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Vast rocks jutted up out of the earth. Fallen leaves covered the slope.
Scraggly trees clung to the slope and larger trees lined the ridge itself.
Then, all at once, it was raining. The rainfall clattered noisily
down through the leaves of the trees. Within minutes I was as wet as I'd
been when I came from the river.
"In there." I pointed.
"I don't see anything."
"Behind those bushes, that shadow. That may be a cave."
It would mean forcing my way through a thicket of brambles. Karen
wouldn't even be able to attempt it until I'd made a path. And the cave
might not even be there.
Or worse. There might be a cave that was already taken by a bear or even
a mother wolf, raising a family.
"Use your tail," Karen said. "You'll cut right through."
I sighed noisily. "How about if I just push my way through? I'll need
your crutch to knock some of the bushes down. Why don't you sit on that
rock?"
Karen sat on the rock. I took the crutch and began beating away at the
bushes. I deliberately made as much noise as possible. If something was
living in the cave, I wanted it to be warned. You don't want to surprise
bears. You just don't.
As I got closer, it became clear that there really was a cave. I looked
around in the dirt to
see if I could spot any tracks. But with the rain, who could tell?
I glanced back. I could barely see Karen. She certainly could not see
me. The smart thing to do was to morph now. Maybe the wolf again. The
wolf's nose would instantly know whether there was anything in the cave.
I crouched low. I focused my mind on the wolf DNA that was a part of me.
And, with a Controller no more than twenty feet away, I began to morph.
I felt my legs dwindle in size, but not weaken. I felt my chest and
shoulders swell and become large. My face began to bulge outward.
If you're not an Animorph, don't use the power,
I heard Jake's voice in my head. It startled me, it was so clear in my
memory.
/ won't. That's what I'd said.
You'll want to. But if you do, you run the risk of getting caught. Those
risks are acceptable if you're going to help us. But if you're not in
the fight anymore, you can't use the weapon.
I said I wouldn't morph anymore, Jake. I'm not a liar.
I stopped morphing. I was still half-human.
But I was also half-wolf. And already my hearing was more acute than
any human hearing.
I heard the sound of the bushes being parted. I heard the sound of a
dragged foot and a slight gasp of pain.
Karen! She was trying to spy on me.
I demorphed as quickly as I could. At the same time, I pushed ahead,
shoving my way through the bushes with the crutch. No choice now. I
couldn't morph. I'd promised Jake I wouldn't. Besides, I'd almost gotten
caught.
I found a roughly triangular gap in some turnbled stones. Definitely a
cave. Once more I searched the ground. No tracks. I tried to see if any
fur had been caught by the brambles, but now the rain was pouring in a
torrent.
I crept close to the cave opening. And I sniffed the air. The human
sense of smell is pathetic compared to that of a dog or a wolf. Still,
maybe I would be able to tell if something was living in the cave.
Closer. . . closer, I crept. . .
"Aaahhhh!"
I jumped back. I fell. Had I screamed? No, I was confused. It was
Karen's voice.
"Ahh! Ahhh! Help me!"
A trick!
Maybe. Maybe not. I plowed back through the brush. I emerged, panting,
scratched and
muddy, in time to see the leopard leap from the tall rock down toward
the helpless girl.
TSEEEWWW!
A Dracon beam sliced upward at the leopard.
"Rrrraaww-rrrr!" the leopard screamed. But the Dracon beam had only
grazed the big cat's shoulder. It hit the ground, rolled easily to its
feet, and turned to attack again.
Karen tried to steady the Dracon beam for a shot. But her bad ankle
twisted and collapsed. She fell face-forward. The Dracon beam clattered
over some rocks and landed in the mud.
It landed within inches of the leopard.
Everything was frozen. Karen, aghast that she'd dropped her weapon.
Terrified.
The leopard, unsure, watching, waiting, trying to assess.
And me. Did I have time to morph? Would it just set the leopard off?
Would it make him want to attack?
"Karen," I said in a low voice. "Crawl toward me."
"That thing. . . that thing will . . ."
"Karen, listen to me. Crawl toward me."
She was trembling. Barely able to pick her face up out of the mud. She
kept her eyes glued to the leopard. Her green eyes seemed huge, shining
out of the mud that covered her face.
The leopard watched her with the intensity of
a predator. Then it looked at me. It was unsure. Worried. It was
seeing things it had never seen before.
You could almost watch the cunning mind working behind those cold,
yellow eyes: The smaller prey had used a weapon. But that weapon was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]