Which gives you a chance to use what must be the coolest tail in the universe.
<Cooler than mine?> Ax asks.
<Sorry, Ax-man,> Marco tells him. <Way cooler.>
You all scamper up trees, grab vines, and swing. You reach the high branches and just let yourself go, out into space, and you catch a branch with your tail.
KIKKKI CHACCHACH KI KI KI!
You swing past Rachel, grab a branch with your hand, hang in midair a minute, launch yourself toward a vine. You bare your teeth at her.
KIKI CHEE CHEE!
<I can do that!> Rachel calls. She grabs the same vine, swings over, and lands on your branch. She bares her teeth at you, too.
<Uh, guys? Can you stop playing for a minute?> Tobias sits on a branch near you. He sounds almost sulky. <Shouldn’t we be following through on our plan?>
Marco swings back and forth on a vine. <Who needs a plan? Forget Visser Three. This is like being a six-year-old forever, only with no school.>
<That is kidding, correct?> Ax asks.
<It’s kidding,> Jake tells him.
<That’s what you think,> Marco says.
<Shhh,> Cassie says. <I think I hear something.>
Then you hear it, too. Some creatures are crashing through the underbrush.
<I bet that’s our search party,> Jake says.
<There’s a human-Controller leading them,> Tobias says from his high branch. <I’ll get closer.> With a flap of wings, Tobias takes off.
<A human can tell them what creatures don’t belong here,> Jake says. <Tobias, stay out of sight!>
<I just want to see how many — whoa, Dracon beam!> Tobias shouts. <I think he saw —>
<Tobias?> Rachel says frantically.
You all exchange worried glances. You take off, grabbing vines and branches and swinging through the trees. Before, it was a game. Now, it is life or death.
You see Tobias ahead. He has been caught in a net. He’s been hit by a Dracon beam.
<Tobias!> Rachel cries.
<I’m singed, but okay,> he answers. <I just can’t get out of this net.>
Rachel goes into action. She launches herself out into midair and grabs a vine. She swings over and lands on Tobias’s branch. Using her sharp teeth, she begins to shred the net while she pulls it apart with her hands.
“That’s no monkey!” the human-Controller shouts.
A Dracon beam explodes near Rachel. You need to cover her. You swing over and begin to chatter, trying to draw the Hork-Bajir’s fire. You grab a vine and swing right by a Hork-Bajir. He slashes in the air after you, but you’re gone.
“That one. The little one. Get him!”
A Dracon beam explodes near you, felling a tree in half. Before you can scamper up the next tree or grab a vine, another one explodes. This one gets you, and you fall.
Straight onto the lethal blade of a Hork-Bajir.
Oops — bad morph. Go back to the end of chapter 17 and try again.
You don’t have the same wing strength as a bird of prey, but at least you can fly. The parrot morph allows you to soar just underneath the upper canopy. Your green feathers offer camouflage.
<I like this morph,> Cassie says. <I really feel like I belong here.>
<As long as Tobias doesn’t eat us for lunch,> Marco says, dipping under a tree branch and then soaring upward.
<I’m sure getting a workout,> Jake says. <This isn’t like being a falcon and soaring with the thermals. You really have to work.>
<Well, work it, girl,> Marco teases.
<How do you know I’m a girl?> Jake asks.
<Because that red tail is so adorable,> Marco answers.
Everyone laughs, and it comes out in parrot-speak. C-c-c-err-EPP-err-EPP! It feels good to laugh, even if you’re doing it with a thick, curved beak.
<Pipe down, you guys,> Tobias warns. <I see them.>
Tobias has been flying ahead of the group. With his superior eyesight and wing power, he is able to see the Hork-Bajir from far away.
<They’re destroying everything!> Tobias suddenly shouts. <Must have gotten bored just looking. They’re slashing and burning!>
<Okay, fade back, Tobias,> Jake warns. <We’ll take over.>
<They just killed a sloth and her babies,> Tobias continues. <For nothing! Those murderers!>
<Now, Tobias!> Jake shouts.
In another moment, you see a blur of brown feathers. Tobias drops onto a branch. <They’re killing everything that moves,> he says in disbelief.
<That is what the Yeerks are best at,> Ax says quietly.
You leave Tobias behind and fly ahead. You hear the Hork-Bajir before you see them. Dracon beams sizzle. The smell of burnt things fills the air. You hear the cries of what sounds like thousands of birds, fellow creatures trying to flee.
<Guys?> It’s Rachel, who has spurted ahead, her wings just a blur of motion. <I think I see something. Look down by that weird tree.>
<Gee, thanks, Rach, that really narrows it down,> Marco says.
<The one with the roots,> Rachel says impatiently.
You look down. You see nothing. Just branches and leaves. But then the leaves move, and you see a person concealed behind them. He is holding a spear. And then you see another, and another.
You’ve found the tribe.
<They’re spying on the Hork-Bajir,> Cassie whispers. It’s funny how you sometimes feel a need to whisper, even though you’re talking in thought-speak.
<I have a plan,> Jake says. <Follow me and do what I do.>
He swoops down and lands on the shoulder of one of the tribe. They are men and boys, all with dark hair and alert dark eyes. They are wearing something that looks like a diaper made out of leaves.
You swoop down on another shoulder. Rachel follows. Then Cassie. Marco. Ax. Tobias flutters down and lands on a low branch.
The tribe does nothing. They don’t even move a muscle. But you see every pair of eyes turn to one man. He is either your age or your grand father’s. It’s hard to tell.
<Cassie,> Jake says. <You morph.>
Cassie doesn’t even ask why. She flies to the center of the clearing.
You wonder why he’s chosen Cassie. But as Cassie begins to morph, you understand. Cassie can control her morph so that she changes gracefully. She isn’t scary. She’s
