured the fish. I remembered being the fish. I focused as much as anyone can focus with a dozen or so Controllers chasing her and shooting.
My feet went out from under me. They had shriveled and begun to disappear. I hit the water and got a mouthful of salty foam.
I tried to keep my head above water, but my arms were rapidly disappearing. The waves were high around me as I became smaller and smaller. My clothing billowed.
20 The people from The Sharing, the Controllers, raced to the water's edge. I could see their lights, weirdly distorted as my eyes went from the air- adapted eyes of a human to the eyes of a fish.
With what was left of my ears I heard, "The tracks lead right to the water."
Tom's voice. Then Chapman's. "I don't see them. They can't swim far. The current is too strong. Fan out up and down the beach."
"Do you think these are the Andalite guerillas?"
"No. The tracks are human. Just some kids, probably. I doubt they saw anything. That fool should not have been shooting."
"Sir," a new voice said. "We found a pair of jeans in the surf. Look like they could be for a kid."
"Any identification in them?"
"No. Nothing."
"Coincidence," Chapman said. "Probably."
"If they're human, why don't we see them out there?" Tom asked. "Four sets of human tracks.
No humans in the water. Is it possible... is Visser Three wrong? What if they're not Andalites at all?"
I sank beneath the water. The morph was almost complete. But as I went under I heard Chapman laugh cruelly. "Visser Three wrong? Maybe. But I'm not the fool who's going to try and tell him."
The morph was complete. I was a fish, less than a foot long. A trout, to be exact. Excellent broiled, fried, or grilled.
The saltwater was harsh on my scales, and my gills were barely able to breathe.
"Everyone okay?" It was Jake. Now that we had morphed we had the same thought-speech ability as Tobias.
" I'm okay," I assured him. "But I can barely breathe. I think we'd better be quick."
" I'm with Cassie," Rachel said. "l feel like my scales are burning up. And my gills are on fire."
"Keep the shore on your left and go full speed as long as you can stand it," Jake advised.
"Marco? Are you with us?" I asked.
" Oh , sure. Where else would I be? What could possibly be more fun than running around the sand dunes getting shot at and then jumping into the ocean and turning into a trout, who, 21 incidentally, can't live in saltwater? I wouldn't miss it for anything. Now can we go home and watch TV?"
22 Chapter 7
The next couple of days we didn't get together, except for passing each other in the hall ways at school. We do have lives beyond being Animorphs, after all.
Rachel was busy with her gymnastics class. Plus she got to go to this ceremony where her mom received some award for being Lawyer of the Year. (And since this is Rachel we're talking about, going to an awards dinner meant major shopping for new everything.) Jake had totally blown a test because he hadn't studied, so he had to do a paper as makeup work. And I was busy helping my dad out in the barn with the golden eagle who had almost been electrocuted. He was at a difficult stage of his recovery.
Tobias dropped by one evening and acted kind of snippy about me trying to save a golden eagle. Golden eagles and hawks don't get along. Probably because golden eagles are known to kill and eat hawks.
It was a couple of days later that Jake rode his bike over to my house. I didn't expect him, so I was dressed like even more of a slob than usual. Plus I reeked of various horrible things because I was mucking out the stables and cleaning the birdcages.
Typical guy. He had the totally bad timing to show up when I looked like Ms. Manure.
"Hey, Cassie," he said in his usual casual way, like nothing was going on.
"Hi, Jake. Did you come by to help me shovel manure?"
He grinned. He has a great smile. It appears kind of slowly, like it doesn't quite belong on his serious face. "I don't know. Did I?"
"Yes, you did," I told him. I handed him a shovel. "If I have to smell, so do you."
We worked a little bit, with no sound but the steel shovel blades scraping the concrete. I knew he had something to tell me. I can always tell. But I figured I'd let him get around to it whenever he was ready.
"So," he said at last.
"So?" I echoed.
"Look, um, I guess everyone is kind of waiting to see what you decide to do."
This surprised me. I stopped shoveling. "What? What do you mean?"
"I mean, we're waiting to see what you decide to do about this dream of yours."
I shrugged. "I don't know. Besides, it's not just my dream. Tobias has it, too. And all of you guys felt it a little, at least."
"Yeah, but Tobias figures he isn't going to be much help when ... I mean, if we decide to do something. We're talking water, and Tobias can't morph. As for the rest of us, I don't know.
23 Rachel and Marco were talking about whether it might have just been something they imagined, you know? Because you made it seem so real and all."
"What do you think, Jake?"
Jake stopped working and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. He looked straight into my eyes. "Cassie, if you tell me it's real, it's real. I think you and Tobias are right. But Marco is having second thoughts." He raised one eyebrow, as if to say "You know Marco."
I felt a queasy, sick feeling. "You mean, I'm supposed to make some kind of a decision? Like I'm supposed to say what we do?"
"Cassie, you're the one with the dream. Only you can decide if it's real, and if it's real enough for us to try and do something about it."
"I don't know if it's real," I said. What was he asking me to do? Every time we had tried to get into it with the Yeerks, we had ended up barely escaping with our lives. Just two days had passed since I'd heard bullets whizzing past me.
Jake waited until I met his gaze again. "Cassie, you know we all trust your instincts. You're the best at understanding animals. You're the best morpher. You know everyone in the group respects you."
I made a face. "Give me a break."
"If you think we should pursue this, you know Rachel will be right behind you. Me, too."
"And Marco?"
Jake grinned again. "Marco won't be right behind you. He'll be several feet back."
We both laughed.
"I don't know, Jake. It's a dream. It's like a vision or something. How do I know if it's real?"
He shook his head. "I don't know, Cassie. I guess you just have to take your best shot and hope you're right."
I cringed at that. I'm not Rachel. I'm not a risk-taker. "Can't you decide for me?" I asked, joking.
He nodded solemnly. "If you want me to, sure."
"And then if it's a disaster, it will all be on your head," I said. "You'll be the one who feels bad. You'll be the one to blame." I reached out and touched his cheek. "That's incredibly sweet of you. But you're right. I guess it's my decision this time."