It wasn’t hard to get the morph. You waited until Ms. Humphries went next door to complain. She left the back door open, and it was easy to slip inside and pick up one of the sleek, furry creatures. It happily curled up next to your chest while you acquired its DNA.
You shrank rapidly, your body turning sleek and supple. You grew fur and whiskers and tiny claws. As soon as you morphed, you wanted to play with the three other pet ferrets. They were confused to see you, but they came over to sniff you, then chased you around the room.
The back door slams. Ms. Humphries stumps back in, a ferret draped across her chest. She looks at the ice-cream cake in her hand and shrugs. She dumps it into the kitchen trash can.
“Empty calories,” she mutters. “Not necessary.”
Is that a Controller thing to say? Or is the Ferret Lady even weirder than you thought? Everybody likes ice-cream cake!
You curl up under the sofa so that she won’t notice she has one extra ferret. But she doesn’t pay attention to her pets, anyway. Another ferret brushes against her legs. She doesn’t pick it up, doesn’t coo at it, doesn’t stroke it.
Weird? Or standard operating procedure?
The phone rings. Ms. Humphries snatches it up.
“Yes.”
A pause. “Yes. I’ll be there. No, I won’t attract attention,” she says, sounding irritable. “No more than usual. This host is apparently an eccentric.”
This host. She’s a Controller!
You shrink back under the sofa. You hear a creak above you as she sits. You see her feet in thick-soled loafers. She doesn’t move.
And doesn’t move.
What time is it? How long have you been in the morph? You only have two hours! You watch as a shadow moves slowly across the floor. How can you get out of the house without her noticing you?
The shadow touches the toe of her shoe, and she gets up.
“Time,” she mutters. She stumps around the room, and you creep forward to watch. She slips into her coat, picks up a nearby canvas tote bag.
She starts for the door and opens it. You can sneak out! You dart forward, but she suddenly spins around.
“Ferret Lady,” she murmurs. “Travels with a pet all the time.”
And before you can move or react, she reaches down and sweeps you up in one hand. She pops you into the tote bag! She zips it partly shut.
You can stick your nose out, but that’s all. You’re trapped, and the clock is ticking!
Ms. Humphries tosses the tote bag in the front seat of the car. You hit your head on the door handle. The car jerks forward. You try to work the zipper with your paws. No go.
How long do you have left? You can just barely see the car clock. Twenty minutes. Too close for comfort.
The car stops. Ms. Humphries slings you over her shoulder. You poke your nose out. You’re in the beach parking lot. She’s going to The Sharing meeting! At least the rest of the Animorphs will be there.
Ms. Humphries plops the bag down on the sand. She trudges off to speak to a knot of people by the volleyball net.
Ten minutes left. You wiggle your nose through the opening, thrashing your head to widen the gap. The zipper gives a bit. Not much. Not enough.
You hear Cassie’s voice nearby. And then you remember that you can use thought-speak!
<CASSIE! CASSIE! IT’S ME! I’M IN FERRET MORPH!>
“What?” you hear Cassie say.
“I didn’t say anything,” someone replies. You realize that Cassie can’t thought-speak back. And she can’t talk out loud, or it will look suspicious.
<Cassie, I’m in a tote bag lying on the sand. I can’t get out! My morph time is up. I think I’m near the volleyball net. Help!>
You hear the scrunch of the sand. You see bare brown toes. Cassie’s concerned face suddenly looms in your vision.
“Is that you?” she whispers.
<It’s me! Hurry!>
Cassie unzips the tote and casually tucks you under her arm. She strolls up toward the dunes.
“Almost there,” she murmurs.
She climbs over the dunes and sets you down. She looks around. “Okay. Hurry!”
You don’t need her to tell you. You concentrate, and you feel your legs getting longer. The fur on your skin grows patchy. Your ears grow rounder. Your tail shrinks.
Cassie wrinkles her nose. “Ewww. That’s the worst morph I’ve seen so far.”
“Sorry to disappoint you,” you say, glad to feel that you have a mouth. “I haven’t had much practice.”
Rachel appears over the dune. “Hurry up, guys,” she says in a low tone. “Jake is going to morph into his dog, Homer.”
“Dogs and cats and ferrets,” you say, suddenly feeling hopeless. “What a bunch of feeb morphs. How are we going to fight Visser Three with those?”
Something fierce flashes in Rachel’s eyes. You glimpse something you’ve never before seen in pretty, popular Rachel. The girl is a warrior.
“You’ve got a point,” Rachel says.
Things happen way fast after the meeting at the beach. Too fast. Jake morphs into a lizard and spies on Mr. Chapman, the assistant principal. He finds out that one of the entrances to the Yeerk pool is in your very own school. Every Yeerk has to visit the pool every three days in order to soak up Kandrona rays.
When Jake fills you in, you can’t believe it. The whole thing sounds nuts to you. But since your life has suddenly turned crazy, every word rings true.
Rachel has taken your complaint about feeb morphs and run with it. The plan is to collect wild creature morphs at The Gardens. Since Cassie’s mother works there, you can get behind the scenes and try to acquire some truly fierce DNA.
That is, if you don’t get caught.
* * *
You meet up with all the others at The Gardens.
“Okay,” Cassie says, after you get your admission tickets. “Just stay close.”
You follow her into the main building. It’s been fashioned into a rain forest, with animals in their natural habitats.
Cassie leads you through an unmarked
