She says the location we're looking for is pretty far out to sea. Too far for us to swim and still have any time left of our two-hour limit."
"Well, that's the ball game, isn't it?" Marco asked.
Jake nodded at Rachel. "I was talking to Rachel earlier and she has an idea."
Rachel stood up. She'd been lounging on the bed. "We hop a ride on a ship. First we morph into something like a seagull."
Marco groaned. "I hate plans that begin with the words 'first we morph.'"
"We morph into seagulls," I said, picking up the plan we'd worked out. "Then we fly out into the shipping channel. We land on a tanker or a container ship or something that's going the right direction. We morph back to human, rest up, let the ship get us closer, then jump over the side, morph to dolphin and go the rest of the way."
"Oh, well, when you put it that way, it sounds so easy," Marco sneered. "How about if we just walk over to Chapman's house and tell him to call Visser Three to finish us off? It's so much easier, and the results will be the same."
Jake sighed. "It is dangerous and risky, and there are about a hundred things that could go wrong. Plus, as Marco has told us, we have reason to think that Controllers will be out there, searching for the same thing we're searching for."
46 "This idea just gets better and better," Marco said.
"Let's put it to a vote," Jake suggested.
"I'm in," Marco said instantly.
A split second behind him, Rachel said her usual "I'm in."
Everyone stared openmouthed at Marco.
"Just once I wanted to beat Rachel to it," he explained.
"Tobias?" Jake asked.
"l don't think I should vote. I have to sit this one out. I can't stay up that long with nowhere to set down. Sorry."
"You had the dreams, just like Cassie," Jake pointed out. "Do you think we should do this or not?"
Tobias fixed his fierce glare on me. "Yes, Cassie and I both had the dreams. I think they're real."
"Okay, looks like we go," Jake said briskly. "Tomorrow. First thing in the morning. We can't wait any longer. The longer we hold off, the greater the chance the Yeerks will beat us to it."
We left Rachel's house. Marco split off in one direction. Tobias flew off to some unknown destination. Jake and I walked together for a while, even though it was out of his way.
"I think Tobias is feeling kind of left out," I said. "You should talk to him later, remind him of how many times he's helped us out."
"That's a good idea," Jake agreed.
We walked a little farther in silence. It's one of the nice things about the relationship Jake and I have. We can be quiet together and feel okay about it.
"This is really dangerous, isn't it?" I asked him.
He nodded.
Suddenly I stopped walking. I don't know why, but I had this need to tell him something. I took his hand and held it between both of mine. "Jake?" I said.
"Yes?"
It was on the tip of my tongue, but then it seemed ridiculous to say it. So instead I said, "Look, don't ever get hurt, okay?"
He smiled that smile. "Me? I'm indestructible."
47 The way he said it, I almost believed him. But then, as he went his way and I headed toward home, I glanced up at the sky.
Against the blaze of sunset I saw a flash of russet tailfeathers. Tobias. Our friend, who had been trapped forever in a body not his own.
None of us was indestructible.
48 Chapter 15
"Hey! Half a sandwich! It's salami!"
"Look over there. Is that a Jujubee?"
"Pizza! Pizza! Part of the crust and it's one of those stuffed crusts!" Fortunately, one thing we always have plenty of in the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center (also known as my barn) is seagulls.
We acquired the seagull DNA. Then the four of us, with Tobias watching from the high rafters, morphed into the new bodies.
I have been a bird before. An osprey, to be ex act, one of the types of hawk.
But gulls are different in some ways. For one thing, they are scavengers, not predators. So as we took wing and flew in a rush of white from the open hayloft, I noticed different things, felt different things. My seagull mind was not searching for mice or scurrying animals. It was much more openminded. My seagull intelligence looked for anything - anything - that could even possibly be food.
Fortunately, the gull brains were close enough to the other bird brains we'd all experienced that it was fairly easy to control them. We didn't waste a lot of time getting started.
Although, once we did get started, everyone was constantly pointing out food.
"Hey! Look! French fries on the ground."
"Whoa! That's half a 3 Musketeers bar by that car!"
"O ooh, ooh! Look at the Dumpster behind that McDonald's!" Sometimes you just have to accept the animal's basic mindset and go with it.
"There's the beach," Jake said as we flapped and soared and flapped some more.
It's easier being an osprey in some ways. Much less flapping.
Once we were out over the water, we could at least stop scanning for food. Mostly.
"Hey! Is that a bag of potato chips floating down there?" We flew low, just a few dozen feet above the water. Not like hawks, who can ride the thermals up to the bellies of the clouds.
But Tobias wasn't much higher than we were now. There are no thermals over water and he was having to flap a lot to stay aloft.
We flew on, skimming the choppy surface of the water.
"Hey, look," Rachel said. "Over to the left."
49 Sleek gray shapes sliced through the water, up, down, up, down, breaking the silvery barrier between sky and sea. It was a school of dolphins.
"You know, sometimes this is just so wonderful" Rachel said. "l mean, we're flying. We're flying! And later, we'll be like them, at home in the water."
"Yeah, just us and the sharks," Marco said darkly.
"Still, it is cool," Rachel said.
"There's a ship up ahead," Jake announced.
"You just now noticed it?" Tobias laughed. "Wow. Seagull eyes aren't exactly great, are they? It's a container ship called Newmar. It's from Monrovia. You want to know what color the captain's hair is?"
"Show-off," Jake grumbled.
Hawk eyes are totally amazing. As long as it's sunny out, Tobias can read a book from like three blocks away.
It was hard, flying to catch up to the ship. It was moving fairly fast, and by the time we were close I was exhausted.
The ship was gigantic, painted a rusty blue, with a deck longer than a football field. The superstructure was all crammed toward the back. That's where the crew would be, so we flew forward, hoping to find someplace private.
The deck was stacked with containers, big steel boxes like trailers. Row after row of them lined the deck, and we could see hundreds more down in the hold.
We settled in the narrow space between two rows of containers, far forward. It was like having walls all around us. Corrugated metal walls that went high over our heads.
"Tobias? How much time?" Jake asked.
Tobias twisted his head down to see the tiny watch strapped to his talon. " It's been about an hour and a half."