The andalites gift, p.3
The Andalite's Gift, page 3
“Oh! Oh! Ohhhhhhhhh!” Darlene screamed.
Up flew the foot! I jumped off just in time. And then she was outta there, screaming and yammering like a total ninny.
Naturally, I chased her. And naturally, Ax came with me.
It was total, absolute fun! I’m sorry, I know it was wrong and all, but man, it was so cool.
That is, until I heard Hans yelling about how he was going to stomp me. That would never do. I did not intend to be stomped by Hans’s big stinky foot.
I heard Jake’s big voice yelling. And Cassie’s sweeter — but still annoyed — voice.
I raced for cover, looking for a place to morph back to human. Big stomping feet were landing all around me. They were slow, but man, they were big. Everyone was totally overreacting. I mean, give me a break, I was two inches long! How scary could I possibly be?
Then it occurred to me. The house! We could run inside, race down to the basement where no one would be, morph back real fast, and then … Well, and then there I would be, just me and an Andalite. Great. That wouldn’t look too strange.
ZOOM! Over the threshold onto the patio! ZOOM! Into the house itself! ZOOM! Past a hysterical Darlene, who was on the couch with a pillow over her head.
ZOOM! Along carpet till we hit linoleum.
Suddenly, the scent of dark places. Mouse places! Yes, it was going to work!
We ran across a step and leapt, falling … falling … PLOP! to land on the next step. Again and again, step after step, at a speed that felt like we were flying rockets.
It was so cool! If you overlooked the fact that it was maybe slightly stupid.
We lost our pursuers. No one followed us down the steps. And even as I ran, I started to demorph.
I was halfway back to human, a strange mix of mouse tail and huge ears and human legs — a scary-looking creature. The way Mickey Mouse would look if he’d been invented by Stephen King. Ax looked even worse, half-mouse, half-Andalite.
Just as I was thinking, Hey, this will all be fine, the entire world just flew apart.
Crrrrr-RUNCH!
Sunlight streamed down! The entire roof had been ripped away! The entire roof!
Wood and beams and concrete just shattered and ripped and fell in huge chunks. I couldn’t even make sense of it. I mean, the entire world around me was just being shredded. Shredded, like the universe was being run through a food processor.
Then I saw it. It was gigantic! Enormous! A creature that seemed to be made of nothing but teeth and blades and destruction. It was like twenty Hork-Bajir glued together and given dragon wings.
B-R-R-A-A-A-K!
It was ripping the house apart with unbelievable power.
The noise was terrifying. The scream of ripping wood. The shattering crunch of concrete being torn up — just torn up, like it was nothing! Pipes bending. Wires sizzling and popping as they exploded into showers of sparks.
“Look out!” I yelled to Ax with my now-human voice. Beams were falling around us. Splinters were flying through the air.
I barely noticed that I had finished morphing. I was human again. Somehow Ax had kept his concentration and was fully in his human morph.
We were defenseless. Two kids without a weapon between us.
Above our heads, where there had been a house just seconds before, the beast hovered in the sun.
It looked down at us with a dozen weird eyes that seemed to be stuck here and there at random. It stared at us the way I’d seen Tobias stare at his prey.
It was going to destroy us. There was no question in my mind. And no question that it could.
“Oh, man,” I moaned. “I don’t like this.”
Then … the eyes all flickered at once. The beast seemed uncertain.
And to my utter relief and utter amazement, the thing began to disperse. He became dust again. Just a cloud of dust that thinned and disappeared.
I was shaking so badly I couldn’t stand up. But I was alive.
Rachel
I woke up.
I was on my back, lying on a bed of pine needles and crispy dried leaves. I was staring up at trees. The sun shone through the branches.
My first thought was, What am I doing here?
I had no idea how I had gotten to these woods. Or even what woods these were.
“What am I doing here?” I started to say out loud. But the words were garbled, mangled. They were more of a screech than actual words.
I felt a tingle of fear.
What was going on? What was going on? Why was I here? Why couldn’t I talk?
I shouldn’t be here. I should be … where? Where should I be? I tried to concentrate. How had I come here? Where was I before? Where … where did I belong?
But nothing came. Nothing! I couldn’t remember how I’d gotten there. I couldn’t remember where I had been. Ever.
Suddenly, it hit me in a wave of dread that made my heart skip several beats: I didn’t know who I was. I did not know my own name.
I tried to sit up. And that’s when I saw.
“Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!” I screamed in a weird, high-pitched shriek.
My legs … they were encased in a black leotard. And I could see that the upper half of each leg was shaped like a normal human leg. But the end … the bottom half suddenly changed shape. And from the bottom of the leotard, huge talons appeared.
I looked at my hand. Five fingers. Five human fingers, but they sprouted with feathers. There were feathers sticking out of my flesh!
I felt my face. Skin. Skin on my cheeks and my neck. But then, my bristling, feathered fingers felt my mouth.
It was a beak! A hard, tearing beak.
It was a nightmare! That was it, I was having a nightmare! I had to wake up. I had to get out of this dream.
“Aaaaahhhhh!” I screamed again. And the unhuman sound of my own voice frightened me still more.
I had to control the panic. I had to. I had to. But my legs! My face! My hands!
Don’t panic, I ordered myself. You will not panic. You will not panic! This isn’t real.
And yet I could feel the pine needles beneath me. And the warmth of the sun as it lanced through the branches. It all felt real.
Was this how I always was? Was I some sort of freak? Half-bird, half-human?
No. I knew that was wrong. And I knew that people did not become birds. And yet here I was, with feathers and a beak, and no memory of who I was. I looked like some horrible creature who was halfway through changing from bird to human — or the other way around.
Was that it? Had I been in the process of changing from one to the other? And which one was I really? Who was I? What was I?
Come on, I ordered myself. Get a grip. Get a grip.
But I could feel screams boiling up inside me. I could scream and scream and scream.
No. No. Start that and you may never stop, I thought. Use your head. Think.
I strained to remember, but it was as if half my brain were wrapped in a dense fog. I couldn’t see through it. No matter how I tried.
You’re a human, I told myself silently. You’re human, not a bird. And if you could change this far, maybe you can change more.
I closed my eyes. I wanted to concentrate, and I did not want to see my body. Terror rattled through me, shaking my bones, churning my insides.
I was human. I wanted to be fully human. Human again.
Then … I began to feel changes. I opened my eyes. As I watched, the talons shriveled and split and became toes.
It was revolting to watch. It made me sick. But then I realized something. As soon as I lost concentration, the changes stopped. That had to be it! I must have been changing, and something had broken my concentration. I could not stay the way I was. I was a nightmare. I had to get out!
I felt a shadow over the sun. I thought it was a passing cloud. I couldn’t let myself be distracted.
I focused down again. Human. I wanted to be human. I felt the feathers melt into my skin. I felt my beak become soft lips.
The sun was very dim now. Something was blocking it. I felt a chill. I looked up.
Just above the trees, a cloud of dust swirled wildly, like some flattened tornado. It swirled and concentrated.
A dust cloud. But not a dust cloud, really.
As I lay there, I had a terrible feeling. A feeling that this swirling, thickening cloud was watching me. Considering me. Focusing on me.
But I could not allow myself to be distracted. I was still not fully human. And I wanted to be human again. Maybe … maybe once I was human, I would remember who I was.
Tobias
I have seen a lot of strange things since that first evening when we walked through the construction site where the Andalite prince had landed his damaged fighter.
Back then I was just a kid. A boy. A dork, I guess. It’s getting hard to remember. But yeah, I guess I was a dweeb. I remember that I met Jake because he stepped in to save me from some punks who wanted to flush my head in the toilet.
Well, a lot has changed since then.
I’ve gotten so I can deal with being what I am now. I’ve accepted the fact that I am no longer completely human. But I’m not completely a hawk, either.
Like I said, I’ve seen strange things. But nothing stranger than what I saw that morning as I floated in the high thermals, a mile above Darlene’s house.
See, I was flying “cover.” It’s one of the ways I’m able to help my friends. Marco hadn’t asked me to fly cover for his idiotic little escapade, but I figured I’d better. Besides, I’d already eaten. A small snake, an unusual delicacy for me. I had nothing else to do, really, but catch a thermal and ride it up.
A thermal is an updraft of warm air. You spread your wings and it lifts you up like an elevator. Once you’re up, you can just float there forever. You barely have to flap your wings.
So I was up pretty high. High enough that I could see everything from the edge of the woods to the south, all the way to the center of the city a few miles away. But I stayed low enough that I could still watch Marco and Ax morph.
They ran around like fools till they got a grip on their mouse brains. Then, as they gained control, they set off purposefully toward Darlene’s house.
Marco is an extremely smart guy. I don’t know if Ax is smart for an Andalite, but he’s really smart by human standards. Neither of them really understood how dangerous it is to be a mouse, walking openly across a suburban lawn in broad daylight.
I mean, you might as well just tie raw steaks to your legs and go for a walk with a wolf pack. Hawks kill mice. Cats kill mice. And let me tell you something: Two groups of animals you don’t want chasing you are hawks and cats.
From the air I observed one fat tabby cat who spotted them passing by. But I guess he was full, or just feeling too lazy, lying out in the sun. The cat let them pass undisturbed.
I also spotted a Cooper’s hawk checking them out. He was definitely thinking about mouse for lunch. I signaled the Cooper’s that these were my prey and he backed off. Fortunately, I was bigger than he was, and he wasn’t hungry enough to fight.
I watched as Marco and Ax reached Darlene’s pool party. I relaxed then. If they didn’t get stepped on, they’d probably be safe. Still, watching the party made me a little sad. The people seemed to be having a good time. Kids were splashing in the pool and running around and yelling and talking.
It was a whole different universe than the one I lived in. I had the other Animorphs and Ax for friends. But I didn’t have friends like myself. Hawks don’t get together and have parties. Mostly, when you see another hawk it means trouble, a fight for territory.
Down below, I saw Marco chasing some girl. Good grief, I thought. Why am I not surprised?
The girl ran inside the house. Marco and Ax ran after her, trailing a posse of guys, one of whom was clearly Jake.
Then I began to see something bizarre. A dust storm. That’s what it looked like, anyway. Like one of those little dust devils that kick up out in the desert or prairie.
It swirled like a compact tornado. I was fascinated because wind is very important to me. Wind is life and death to me sometimes.
The tornado was getting tighter. More solid. I strained my hawk eyes to see every detail. I spilled air from my wings and swooped lower to get a better view.
And then … it wasn’t a dust cloud anymore.
It was a creature! A beast made up of gnashing mouths and whirling blades.
It dived at the house, ripping it apart like it was made out of Legos. It seemed to be chewing its way through brick and wood and shingle. It was like watching a garbage disposal grind up a carrot.
Kids were screaming. They were running wildly, this way and that. Suddenly, half the house was gone. Just gone, and I could see straight down into the basement. Straight down at Marco, human once more, and Ax in his human morph.
I folded my wings back and dived like a rocket. Maybe I could distract the beast.
Then, for no apparent reason, the beast began to dissolve.
I pulled up sharply, still a few hundred feet up. I could see Marco practically faint from relief. Ax didn’t look too happy, either. But they were both alive. And Jake and Cassie? Both were staring up at the sky in horror.
The dust beast dissolved into a cloud again. A human eye would not have seen anything after that. But I didn’t have human eyes. I saw the dust cloud disperse. But I also saw the individual particles streaming away toward the forest.
The particles were moving at incredible speed. They were not being blown by the wind, I was sure of that.
They were moving all on their own. Very fast, toward the woods.
Rachel
Human. Be human!
I focused with all my power on that one thought. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to remember who I was. What I looked like.
I felt my body change. It was a horrifying sensation. I could hear bones crunching. I could feel a sudden nausea as a human stomach reappeared. I seemed to itch all over as flesh absorbed feathers.
Had I done this before? It didn’t seem possible. It was disgusting. Grotesque.
I opened my eyes.
Right above me! What was it?
Mouths with needle-sharp teeth! Staring eyes! Whirling blades!
It was after me!
Should I fly? Should I run? What was I?
I leapt up, hoping I had legs.
Yes! I could run. Yes! I ran. I ran! My own bare feet flashed ahead of me. Human feet. My arms pumped, but they still felt odd. The bones were connected wrong. I ran! Over pine needles that stabbed the tender soles of my feet.
B-R-R-A-A-A-K-K!
It was behind me! It chewed through a tree four feet thick. Chewed it up and left splinters and sawdust behind.
“NO!” I screamed, and my voice was almost human.
NO! NO! It was after me. It wanted to kill me. Why? Why? What had I done? Who was I, that this monster wanted to destroy me?
I raced as fast as I could, but it was faster. Entire trees were ripped from the ground to make way for it. The very ground itself was ripped up as if by some huge plow. The shrieking of destruction was all around me.
What was happening to me?
“Help me!” I screamed. And now my voice was truly human. The last of the changes were occurring. My arms pumped smoothly now. My eyes looked past a normal human nose. The beak was gone.
But the beast … the BEAST! It was on me!
Suddenly, a road! Cars flashing by!
I ran for the road. The beast pursued me, ripping a path through the woods.
Cars zooming past! If I ran out into the road, they would hit me. If I stopped, the beast would devour me.
I ran.
SWOOOOM! A car shot past, missing me by inches. Six lanes! A freeway! I ran, hoping against hope to survive.
Horns! Blaring horns!
A truck.
The beast.
It hit the truck, or the truck hit it. I don’t know which.
The cabin of the truck was crumpled. I caught a flash of the driver yelling, frantically working the steering wheel.
Then the trailer part, the part that said BEN AND JERRY’S, slammed into the dust beast.
Screeching, screaming wheels! Then, WHAM!
I tripped and went sprawling into the median strip. I rolled down a grassy slope into dirty water. I looked up in time to see the truck turn over and skid wildly down the freeway, spraying sparks.
The beast shredded the trailer. Shredded it! Pints of ice cream exploded around like hand grenades. In the middle of terror I was pelted by pints of Cherry Garcia and Wavy Gravy ice cream.
The beast rose from the truck. The driver climbed up out of the cab and ran.
As the beast rose into the air, a hundred manic eyes looked around. It saw me. There was no doubt about that, it SAW me.
But the eyes seemed confused. They seemed lost. The beast saw me, but did not recognize me.
Suddenly, as I cowered in the ditch of the median strip, the beast simply dissolved into a cloud of dust.
Dissolved and blew away.
Traffic had stopped on all six lanes, as people hung out their windows to witness the spectacle of a tractor-trailer lying across the road.
I climbed shakily out of the ditch. I was trembling so badly I could barely stand. I was muddy and wet and barefoot, wearing a black leotard. I stumbled across the road, toward the sheltering woods.
A man with a camcorder emerged from his car and began taping the wreck. From far off came the wail of a siren.
I just wanted to get away.
Whoever I was.
Cassie
“Tornado my butt,” Marco said angrily. “That thing was alive.”
