"Yeah, well, that's it for this week, though," I said. "I figure that's about enough excitement."
He laughed and my mom rolled her eyes. She thinks I like my father better than her. That's not true at all. Not really. It's just that my mom is always around. Unlike my dad.
"Where are you all going to stay?" he asked my mother.
"At my mom's, I guess," she said. Under her breath she added, "until the old woman drives me stark raving nuts."
My dad nodded in sympathy. "Look, I'm staying in town for a couple of days. I thought maybe I'd run interference for Rachel. Keep the media off her."
"They seem to have given up on this story," my mother said doubtfully.
My dad shook his head. "Don't count on it. They were just trying to make their deadlines for the late news. This is a good human-interest
story. But as a fellow reporter I might be able to warn some of them off."
"Rachel can stay with me," Cassie said. "I know my mom and dad wouldn't mind."
My father winked at her. "Thanks, Cassie." Then he turned back to me.
"Look, Rachel, I have a suite at the Fairview Hotel. Why not stay with me till this all blows over? Room service? Health club?"
"Cool! I mean, is it okay, Mom?"
She looked grumpy. "Well, it makes sense. I guess."
Right then, I realized that a wonderful, perfect, golden opportunity had just opened up right in front of me.
"Dad? What you said about all the talk shows wanting to interview me?
Wouldn't it be better if I agreed to do just one show? Then the others would let me be. Right?"
He nodded. "Yeah. But, sweetie, you don't have to do any show. I can get everyone off your back."
"I could do one, though," I said. "In fact. . . what do you think of the Barry and Cindy Sue Show? I heard they were coming to town."
Both my parents looked confused. But I saw realization dawn in Cassie's eyes.
"Barry and Cindy Sue?" my mom said.
"Rachel, why exactly would you want to do Barry and Cindy Sue?"
I saw Cassie just staring at me with her jaw hanging open. Like she couldn't believe I was even thinking about the whole Jeremy Jason Mc-Cole thing at a time like this.
"Well, Daddy . . . there's this guy. This actor... this kind of slightly cute actor. . ."
I went straight from the hospital to my dad's hotel. Everyone had decided I needed rest. I didn't. What I did need was some answers.
What was happening to me?
The hotel room was on the twenty-second floor. I imagined what would happen if I suddenly morphed an elephant again. I'd crash down through twenty-two floors.
What on Earth was happening to me? I kept checking my hands and feet to see if I was still totally human.
I needed to talk to someone who understood. Someone I could really talk to. My dad was great, but he just kept talking about how the floor
shouldn't just fall in. After all, the house was only ten years old.
And while they were at it, why didn't the zoo make its railings higher so people wouldn't be falling in with the crocodiles?
I hadn't fallen into the croc pit. And the floor didn't just happen to collapse. I had morphed an animal that weighed more than a couple of pickup trucks. Houses aren't made for elephants.
I desperately wanted to call Cassie and talk to her on the phone. But we have a strict rule about that. You never know who is listening in on a phone call. So it would just have to wait.
Instead I called room service.
"I'd like a salad with the poppyseed dressing. And, um . . . I'd like the cheeseburger and fries. And cherry pie a la mode. And cancel the salad."
I didn't care about eating healthy. I didn't care about fat. I was hungry. It had been a long, bad day. I deserved some grease and sugar.
"And do you make milk shakes? Chocolate milk shakes?"
I used the remote control to run through the Pay-Per-View choices. It was nothing but martial arts movies, crime movies, action-adventure movies. . . . What I needed was a nice, calm romance. My //Ye was an action-adventure movie.
The phone rang. I expected it to be the room service people checking back. "Yes?"
"Are you alone?" It was Cassie's voice. I nearly collapsed from relief. I hadn't even realized how incredibly tense I was.
"I'm so glad it's you! Yes, my dad's gone. At least for a couple hours."
"Does your window open?"
I got up and checked. The window slid open easily. "Yes. You coming up?"
"Give me five minutes. Flick the lights a couple of times so I know which window is you."
I spent the five minutes calling down to room service and ordering the salad again. And another piece of pie. For Cassie.
I was expecting her, but I was still a little startled when a great horned owl came flying in through the window.
"AII clear?" Cassie asked anxiously.
"Yeah. But hurry up and morph out. Room service is coming."
Morphing is never pretty to watch. In fact, it can be the most horrible thing in the world. If you weren't expecting it, and just saw it happening for the first time, I promise you'd run screaming like a lunatic.
Especially some morphs. Trust me, you don't ever want to see a person become a fly or a spider. You think you've seen scary stuff on TV or in horror movies? Hah. Watch your friend turn into a bug. That will fill your dreams for a few weeks.
But if anyone can make morphing not totally vile and horrifying, it's Cassie. Cassie has a natural talent for it. A natural ability.
So she looked almost normal as the feathers sank into her skin and disappeared. It didn't even seem too bizarre when her own legs grew huge and tall from the owl's short, deadly talons.
It was her head that changed last. Cassie has the ability to do that: sort of control the order things morph. I can't even come close. Even Ax can't do it.