The Invasion (20 page)

“How are you going to get into the meeting?” Marco asked.

“They won’t worry about some stray dog that’s walking along the beach,” I said.

“Some stray … oh,” Marco said.

“Good idea,” Cassie said. “I’d do it, too, but the only morph I can do is a horse. They would notice a horse.”

I checked to see that no one could see us. I waved over my head. A few seconds later, Tobias came swooping silently out of the starlit sky. He landed on the lifeguard stand.

What’s up?

“The full members are off in some private get-together,” I told him. “Do you know where they are?”

Of course. With these eyes I can see the mice scampering through the dune grass. Nice, plump, tasty-looking things.

“Tobias! Get a grip. Don’t start eating mice just because you’re in a hawk’s body. What’s next? Roadkill?”

He didn’t say anything. Maybe he was offended at my suggestion that he would ever eat roadkill. Or, worse, maybe he
wasn’t
offended.

“Where are the full members?” I asked.

About a hundred yards down the beach. There’s a little bowl-like area formed by the dunes. There are people posted all around, though, like guards.

I nodded. “Good job. Tobias, you’ve been in that body for more than an hour. You need to morph back.”

No, I’ll keep watch from above for a while longer,
he said.

“No, Tobias,” I said sharply. “You need to morph back. You’ve done what we needed you to do.”

Um, there is that little problem … I don’t exactly have any clothes on.

“Marco has your clothes in a bag. Rachel and Cassie will turn away while you morph.”

Cassie grinned. “I am going to have to teach you boys how to morph clothing.”

Still Tobias hesitated.
I hate changing back. It’s like going back into a prison or something. I hate it when I don’t have wings.

“Tobias, you can always return to your hawk morph later,” Rachel reassured him. “Now, come on, both of you. I’ll look the other way so your delicate boy modesty isn’t offended.”

I took a deep breath. It was only my second morph. It still seemed totally ridiculous that I was even thinking about
becoming
a dog. But as I concentrated, I could begin to feel the itchiness and the squirmy feeling as Homer’s DNA combined with the Andalite’s technology and began to change me.

At the same time, I could see fingers growing from the ends of Tobias’s wings.

“Keep a grip on your human side,” Cassie warned me. “We can’t have you off chasing cats or whatever. You need to focus hard on staying in control.”