My name is Tobias. I am an Animorph, a person who can morph into any animal they can touch. I am trapped in red-tailed hawk morph, in other words, I am a nothlit. Red-tails have very good eyes, and I have been thankful for that many times, particularly this time. I don't have much to do as a red-tail except hunt and talk to Ax, another Animorph who is an andalite. I had already hunted and eaten my breakfast, and Ax was asleep. So I cruised around a little, then headed for Rachel's house. Although I was far away, I could see clearly into her window. She was fast asleep, and I didn't want to wake her up. I started to fly away, but then something caught my eye. A dark figure zoomed past Rachel's door, dropping a little note in front of it. I would have gone after her, but she was as quick as a cat. I flew over and landed at Rachel's doorstep. I picked up the note in my beak. It could have been something for Rachel's mom or sisters, but somehow I doubted that a human-panther would drop it off as they zoomed away. I lifted my wings, note in beak, and flew to my meadow.
I arrived in my meadow shortly. I did a nice landing into the grass. I didn't like to morph pointlessly, but on the ground hawks are open to predators and in a tree it would be hard to read the note. I morphed to human. I picked up the note out of the grass, and on the front of it I was suprised to see the words: Rachel: Give this to the hawk but don't dare read it.
The hawk! The hawk was me! I cautiously opened the note as if it had a bomb inside it. It read: Tobias: Stay in your meadow in the afternoon. I have things to tell you. I'll be waiting...
Scratch
Very strange. I didn't know if this was a Yeerk trap or if it was for real. How could I know? But I had to check it out. I flew quickly to Jake's house. Through his window I could see that he was still asleep. I didn't care right then. We had to talk about this mysterious Scratch and her note. <Jake! Jake! Wake up, man,> I said. He lifted up his head. "What? Is there trouble?" he whispered. <Well... Not exactly. But we need to have a meeting. Now.> I said. "I'll call the others," Jake said.
We all assembled in Cassie's barn about a half an hour later. That is, all the Animorphs. There's only six of us, fighting a slug race determined to take over the world. There's Jake, the sometimes annoying unofficial leader, Marco, Jake's wise-cracking best friend who doesn't think too much of me, Cassie, the animal lover and expert, Rachel, the beautiful battle-raging war princess who makes my heart ache, Ax, our andalite friend who is my uncle (don't ask how), and last but not least, me, Bird-boy. What a strange little group.
"So what is this all about, Tobias?" Jake asked. "There better be a good reason for getting us out of bed," Marco grumbled. <Well,> I said, ignoring Marco, <I was flying past Rachel's house when I saw this dark, cat-like, human sprint past her door dropping a note as she went. I picked it up, and read it. It told Rachel to give the note "to the hawk." I assume that's me. It then said inside to stay in my meadow in the afternoon. Then it was signed, "I'll be waiting... Scratch." Pretty weird huh?> "The question is, is it a Yeerk trap?" Jake asked. "We'll have to find out. Tobias could talk to this Scratch person in hawk morph, since she seems to know he is a hawk already. If she is a controller, we could hide out in battle morph and be ready to kick butt if she tried anything." "Let's do it," said Rachel. "Big surprise there," said Marco. "Well, it is risky, but it's worth a try. I'm for it. Cassie? Ax? What do you think?" <I'll vote with you, Prince Jake,> said Ax. "I think we should do it," said Cassie. "We could end up getting powerful allies like the Chee. It's worth the risk." "Then it's settled. Everyone meet up in the woods around the meadow at 12:00 and Tobias, be at home as a hawk," Jake said. "All right, everyone, let's get some sleep."
I sat there at 12:00 in my tree waiting nervously and expectantly. What if it wasn't a Yeerk trap? What if it was a new ally? Or better yet, one of my lost family members? The other five were in the woods close enough to hear me and protect me if needed. Then I heard a slight rustle. All my senses were on the alert. A figure wearing a dark cloak stepped out of the shadows. "Tobias?" she whispered in a low voice, "Is that you?" <Thought-speak to her. She looks okay. We're right behind you.> I recognized this to be Jake's thought-speak voice. <Yes. I'm the hawk,> I said. "Boy, you didn't used to look like that. Before you went to the construction site," she said. <What? Who are you? Take off that cloak and show yourself,> I said. She let the cloak drop. She had scraggely long brown hair and brown eyes. She looked kind of like me and was about my age, I guessed.
"You can call me Scratch," she said. <That surely isn't your real name,> I said. "You can call me Scratch," she said, more firmly this time. <What are you here to tell me?> I asked. <And how do you know what I used to look like? And about the construction site?> "I was there," she said simply. <Why?> I asked. "You and I are the last of our family. I went to find you," she said. "I am your sister."
<What!?> I yelled. "My aunt didn't care about me. So when she shipped me to our uncle and you supposedly went to our aunt's, I doubted it and ran away. I found you and followed you through the construction site that night. I know everything. I followed you guys on your missions as much as I could. I couldn't bring up the nerve to tell you until now," Scratch said. I was stunned. A sister?! Crazy! She must have been a Yeerk!
"I know what you're thinking. No, I'm not a controller. Tie me up for three days. I am totally truthful," she said. <Guys? You hearing this? Demorph and come on out,> I said privatly to the rest of the Animorphs. "I am human also. No holograms or anything like that," she assured me. Then the other Animorphs stepped out of the woods. "Cassie, Rachel, Marco, Ax in human morph, and... Jake," said Scratch. "Wow. She knows all about us," said Jake. "We should... well, excuse us, er... Scratch." "Sure. I'll just wait here," said Scratch. We all went into the woods. "What can we do about her? She knows our secret. If she became a controller..." "We should make her an Animorph," said Rachel. "But you know what happened the last time," said Cassie. "We should wait a while and think about it. How about we decide after tomorrow's mission. Agreed?" said Jake. "Agreed," we all replied.
Scratch, Ax, and I hung out in the woods the next couple of days. We talked about the missions Scratch had seen. I really thought she should become an Animorph. She was my sister, after all. Today was Saturday and we were going to go to the Yeerk pool in mouse morph. They would be pretty small, but they would still have a brain. We would follow a controller into the mall and into the entrance to the pool. Then we would attempt to free some humans. I didn't know how it would go. We flew to the mall in bird morph, with Scratch still in the woods. We went into the bathroom and came out as mice. I didn't like being in the morph that I usually ate. We followed a controller and hid among the cages of free hosts. But suddenly, I heard a scream escape the mouth of a Hork-Bajir. "Andalite!" We zoomed across the floor a quick as a mouse can zoom. But then I heard a loud stomp. I looked behind my small body quickly and saw an Andalite hoof. We had to get away. For some reason, Visser Three didn't come after us. We didn't care about reasons. We just wanted to get out of there. We escaped the Yeerk pool and flew to Cassie's barn. "Well, that was a big bust," I said. "Sure was," said Rachel. Cassie then said, "Hey, where's Jake?"
My name is Jake. Visser Three kept his gigantic hoof on my tail. <Hah! I finally caught one of the andalite bandits! Demorph now. Your time limit is almost up. I could really use another andalite controller,> the Visser sneered. Five minutes. Five minutes until I was trapped as a mouse forever. But I would never reveal my true form.
Ten minutes later the Visser said, <Oh, your time limit has passed. Too bad. I really could have used an andalite controller. Now you'll just die.> "Cherrrup!" a Hork-Bajir called as he held me, a mouse nothlit, by the tail. He suddenly let me drop. I fell a long way. I was relieved to be on the ground again. But that thought only lasted a minute as I saw gaping Taxxon mouths coming at me...
My name is Scratch. I went to Cassie's barn, as Tobias had told me to do the day before. When I arrived, I saw Marco, Rachel, Cassie, Ax, and Tobias with solemn expressions on their faces. "What do you guys want?" I asked. "Well..." Cassie began. Then she broke out in tears. Ax said, "Prince Jake was caught by Visser Three last night. We believe he is... no longer among us." "Oh no, "I said. <But... But we made a decision,> said Tobias, while Cassie looked up, drying her tears. <We want you to become... one of us.> "I... I'm honored. Thank you. Thank you for... trusting me," I said. Tobias stepped aside. Where he had been standing, there was a blue box. <Touch it,> said Tobias. I stepped forward, and put a hand on the box. I felt a tiny tingle go through me as I gained morphing power. Tobias then said, <To mourn an end, but to celebrate a new beginning.>