She was going to make them chase her.
It made me sick to think about it. It had been my idea. My brilliant idea. And she would take the risk.
Rachel began to emerge from her eagle body. She rose up swiftly from the pine needle and rotting leaf floor of the forest. Up and up, a weird, misshapen, nightmare creature made of fair human flesh and dark brown feathers, bright yellow beak, and lengthening legs.
I would have given anything to be able to go in her place. But I can't morph. I would be safe in the sky or in the trees while she was trying to outrun the enemy.
It was the story of my life lately. My friends
went into danger, and I stayed safe. All because I couldn't morph.
In a minute Rachel was no longer a bird, but a human girl. A human girl who even now, even with all of us scared, managed to look like some smiling magazine cover girl.
"You don't have to do this, Rachel," I said.
"lt's Rachel's greatest thrill," Marco said. "Morph a Hork-Bajir? Hey, she'll finally get to become on the outside what she's always been inside."
"Shut up, Marco," I snapped.
Rachel gave me a look that said, "Don't worry, Tobias." But she said nothing because she was now fully human. We still didn't want the Hork-Bajir to know we were human. We didn't want him to hear a human voice.
The Hork-Bajir stood peacefully as Rachel reached out her slender fingers to touch the creature's back. The Hork-Bajir went slightly limp as she began to "acquire" him. To absorb his DNA and make it part of her.
"Guys?" Cassie called down from the sky. "l'm serious now. The bad guys are definitely getting close. I can see them."
With my hawk's hearing, I heard the sounds of heavy creatures stomping and crashing clumsily through the woods. I heard the metallic clank
of weapons against belts and the muttered commands between human-Controllers and Hork-Bajir.
"Cassie's right?" I said. "We're down to two minutes maximum." Rachel gave a nod. She sent me a cocky wink. She closed her eyes and focused on the new morph.
And then . . . Rachel began to change. I wanted to turn away, but somehow I felt like I owed it to her to watch. It was because of me this was happening to her.
I can't tell you how utterly bizarre that scene was. The woods were growing dark. Shadows were deep all around, and even with my hawk's eyes I couldn't see through the shadows. Overhead the sky was dark blue streaked with red and orange, not yet black. True night was still an hour away. But under the shade of the trees it was night already.
We stood there, an insane nightmare of creatures- the Hork-Bajir, eyes closed tight; the Andalite, deadly tail twitching nervously at the prospect of battle; the orange-and-black-striped tiger climbing down from the rocks, moving like liquid power; a gorilla walking erect, using its massive fists as extra feet; and me ... the Bird-boy.
And in the middle of our group was Rachel.
She was growing taller now. She was already tall for a girl, but now she was quickly heading toward Shaq-size.
Her skin was changing. It turned dark, almost green-black. Her feet mutated swiftly from dainty human to the three-toed, one-spur feet of the Hork-Bajir. Feet that looked like my own talons except much, much larger.
Her face grew elongated. The jaw bulged outward and became smooth as a bullet. Her eyes were narrow, red-tinged slits. And then the blades began to appear.
SHWOOP! Horn-blades exploded from her forehead!
SHWOOP! Blades appeared at the wrists and elbows!
SHWOOP! Blades grew at her knees!
Rachel had become a walking razor. Seven feet of muscled deadly speed.
"So," Rachel said. "So this is a Hork-Bajir."
"You can open your eyes now," I told Jara Hamee.
He did. And he turned to face . . . himself. Rachel was an identical copy of the Hork-Bajir, grown from his own DNA. I don't know what I expected. But it sure wasn't what happened next.
"HeeeeRRRROOOOOWW!" Rachel bellowed in a voice that made the leaves quake.
"HeeeeRRRROOOOWWW-Unh!" Jara Hamee responded.
"Shut up, you idiots!" Marco cried frantically. "We're halfway surrounded by Yeerks!"
SSSSEEEWW! Rachel slashed viciously at
the air! She missed Jara Hamee by an inch! Half an inch!
Jara Hamee responded instantly with a forward stab of one of his big feet. If it had connected, it would have ripped Rachel's stomach open.
But the blow missed by a hair.
Rachel slashed and Jara Hamee slashed, but all the blows missed. Not by much, but they did miss.
"Back off!" Jake yelled. "Stop it!" I could see he was getting ready to jump in between them. That was all we needed - a three-way fight between two Hork-Bajir and a tiger.
"Jake, wait! I think ... I think it's just a ritual^ I said. "You see this kind of thing all the time in nature. It's a dominance ritual."
The two Hork-Bajir had stopped slashing. Now they preened, circling around each other, stretching up on tiptoes to see who was taller.
"Hey, we so totally do not have time for games," Marco said.
He was right. I saw flashlights through the trees.
Jara Hamee and Rachel bent their heads forward and touched their scythe like horns together with surprising gentleness.
"Rachel, are you okay in there?" I asked her.
"What? Dm ... what?" she asked. She was
confused. Morphing a new creature is confusing. Sometimes the experience can be overwhelming. The instincts of the creature surface and can even take over control for a while.
Or that's what everyone tells me, anyway. It's been a while since I morphed.
"Rachel? We are out of time," Jake said gently. "Are you up for this?"