Post by Aubrey on Sept 20, 2009 22:20:57 GMT -5
Aubrey
The night air was still, except for the slow, rhythmic chirping of a cricket outside. The Haunt had settled down for the night, leaving Aubrey to sleep by herself in the dark living room. Her body was sprawled over the couch, dressed only in the form-fitting morphing suit. A knitted blanket sagged against her legs and feet, its excess spilling out and down the side of the couch.
In her small hands was a thin piece of paper; a photograph. In the pitch-black of the room she couldn't see, but she already knew what was on it. Humming lightly, she traced her fingers along the wrinkled edges and stared at the blank ceiling overhead. In her mind she could see it--her father, his goofy smile, her childlike glee, the ocean crashing behind them. She could almost feel the memory; Australia, the warm air, the scent of the sea. Her house.
Despite the mental picture, she didn't feel happy. Everything weighed so heavily on her mind now, ever since Matt had stepped into that abandoned store and revealed the truth of it all. Morphing humans, mind-controlling aliens. There was no doubt that her mother and Nathan were controllers, and that, if she hadn't run away, she would be one now.
Aubrey let the photograph slip from her fingers, and closed her eyes for a long moment. There were hot tears in her eyes, burning underneath her eyelids and trickling down the sides of her cheeks. She suppressed a hiccup of noise, brushing her fingertips across her eyes. Then an idea came to her.
It wouldn't hurt to just see her. Just once. Quickly. In and out, then back. Nobody will notice..
Aubrey sat up, letting the blanket slither into a pile at her feet. She snatched the picture of her father from the ground, squinting at the dark blobs in the photograph. She blinked away more tears, the silence in the Haunt broken by her quiet sniffing. She slipped her hand to the knapsack nearby, unbuckling it and placing the photo back among her clothes and personal items.
For a moment she sat there, her head hanging in her hands and the silence pressing against her. She could hear the gentle beat of her heart, feel the kiss of blonde hair against her knuckles. Then she pushed her knapsack under the coffee table and stood up. The pattern of the carpet brushed against her bare feet as she moved around the living room, hands guiding her along the walls. She paused at the hallway, tilting her head to listen for any movement from the others.
After hearing nothing but snores she moved silently to the door, opening it and wiggling outside. She turned to close the door silently, then stepped out onto the porch. The moon hung high in the black sky, casting a pleasant, white glow over the Haunt and the landscape around it. The sound of waves crashing and foaming carried on a salty wind, and Aubrey took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the image of a seagull.
Soon after, she spread her wings wide and sailed over houses and streets. The seagull wanted to dart down to garbage cans and stray food, but Aubrey fought the urge. Her vision in the dark was poor, and she would land on the sidewalk after a few streets and peer up at street signs to keep herself on track. She was heading to her house.
Katrina
The golden yellow eyes of the coyote were perfect for the dark blanket of night that was draped over the haunt and all of LA. Kat could make out the side of the haunt from the tree line as she swiftly ran a well memorized circle around the territory surrounding the animorph base. It was her night to patrol and he tail moved gently behind her as she sniffed the air for signs of intruders, and kept her sharp ears open. It was Kat's sense of hearing that made her aware that not everyone of her faction mate were sleeping. Aubrey's departure was silent to human ears, but the coyote was not so easily decieved.
The pads of her feet hit the ground and made no sound as she slowly began to move closer to the building, her head cocked to the side in a bit of confusion. What was Aubrey doing up? It wasn't long before Aubrey morphed seagull and furthered Kat's wonder. Her eyes tracked her effortlessly in the dark as she began to rise. Kat doubted she could see well with the morph she'd chosen. Seagull's normally weren't very active at night.
<<Matt...>> Kat's voice was a bit quite, as if she didn't remember that she was broadcasting a private message and her voice would only come to the seventeen year old leader who was most likely still asleep. <<Aubrey's heading out smewhere. I'm heading after her....>>
Kat began to take off in a brisk sprint away from the haunt after giving her message to Matt. He needed to know what was going on before she ventured after Aubrey. Quickly she moved along at a distance behind the seagull, keeping track of it as it flew the best she could. Before too long, Aubrey landed on the side walk and the coyote stopped to watch as it looked up at the the street sign. Then Aubrey was off again, and Kat was close behind in pursuit.
<<The seagull can't be all that ideal for a midnight fly.>> Kat's voice came in a quiet tone. <<Couldn't sleep or something?>>
Stevert
Steve could not sleep. He sat up in bed and just stared around the loft. His blankets were laying on the floor. His pillow was under his bed. He tried laying back down but sleep would just not take him. He softly got off his bed trying to be as quiet as possible so that he wouldn't wake anyone.
He tiptoed down the stairs and walked slowly down the hallway towards the kitchen. As he poured himself a small cup of milk, he noticed the door shutting. He placed the cup back on the counter and walked over to the door and stepped outside. In the soft moonlight, he could see the dark silhouette of a seagull flying away.
Who is that? Is that Jullian or is that Aubrey? And where is Kat? Wasn't she supposed to be patroling tonight? Where did she go? Surely she must of seen or heard...or smelled SOMETHING! Steve knew a pretty good way to find some of the answers to his questions.
Concentrating, he began to shrink as his ears moved to the top of his head. Then they began to become rounded. Several minutes later, Steve was an African Wild Dog. Using the dog's amazing olfactory senses, Steve sniffed the air and detected a lot of scents. He smelled dozens of different smells. Most of those were several days old so Steve began searching for newer smells.
He had left the front door slightly ajar and he pulled the door open and walked into the living room. He sniffed the couch and discovered something. Aubrey wasn't there. He placed his nose on the ground like a bloodhound and and walked towards the door as he folloowed the smell of the girl.
He walked outside when the smell began changing into another familiar one. A seagull. So it was Aubrey who I saw. Now where is Kat at? He stood in the moonlight and listened and smelled as well as watching. He didn't hear anything. He smelled something. A coyote and a girl. I think I found Kat. He sniffed the new scent trail for a city block or two when he turned back.
After a quick race back to the Haunt, Steve stopped outside of Matt's bedroom and said, <<Matthew. Wake up. This is Steve. Umm, how should I put this? Oh yeah, Katrina and Aubrey are gone. I think they are heading to the city.>>
Matt
A mental voice interupted Matthew's sleep. Slowly his mind got a grip on what she was saying and who it was. Kat, telling him that Aubrey was running off somewhere. She wasn't a controller, it had been long enough that they would have caught that. Why she was going and where she was going he wasn't sure, but someone was on it and his mind was still half in a fog. He hadn't grasped the situation fully.
Just as he drifted out again another voice broke through, this one waking him up more completely. Steve this time was telling him they were headed towards the city. Matt knew Kat had followed Aubrey, but that was actually a dangerous move for her. Heck, what morph had Aubrey even used to travel? She didn't have one that seemed like it would fit in.
Half of his mind was screaming, Let me sleep for the love of god! But his leader intinct kicked in and took over. The fog cleared as soon as it did and he was up out of the bed and to the door, finding an African wild dog standing in it. "Kat told me she'd seen Aubrey head off and went to follow her. If they're going into the city it's not safe. Kat's been seen and any of Aubrey's morphs would stand out."
Even as he said this the jackal form was taking over. Despite that demorphing would be awkward he hadn't thought of one factor until he'd been too far along in the morph, he didn't wear the top half of his morphing suit while sleeping. Oh well, didn't matter now and didn't matter ever when his team needed him. The jackal pushed it's way past the wild dog, bolting towards the door. <<I'm going to follow them. If you want to come you'll need to wake up someone to take Kat's place on patrol. Otherwise I suggest you do that for now since you're awake.>>
Stevert
Steve's eagerness was mixing with the canine's. C'mon Matt! Wake up! The dog began turning in circles until the door opened. In the room stood a very sleepy-looking Matthew who was telling him that Kat had already told him that she was leaving. Then came Matt's suggestion to patrol or get someone else to patrol as he became a jackel.
Steve let the dog's mouth open and flop a tongue out as he said, <<Okay. I'll go with you. Just let me get someone else to patrol.>> Steve walked a few steps and stopped. Okay. Since Kat, Aubrey, and Matt are going and I want to go, that leaves Lizzie and Jullian. I really don't know Lizzie very well and I think she needs all the sleep she can get. Besides, Jullian has a couple of nocturnal morphs unlike Liz. I'll wake Jullian up!
With this happy thought, Steve ran up the stairs and jumped on to Jullian. In an excited voice, he said, <<Hey Jullian! Wake up! Wake up! We need you on patrol! Hurry! Get up! Matt, Kat, Aubrey and I are going to town so you need to stay here and patrol. I would ask Liz and give her some experience but she is lacking nocturnal morphs. See ya in a little bit.>>
Steve doubted Jullian would be able to comprehend what he said until after Steve managed to get away. Jumping down the steps, Steve approached Matthew saying, <<Let's go! I just assigned Jullian the job!>> Steve began to walk towards the door.
Matt
Matt didn't even want to know what Steve meant by having assigned Jullian the job. At this hour that meant waking the individual up and, normally with Matt it meant crabbiness. That was somewhere in the back of his mind, the part that still wanted to sleep. His leader sense was what was in control though.
<<Right then,>> said Matt as he nosed open the door of the Haunt. He jumped down the steps and took off in the direction of the city. The jackal was actually a decently fast morph and he hoped he'd catch up to Kat's coyote and whatever form Aubrey had taken. Currently he was following the coyote's scent, pausing once and a while briefly to find and stay with it. Steve was probably tailing him and as much as Matt thought he should say something he didn't know what to say and his mind was way too focused at the moment, almost to a one track point. What is Aubrey thinking? What did she leave the safety of the Haunt in the dead of night for?
Aubrey
After flapping hard to get back in the air, she began circling. Where is it? Where is it? Am I lost? She dipped down low, gliding down the middle of a road. Streetlights passed her by slowly, illuminating the seagull's bright white feathers and orange legs. She skimmed over the tops of parked cars, oblivious to Kat following behind. She appeared to be lost, flying in the empty, pitch-black air above houses and cars.
Where... where... She knew the ins and outs of L.A.--she had lived here for part of her life--but it all looked vastly different from the air. Finally, she saw something, lit by the mute gleam of streetlights. My school!! She faltered in the air, wings flapping wildly and webbed feet flailing. For some reason she had expected the place to be torn down and flattened. It was in ruins, but half of it was still standing.
Aubrey skimmed low on the streets again, following her old route home from school. She finally spotted her house, dark except for the porch light. In excitement she almost spoke, but it came out as a loud, shrill squawk. Pushing away her exhaustion, she tucked her wings and clumsily plunged into the neighbor's bush. Leaves and branches whipped at her body, and she ended up a tangled mess of feathers and leaves. <<Ugh...>> She untangled herself and concentrated on her own form. Nothing changed.
How many hours was it until you get trapped? Was it one or two? Or was it three? She hadn't even been thinking about that until now, and the though sent panic reeling through her. She had been out flying for at least an hour now, maybe more. Go, go, go. Suddenly, she felt her organs rearranging and bones thickening. Yes! She shot up still covered in feathers, looking like a giant, mutant bird. The orange beak melted into soft human lips, and her webbed feet separated into toes. Last to go were the feathers and wings. She winced at the sickening sound of the bones in her arms twisting and grinding, and then all the feathers sucked back into her body. Finished, she crouched--shivering and human--in the thorny bush.
Were any of the lights on? She disengaged from the bush, plucking thorns from her morphing suit as she crept near her house. The porch light meant somebody was inside...was her mother still there? Nathan? No. They're not themselves anymore...But what if they weren't really taken?
Aubrey pressed her hand silently against the rotting wood of the gate to the backyard and pushed. The door creaked open on its rusty hinges, emitting a low groan. She ducked her head down and shot a glance at the nearby window. The curtains were pulled, and it was still dark. Good. She pushed the door further, but then froze solid when a voice filled her head.
<<The seagull can't be all that ideal for a midnight fly. Couldn't sleep or something?>>
Aubrey's head jerked up and she looked around with wide eyes. The voice had been in her head and had sounded like Kat. Somebody had followed her here? She could have sworn she had been silent and stealthy. She swallowed and squinted in the darkness. "Kat...?" She whispered. "Is that you...?"
Katrina
By the time Aubrey stopped it was time for Kat to demorph. At first she was afraid that she would lose the girl in the time it took for her to return to her original body, but it seemed Aubrey was demorphing as well, so she would have time. Slipping behind a bush not too far from where Aubrey had gotten herself tangled for a moment, Kat began to focus on her human self. In several minutes the fur, tail, and canine ears had vanished and been replaced by tanned skin and brown hair. The response from Aubrey came as the finishing touches were coming to an end.
"Yea, It's me," Katrina whispered back. She peered out from the bush and gazed into the darkness where Aubrey's voice had come from. The contract between her human eyes and the eyes of the coyote were quite drastic. "...What are you doing out here? Sneaking off into the city late at night on your own isn't exactly safe... or smart."
Matt
Damn it was taking a long time to track them and they were getting into residential area. What the heck was Aubrey doing.... Wait... She'd lived in L.A. She wasn't going back to her house was she? God.... I know I've done that once but that was in a completely different case. I haven't been to my house since trying to save Sara. What's she trying to do?
Unfortunately he wasn't in her head to figure it out. He was getting worried though, getting close to needing to demorph and there was no signs of either of them. He could still smell Steve behind him too. <<I don't even know if we're getting close and I'm getting worried. I can't project anything without waking up people around us.>> He said, the only thing he'd said since leaving the Haunt. Matt was not a silent person. If he stopped talking more than just the time it took to think something through something was wrong. He only hoped Steve didn't realize that.
Stevert
Steve leaped into the night after Matthew. Soon, his canine mind was ecstatic. Oh!@ A cat! Male cat. Wait concentrate. Okay, concentrating, concentrating...a dog! Umm, a retriever I think. Wait a second! I gotta focus here . Steve sniffed the ground again and ran to catch up with Matt. As he ran, the soft moonlight illuminated his multicolored fur giving an eerie look.
Then Matthew voice rang in his head. <<I don't even know if we're getting close and I'm getting worried. I can't project anything without waking up people around us.>>
Steve responded, <<Umm, could you possibly morph your bat? You might be able to "see" them if they are close by. I can follow along on the ground. Speaking of, I think I can smell something. It smells like the trees and stuff by the Haunt, not these perfectly trimmed bushes and topiaries. Do you think that Kat might have gone this way?>>
To emphasize what he said, Steve trotted over to a bush and began sniffing it. Dozens of scents filled his nose of cats brushing up against it, dogs peeing (which his morph's mind wanted to smell more), birds and on and on. But he did smell something different than the others. A coyote.
Vyv
Normally, Vyvyan didn’t come into the suburbs. However, the city was increasingly sharp on patrols, and the youth had been pushed further and further north until it had found itself in Chatsworth, of all places. The quiet little streets were such a contrast that Vyvyan was almost deafened by the silence and the stillness. Was it the only one left in existence?
Vyvyan grew worried, and began to look for signs of life. Cars were a sign, weren’t they? And trash, certainly…it looked up at the clicklicklick of dog-feet on pavement. Life. Dogs. Vyvyan followed the sound, knowing full well that if it could find the dogs, then it could find more food. When had it last eaten? Not since…h’m…this morning.
‘Dogs, dogs, rowsby woof…’ Vyvyan murmured to itself as it slunk from shadow to shadow, the beat-up converse it’d stolen from a YMCA years ago making no noise on the ground. ‘Here dog, here…’ Vyvyan continued, seeing two of the dogs in the orange light of a streetlamp.
Its thin layers of clothing wrapped around it, holes never matching up to reveal pale skin. Used to dogs being friendly, Vyvyan held out a long-fingered hand. ‘Here dog, here…’ it repeated, smiling. ‘What ho, coyote…wo’n’t harm you, my dear fellow. We’re friends, aren’t we? Trickster coyote…’ Its chatter was soft and susurrant, the way one spoke to animals. ‘Tricksters, aren’t we, dear fellows? All of us tricksters…’ it let out a soft, mad giggle. ‘Come, dear friends, I know you wouldn’t venture out on the town unless there was something to be had….’
Creeping closer in a crouch, one hand on the pavement, Vyvyan rested the hand it’d been holding out on the ground for balance once more, careful not to smile or make eye contact. ‘Come, dear fellows, surely you aren’t here for social reasons, h’m?’ It giggled as a thought came to it. ‘Or are you? Friends with a local lady, are we? H’m?’
Matt
((I'm figuring the dogs are Matt and Steve since Kat is demorphed and Aubrey doesn't have a dog morph. The coyote bit had me confused is all.))
Matt tilted his head at the site of the person who'd shown up. They seemed a little out of it. Something about them just seemed... odd to him. Like the fact the it seemed perfectly fine with the African wild dog and jackal who were roaming the streets of L.A. <<Steve. We have company. Can't really tell the gender in this lighting, but it's human.>>
This was distracting him from finding Kat, and that wasn't good, but he wanted to figure out more about this. The person... they didn't act like a controller. A controller would have acted like a normal human. This person seemed slightly crazy and the clothes they wore were rather old, not like what a controller would be wearing. Heck, even the L.A. Animorphs themselves looked better in their homemade morphing outfits.
<<I know this is getting me sidetracked, but you keep checking around. I think we might be close if she was in a bush here. It means she was using it for cover to demorph probably. I'm going to see what I can find out about our friend here.>> Tentatively he made his way towards the human. Why it wasn't afraid of a jackal he wasn't sure. Maybe the lighting hid what his species actually was. Either way, it was actually calling him closer. There's something not right about this. I can't figure out what though. They seem free, but totally not scared of me. Have they lost it?
Stevert
((Yeah, the coyote comment confused my to. I Pmed Vyvyan about it but I guess this is how we will use it.))
Steve's ears perked up. He herard a sound. Then he heard a human voice. Rats! A controller! We've been caught! Steve moved behind the bush so that his fur was mostly hidden. His mozaic of colors really made him stand out from the average dog. Then Matt began talking to him. Obviously he had detected the person as well.
What stood out in Steve's mind was, Has this person seen Kat? Is that why he was talking about a coyote? Steve peered out at the intruder and realized that Matt was right. He couldn't tell this person's gender. Maybe I should consider this person an it. I don't won't to offend him or her.
Now Steve listened to Matt's orders. He was to keep searching for Kat and Aubrey. Steve walked away from the bush and began trotting in a wide circle around the bush smelling for a scent trail. He found one. A coyote trail. Steve called to Matthew, <<Umm Matthew? I found Kat's trail. She went thataway.>> With his nose, Steve pointed in the direction the scent was going. <<Do you want me to get her and Aubrey and come back here or do you want me to stay her as backup?>>
It was times like these that he wished Rob was awake. He could use a bit of sage-brother advice although he was sure that Rob made the stuff up most of the time.
Aubrey
The house looming over her was almost like a magnet, pulling at her to go in. Her mother--or, what was left of her--was here. Feet away, within Aubrey's reach. But she couldn't sneak in yet.
Kat's voice, now human, came from one of the bushes. Aubrey couldn't see her, but she could make out her dark form. She let out a small breath of tension, her rigid shoulders slumping. Exhaustion was quickly replacing the waning excitement, and she crouched down near the ground.
"No worries, I was..." She paused, running her fingers through the lawn grass. "I was just...flying around. I...can't sleep. I haven't had time to myself. You know, to think this all through." Part of it was true, but she hadn't mentioned why she was sneaking around somebody's yard. "I was practicing too. Flying." Her fingers twisted off a piece of grass. "I need to check something out in this backyard. I think I might have seen something. You can stay here." A flicker of light caught her eye; far down the road there were car headlights. "Or something. A car is coming."
Vyv
((OOC: Sorry about the confusion—Vyvyan can’t recognise that they are more than wild dogs, so it thinks they’re just a couple of coyotes))
‘What have you found, Coyote?’ Vyvyan asked, speaking softer, mastering its manic urge to be surrounded by life. After all, one couldn’t tell when everyone was in a house, and all the cars were parked. ‘H’m? Some food, maybe? Maybe we can share, you and I, Coyote…’
When the dog came closer, Vyvyan deftly scrambled back, staying just out of lunging range. ‘Ah-ah-ah, Coyote; I know your tricks.’ It was perched on a planter now. ‘Come now, surely you’ve found a bit of this, a bit of that?’ Vyvyan wondered why the coyote was so curious about him, when it was obviously not a pampered pet. The other wandered off, and Vyvyan perked up. ‘Your friend, eh?’ he said, watching. ‘I’ll bet he’s found something, and you’re to keep me up here? Clever, Coyote, very clever….’ Vyvyan crept along the planter, keeping one eye on the yards beyond the sidewalk. ‘But I’m following your friend, my dear fellow,’ he informed the Coyote, crawling on all-fours like a jungle creature, hopping more like an ape than a human. It was too keep small, Vyvyan had nearly gotten killed by animals before, before it had learned to stay low to the ground and not meet eyes.
Animal-logic, as Vyvyan thought of it, let it become invisible to humans as well. ‘You see,’ Vyvyan said quietly, sounding less mad with every passing word. ‘A cove has to find something to eat, and—’ Vyvyan stopped as he heard the girls talking, and retreated into the nearest shadow, nearly disappearing due to his darkish clothes.
The dog noses could smell that there was something wrong with Vyvyan—it didn’t register as anything but human, and…odd. There weren’t enough hormones to make one or the other, only human, book, clothing, the faint smell of laundry, soap, and the dust of the desert this city used to be.
((OOC: 'cove' is a piece of slang from teh twenties that Vyvyan picked up in one of its books (Carry On, Jeeves just for ref). It means 'fellow'.))
Katrina
"You should tell someone before you sneak off. You're part of a team now... Matt'll be worried about you being gone, even though I already gave him a heads up when I came after you. If anything happens to you Matt will hold himself responsible, and if you were to be caught... then we're all dead." Kat said quietly into the darkness. Her voice was a whisper and she kept her tone light and understanding.
"Everyone needs time alone every now and then. I got that... but you shouldn't go sneaking off like that. Especially into the city, ya know? What ever you saw can probably wait for now... We need to get back."
Katrina felt a bit... controlling. Aubrey seemed like she'd just wanted some time to herself, some time to get her head together while she practiced a morph and it felt a bit demeaning to tell her that she shouldn't leave the haunt on her own without telling anyone. It was like Aubrey was a misbehaving school child, and Kat felt like the teacher trying to explain why the behavior was bad. Kat didn't like the feeling of it, but she hoped Aubrey would understand.
The light in the distance caught Kat's eye just as it did Aubrey's. A car meant people, and people meant a possibility of getting seen. "..Keep hidden in the bushes. Make sure no one sees you." She whispered quickly. Kat was already well hidden by the one she'd demorphed by, knowing that if she was seen, there was a very good chance she wouldn't be able to talk her way out of it with a yeerk disguise.
Matt
So the person knew he was a wild dog and was scared, but more trusting or something along those lines. Not even this close could he defined a gender, even by the smell. The jackal nose knew there was a difference, after sniffing around the Haunt to learn the scents of his faction Matt could somewhat tell it. This person... really didn't have a distinctive scent that defined gender. It defined them individually, but that was it.
He could hear Kat and Aubrey talking. <<Steve. Listen. They're nearby. Can't you hear them? Project your voice to them and tell them to stay out of site if they aren't in morph. We've got one person at least roaming around out here and at least they think we're just a couple wild dogs.>>
He turned back to the seemingly genderless person. Matt felt like this might be the time to reveal himself for what he was and see how this person reacted. A car went streaking past, the light frightening Matt personally and confusing his jackal's instincts. Car. Crap. We need to get Aubrey and Kat and get out of here. First things first, this person. Obviously free. Possibly willing to fight. Aubrey and Kat were smart. They wouldn't let their cover be blown.
<<You don't need to be scared of me. I'm not actually what I appear to be.>> He sent, knowing how odd the first time a person speaks to you in morph can be. That's the way Raven was when he first met her, and she'd been a cheetah then. His voice was calm and gentle, though even in thought speak it was obvious he was a teenage boy. <<My name is Matthew. And this is probably nothing compared to some of the weirdness you may have already seen. If you're willing to believe what I tell you, I can offer you a way to do something about what's going on around here, why things have changed so much. Will you trust me? Even just a little.>>
Vyv
When the Coyote began to speak to him, Vyvyan reacted rather differently than most. Its eyes widened—not that one could tell in the dark and orange of the suburban night—and it blinked a few times. Then, Vyvyan smiled, and laughed a little—a true laugh, not an inmate’s cackle. ‘Well, well, Coyote, we’re both more than we seem, aren’t we?’
Waiting calmly for the car to pass, Vyvyan spoke again. ‘Not all you appear to be? Sirius Black, are you, or—no, don’t tell me—one of the gods?’ From its tone, one could tell Vyvyan was joking; it sat back on its heels and smiled, resting its forearms on its thighs. ‘So, what are you then? What makes you think I want things to change badly enough to fight?’ The chatter abruptly died as the words began to sink in a little more, and Vyvyan lapsed into thought.
‘You know what is going on?’ it queried, tilting its head again and putting hands back on the ground, coming forward. ‘Why aren’t there books anymore? Why can’t I turn tricks? Where are the dance halls and the rent boys, the plays and the boarding schools? Where are the mining towns and the schools and why are all the buildings so empty and abandoned? Why is it so difficult to find food, now, and where are all the others like me that used to fight me for territory? Where is the rest of the world, old thing?’ It stopped its tirade and listened again as a car went by; but it was from the street behind the houses, not the street they were on.
Matt
Matt tilted his head obviously this person was willing to believe and had noticed the difference in the world. It was sad there weren't more people who were this obviously free. It would be easier finding recruits. <<I'm going to show you who I am, and it's probably not what you expect. Just don't be afraid.>>
The jackal started changing shape. In the darkness the only thing that was really visible was the shape change. It was probably rather odd, to watch a dog's silhouette shift and become that of a teenage boy. This person, maybe they'd expected a human, but not someone as young as Matthew he had to figure. A seventeen year old with hair somewhere between blond and brown. Barefoot, skinny, and currently only wearing a pair of tight fitting shorts.... now was the perfect time to remember he'd left his top at the Haunt.
"Probably not what you expected, I know," he said. "As far as what's been happening... The world's been invaded, and most of the people didn't know until it was too late. These aliens crawl into your head through your ear canal and once inside they can control everything you do. There aren't many people fighting them, I'm one of them. So is my friend over there. We're the local faction of the resistance. There are other factions, in Chicago, New York, Las Vegas, Washington DC, and Vancouver and Ottawa in Canada. We can all do this, change from human to animal. An ability we've gained and we could give it to you too, if you want to help us stop them."
Aubrey
"I know." Her voice grew quieter. She could feel anxiety twisting in her gut, fighting over what she should do. "But I can take care of myself. I've done it for months already. Right? I'm not a kid." She bit her lip, leaning forward on her feet. "And I won't let them catch me. I can't. I have to help her--" She cut herself off and pressed her lips together. "I need to go. I'm sorry. My mother is in there." Her fingers were clenched nervously, and she felt her heart beating.
The car's headlights were edging closer in her vision, and Aubrey made her decision. She slipped between the wall and gate and disappeared into darkness of the backyard. She couldn't see very well, but she knew exactly where to go. As she moved, she concentrated on the image of the squirrel monkey.
She began shrinking, and a lush coat of gold spread from the top of her head down her body. Her tail shot out, making her stumble awkwardly over her own shrinking feet. Bones began rearranging, forcing her to her knees with a thud. Her fingertips began shrinking and forming into the monkey's furry hands. What am I doing? She sighed. The morph continued, and she crawled, half-monkey, towards the backdoor of her old house. There was a soft, yellow light coming from one of the windows, illuminating a nearby patch of grass and the pathway to the door.
Katrina
"Aubrey, please d-" Kat could already see the shadowy outline slipping away into the backyard.
There was a part of Kat that wanted to yell at Aubrey and lecture her more on how she was part of a team now.When she agreed to join the animorphs she became part of a group, and couldn't just go off on a solo missions whenever she felt like it with out telling anyone. It was dangerous, not to mention stupid, and endangered everyone of them. However, there was another part of Kat that completely understood. Aubrey was after the same thing Kat was: her mother. Kat had no idea where to even start looking for hers, but if she did, would she be doing the same thing Aubrey was right now? She wanted to think she would talk about it with Matt first at least, but she couldn't say so for sure.
It was clear Aubrey had made her decision and she wasn't about to listen to reason. Katrina wasn't about to let her do whatever she was planning alone, even if she felt it was extremely dangerous and they should turn back. As the headlights grew nearer, Kat quickly crossed the distance to the gate and slipped in behind her faction mate, starting to shrink as she went. She couldn't be seen out of morph around here.
The Raccoon tail felt odd as it shot out from her spine, but the vision was wonderful. The moment it kicked in, Kat could see the entire yard, as well as the morphing girl up ahead that was moving to the door. <<Aubrey, if you won't go back then at least don't do this alone...>>
Stevert
Now that Matt mentioned it, Steve could hear voices. He had naturally blocked out Kat's voice long ago so he could talk more and Aubrey was still pretty new so he hadn't been able to memorize her voice yet. Besides, he had attributed the voice as his stomach rumbling. He was hungry! He wished he had taken a moment or two to catch that rabbit back...wait! He wasn't a dog. Get a grip Steve.
<<Alright Matt,>> he said, <<I hear them. I'll get 'em over here.>> Steve perked his ears up and directed his mental voice towards the two girls. <<Kat. Aubrey. Come outside. Let's go.>> In private thought-speak to Kat he added, <<Hey, what's happening? Why did Aubrey leave? Anyways, make sure she gets outta there safely. We might need you guys out here.>>
Suddenly Steve heard a noise. He glanced at Matthew and saw a human in skin-tight shorts standing where a jackel had. Steve said, <<Matt. We have company. There is a car coming. You may want to tell our little friend there to hide. You probably should as well. Just a suggestion.>>
Vyv
Without a second thought, Vyvyan shrugged off its coat in the safety of the inky shadow it was hiding in, and stripped off one of the tattered layers it was wearing, revealing another beneath of something that used to be dark olive. ‘Here,’ it said, offering the shirt to Matthew. ‘I am not one of the sorts that faffs about in dirt—go on, you may borrow it. It’s clean.’
Another car—now they were annoying Vyvyan, rather than comforting it with the reassurance of life. It pulled Matthew toward itself, toward the safety of the shadow. ‘Come, you don’t want them to see you, my dear boy.’
Matt
Matthew heard Steve's voice in his head, but in this state he couldn't exactly respond. Not in any way but moving like he'd been told. This was aided by the person, who's name Matt was realizing he still didn't know, pulling him into the shadows along with it. What it had said was right, Matt couldn't afford to be seen. He may have had a false identity as a controller here, but normally Promin 861 wasn't seen dressed like this. Blowing his cover wasn't something he could afford to do.
"Thank you," Matt said as he accepted the shirt from it. The article of clothing may have been old and had holes in a few places, but it was warmer at least than how Matt had been previously. It was also more comfortable for him to have something covering his torso at least a little, especially around someone he didn't know yet. He slid it on, finding that none of the holes were anywhere that he would be too uncomfortable with having visible and that it at least fit, though was probably a bit loose for morphing in.
"As our group's leader I can't afford my cover being blown." Matt himself would have thought this statement odd coming from his mouth, if he were someone else viewing the situation. A seventeen year old, who looked slightly younger than that, being the leader of a band of rebels who can turn into animals and were fighting aliens. The idea of the yeerk war had been so hard for Matt to accept himself when he first learned about it in Chicago, when Raven and Lex had saved him. Every Animorph knew how odd it was to learn about this, whether they'd been free or a controller when they first found out. We share a common bond. The bond of feeling like we have to do something now that we know.
Vyv
Vyvyan was not the others—it had never known parents that were not in pages of books, nor history that was not in the collection kept in its pockets or in the hollow of the abandoned library that was sometimes home. Matthew’s revelation of Yeerk was odd, yes, but surely there was something Vyvyan could dredge up in memory that was like it?
Slugs crawling into one’s head…controlling their thoughts…Vyvyan thought. Wasn’t something like this mentioned in one of its books? Not slugs, not slugs, but…something. A spell, perhaps. If only Vyvyan could find the other six books! Then it would know everything. If only…. Then, there was the power Matthew was dangling. The ability to change shape? Think of the possibilities! Vyvyan could find food so much easier!
Fighting, though, and being part of a house…Vyvyan had to contend with that. No more would it be free to wander, but no more would it be in danger. Ah, decision…human company with the price, or freedom…with the price? Nothing was free.
‘Tell me more about this power you speak of, old thing,’ Vyvyan said shrewdly. ‘One should never accept something unless one knows the fine print.’
Aubrey
In the darkness it was easy to see why her morph was nicknamed the "skull monkey". Milky white fur sprouted around her eyes, mouth, and down her chest, surrounding her black mouth and eyes. The rest of her body was covered in a dark green and orange coat. Fully morphed, she crept through the grass towards the small gray square of the kitty door. The monkey's instincts were beginning to bubble up beneath her mind, injecting a new energy into her worn out bones and muscles.
<<Aubrey, if you won't go back then at least don't do this alone...>> Kat's thought speak surprised Aubrey, and she stopped mid-stride. She had followed her into the yard. Aubrey's eyes, framed by white fur, reflected light as she turned her head around to the raccoon. It was obvious that Aubrey hadn't thought through this clearly, and it hadn't crossed her mind until now how dangerous this could all be. In her blind frenzy to find her mom, reason had been shoved aside. But now she was standing at the door to her house, and she could feel her heart thudding in her small chest.
<<You...>> Her voice trailed off, as she was unsure of what to say. <<...Thanks, Kat. This means a ton to me.>> She was relieved to have somebody along with, and it showed in the tone of her voice. As she crept to the door, the monkey's short thick fur gleamed gold and fiery by the window's light. She bounced swiftly into the shadows, hoping that they hadn't sealed off the kitty door. Otherwise she would have to break in some other way. She pushed the heavy plastic flap, bracing herself for it to be sealed. Instead, it slid open easily, revealing the dark insides of the house. I wonder if they kept Pacha? Doesn't seem like Yeerks would care for cats.
Aubrey slid through the kitty door, then turned around and lifted the flap up for Kat. <<I'm sorry for not telling anybody I was leaving. I don't think you guys would have let me go if I had told you.>>
<<Kat. Aubrey. Come outside. Let's go.>> It was Stevert calling out. How much of the faction had followed her? A part of her was ticked that people had followed her, but another part of her was glad they were so vigilant. It was comforting to know.
Katrina
<< Coming with is better then me lecturing you through thought speak the whole time.>> Kat told Aubrey as she scurried across the yard, making her way to the door where she could see the small Squirrel Monkey. <<You need someone to watch your back, and... I'm probably not the best one to be preaching about not going off to find family. If I knew where my mom was I might be doing the same. I'd like to think I wouldn't, but... I can't really guarantee it, ya know?>>
Moving quickly, the raccoon climbed through the kitty door with ease then moved into the house a few feet. Kat's eyes moved around to look at their surroundings then rested on Aubrey's morph. << You could have tried at least. I know we wouldn't have let you go alone, but if you talked it over with Matt he might have formed a mission for it or something. What do you plan on doing exactly anyway?...>>
It was then that Steve's voice broke through her own thoughts. First it was to both of them, broadcasting a message for them to come outside so they could all leave, but the second one was directed only to Kat. Now she had to explain what was going on.
<<Aubrey left to come here and find her mom. She didn't think we would let her go if she said anything to us. I've already tried to get her to come out and go back to the haunt but I don't think that's going to happen unless I grab her by the tail and drag her, which isn't something I'm about to do.>> Kat explained, <<I'm following after her as back up so at least she's not alone. Whats going on out there? Who's with you, and why might you need us out there?>>
Stevert
As the car came around, Steve lunged behind a bush. If the lights had hit him, he would have instantly had been noticed since his multicolored fur stood out like a watermelon in a bag of cherries. From behind the bush, the canine's eyes saw the new person and Matt hide. Then he heard Kat talk.
He responded, <<Okay Kat. Good to know ya'll are alive. Matt's out here with me. Uh, we need you guys out right now though for two reasons. One, we all need to go back to the haunt because of the whole danger thing. Two, we have a visitor out here. Matt's already demorphed and talking to him or her. I really can't tell what gender the person is so I'll just call the person a he for now. Okay, back to what I was saying. We really can't have you two off on your own expedition and have to take care of another possible reruit. I'll tell Matt that Aubrey won't come until she's done.>>
For some reason, Steve felt like a telephone. All I'm doing is sending messages back and forth. He began speaking to MAtt although he knew Matt couldn't respond back. <<I got a progress report. Aubrey and Kat are going inside a house. Aubrey wanted to see her mom and Kat couldn't get her to turn around and leave. Kat went with her to watch her back. Oh, and here's the good part. According to Kat, Aubrey didn't want to tell any of us about this since she felt we wouldn't let her go.>>
<<So what do we do? If you want me to go inside, nod your head once. If you want me to stay, nod your head twice.>>
Aubrey
The light in the kitchen was coming from a small lamp, alone on a counter. All the monkey's senses were on high alert, being nearly blind in the dark. There was only silence in the house, and for a moment Aubrey worried that maybe nobody lived here anymore. Was this whole trip just a waste? She thought. But then her sensitive nose picked up the scent of an old meal, mingled with the scent of humans.
<<I know. This is still all new to me...>> Her voice was subdued. So Kat was looking to see her mom too. She grew quiet after this, thinking. She didn't have a good feeling twisting in her gut; whether it was from the fact that she was back in her old house, or that she had run off without telling anybody in the faction. And now she couldn't turn back. <<I wanted to...>> Suddenly, she wasn't sure. See her mother? Save her? What could she do? <<Come on.>>
The lamp's yellow light reached dimly into part of the living room, and Aubrey could see her old TV and couch. The old smells of home were all around her, bringing old memories back. She has to be here. With her stomach twisting in apprehension, she briskly padded around a coffee table and towards the dark gap of a hallway ahead of her. At the end of the hallway was her prize; the master bedroom where she assumed they were sleeping. For a moment she hesitated at the mouth of the hallway, looking back at Kat with the fuzzy, curious expression of the squirrel monkey. Then she turned back around and headed into the hallway.
Forward. Forward. Tall, empty doorways loomed over her small form as she passed them. One was her brother's room and the other was her old room, but she ignored them for now and headed toward the master bedroom at the end of the hall. <<They should be in here. If they stayed here.>> And if they're even Yeerks. Maybe I've been wrong to assume. The thought was hopeful, but a part of her knew it was wrong.
The door to the bedroom was cracked open only a tiny fraction, and warm air conditioning whistled between the spaces. Aubrey pressed her ear to the crack, listening for sounds of life. Her heart jumped when she heard snoring. <<Somebody's in here...>> She said privately to Kat, her voice a whisper. She didn't seem to realize at the moment her thoughts wouldn't be heard. She used her tiny pink fingers to pry at the crack, and pressed her furry face against the door to push it open. With a small squeak the door began to move open, enough for Aubrey to wiggle through. Her face reappeared in the small opening. <<Are you coming in?>>
Jullian
Jullian seriously considered just rolling over and going back to sleep after Steve jumped on him. The importance of what he had said did not immediately penetrate his sleep fogged mind. Wait, the others were going into the city? What was going on?
But by the time he got outside no one was to be found. He scuffed his feet in the sand and listened to the waves crash on the beach as the cool night air brought the smells of the sea toward him and past him. He looked up at the stars from which all their troubles had come and might come yet.
Someone would have to keep the Haunt safe while the others were away even though, looking at the water, all he wanted to do was go for a swim in the ocean. He ran his hands through his hair and tried to think of what morph he should use for patrol.
Responsibility was an odd thing to take on and he felt weird about doing so. He used to feel, lighter somehow. These days he felt, settled, not as free. But it wasn't exactly a bad feeling, just a new one.
He sat down in the sand and decided to try something that he had been thinking about doing. He imagined his dingo's ears and the ears began to morph first. Then he brought up each body part in his mind's eye and as he did they changed. He had begun to realize that when his emotions were messed up, like when he was afraid, his morphs went weird. So now he was trying to be completely calm and stay in control. This was a better result than he had originally hoped for.
Once fully dingo he set off on patrol around the Haunt.
Matt
Matthew nodded. He hadn't known the fine print of being an Animorph when he'd joined but he also hadn't had much of a choice by that time. This person, well despite looking like they lived on the streets they'd survived this long without help. They didn't necessarily need to join them to stay safe, they'd always been more street smart than most of the Animorphs recruits.
Then he heard Steve's voice. He needed to reply to the person in front of him, but now Steve was asking him to nod his head and let him know whether he should follow Aubrey and Kat into a house. She'd wanted to see her mom. Matt had done the same thing, admittedly with Raven's permission. I would have let her do this, because I did the same thing. I went back to my old house to try and save Sara. I would have been fine planning a mission to come here. But I can worry about that later. Let's get back to the Haunt before I start figuring what I want to say to chastise her.
Matthew nodded his head twice while saying, "True, nothing these days comes without a catch or a price. With morphing there are two. Number one, you can only turn into animals you have acquired the DNA of. You can do this through touching either the animal or blood from the animal. We use blood seeing as some of them are more dangerous and touching them would be a risk we can't afford. The second would be that you can only stay in any animal form for two hours before having to return to your own form. Longer than that and the transformation is permanent. You get trapped in the new form." To Vyv it would appear like the nodding was just a habit. Steve would read it as Matt's answer.
"There are a few... things you wouldn't necessarily have yet. I don't know if you'd see them as good or bad. You'll be part of a team, a group. You'd have a safe place away from all the danger the yeerks offer. You wouldn't have to scavenge for food anymore either. Like I said, I don't know which of those you'd see as good and which you'd see as bad. What things you feel you'd be losing and what you'd be gaining. It's just an offer. I can tell you've been doing alright out here on your own if you've survived this long. Maybe you don't have as much to get back at the yeerks for losing. I really can't tell. I'm not inside your mind so I can only offer what I offer everyone. It's your choice in the end."
Katrina
Matt had found another possible recruit? For a moment Kat wondered how Matt could have found someone in the dead of night, but it occurred to her that sneaking around at night was probably more convenient. Besides, Matt seemed to have some uncanny knack to finding new recruits whenever he left the haunt lately.
<<I guess it shouldn't surprise me that Matt might have found a new recruit. I think it's official that he can't leave the haunt lately without finding someone... Trust me Steve, I agree we should be getting out of here and back to the haunt, but like I said earlier, Aubrey's most likely not coming out without me dragging her away, and I'm not doing that.>>
The raccoon made slow, cautious movements to follow the squirrel monkey. Kat didn't know her way around the house so she relied on Aubrey to guide the way. Aubrey hadn't answered the question of what her plan was, which was something Kat didn't particularly like at the moment, but she scuttled along in silence until they got to the door. The squeak made her entire small body freeze for a moment before she started to move forward again. The squeak hadn't been loud so hopefully no one had heard or would wake. This little adventure had Kat worried, but she slipped through the small opening after Aubrey.
<< Aubrey... do you even know why you're here? Is it just to see her?... or is it.. something more?>>
Aubrey
The sound of the snoring was slow and even, coming from the bed. Aubrey's heart was in her throat now, and her head was pounding sharply. Her fingertips brushed the carpet as she snuck across the floor towards the large form of the bed.
<< Aubrey... do you even know why you're here? Is it just to see her?... or is it.. something more?>> Kat's voice filled her head.
<<...I just...>> She paced back and forth at the bottom of the bed, her tail swishing back and forth. The monkey was feeding off her nervous energy, and without realize it she was making small chirping sounds. Suddenly, the room was filled with a silence as the soft snoring stopped. Aubrey stopped mid-stride and stiffened, clenching her mouth shut. After a long pause, the snoring resumed and Aubrey almost collapsed in relief. <<I want to see her...I didn't...plan this or anything.>>
She was so close now, she could feel it. She paced back and forth again at the foot of the bed, nervous, then finally jumped up. Both feet and hands landed lightly at the end of the bed, and she froze. Through her limited vision she could make out a dark form sprawled under the comforter, breathing slowly. Why is there only one person here? Is it Nathan or my mom?
She crept slowly forward, feeling the cool cotton sheets beneath the palms of her hand and feet. The person shifted slightly, and Aubrey stopped again. A quiet mumbling came from the form, a mixture of nonsensical phrases and words. The voice was obviously female, and Aubrey felt something cold hit the pit of her stomach. It was her. But where's Nathan?
Tentatively, she stepped forward until she could just make out a face. Blonde, curly hair fell across her mother's cheek, and her face was smooth within a deep sleep. Aubrey's heart was beating faster. She's still alive. But was she truly a controller?
Her face was red, screaming. "Get her! Get her! Grab the girl!" A face once motherly and kind, now twisted into a monsterous expression of hatred. "Don't let her escape!"
<<Mom...>> Aubrey's voice was broken and faint. <<...I'm sorry...>> She wanted so bad to reach out, to touch her on the arm. See her face light up with a smile. It had been a tough road for them both, and now Aubrey felt more helpless than ever. <<I'm so sorry.>>
Her mother stirred suddenly, mumbling under her breath. "Pacha...get off the bed..." Sluggishly and still asleep, she reached forward and pushed Aubrey softly against her furry side, trying to urge her away. "Stupid cat..." Aubrey leaned against her touch briefly, a sinking feeling weighing down on her. She couldn't do anything. Her mother--or was it the thing controlling her?--turned over on her other side. Aubrey didn't move, dazed, feeling a strong mess of emotions swirl through her body.
Stevert
Rats. I gotta stay here. Steve thought when Mett nodded twice. Oh well, I might as well make myself comfortable. Steve stretched his legs out until he was laying on the ground. On another thought, he moved over to the bush more and bunched his legs up underneath him. Now he was ready to run instantly.
Of course, he was still the telephone for this mission. <<Hey Kat, you just noticed that? I think we should take over any mission that involves the city or else the Haunt will get swamped with recruits! Now I will relay the rest to Matt. Just keep me informed about what's going on.>> Steve broke off contact with Katrina and began his report to Matthew.
<<Matt, Aubrey is not going to come out until Kat drags her out or her mission gets accomplished. Katrina is going to keep sending me progress reports which I will transfer to you. On a side note: Katrina isn't surprised about a new recruit. She thinks you have a knack for finding them when you leave the city. Weird, isn't it?>> Steve stopped talking before he started to ramble. This was no place to ramble since Aubrey and Kat were currently risking their necks and MAtt was trying to recruit a new person.
Stevert
Katrina listened to Steve speak then let out a short and very quiet laugh that went to him only. <<Maybe we should before we;re up to our ears in new recruits.>> She said lightly, <<I'll keep you informed. We're in her mom's room right now.>>
Several times Katrina had stiffened her body and waited to see if the woman on the bed would stir. Aubrey had made chirping noises but stopped just as Kat was about to hiss at her to quit it, then Aubrey was on the bed and the woman thought she was a cat and tried to push her off. Both had been a bit nerve racking. If the woman opened her eyes and saw a squirrel monkey, she would know instantly it didn't belong there, and it wouldn't take long for her to figure out what it really was.
The raccoon paced along the floor, moving back and forth at the side of the bed as Aubrey sat on the bed. There wasn't a plan, so Katrina didn't know what would happen next. If Aubrey just wanted to see her mother then they'd been successful in fulfilling that objective. Hopefully they would be successful at getting out too.
She glanced up at Aubrey after a while, watching her stare at the woman on the bed. There were probably a million things running through Aubrey's head.She had to be overwhelmed with emotions at seeing a person she cared about be so close yet so far from reach, trapped in their own head by a parasite from some other world. << ...You okay?... >> Kat's voice was soft, and very quiet, the the question felt like a stupid thing to ask.
Vyv
Vyvyan listened carefully, regarding the boy in front of it with shrewd eyes. The power to shift…it was still alluring, despite the limits. After all, Vyvyan had learned to tell time well, and there was always the possibility of getting a watch…. Speaking of getting things, the ability to shift would be ever so useful…Vyvyan could acquire more books, maybe even nice clothes or new shoes. Its fingers twitched in anticipation; how would it be, to steal things as a squirrel or cat?
Vyvyan nearly moaned in anticipation…ah, but these people, if Matthew was anything to go by, were the clean-cut sort. No den of thieves…but who cared? Vyvyan could always assuage their anger with gifts. Stolen from yeerks, certainly…if everyone was a yeerk now, then stealing wasn’t wrong, was it? Vyvyan grinned, holding out its hand. ‘You have yourself a deal, my dear.’ There was an edge to that smile, as though Vyvyan had thought of something…unwholesome…to use morphing for.
Which it had, of course; but Matthew didn’t need to know that.
‘Do you have books, back at this little cottage of yours?’ Vyvyan draped an arm around Matthew companionably—it was suddenly overcome with the closeness of another person, and paused, struggling with the desire to hold the younger boy for a long time, and bask in his warmth, his humanity, his closeness.
Yes, the companionship alone was worth the price.
The night air was still, except for the slow, rhythmic chirping of a cricket outside. The Haunt had settled down for the night, leaving Aubrey to sleep by herself in the dark living room. Her body was sprawled over the couch, dressed only in the form-fitting morphing suit. A knitted blanket sagged against her legs and feet, its excess spilling out and down the side of the couch.
In her small hands was a thin piece of paper; a photograph. In the pitch-black of the room she couldn't see, but she already knew what was on it. Humming lightly, she traced her fingers along the wrinkled edges and stared at the blank ceiling overhead. In her mind she could see it--her father, his goofy smile, her childlike glee, the ocean crashing behind them. She could almost feel the memory; Australia, the warm air, the scent of the sea. Her house.
Despite the mental picture, she didn't feel happy. Everything weighed so heavily on her mind now, ever since Matt had stepped into that abandoned store and revealed the truth of it all. Morphing humans, mind-controlling aliens. There was no doubt that her mother and Nathan were controllers, and that, if she hadn't run away, she would be one now.
Aubrey let the photograph slip from her fingers, and closed her eyes for a long moment. There were hot tears in her eyes, burning underneath her eyelids and trickling down the sides of her cheeks. She suppressed a hiccup of noise, brushing her fingertips across her eyes. Then an idea came to her.
It wouldn't hurt to just see her. Just once. Quickly. In and out, then back. Nobody will notice..
Aubrey sat up, letting the blanket slither into a pile at her feet. She snatched the picture of her father from the ground, squinting at the dark blobs in the photograph. She blinked away more tears, the silence in the Haunt broken by her quiet sniffing. She slipped her hand to the knapsack nearby, unbuckling it and placing the photo back among her clothes and personal items.
For a moment she sat there, her head hanging in her hands and the silence pressing against her. She could hear the gentle beat of her heart, feel the kiss of blonde hair against her knuckles. Then she pushed her knapsack under the coffee table and stood up. The pattern of the carpet brushed against her bare feet as she moved around the living room, hands guiding her along the walls. She paused at the hallway, tilting her head to listen for any movement from the others.
After hearing nothing but snores she moved silently to the door, opening it and wiggling outside. She turned to close the door silently, then stepped out onto the porch. The moon hung high in the black sky, casting a pleasant, white glow over the Haunt and the landscape around it. The sound of waves crashing and foaming carried on a salty wind, and Aubrey took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the image of a seagull.
Soon after, she spread her wings wide and sailed over houses and streets. The seagull wanted to dart down to garbage cans and stray food, but Aubrey fought the urge. Her vision in the dark was poor, and she would land on the sidewalk after a few streets and peer up at street signs to keep herself on track. She was heading to her house.
Katrina
The golden yellow eyes of the coyote were perfect for the dark blanket of night that was draped over the haunt and all of LA. Kat could make out the side of the haunt from the tree line as she swiftly ran a well memorized circle around the territory surrounding the animorph base. It was her night to patrol and he tail moved gently behind her as she sniffed the air for signs of intruders, and kept her sharp ears open. It was Kat's sense of hearing that made her aware that not everyone of her faction mate were sleeping. Aubrey's departure was silent to human ears, but the coyote was not so easily decieved.
The pads of her feet hit the ground and made no sound as she slowly began to move closer to the building, her head cocked to the side in a bit of confusion. What was Aubrey doing up? It wasn't long before Aubrey morphed seagull and furthered Kat's wonder. Her eyes tracked her effortlessly in the dark as she began to rise. Kat doubted she could see well with the morph she'd chosen. Seagull's normally weren't very active at night.
<<Matt...>> Kat's voice was a bit quite, as if she didn't remember that she was broadcasting a private message and her voice would only come to the seventeen year old leader who was most likely still asleep. <<Aubrey's heading out smewhere. I'm heading after her....>>
Kat began to take off in a brisk sprint away from the haunt after giving her message to Matt. He needed to know what was going on before she ventured after Aubrey. Quickly she moved along at a distance behind the seagull, keeping track of it as it flew the best she could. Before too long, Aubrey landed on the side walk and the coyote stopped to watch as it looked up at the the street sign. Then Aubrey was off again, and Kat was close behind in pursuit.
<<The seagull can't be all that ideal for a midnight fly.>> Kat's voice came in a quiet tone. <<Couldn't sleep or something?>>
Stevert
Steve could not sleep. He sat up in bed and just stared around the loft. His blankets were laying on the floor. His pillow was under his bed. He tried laying back down but sleep would just not take him. He softly got off his bed trying to be as quiet as possible so that he wouldn't wake anyone.
He tiptoed down the stairs and walked slowly down the hallway towards the kitchen. As he poured himself a small cup of milk, he noticed the door shutting. He placed the cup back on the counter and walked over to the door and stepped outside. In the soft moonlight, he could see the dark silhouette of a seagull flying away.
Who is that? Is that Jullian or is that Aubrey? And where is Kat? Wasn't she supposed to be patroling tonight? Where did she go? Surely she must of seen or heard...or smelled SOMETHING! Steve knew a pretty good way to find some of the answers to his questions.
Concentrating, he began to shrink as his ears moved to the top of his head. Then they began to become rounded. Several minutes later, Steve was an African Wild Dog. Using the dog's amazing olfactory senses, Steve sniffed the air and detected a lot of scents. He smelled dozens of different smells. Most of those were several days old so Steve began searching for newer smells.
He had left the front door slightly ajar and he pulled the door open and walked into the living room. He sniffed the couch and discovered something. Aubrey wasn't there. He placed his nose on the ground like a bloodhound and and walked towards the door as he folloowed the smell of the girl.
He walked outside when the smell began changing into another familiar one. A seagull. So it was Aubrey who I saw. Now where is Kat at? He stood in the moonlight and listened and smelled as well as watching. He didn't hear anything. He smelled something. A coyote and a girl. I think I found Kat. He sniffed the new scent trail for a city block or two when he turned back.
After a quick race back to the Haunt, Steve stopped outside of Matt's bedroom and said, <<Matthew. Wake up. This is Steve. Umm, how should I put this? Oh yeah, Katrina and Aubrey are gone. I think they are heading to the city.>>
Matt
A mental voice interupted Matthew's sleep. Slowly his mind got a grip on what she was saying and who it was. Kat, telling him that Aubrey was running off somewhere. She wasn't a controller, it had been long enough that they would have caught that. Why she was going and where she was going he wasn't sure, but someone was on it and his mind was still half in a fog. He hadn't grasped the situation fully.
Just as he drifted out again another voice broke through, this one waking him up more completely. Steve this time was telling him they were headed towards the city. Matt knew Kat had followed Aubrey, but that was actually a dangerous move for her. Heck, what morph had Aubrey even used to travel? She didn't have one that seemed like it would fit in.
Half of his mind was screaming, Let me sleep for the love of god! But his leader intinct kicked in and took over. The fog cleared as soon as it did and he was up out of the bed and to the door, finding an African wild dog standing in it. "Kat told me she'd seen Aubrey head off and went to follow her. If they're going into the city it's not safe. Kat's been seen and any of Aubrey's morphs would stand out."
Even as he said this the jackal form was taking over. Despite that demorphing would be awkward he hadn't thought of one factor until he'd been too far along in the morph, he didn't wear the top half of his morphing suit while sleeping. Oh well, didn't matter now and didn't matter ever when his team needed him. The jackal pushed it's way past the wild dog, bolting towards the door. <<I'm going to follow them. If you want to come you'll need to wake up someone to take Kat's place on patrol. Otherwise I suggest you do that for now since you're awake.>>
Stevert
Steve's eagerness was mixing with the canine's. C'mon Matt! Wake up! The dog began turning in circles until the door opened. In the room stood a very sleepy-looking Matthew who was telling him that Kat had already told him that she was leaving. Then came Matt's suggestion to patrol or get someone else to patrol as he became a jackel.
Steve let the dog's mouth open and flop a tongue out as he said, <<Okay. I'll go with you. Just let me get someone else to patrol.>> Steve walked a few steps and stopped. Okay. Since Kat, Aubrey, and Matt are going and I want to go, that leaves Lizzie and Jullian. I really don't know Lizzie very well and I think she needs all the sleep she can get. Besides, Jullian has a couple of nocturnal morphs unlike Liz. I'll wake Jullian up!
With this happy thought, Steve ran up the stairs and jumped on to Jullian. In an excited voice, he said, <<Hey Jullian! Wake up! Wake up! We need you on patrol! Hurry! Get up! Matt, Kat, Aubrey and I are going to town so you need to stay here and patrol. I would ask Liz and give her some experience but she is lacking nocturnal morphs. See ya in a little bit.>>
Steve doubted Jullian would be able to comprehend what he said until after Steve managed to get away. Jumping down the steps, Steve approached Matthew saying, <<Let's go! I just assigned Jullian the job!>> Steve began to walk towards the door.
Matt
Matt didn't even want to know what Steve meant by having assigned Jullian the job. At this hour that meant waking the individual up and, normally with Matt it meant crabbiness. That was somewhere in the back of his mind, the part that still wanted to sleep. His leader sense was what was in control though.
<<Right then,>> said Matt as he nosed open the door of the Haunt. He jumped down the steps and took off in the direction of the city. The jackal was actually a decently fast morph and he hoped he'd catch up to Kat's coyote and whatever form Aubrey had taken. Currently he was following the coyote's scent, pausing once and a while briefly to find and stay with it. Steve was probably tailing him and as much as Matt thought he should say something he didn't know what to say and his mind was way too focused at the moment, almost to a one track point. What is Aubrey thinking? What did she leave the safety of the Haunt in the dead of night for?
Aubrey
After flapping hard to get back in the air, she began circling. Where is it? Where is it? Am I lost? She dipped down low, gliding down the middle of a road. Streetlights passed her by slowly, illuminating the seagull's bright white feathers and orange legs. She skimmed over the tops of parked cars, oblivious to Kat following behind. She appeared to be lost, flying in the empty, pitch-black air above houses and cars.
Where... where... She knew the ins and outs of L.A.--she had lived here for part of her life--but it all looked vastly different from the air. Finally, she saw something, lit by the mute gleam of streetlights. My school!! She faltered in the air, wings flapping wildly and webbed feet flailing. For some reason she had expected the place to be torn down and flattened. It was in ruins, but half of it was still standing.
Aubrey skimmed low on the streets again, following her old route home from school. She finally spotted her house, dark except for the porch light. In excitement she almost spoke, but it came out as a loud, shrill squawk. Pushing away her exhaustion, she tucked her wings and clumsily plunged into the neighbor's bush. Leaves and branches whipped at her body, and she ended up a tangled mess of feathers and leaves. <<Ugh...>> She untangled herself and concentrated on her own form. Nothing changed.
How many hours was it until you get trapped? Was it one or two? Or was it three? She hadn't even been thinking about that until now, and the though sent panic reeling through her. She had been out flying for at least an hour now, maybe more. Go, go, go. Suddenly, she felt her organs rearranging and bones thickening. Yes! She shot up still covered in feathers, looking like a giant, mutant bird. The orange beak melted into soft human lips, and her webbed feet separated into toes. Last to go were the feathers and wings. She winced at the sickening sound of the bones in her arms twisting and grinding, and then all the feathers sucked back into her body. Finished, she crouched--shivering and human--in the thorny bush.
Were any of the lights on? She disengaged from the bush, plucking thorns from her morphing suit as she crept near her house. The porch light meant somebody was inside...was her mother still there? Nathan? No. They're not themselves anymore...But what if they weren't really taken?
Aubrey pressed her hand silently against the rotting wood of the gate to the backyard and pushed. The door creaked open on its rusty hinges, emitting a low groan. She ducked her head down and shot a glance at the nearby window. The curtains were pulled, and it was still dark. Good. She pushed the door further, but then froze solid when a voice filled her head.
<<The seagull can't be all that ideal for a midnight fly. Couldn't sleep or something?>>
Aubrey's head jerked up and she looked around with wide eyes. The voice had been in her head and had sounded like Kat. Somebody had followed her here? She could have sworn she had been silent and stealthy. She swallowed and squinted in the darkness. "Kat...?" She whispered. "Is that you...?"
Katrina
By the time Aubrey stopped it was time for Kat to demorph. At first she was afraid that she would lose the girl in the time it took for her to return to her original body, but it seemed Aubrey was demorphing as well, so she would have time. Slipping behind a bush not too far from where Aubrey had gotten herself tangled for a moment, Kat began to focus on her human self. In several minutes the fur, tail, and canine ears had vanished and been replaced by tanned skin and brown hair. The response from Aubrey came as the finishing touches were coming to an end.
"Yea, It's me," Katrina whispered back. She peered out from the bush and gazed into the darkness where Aubrey's voice had come from. The contract between her human eyes and the eyes of the coyote were quite drastic. "...What are you doing out here? Sneaking off into the city late at night on your own isn't exactly safe... or smart."
Matt
Damn it was taking a long time to track them and they were getting into residential area. What the heck was Aubrey doing.... Wait... She'd lived in L.A. She wasn't going back to her house was she? God.... I know I've done that once but that was in a completely different case. I haven't been to my house since trying to save Sara. What's she trying to do?
Unfortunately he wasn't in her head to figure it out. He was getting worried though, getting close to needing to demorph and there was no signs of either of them. He could still smell Steve behind him too. <<I don't even know if we're getting close and I'm getting worried. I can't project anything without waking up people around us.>> He said, the only thing he'd said since leaving the Haunt. Matt was not a silent person. If he stopped talking more than just the time it took to think something through something was wrong. He only hoped Steve didn't realize that.
Stevert
Steve leaped into the night after Matthew. Soon, his canine mind was ecstatic. Oh!@ A cat! Male cat. Wait concentrate. Okay, concentrating, concentrating...a dog! Umm, a retriever I think. Wait a second! I gotta focus here . Steve sniffed the ground again and ran to catch up with Matt. As he ran, the soft moonlight illuminated his multicolored fur giving an eerie look.
Then Matthew voice rang in his head. <<I don't even know if we're getting close and I'm getting worried. I can't project anything without waking up people around us.>>
Steve responded, <<Umm, could you possibly morph your bat? You might be able to "see" them if they are close by. I can follow along on the ground. Speaking of, I think I can smell something. It smells like the trees and stuff by the Haunt, not these perfectly trimmed bushes and topiaries. Do you think that Kat might have gone this way?>>
To emphasize what he said, Steve trotted over to a bush and began sniffing it. Dozens of scents filled his nose of cats brushing up against it, dogs peeing (which his morph's mind wanted to smell more), birds and on and on. But he did smell something different than the others. A coyote.
Vyv
Normally, Vyvyan didn’t come into the suburbs. However, the city was increasingly sharp on patrols, and the youth had been pushed further and further north until it had found itself in Chatsworth, of all places. The quiet little streets were such a contrast that Vyvyan was almost deafened by the silence and the stillness. Was it the only one left in existence?
Vyvyan grew worried, and began to look for signs of life. Cars were a sign, weren’t they? And trash, certainly…it looked up at the clicklicklick of dog-feet on pavement. Life. Dogs. Vyvyan followed the sound, knowing full well that if it could find the dogs, then it could find more food. When had it last eaten? Not since…h’m…this morning.
‘Dogs, dogs, rowsby woof…’ Vyvyan murmured to itself as it slunk from shadow to shadow, the beat-up converse it’d stolen from a YMCA years ago making no noise on the ground. ‘Here dog, here…’ Vyvyan continued, seeing two of the dogs in the orange light of a streetlamp.
Its thin layers of clothing wrapped around it, holes never matching up to reveal pale skin. Used to dogs being friendly, Vyvyan held out a long-fingered hand. ‘Here dog, here…’ it repeated, smiling. ‘What ho, coyote…wo’n’t harm you, my dear fellow. We’re friends, aren’t we? Trickster coyote…’ Its chatter was soft and susurrant, the way one spoke to animals. ‘Tricksters, aren’t we, dear fellows? All of us tricksters…’ it let out a soft, mad giggle. ‘Come, dear friends, I know you wouldn’t venture out on the town unless there was something to be had….’
Creeping closer in a crouch, one hand on the pavement, Vyvyan rested the hand it’d been holding out on the ground for balance once more, careful not to smile or make eye contact. ‘Come, dear fellows, surely you aren’t here for social reasons, h’m?’ It giggled as a thought came to it. ‘Or are you? Friends with a local lady, are we? H’m?’
Matt
((I'm figuring the dogs are Matt and Steve since Kat is demorphed and Aubrey doesn't have a dog morph. The coyote bit had me confused is all.))
Matt tilted his head at the site of the person who'd shown up. They seemed a little out of it. Something about them just seemed... odd to him. Like the fact the it seemed perfectly fine with the African wild dog and jackal who were roaming the streets of L.A. <<Steve. We have company. Can't really tell the gender in this lighting, but it's human.>>
This was distracting him from finding Kat, and that wasn't good, but he wanted to figure out more about this. The person... they didn't act like a controller. A controller would have acted like a normal human. This person seemed slightly crazy and the clothes they wore were rather old, not like what a controller would be wearing. Heck, even the L.A. Animorphs themselves looked better in their homemade morphing outfits.
<<I know this is getting me sidetracked, but you keep checking around. I think we might be close if she was in a bush here. It means she was using it for cover to demorph probably. I'm going to see what I can find out about our friend here.>> Tentatively he made his way towards the human. Why it wasn't afraid of a jackal he wasn't sure. Maybe the lighting hid what his species actually was. Either way, it was actually calling him closer. There's something not right about this. I can't figure out what though. They seem free, but totally not scared of me. Have they lost it?
Stevert
((Yeah, the coyote comment confused my to. I Pmed Vyvyan about it but I guess this is how we will use it.))
Steve's ears perked up. He herard a sound. Then he heard a human voice. Rats! A controller! We've been caught! Steve moved behind the bush so that his fur was mostly hidden. His mozaic of colors really made him stand out from the average dog. Then Matt began talking to him. Obviously he had detected the person as well.
What stood out in Steve's mind was, Has this person seen Kat? Is that why he was talking about a coyote? Steve peered out at the intruder and realized that Matt was right. He couldn't tell this person's gender. Maybe I should consider this person an it. I don't won't to offend him or her.
Now Steve listened to Matt's orders. He was to keep searching for Kat and Aubrey. Steve walked away from the bush and began trotting in a wide circle around the bush smelling for a scent trail. He found one. A coyote trail. Steve called to Matthew, <<Umm Matthew? I found Kat's trail. She went thataway.>> With his nose, Steve pointed in the direction the scent was going. <<Do you want me to get her and Aubrey and come back here or do you want me to stay her as backup?>>
It was times like these that he wished Rob was awake. He could use a bit of sage-brother advice although he was sure that Rob made the stuff up most of the time.
Aubrey
The house looming over her was almost like a magnet, pulling at her to go in. Her mother--or, what was left of her--was here. Feet away, within Aubrey's reach. But she couldn't sneak in yet.
Kat's voice, now human, came from one of the bushes. Aubrey couldn't see her, but she could make out her dark form. She let out a small breath of tension, her rigid shoulders slumping. Exhaustion was quickly replacing the waning excitement, and she crouched down near the ground.
"No worries, I was..." She paused, running her fingers through the lawn grass. "I was just...flying around. I...can't sleep. I haven't had time to myself. You know, to think this all through." Part of it was true, but she hadn't mentioned why she was sneaking around somebody's yard. "I was practicing too. Flying." Her fingers twisted off a piece of grass. "I need to check something out in this backyard. I think I might have seen something. You can stay here." A flicker of light caught her eye; far down the road there were car headlights. "Or something. A car is coming."
Vyv
((OOC: Sorry about the confusion—Vyvyan can’t recognise that they are more than wild dogs, so it thinks they’re just a couple of coyotes))
‘What have you found, Coyote?’ Vyvyan asked, speaking softer, mastering its manic urge to be surrounded by life. After all, one couldn’t tell when everyone was in a house, and all the cars were parked. ‘H’m? Some food, maybe? Maybe we can share, you and I, Coyote…’
When the dog came closer, Vyvyan deftly scrambled back, staying just out of lunging range. ‘Ah-ah-ah, Coyote; I know your tricks.’ It was perched on a planter now. ‘Come now, surely you’ve found a bit of this, a bit of that?’ Vyvyan wondered why the coyote was so curious about him, when it was obviously not a pampered pet. The other wandered off, and Vyvyan perked up. ‘Your friend, eh?’ he said, watching. ‘I’ll bet he’s found something, and you’re to keep me up here? Clever, Coyote, very clever….’ Vyvyan crept along the planter, keeping one eye on the yards beyond the sidewalk. ‘But I’m following your friend, my dear fellow,’ he informed the Coyote, crawling on all-fours like a jungle creature, hopping more like an ape than a human. It was too keep small, Vyvyan had nearly gotten killed by animals before, before it had learned to stay low to the ground and not meet eyes.
Animal-logic, as Vyvyan thought of it, let it become invisible to humans as well. ‘You see,’ Vyvyan said quietly, sounding less mad with every passing word. ‘A cove has to find something to eat, and—’ Vyvyan stopped as he heard the girls talking, and retreated into the nearest shadow, nearly disappearing due to his darkish clothes.
The dog noses could smell that there was something wrong with Vyvyan—it didn’t register as anything but human, and…odd. There weren’t enough hormones to make one or the other, only human, book, clothing, the faint smell of laundry, soap, and the dust of the desert this city used to be.
((OOC: 'cove' is a piece of slang from teh twenties that Vyvyan picked up in one of its books (Carry On, Jeeves just for ref). It means 'fellow'.))
Katrina
"You should tell someone before you sneak off. You're part of a team now... Matt'll be worried about you being gone, even though I already gave him a heads up when I came after you. If anything happens to you Matt will hold himself responsible, and if you were to be caught... then we're all dead." Kat said quietly into the darkness. Her voice was a whisper and she kept her tone light and understanding.
"Everyone needs time alone every now and then. I got that... but you shouldn't go sneaking off like that. Especially into the city, ya know? What ever you saw can probably wait for now... We need to get back."
Katrina felt a bit... controlling. Aubrey seemed like she'd just wanted some time to herself, some time to get her head together while she practiced a morph and it felt a bit demeaning to tell her that she shouldn't leave the haunt on her own without telling anyone. It was like Aubrey was a misbehaving school child, and Kat felt like the teacher trying to explain why the behavior was bad. Kat didn't like the feeling of it, but she hoped Aubrey would understand.
The light in the distance caught Kat's eye just as it did Aubrey's. A car meant people, and people meant a possibility of getting seen. "..Keep hidden in the bushes. Make sure no one sees you." She whispered quickly. Kat was already well hidden by the one she'd demorphed by, knowing that if she was seen, there was a very good chance she wouldn't be able to talk her way out of it with a yeerk disguise.
Matt
So the person knew he was a wild dog and was scared, but more trusting or something along those lines. Not even this close could he defined a gender, even by the smell. The jackal nose knew there was a difference, after sniffing around the Haunt to learn the scents of his faction Matt could somewhat tell it. This person... really didn't have a distinctive scent that defined gender. It defined them individually, but that was it.
He could hear Kat and Aubrey talking. <<Steve. Listen. They're nearby. Can't you hear them? Project your voice to them and tell them to stay out of site if they aren't in morph. We've got one person at least roaming around out here and at least they think we're just a couple wild dogs.>>
He turned back to the seemingly genderless person. Matt felt like this might be the time to reveal himself for what he was and see how this person reacted. A car went streaking past, the light frightening Matt personally and confusing his jackal's instincts. Car. Crap. We need to get Aubrey and Kat and get out of here. First things first, this person. Obviously free. Possibly willing to fight. Aubrey and Kat were smart. They wouldn't let their cover be blown.
<<You don't need to be scared of me. I'm not actually what I appear to be.>> He sent, knowing how odd the first time a person speaks to you in morph can be. That's the way Raven was when he first met her, and she'd been a cheetah then. His voice was calm and gentle, though even in thought speak it was obvious he was a teenage boy. <<My name is Matthew. And this is probably nothing compared to some of the weirdness you may have already seen. If you're willing to believe what I tell you, I can offer you a way to do something about what's going on around here, why things have changed so much. Will you trust me? Even just a little.>>
Vyv
When the Coyote began to speak to him, Vyvyan reacted rather differently than most. Its eyes widened—not that one could tell in the dark and orange of the suburban night—and it blinked a few times. Then, Vyvyan smiled, and laughed a little—a true laugh, not an inmate’s cackle. ‘Well, well, Coyote, we’re both more than we seem, aren’t we?’
Waiting calmly for the car to pass, Vyvyan spoke again. ‘Not all you appear to be? Sirius Black, are you, or—no, don’t tell me—one of the gods?’ From its tone, one could tell Vyvyan was joking; it sat back on its heels and smiled, resting its forearms on its thighs. ‘So, what are you then? What makes you think I want things to change badly enough to fight?’ The chatter abruptly died as the words began to sink in a little more, and Vyvyan lapsed into thought.
‘You know what is going on?’ it queried, tilting its head again and putting hands back on the ground, coming forward. ‘Why aren’t there books anymore? Why can’t I turn tricks? Where are the dance halls and the rent boys, the plays and the boarding schools? Where are the mining towns and the schools and why are all the buildings so empty and abandoned? Why is it so difficult to find food, now, and where are all the others like me that used to fight me for territory? Where is the rest of the world, old thing?’ It stopped its tirade and listened again as a car went by; but it was from the street behind the houses, not the street they were on.
Matt
Matt tilted his head obviously this person was willing to believe and had noticed the difference in the world. It was sad there weren't more people who were this obviously free. It would be easier finding recruits. <<I'm going to show you who I am, and it's probably not what you expect. Just don't be afraid.>>
The jackal started changing shape. In the darkness the only thing that was really visible was the shape change. It was probably rather odd, to watch a dog's silhouette shift and become that of a teenage boy. This person, maybe they'd expected a human, but not someone as young as Matthew he had to figure. A seventeen year old with hair somewhere between blond and brown. Barefoot, skinny, and currently only wearing a pair of tight fitting shorts.... now was the perfect time to remember he'd left his top at the Haunt.
"Probably not what you expected, I know," he said. "As far as what's been happening... The world's been invaded, and most of the people didn't know until it was too late. These aliens crawl into your head through your ear canal and once inside they can control everything you do. There aren't many people fighting them, I'm one of them. So is my friend over there. We're the local faction of the resistance. There are other factions, in Chicago, New York, Las Vegas, Washington DC, and Vancouver and Ottawa in Canada. We can all do this, change from human to animal. An ability we've gained and we could give it to you too, if you want to help us stop them."
Aubrey
"I know." Her voice grew quieter. She could feel anxiety twisting in her gut, fighting over what she should do. "But I can take care of myself. I've done it for months already. Right? I'm not a kid." She bit her lip, leaning forward on her feet. "And I won't let them catch me. I can't. I have to help her--" She cut herself off and pressed her lips together. "I need to go. I'm sorry. My mother is in there." Her fingers were clenched nervously, and she felt her heart beating.
The car's headlights were edging closer in her vision, and Aubrey made her decision. She slipped between the wall and gate and disappeared into darkness of the backyard. She couldn't see very well, but she knew exactly where to go. As she moved, she concentrated on the image of the squirrel monkey.
She began shrinking, and a lush coat of gold spread from the top of her head down her body. Her tail shot out, making her stumble awkwardly over her own shrinking feet. Bones began rearranging, forcing her to her knees with a thud. Her fingertips began shrinking and forming into the monkey's furry hands. What am I doing? She sighed. The morph continued, and she crawled, half-monkey, towards the backdoor of her old house. There was a soft, yellow light coming from one of the windows, illuminating a nearby patch of grass and the pathway to the door.
Katrina
"Aubrey, please d-" Kat could already see the shadowy outline slipping away into the backyard.
There was a part of Kat that wanted to yell at Aubrey and lecture her more on how she was part of a team now.When she agreed to join the animorphs she became part of a group, and couldn't just go off on a solo missions whenever she felt like it with out telling anyone. It was dangerous, not to mention stupid, and endangered everyone of them. However, there was another part of Kat that completely understood. Aubrey was after the same thing Kat was: her mother. Kat had no idea where to even start looking for hers, but if she did, would she be doing the same thing Aubrey was right now? She wanted to think she would talk about it with Matt first at least, but she couldn't say so for sure.
It was clear Aubrey had made her decision and she wasn't about to listen to reason. Katrina wasn't about to let her do whatever she was planning alone, even if she felt it was extremely dangerous and they should turn back. As the headlights grew nearer, Kat quickly crossed the distance to the gate and slipped in behind her faction mate, starting to shrink as she went. She couldn't be seen out of morph around here.
The Raccoon tail felt odd as it shot out from her spine, but the vision was wonderful. The moment it kicked in, Kat could see the entire yard, as well as the morphing girl up ahead that was moving to the door. <<Aubrey, if you won't go back then at least don't do this alone...>>
Stevert
Now that Matt mentioned it, Steve could hear voices. He had naturally blocked out Kat's voice long ago so he could talk more and Aubrey was still pretty new so he hadn't been able to memorize her voice yet. Besides, he had attributed the voice as his stomach rumbling. He was hungry! He wished he had taken a moment or two to catch that rabbit back...wait! He wasn't a dog. Get a grip Steve.
<<Alright Matt,>> he said, <<I hear them. I'll get 'em over here.>> Steve perked his ears up and directed his mental voice towards the two girls. <<Kat. Aubrey. Come outside. Let's go.>> In private thought-speak to Kat he added, <<Hey, what's happening? Why did Aubrey leave? Anyways, make sure she gets outta there safely. We might need you guys out here.>>
Suddenly Steve heard a noise. He glanced at Matthew and saw a human in skin-tight shorts standing where a jackel had. Steve said, <<Matt. We have company. There is a car coming. You may want to tell our little friend there to hide. You probably should as well. Just a suggestion.>>
Vyv
Without a second thought, Vyvyan shrugged off its coat in the safety of the inky shadow it was hiding in, and stripped off one of the tattered layers it was wearing, revealing another beneath of something that used to be dark olive. ‘Here,’ it said, offering the shirt to Matthew. ‘I am not one of the sorts that faffs about in dirt—go on, you may borrow it. It’s clean.’
Another car—now they were annoying Vyvyan, rather than comforting it with the reassurance of life. It pulled Matthew toward itself, toward the safety of the shadow. ‘Come, you don’t want them to see you, my dear boy.’
Matt
Matthew heard Steve's voice in his head, but in this state he couldn't exactly respond. Not in any way but moving like he'd been told. This was aided by the person, who's name Matt was realizing he still didn't know, pulling him into the shadows along with it. What it had said was right, Matt couldn't afford to be seen. He may have had a false identity as a controller here, but normally Promin 861 wasn't seen dressed like this. Blowing his cover wasn't something he could afford to do.
"Thank you," Matt said as he accepted the shirt from it. The article of clothing may have been old and had holes in a few places, but it was warmer at least than how Matt had been previously. It was also more comfortable for him to have something covering his torso at least a little, especially around someone he didn't know yet. He slid it on, finding that none of the holes were anywhere that he would be too uncomfortable with having visible and that it at least fit, though was probably a bit loose for morphing in.
"As our group's leader I can't afford my cover being blown." Matt himself would have thought this statement odd coming from his mouth, if he were someone else viewing the situation. A seventeen year old, who looked slightly younger than that, being the leader of a band of rebels who can turn into animals and were fighting aliens. The idea of the yeerk war had been so hard for Matt to accept himself when he first learned about it in Chicago, when Raven and Lex had saved him. Every Animorph knew how odd it was to learn about this, whether they'd been free or a controller when they first found out. We share a common bond. The bond of feeling like we have to do something now that we know.
Vyv
Vyvyan was not the others—it had never known parents that were not in pages of books, nor history that was not in the collection kept in its pockets or in the hollow of the abandoned library that was sometimes home. Matthew’s revelation of Yeerk was odd, yes, but surely there was something Vyvyan could dredge up in memory that was like it?
Slugs crawling into one’s head…controlling their thoughts…Vyvyan thought. Wasn’t something like this mentioned in one of its books? Not slugs, not slugs, but…something. A spell, perhaps. If only Vyvyan could find the other six books! Then it would know everything. If only…. Then, there was the power Matthew was dangling. The ability to change shape? Think of the possibilities! Vyvyan could find food so much easier!
Fighting, though, and being part of a house…Vyvyan had to contend with that. No more would it be free to wander, but no more would it be in danger. Ah, decision…human company with the price, or freedom…with the price? Nothing was free.
‘Tell me more about this power you speak of, old thing,’ Vyvyan said shrewdly. ‘One should never accept something unless one knows the fine print.’
Aubrey
In the darkness it was easy to see why her morph was nicknamed the "skull monkey". Milky white fur sprouted around her eyes, mouth, and down her chest, surrounding her black mouth and eyes. The rest of her body was covered in a dark green and orange coat. Fully morphed, she crept through the grass towards the small gray square of the kitty door. The monkey's instincts were beginning to bubble up beneath her mind, injecting a new energy into her worn out bones and muscles.
<<Aubrey, if you won't go back then at least don't do this alone...>> Kat's thought speak surprised Aubrey, and she stopped mid-stride. She had followed her into the yard. Aubrey's eyes, framed by white fur, reflected light as she turned her head around to the raccoon. It was obvious that Aubrey hadn't thought through this clearly, and it hadn't crossed her mind until now how dangerous this could all be. In her blind frenzy to find her mom, reason had been shoved aside. But now she was standing at the door to her house, and she could feel her heart thudding in her small chest.
<<You...>> Her voice trailed off, as she was unsure of what to say. <<...Thanks, Kat. This means a ton to me.>> She was relieved to have somebody along with, and it showed in the tone of her voice. As she crept to the door, the monkey's short thick fur gleamed gold and fiery by the window's light. She bounced swiftly into the shadows, hoping that they hadn't sealed off the kitty door. Otherwise she would have to break in some other way. She pushed the heavy plastic flap, bracing herself for it to be sealed. Instead, it slid open easily, revealing the dark insides of the house. I wonder if they kept Pacha? Doesn't seem like Yeerks would care for cats.
Aubrey slid through the kitty door, then turned around and lifted the flap up for Kat. <<I'm sorry for not telling anybody I was leaving. I don't think you guys would have let me go if I had told you.>>
<<Kat. Aubrey. Come outside. Let's go.>> It was Stevert calling out. How much of the faction had followed her? A part of her was ticked that people had followed her, but another part of her was glad they were so vigilant. It was comforting to know.
Katrina
<< Coming with is better then me lecturing you through thought speak the whole time.>> Kat told Aubrey as she scurried across the yard, making her way to the door where she could see the small Squirrel Monkey. <<You need someone to watch your back, and... I'm probably not the best one to be preaching about not going off to find family. If I knew where my mom was I might be doing the same. I'd like to think I wouldn't, but... I can't really guarantee it, ya know?>>
Moving quickly, the raccoon climbed through the kitty door with ease then moved into the house a few feet. Kat's eyes moved around to look at their surroundings then rested on Aubrey's morph. << You could have tried at least. I know we wouldn't have let you go alone, but if you talked it over with Matt he might have formed a mission for it or something. What do you plan on doing exactly anyway?...>>
It was then that Steve's voice broke through her own thoughts. First it was to both of them, broadcasting a message for them to come outside so they could all leave, but the second one was directed only to Kat. Now she had to explain what was going on.
<<Aubrey left to come here and find her mom. She didn't think we would let her go if she said anything to us. I've already tried to get her to come out and go back to the haunt but I don't think that's going to happen unless I grab her by the tail and drag her, which isn't something I'm about to do.>> Kat explained, <<I'm following after her as back up so at least she's not alone. Whats going on out there? Who's with you, and why might you need us out there?>>
Stevert
As the car came around, Steve lunged behind a bush. If the lights had hit him, he would have instantly had been noticed since his multicolored fur stood out like a watermelon in a bag of cherries. From behind the bush, the canine's eyes saw the new person and Matt hide. Then he heard Kat talk.
He responded, <<Okay Kat. Good to know ya'll are alive. Matt's out here with me. Uh, we need you guys out right now though for two reasons. One, we all need to go back to the haunt because of the whole danger thing. Two, we have a visitor out here. Matt's already demorphed and talking to him or her. I really can't tell what gender the person is so I'll just call the person a he for now. Okay, back to what I was saying. We really can't have you two off on your own expedition and have to take care of another possible reruit. I'll tell Matt that Aubrey won't come until she's done.>>
For some reason, Steve felt like a telephone. All I'm doing is sending messages back and forth. He began speaking to MAtt although he knew Matt couldn't respond back. <<I got a progress report. Aubrey and Kat are going inside a house. Aubrey wanted to see her mom and Kat couldn't get her to turn around and leave. Kat went with her to watch her back. Oh, and here's the good part. According to Kat, Aubrey didn't want to tell any of us about this since she felt we wouldn't let her go.>>
<<So what do we do? If you want me to go inside, nod your head once. If you want me to stay, nod your head twice.>>
Aubrey
The light in the kitchen was coming from a small lamp, alone on a counter. All the monkey's senses were on high alert, being nearly blind in the dark. There was only silence in the house, and for a moment Aubrey worried that maybe nobody lived here anymore. Was this whole trip just a waste? She thought. But then her sensitive nose picked up the scent of an old meal, mingled with the scent of humans.
<<I know. This is still all new to me...>> Her voice was subdued. So Kat was looking to see her mom too. She grew quiet after this, thinking. She didn't have a good feeling twisting in her gut; whether it was from the fact that she was back in her old house, or that she had run off without telling anybody in the faction. And now she couldn't turn back. <<I wanted to...>> Suddenly, she wasn't sure. See her mother? Save her? What could she do? <<Come on.>>
The lamp's yellow light reached dimly into part of the living room, and Aubrey could see her old TV and couch. The old smells of home were all around her, bringing old memories back. She has to be here. With her stomach twisting in apprehension, she briskly padded around a coffee table and towards the dark gap of a hallway ahead of her. At the end of the hallway was her prize; the master bedroom where she assumed they were sleeping. For a moment she hesitated at the mouth of the hallway, looking back at Kat with the fuzzy, curious expression of the squirrel monkey. Then she turned back around and headed into the hallway.
Forward. Forward. Tall, empty doorways loomed over her small form as she passed them. One was her brother's room and the other was her old room, but she ignored them for now and headed toward the master bedroom at the end of the hall. <<They should be in here. If they stayed here.>> And if they're even Yeerks. Maybe I've been wrong to assume. The thought was hopeful, but a part of her knew it was wrong.
The door to the bedroom was cracked open only a tiny fraction, and warm air conditioning whistled between the spaces. Aubrey pressed her ear to the crack, listening for sounds of life. Her heart jumped when she heard snoring. <<Somebody's in here...>> She said privately to Kat, her voice a whisper. She didn't seem to realize at the moment her thoughts wouldn't be heard. She used her tiny pink fingers to pry at the crack, and pressed her furry face against the door to push it open. With a small squeak the door began to move open, enough for Aubrey to wiggle through. Her face reappeared in the small opening. <<Are you coming in?>>
Jullian
Jullian seriously considered just rolling over and going back to sleep after Steve jumped on him. The importance of what he had said did not immediately penetrate his sleep fogged mind. Wait, the others were going into the city? What was going on?
But by the time he got outside no one was to be found. He scuffed his feet in the sand and listened to the waves crash on the beach as the cool night air brought the smells of the sea toward him and past him. He looked up at the stars from which all their troubles had come and might come yet.
Someone would have to keep the Haunt safe while the others were away even though, looking at the water, all he wanted to do was go for a swim in the ocean. He ran his hands through his hair and tried to think of what morph he should use for patrol.
Responsibility was an odd thing to take on and he felt weird about doing so. He used to feel, lighter somehow. These days he felt, settled, not as free. But it wasn't exactly a bad feeling, just a new one.
He sat down in the sand and decided to try something that he had been thinking about doing. He imagined his dingo's ears and the ears began to morph first. Then he brought up each body part in his mind's eye and as he did they changed. He had begun to realize that when his emotions were messed up, like when he was afraid, his morphs went weird. So now he was trying to be completely calm and stay in control. This was a better result than he had originally hoped for.
Once fully dingo he set off on patrol around the Haunt.
Matt
Matthew nodded. He hadn't known the fine print of being an Animorph when he'd joined but he also hadn't had much of a choice by that time. This person, well despite looking like they lived on the streets they'd survived this long without help. They didn't necessarily need to join them to stay safe, they'd always been more street smart than most of the Animorphs recruits.
Then he heard Steve's voice. He needed to reply to the person in front of him, but now Steve was asking him to nod his head and let him know whether he should follow Aubrey and Kat into a house. She'd wanted to see her mom. Matt had done the same thing, admittedly with Raven's permission. I would have let her do this, because I did the same thing. I went back to my old house to try and save Sara. I would have been fine planning a mission to come here. But I can worry about that later. Let's get back to the Haunt before I start figuring what I want to say to chastise her.
Matthew nodded his head twice while saying, "True, nothing these days comes without a catch or a price. With morphing there are two. Number one, you can only turn into animals you have acquired the DNA of. You can do this through touching either the animal or blood from the animal. We use blood seeing as some of them are more dangerous and touching them would be a risk we can't afford. The second would be that you can only stay in any animal form for two hours before having to return to your own form. Longer than that and the transformation is permanent. You get trapped in the new form." To Vyv it would appear like the nodding was just a habit. Steve would read it as Matt's answer.
"There are a few... things you wouldn't necessarily have yet. I don't know if you'd see them as good or bad. You'll be part of a team, a group. You'd have a safe place away from all the danger the yeerks offer. You wouldn't have to scavenge for food anymore either. Like I said, I don't know which of those you'd see as good and which you'd see as bad. What things you feel you'd be losing and what you'd be gaining. It's just an offer. I can tell you've been doing alright out here on your own if you've survived this long. Maybe you don't have as much to get back at the yeerks for losing. I really can't tell. I'm not inside your mind so I can only offer what I offer everyone. It's your choice in the end."
Katrina
Matt had found another possible recruit? For a moment Kat wondered how Matt could have found someone in the dead of night, but it occurred to her that sneaking around at night was probably more convenient. Besides, Matt seemed to have some uncanny knack to finding new recruits whenever he left the haunt lately.
<<I guess it shouldn't surprise me that Matt might have found a new recruit. I think it's official that he can't leave the haunt lately without finding someone... Trust me Steve, I agree we should be getting out of here and back to the haunt, but like I said earlier, Aubrey's most likely not coming out without me dragging her away, and I'm not doing that.>>
The raccoon made slow, cautious movements to follow the squirrel monkey. Kat didn't know her way around the house so she relied on Aubrey to guide the way. Aubrey hadn't answered the question of what her plan was, which was something Kat didn't particularly like at the moment, but she scuttled along in silence until they got to the door. The squeak made her entire small body freeze for a moment before she started to move forward again. The squeak hadn't been loud so hopefully no one had heard or would wake. This little adventure had Kat worried, but she slipped through the small opening after Aubrey.
<< Aubrey... do you even know why you're here? Is it just to see her?... or is it.. something more?>>
Aubrey
The sound of the snoring was slow and even, coming from the bed. Aubrey's heart was in her throat now, and her head was pounding sharply. Her fingertips brushed the carpet as she snuck across the floor towards the large form of the bed.
<< Aubrey... do you even know why you're here? Is it just to see her?... or is it.. something more?>> Kat's voice filled her head.
<<...I just...>> She paced back and forth at the bottom of the bed, her tail swishing back and forth. The monkey was feeding off her nervous energy, and without realize it she was making small chirping sounds. Suddenly, the room was filled with a silence as the soft snoring stopped. Aubrey stopped mid-stride and stiffened, clenching her mouth shut. After a long pause, the snoring resumed and Aubrey almost collapsed in relief. <<I want to see her...I didn't...plan this or anything.>>
She was so close now, she could feel it. She paced back and forth again at the foot of the bed, nervous, then finally jumped up. Both feet and hands landed lightly at the end of the bed, and she froze. Through her limited vision she could make out a dark form sprawled under the comforter, breathing slowly. Why is there only one person here? Is it Nathan or my mom?
She crept slowly forward, feeling the cool cotton sheets beneath the palms of her hand and feet. The person shifted slightly, and Aubrey stopped again. A quiet mumbling came from the form, a mixture of nonsensical phrases and words. The voice was obviously female, and Aubrey felt something cold hit the pit of her stomach. It was her. But where's Nathan?
Tentatively, she stepped forward until she could just make out a face. Blonde, curly hair fell across her mother's cheek, and her face was smooth within a deep sleep. Aubrey's heart was beating faster. She's still alive. But was she truly a controller?
Her face was red, screaming. "Get her! Get her! Grab the girl!" A face once motherly and kind, now twisted into a monsterous expression of hatred. "Don't let her escape!"
<<Mom...>> Aubrey's voice was broken and faint. <<...I'm sorry...>> She wanted so bad to reach out, to touch her on the arm. See her face light up with a smile. It had been a tough road for them both, and now Aubrey felt more helpless than ever. <<I'm so sorry.>>
Her mother stirred suddenly, mumbling under her breath. "Pacha...get off the bed..." Sluggishly and still asleep, she reached forward and pushed Aubrey softly against her furry side, trying to urge her away. "Stupid cat..." Aubrey leaned against her touch briefly, a sinking feeling weighing down on her. She couldn't do anything. Her mother--or was it the thing controlling her?--turned over on her other side. Aubrey didn't move, dazed, feeling a strong mess of emotions swirl through her body.
Stevert
Rats. I gotta stay here. Steve thought when Mett nodded twice. Oh well, I might as well make myself comfortable. Steve stretched his legs out until he was laying on the ground. On another thought, he moved over to the bush more and bunched his legs up underneath him. Now he was ready to run instantly.
Of course, he was still the telephone for this mission. <<Hey Kat, you just noticed that? I think we should take over any mission that involves the city or else the Haunt will get swamped with recruits! Now I will relay the rest to Matt. Just keep me informed about what's going on.>> Steve broke off contact with Katrina and began his report to Matthew.
<<Matt, Aubrey is not going to come out until Kat drags her out or her mission gets accomplished. Katrina is going to keep sending me progress reports which I will transfer to you. On a side note: Katrina isn't surprised about a new recruit. She thinks you have a knack for finding them when you leave the city. Weird, isn't it?>> Steve stopped talking before he started to ramble. This was no place to ramble since Aubrey and Kat were currently risking their necks and MAtt was trying to recruit a new person.
Stevert
Katrina listened to Steve speak then let out a short and very quiet laugh that went to him only. <<Maybe we should before we;re up to our ears in new recruits.>> She said lightly, <<I'll keep you informed. We're in her mom's room right now.>>
Several times Katrina had stiffened her body and waited to see if the woman on the bed would stir. Aubrey had made chirping noises but stopped just as Kat was about to hiss at her to quit it, then Aubrey was on the bed and the woman thought she was a cat and tried to push her off. Both had been a bit nerve racking. If the woman opened her eyes and saw a squirrel monkey, she would know instantly it didn't belong there, and it wouldn't take long for her to figure out what it really was.
The raccoon paced along the floor, moving back and forth at the side of the bed as Aubrey sat on the bed. There wasn't a plan, so Katrina didn't know what would happen next. If Aubrey just wanted to see her mother then they'd been successful in fulfilling that objective. Hopefully they would be successful at getting out too.
She glanced up at Aubrey after a while, watching her stare at the woman on the bed. There were probably a million things running through Aubrey's head.She had to be overwhelmed with emotions at seeing a person she cared about be so close yet so far from reach, trapped in their own head by a parasite from some other world. << ...You okay?... >> Kat's voice was soft, and very quiet, the the question felt like a stupid thing to ask.
Vyv
Vyvyan listened carefully, regarding the boy in front of it with shrewd eyes. The power to shift…it was still alluring, despite the limits. After all, Vyvyan had learned to tell time well, and there was always the possibility of getting a watch…. Speaking of getting things, the ability to shift would be ever so useful…Vyvyan could acquire more books, maybe even nice clothes or new shoes. Its fingers twitched in anticipation; how would it be, to steal things as a squirrel or cat?
Vyvyan nearly moaned in anticipation…ah, but these people, if Matthew was anything to go by, were the clean-cut sort. No den of thieves…but who cared? Vyvyan could always assuage their anger with gifts. Stolen from yeerks, certainly…if everyone was a yeerk now, then stealing wasn’t wrong, was it? Vyvyan grinned, holding out its hand. ‘You have yourself a deal, my dear.’ There was an edge to that smile, as though Vyvyan had thought of something…unwholesome…to use morphing for.
Which it had, of course; but Matthew didn’t need to know that.
‘Do you have books, back at this little cottage of yours?’ Vyvyan draped an arm around Matthew companionably—it was suddenly overcome with the closeness of another person, and paused, struggling with the desire to hold the younger boy for a long time, and bask in his warmth, his humanity, his closeness.
Yes, the companionship alone was worth the price.
