"l guess it would set a bad example," Marco said. But he wasn't making a joke. "lf two get away, who knows? Maybe others will try. The Yeerks can't allow that. They need the Hork-Bajir to be without hope. They need them to be convinced there's no way out"

"Marco is right," Cassie said. "Look at the risks the Yeerks are taking!

I mean, geez, they've started a forest fire. They have Taxxons and Hork-Bajir all over this forest. They've gone nuts."

"Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak free!" Jara Hamee said again. It was as if he was trying to convince himself.

"Wait a minute," I said. "Wait a minute. What you said, Jake! What you said - they won't give up till Jara and Ket are dead."

"Yeah? So?" Jake asked. Then I guess he realized what I was thinking.

"Hey! Rachel has already morphed Jara. Hey, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yeah," I said. "At least I think I am. When I was flying I saw a deep ravine. We should still be

able to reach it! It should be perfect. But we'll need Marco in gorilla morph."

"We will? You lost me there, dude," Jake said. "But, okay. If you say so, Tobias. Marco in gorilla morph. What else?"

"And we need someone to acquire and morph Ket," I said.

"l'll do it," Jake said without hesitation.

"No, Jake. Not this time," I said. "l'll do it."

No one said anything for a good thirty seconds. They just stared. They stared with wolf eyes and bear eyes and tiger eyes and all four An-dalite eyes. They were trying to decide if I was crazy.

"You will?" Rachel asked. "you will?"

"Yeah. I will. I'll morph Ket. I'll morph a Hork-Bajir."

Then Rachel clicked. "The Ellimist? That's what he did for you? I thought he was going to make you human again." There was an edge of anger in her tone. Of outrage.

"Ellimists," Ax practically spit the word. "Never trust them."

"0h, no," Cassie whispered. "That's it? He gave you back the power to morph? But not. . ."

"No," I said as evenly as I could. "Looks like I'm a full member of the team again. I can morph. But I guess ... I mean, it looks like I'll still be a hawk. I'll be keeping my wings."

J. quickly told them the details of my plan. I had to stick to business.

There was no time for feeling sorry for myself. And I sure didn't want them feeling sorry for me.

No time for pity. No time for anger, either. There was nothing I could do to the Ellimist. Nothing I could do.

"0kay, Cassie? We need you to stay in wolf morph. Ax, watch Cassie's back and try to stay out of view. Marco? You know your part, right?"

"Yeah, I got it," he said nervously. He was temporarily human. In between morphs.

Marco's part of the plan was one of the most difficult. And if he failed, Rachel and I were dead. "No problem, right?" I said to Marco.

"Yeah. No problem. Just make sure one of you is a few seconds behind the other. I'll need sometime."

"l know my role," Jake said. He was just coming out of his tiger morph.

"Up in the air."

"My old job," I said.

"Yeah. Let's hope I do it as well as you always did," Jake said.

"Cassie, Ax. Let's move it. Marco, quit worrying. It's just like catching a pass with your eyes closed. No big deal for Mighty Marco."

Marco laughed. "That's it, flatter me. Now I know we're dead. But don't worry, I'll be there."

I fluttered over to stand on Ket Halpak's shoulder. (It isn't easy to find a place to sit on a Hork-Bajir.) I dug my talons in just a bit to the dark, leathery skin. And I began to acquire the Hork-Bajir's DNA.

All around I could hear the sounds of enemies closing in. I heard the FWOMP-FWOMP-FWOMP of the helicopters. And now that they were getting closer, my hawk hearing could even detect the faint TSEEEW! TSEEEW! of the Dracon beams.

Sometimes there would come a loud crack, almost like sudden thunder. It was the sound of a tree exploding as the Dracon beam turned the tree sap to steam in a split second.

And there was the roar of the fire itself.

But I shut all of that out of my mind. All I had to focus on was acquiring the Hork-Bajir. Ket Halpak went slightly limp. I could feel the muscles relaxing.

At last, I flew away to a bare spot on the forest floor. The others were all watching me, even while they did their own morphs. I think they halfway suspected I was nuts. They halfway wondered if I'd just made it up about being able to morph.

I closed my eyes and held the image of the Hork-Bajir in my mind. And then, very quickly, I began to feel the changes.

I sprouted up from the pine needles and dead leaves. I rocketed up and up so fast I couldn't help but yell.

"Yah! Whoa! Whoa!"

"Hey! He is morphing," Marco said.

"l guess that's something, at least," Rachel said bitterly.

I ignored her angry tone. I couldn't listen to her anger because it would just make me mad, too. A predator is never angry, just hungry.

Anger only gets in the way.

Up and up I grew. And as I grew, my wings grew with me. It's funny the way morphing works. It's never totally logical. It's never exactly the same twice, either.

And it is always, always gross. Even as I was

morphing, I was watching the others undergo changes. It was a scene out of some lunatic's darkest nightmare. Bodies melted. Weird appendages grew suddenly, here and there. Teeth appeared before there was a mouth to hold them. Fur grew like one of those time-lapse videos of mold, just shooting out of the skin. Big humans tottered unsteadily on tiny doglike legs.

If you just happened to wander in and saw the spectacle of four kids and a bird all melting and mutating and squirming as two giant aliens watched, you'd definitely think you were insane. You'd want to see a psychiatrist. After you stopped screaming.

I could feel the changes happening in my own body. Not that they were painful. They weren't. But I could still feel things going on. And I could hear them.