“Visser Three won’t like it,” Finley says in a worried tone.
“So we won’t tell him.”
The dogs lose the scent amid the oil stains and gasoline. They circle around, confused. But any minute they could find your mom’s car. The note you left still might be tucked under the windshield wiper. It wouldn’t take the cops long to figure out who you are. This is your only chance.
You leap forward, barking, as if you’ve picked up the scent. You charge out of the garage. The other dogs follow. You know that you can’t lead them completely astray, so you follow the route back to your neighborhood.
You run flat out now, so that the others have trouble keeping up with you. But you make sure they keep you in sight.
You get to the Ferret Lady’s house and bark furiously outside. You circle the house and find the pet door. You nose it open and bound inside.
The cops catch up and pound on the door. The Ferret Lady answers it. But already, you’ve caused a commotion. The ferrets are running crazily over the furniture. The cat is hissing and spitting. The other dogs add to the chaos.
“What is it?” the Ferret Lady shouts over the din.
“We’re chasing a kid!” The cops try to describe you.
“Sounds like every kid in this neighborhood,” the Ferret Lady sniffs. “I don’t care if Visser Three himself asks me, I’ll say the same.”
So far, so good. You’ve confused them. Under cover of the chaos, you sneak out the pet door again. You bound next door. You remember leaving a sweatshirt outside after gardening chores this morning. You grab it in your mouth and race off.
You take that sweatshirt all over the neighborhood, rubbing it against trees and sidewalks and grass. Soon, you see the cops and the K-9 dogs again. The dogs are barking, running from place to place while the cops strain to hold on to the leashes.
You keep hidden and watch the cops get thoroughly confused. They give up, and you trot back home. Time is almost up.
You morph back into human form in your garage. You hurry inside to call Cassie. But everyone has left already. If you rush to the school now, you could blow their cover.
There’s got to be another way.
Good morph choice! You deserve to proceed. Go to chapter 12.
The giraffe morph is the strangest ever. Your legs suddenly shoot up, your bones extending so far you think they’ll crack. Your neck lengthens, and you think your head will fall right off. Then your skin becomes leathery and spotted. That’s kind of cool.
You like being a giraffe. You can see over everyone’s heads. And boy, do your senses get a jolt. Suddenly, you can really smell for the first time. It’s as though you can smell a color. You smell green, and you picture the tender leaves of the tree nearby. A good snack, you think. But it’s easy to deflect the giraffe mind. You’ve got to get out of here.
And boy, can you see. Your vision is clearer and sharper, and you spot an employee’s exit over the trees. All you have to do is turn right at the corner of the path and keep going. You move forward delicately, like a dancer.
“Hey! It’s a giraffe!”
People point at you. Oops. You kind of forgot about them down there. They seem puny, and they aren’t predators. But you know that animal handlers will be coming for you with tranquilizer guns.
You quicken your pace. A giraffe can really move if it has to. But you see them, running full tilt toward you. Two of them have tranquilizer guns.
You leap over a wall. It’s so easy, since your legs are so long! You find yourself in a savannah habitat. That’s good. You start across, hoping to make it to the other wall. If you can get over it, the exit is just steps away.
Then, you hear the roar. You’ve leaped into the lion’s den. Both your giraffe instincts and a book you vaguely remember called Those Amazing Animals of Africa suddenly remind you that lions are the main predators of giraffes.
A full-grown male lion springs.
Bad morph! You just turned into a tasty lunch. Return to the end of chapter 8 and choose again.
It’s getting late, and you’re freaked. Cassie is in danger. Should you head over to school to try to hook up with the others? You can’t stay here while the other Animorphs put their lives on the line.
There’s a suspicion that’s been nagging at you. During the chase, the policemen looked very nervous at the parking garage. They muttered about Visser Three. What if something strange is going on there?
It’s only a little bit out of your way, so you decide to investigate the garage before heading to school. The garage is used during the day for city government workers. Right now, it’s pretty deserted except for a security guard. You duck behind a car and wait until he heads down the ramp toward the entrance.
You’re about to explore when you see the guard wave in a large black van with tinted windows. Curious, you watch as the van heads up the ramp.
Instead of parking, the van pulls up directly in front of the elevators. A group of people get out. You recognize Jake’s brother, Tom. Controllers!
Someone pushes a button to summon the elevator. You know you have to follow the group, but you can’t stay in human form. Tom would recognize you. You have to try a morph. But what should you choose?
You have to make a decision fast. You choose:
To use your ferret morph. Go to chapter 13.
To use your K-9 German shepherd morph. Go to chapter 15.
You are concealed in a dark corner of
