Let me tell you something: It is no fun sitting around in a shrew's tiny body, waiting to see whether a huge cat is going to decide to climb down and kill you. It is one of the least fun things I've ever done. I had the shrew brain under control, but that didn't change the fact that the shrew was about as scared as a shrew can be. Between being snatched up by a hawk and now waiting to see if the shrew's other deadly enemy was going to attack ... I mean, the shrew was definitely in a state of panic.
She was not a happy shrew.
I was so preoccupied thinking about the shrew's hunger that I missed what happened next. I didn't even notice until I heard the sound of scraping tree bark just an inch over my head.
Fluffer was dropping through the air right on top of me!
I froze!
Jake and Marco did not freeze.
Marco grabbed Fluffer in mid-pounce. Fluffer rewarded him with a nasty slash of his claws.
Marco yelled and almost dropped the cat. Jake grabbed Fluffer by the nape of the neck and Cassie ran up with the animal carrier.
The three of them managed to stuff the squalling, hissing, slashing Fluffer into the carrier and close the door.
I was already morphing out of the shrew body as fast as I could.
"I'm bleeding!" Marco cried.
"We're all bleeding," Cassie said matter-of-factly. "I told you guys: Kitties can be nasty when you get on their nerves."
I was shooting up from the ground, regaining my normal body.
36 "Ugh! Ugh! I'm never doing that morph again," I said, as soon as I had a normal tongue and lips. I looked over my shoulder to make sure I didn't still have that creepy tail. Nothing. I was me again. I was in my morphing outfit and with no shoes on, but I was human again.
I shuddered. The memory of the shrew's brain and its fear and hunger made my flesh creep. I was fighting a powerful urge to throw up. I felt sick in a way that is mostly in your head.
Jake looked at me and shook his head. "I should have done it. I should have used my lizard morph to lure the cat down from the tree."
I shook my head. "No. That freaked you out."
"And now you're the one who's freaked out," Jake said. "But don't worry, you'll get over it.
Mostly. At least you didn't eat a spider."
"Yeah. Look, I'm just tired, okay? Let me acquire this pain-in-the-butt cat and get on with this."
"Are you still up for it?" Cassie asked. "Acquiring two new morphs in one night?"
"I shouldn't have let you do the mouse. Shrew. Whatever," Jake said. He was still looking guilty.
"Look, it was my idea, right? Besides, since when do you let me do things? What are you, my master? I don't think so. Come on." I squared my shoulders and put on a brave smile. "Let me see how Fluffer likes me, now that I'm bigger than he is."
I guess Fluffer was tired of causing trouble. He was actually asleep in the cat carrier.
Sleeping like nothing at all was going on.
A typical cat. He even purred as I acquired him.
When I was done, I noticed Cassie smiling at me.
"What?" I asked her.
"I was just thinking how you look like the same old Rachel, but now you also have an elephant, a shrew, an eagle, and a cat inside you. That's four morphs. That's more than any of us." She looked thoughtful. "We don't really know very much about this morphing thing still.
I wonder if there is a limit to how many morphs you can do."
"I guess we'll find out," Marco said darkly. "Probably at the worst possible time."
I wondered if they were right. It was definitely a strange, powerful feeling, knowing that I could become four very different animals. Strange and powerful and disturbing. Inside of me I had animals that ate each other. It wasn't a good image.
Suddenly I felt exhausted. "Look, guys. . . I've acquired Flutter now. But maybe we should do the rest of this tomorrow night. I'm ... I don't know if I'm at my best right now."
37 "Another night," Jake agreed. He looked relieved. I think he was worried about me. That's the way Jake is.
"I guess we can let Fluffer go now," Cassie said. She opened the carrier and the cat climbed out cautiously.
I watched him run off into the night.
"Probably going off to kill your shrew," Marco speculated.
The idea made me shudder all over again.
38 Chapter Nine
"Aaaaaaaahhh! Aaaaah! Aaaaaaaaaah!"
"Wake up. Rachel, wake up!"
"Aaah!" "Oh. Oh. Oh." I sat up. I was gasping for air. It was dark, but I could just make out Jordan's face. She was shaking me awake.
I felt my face. Lips. Eyes. Nose.
I patted myself down frantically. Human. I was human. No fur. No tail. Human.
The details of the dream came rushing up to my consciousness.
"Oh, no," I moaned. I threw back the covers and stumbled to my feet. I staggered toward the bathroom door. The bathroom connects my room and the room Jordan and Sara share. I tried to turn on the light but missed the switch. I dropped to my knees in front of the toilet and threw up.
Jordan kept saying, "Are you all right, Rachel? Are you all right? I better get Mom."
"No," I said, as soon as I could talk.
"No, I'm fine. Don't wake Mom up."
Fortunately, little Sara can sleep through anything.
I brushed my teeth and drank some water. I looked sheepishly at Jordan. She looks nothing like me. I guess I look more like my dad, and Jordan is like this smaller version of my mom, dark hair and dark eyes. She looked pretty scared.
"I'm okay," I said again. "Just a bad dream. I guess it made me kind of sick, is all. But I'm fine now."
Jordan relaxed a little. "Must have been some dream."
"I guess so. I can't even remember it now. You know how it is. Dreams fade away so you can't even remember them."
"I can't believe you would just forget a dream that made you scream and hurl."
I shrugged. "I've never been very good at remembering dreams. You better get back to bed."
She looked at me solemnly. "I know I'm just your little sister by two years, but you would tell me if something bad was happening to you, right? I mean, I wouldn't tell Mom or anyone.
You could trust me."
I smiled and drew her into a hug. "I know I can trust you. If anything bad was going on, I'd tell you." It was a lie, of course, and the lie made me feel even worse. I trusted Jordan. I knew in my heart that she was not a Controller.
39 Of course, that's just what Jake had said about Tom.
I hugged my sister a little closer. I hated the way suspicion had crept into every part of my mind. I hated the way I wasn't sure, not really, to tally sure, that I could trust her.
"Good night," I said. "Thanks for rescuing me from that nightmare. Whatever it was."
She started to walk away. Then she turned, lit from behind by the garish bathroom light.
"Before you started screaming, you were yelling something."
"What?" I asked, afraid of the answer.
She looked puzzled. "I think it was "maggots." Something like that."
I forced a shaky smile. "Good night, Jordan."
I crawled back into my bed. The pillow was soaked with sweat. The sheets were clammy.