The Proposal Read online

  «Did you have to say that?» I groaned. «Now you've jinxed us.»

  «Let's do it,» Rachel said, already beginning to demorph.

  I did the same, although without quite as much enthusiasm.

  It's one thing to be a squirrel in a strange home. You feel innocent, somehow. But to stand there as a normal kid wearing a stupid morphing outfit, that feels pretty criminal.

  Our footsteps were heavy. Our movements were slow. We were way big to hide. And no one was going to overlook us. "Oh, some kids in the library? I didn't even notice."

  We finished demorphing. I felt the need to put my finger to my lips to indicate to Rachel

  37 that we had to be quiet. She felt the need to respond with a toxic "Duh!" look.

  We slipped out of the library and into the aviary next door.

  It was a big, high-ceilinged room, maybe three floors tall altogether. Glass-walled like a greenhouse, which it was, partly, with several large trees and plants everywhere. It was like an exhibit at the zoo. The birdhouse.

  The birds mostly sat in the trees. Some flew, but most just hung out. They shifted on their perches when Rachel and I entered. Especially the cockatiels. As if on cue, the plume of feathers on the foreheads of all ten shot straight up in the air.

  "Twooooit! Twooooit! Twooooit! Twooooit!"

  "Yow. That's loud," I said.

  Rachel walked slowly up to one of the low branches, her hands held high in a "you can trust me" position. Like a cop trying to negotiate with a gunman.

  "Hi, birdie," she whispered. "Don't worry. I won't hurt you."

  "Twooit! Twooit!"

  I targeted a bird that seemed to be chewing its toes while it stood on one foot. As I got near the bird decided it had eaten enough toe.

  "Twooit! Twoooit! Twooooit!"

  39 He shuffled back and forth on his perch. Bobbed his head frantically.

  I stuck my hand toward him. "You're tame, right?" I whispered.

  "Marco, watch out!" Rachel hissed.

  Too late.

  38

  Owww!" I cried, jerking my hand back.

  "Shhhhhh!!!" Rachel hissed.

  "He took a chunk out of my finger," I whispered as I bounced around, holding my finger with my other hand.

  "Didn't you listen to Cassie?" Rachel whispered back. "She said you have to approach the birds in a nonthreatening way."

  "I didn't threaten him! But now I'm going to threaten him."

  I glared at my beady-eyed opponent. He turned his head to one side and winked at me triumphantly. Once I touched him, it would be easy enough. The acquiring process puts the animal into a kind of trance.

  40 It was the touching part that made me nervous. That plus the fact that I expected Tennant to show up looking wise and mellow and incinerate me with a wise, mellow Dracon beam.

  Rachel had already acquired her bird and begun to morph.

  «Hey, guys.» Tobias called from high above. «Tennant just went into his office. And, urn, Marco? Some reason why you're dancing?»

  "Very funny," I muttered.

  I reached my hand back toward the bird. Slowly.

  "That's how you're supposed to nyufgh -" Rachel whispered as her mouth shrank and hardened into a beak.

  The cockatiel backed away and cocked his head to strike. I dived! Wrapped my hand around him. Hah! Swallowed the pain as he took another vicious peck at my hand.

  "Go nighty-night, you monster."

  He went into the trance.

  Seconds later, I set him back on his perch. I resisted the impulse to yank out one or two feathers as payback. Took a deep breath and tried to focus.

  Just relax, I told myself. Let the morph happen. Be the bird. But my heart was still pounding. And my finger still hurt.

  The first thing to change was my head. It be-

  41 gan to shrink. From normal size to the size of a cantaloupe. To grapefruit. To orange. To just slightly bigger than a cherry tomato.

  «0h, that's a nice look,» Rachel said. She'd finished her morph and was perched on top of a cage. «Now your head finally matches the size of your brain.»

  I would have made a witty response, but my mouth was turning hard like a fingernail. Slowly growing out of my face and forming a sharp, hooked beak.

  My skin felt ticklish, then began to ripple. Feathers. I looked at my hands. From each of my pointer fingers, one gray feather sprouted. Then a second. Then a third. More feathers sprouted. Faster and faster. A flood of feathers rolling down my arms like a swollen river raging through a valley. Until I was covered with them head to toe.

  The trees and bushes seemed to shoot up into the air as I shrank. Down to a very vulnerable size. A foot long. Weighing only a few ounces.

  Then my tiny human feet began to change. My five toes mushed together. Two long toes sprouted from the front of the mush. Two more sprouted out of where my ankle had been.

  My legs shrank until they were barely an inch long. Just short stumps growing out of my baseball-sized body. My shoulders slid down my back. My miniature arms stretched outward like

  42 branches on a tree, flattening themselves into lushly feathered gray wings.

  Suddenly, the bird's incredible sense of hearing kicked in. I could hear every flutter of every feather of every bird in the room. One was grinding his beak. Another was digging through his food, looking for a particular seed. And every cockatiel was talking, laughing, singing!

  "Twoooit, twoooit, twoooit," I said excitedly.

  «Marco, what are you doing?» Rachel said.

  "Twoooit, twoooit, twoooit!" «l'm singing,» I said. "Twoooit! Twoooit!"

  The morph had gone okay. Here I was, on a mission. A dangerous mission. And no mixed-morph. I'd done it! Maybe the osprey/lobster fiasco was just a freak occurrence.

  I fluttered around the room. «This morph rocks!»

  "Twooi-twooi-twooit!"

  «Marco? Rachel?» Jake. Calling from the library.

  «Uh, yeah?»

  «ls everything all right in there?»

  «Yeah,» Rachel said tightly. «Why wouldn't it be?»

  «Well, it's been almost ten minutes since you guys went in there . . .»

  «No way. Ten minutes?» I laughed.

  43 «Guys, remember the mission? William Roger Tennant?»

  «Yeah, Jake. No problem.» To me Rachel said, «Get a grip, Marco. Or I'm telling Jake to pull you off this mission right now.»

  My own mind began to get the upper hand on the cockatiel's. My own personality pushed through. The bird's joy faded, replaced by another emotion.

  Fear.

  Not an improvement.

  44 We fluttered out of the aviary. Turned left toward Tennant's office.

  The paranoid instincts of the prey animal began to grow. These birds were all tame, but tameness didn't change DNA. Down deep in its DNA this bird was still afraid. It didn't want to be indoors. It didn't like not being able to see in all directions. You never knew when a snake might slither up.

  Zoom! We flew through a doorway. Zoom! Around some tall potted plants. Zoom! Down a hallway with very little clearance on either side.

  The bird had excellent vision. Plenty good enough to keep track of where we were going. And after three days on surveillance I felt like I knew Tennant's house.

  45 Zoom! Around a corner, and we were there. Just outside the office.

  «0kay, here we go,» Rachel said and disappeared through the open door.

  The room was huge. Two of the walls were glass, gigantic windows overlooking the ocean. The other two walls, including the one with the door, were lined with very large, very full bookshelves. In the middle of the room, a huge oak desk faced the ocean.

  The desk itself was impeccably neat and organized. On it sat a laptop computer, a telephone, and a couple of T-shaped bird stands. William Roger Tennant was using the computer. He was so absorbed in his work, he didn't seem to notice our entrance.

  «So far, so good.» Rachel flared her wings and landed on one of the bir
d stands. I landed on the other.

  «What's he writing?» I asked. «l can't read the monitor from this perch.»

  I shuffled along the horizontal pole, hoping to get a better viewing angle. And appear natural.

  «Here, let me try.» Rachel hopped off her perch, fluttered through the air, and landed right on top of Tennant's head. He didn't even bat an eye.

  «Ah, the subtle approach.»

  «l've seen the other birds do it all the time,»

  46 she said. «He's writing a letter. A thank-you letters

  «Who to?»

  «No address yet.»

  Tennant maneuvered his mouse and double-clicked.

  «He's doing a mail merge,» Rachel said. «Huh. It's a letter to the president of one of the TV networks.»

  «Why would Tennant be writing to the head of a network? Didn't like last week's ER?»

  Brrrrrrrrrring!

  «Aaaaaaahh!!» I cried.

  «Geez, that's loud!» Rachel said. «These birds have good hearing.»

  Brrrrrrrrrring!

  William Roger stared at the phone as if it were a diseased enemy.

  Brrrrrrrrrring!

  Finally, he picked up the receiver. His hand was shaking just a bit.

  "Hello?"

  I couldn't make out the voice on the other end. But I knew who it was. And my own fear seemed to infect the cockatiel's body. I could feel its feathers bristling with panic. Its little heart begin to beat like a machine gun's rapid firing.

  "Yes, Visser," William Roger Tennant said

  47 with all the enthusiasm people usually reserve for hearing a terminal diagnosis from their doctor.

  «Visser Three,» Rachel hissed.

  Visser Three. Our most feared and hated enemy. The leader of the Yeerk invasion of Earth. The only Yeerk to have infested an Andalite. The only Yeerk with the power to morph.

  I stuck my beak beneath one of my wings and plucked out a few feathers. Dropped them on the desk. I stuck my beak under my other wing and plucked out a few more feathers.

  "Everything is going just fine," Tennant muttered.

  "Twooit!" I blurted out.

  "I'm just finishing that letter now, Visser."

  "Twooit! Twooit!"

  «Marco? What are you doing?» Rachel hissed.

  "Twooit! Twooit! Twooit!"

  What was wrong with me? I was losing control of the morph! Couldn't keep it from chirping. From plucking out its own feathers. From rocking, back and forth. Back and forth.

  "Yes, Visser. The construction of that Kan-drona is coming along right on schedule."

  "Twooit! Twooit! Twooit! Twooit!"

  «Marco! Shut! Up!»

  «l can't,» I cried. «l can't help it!»

  48 Such a simple morph. An intelligent but tiny brain. And my human brain couldn't conquer it!

  I plucked a few more feathers and dropped them on the desk. Tennant gave me a sharp glare.

  "Twoooit! Twoooooit! Twoooooooit!"

  "Yes, Visser. The president of the network will be at the Solid Citizen Awards banquet this weekend. As you know, I will be receiving an award. I fully expect the human to take the occasion to offer me a prime-time slot for the coming season."

  «He's going to prime-time TV? Figures. It's not like UPN needs him or anything,» Rachel said.

  "Twoooit! Twoooit! Twoooit!"

  «Marco? How about, get a grip?»

  "Twooooit! Twooooit! Twooooooooit!"

  "Excuse me, Visser." Tennant cupped his hand over the phone and looked at me. And then he screamed. "Shut up, you filthy creature!"

  "Twirt," I sputtered lamely.

  Tennant continued his phone conversation.

  "No, Visser, I don't feel I should kill the bird. I must maintain William Roger Tennant's animal-loving image. But yes, these cockatiels are very annoying."

  Pause.

  Then, "Yes, Visser, the day will come when we

  49 exterminate all irrelevant creatures. Looking forward to it."

  Suddenly, I had an urge.

  «Rachel? I think I'm going to ... never mind. I just did.»

  It took hardly any effort. A completely natural thing to do. If it hadn't been so easy, I might have been able to control myself.

  «Yeah, that was a good idea, Marco,» Rachel said. «This guy's already popping veins in his head and you crap on his desk.»

  "Yes, Visser. Yes, Visser. Yes, Visser." Then, "Oh, I am going to kill you," William Roger Ten-nant cried as he slammed down the receiver.

  50 Who? Who's he going to kill - me, or Visser Three?»

  The happiness guru picked up a remote control and punched a button. Shades began to lower across all the windows. He was making sure no one saw him.

  Uh-oh.

  "Why you-" William Roger Tennant growled.

  «l think it's you, Marco! Bail!» Rachel yelled.

  I spread my wings and pushed off the stand. Tennant dove across the desk, arm outstretched. He grabbed for me, but missed.

  «Move! Move!» Rachel shouted as she flew

  51 into the hallway. «Jake. Guys. We've got a problem^

  I shot toward the door.

  "Not so fast, little birdie," Tennant hissed.

  My super-keen ears heard it coming. A book. A big, hardcover book.

  BONK!

  It nailed me. I fell to the carpet. Wind knocked out of me. Stunned. Brain whirling. Images of big snakes coming down a branch for me.

  Tennant pounced on me. Snatched me up in his hands and pressed his thumbs into my chest. Started to squeeze.

  "I'll teach you to crap on my desk, you little-"

  My ribs! Bending! Collapsing!

  My lungs! About to explode! Blood surging to my head!

  «Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgghhhhhhhhhh!» I was screaming.

  «Marco! Hang on! Hangon!»

  My eyes were locked on Tennant's face. He was gritting his teeth. His pale blue eyes bulged, suddenly shot through with red veins. A vein in his temple swelled and throbbed.

  He looked like he was going to explode, erupt like a broken cyst. But his hands were no longer tightening.

  52 Then I got it. The Yeerk was struggling. Battling something within the body. Battling William Roger Tennant. The real human named William Roger Tennant.

  "Oh, little birdie, little birdie," Tennant whispered. "If only you could hear my host's cries of anguish. His pleas to spare your worthless life. Humans! Such a weak, sentimental species."

  Then he loosened his grip and began to stroke my feathers.

  "Oh, how I would love to kill you," he crooned. "If for no other reason than to hear the cries of agony from this pathetic host's tortured mind, oh yes, oh yes. But I won't kill you. Not now. No, no, no. I'm looking forward to the day when I can kill all of you horrible little creatures at once! Oh, what joy that will be! Perhaps such carnage will be enough to break this human's spirit, once and for all!"

  Still, he kept stroking me. Eyes glittering. Sweat popping out in beads on his forehead.

  I tried to relax. Tried to remain calm. He was going to let me go. Wasn't he? He didn't seem to notice that Rachel had returned. Was fluttering overhead, watching, ready to strike.

  Like she could inflict serious harm in cock-atiel morph.

  «The others are coming, Marco,» she said. «Stay calm! They're doing battle morphs.»

  53 "When I was first given this host," William Roger Tennant went on, his voice mellowing, almost as if he were speaking to an audience of rapt TV viewers, "I never thought my greatest challenge would be having to be as patient, as kind, as loving as this maundering, mewling, pathetic human. Who would have thought it would be so difficult to keep up this ridiculous charade?"

  Tennant paced over to a tall mirror, took himself in, then headed back to the desk in the middle of the room. "I am a warrior!" he cried, gesturing dramatically with me as a prop. "A warrior trapped in this hideous charade. Can you imagine, little birdie, how it pains me to be nice and kind and polite, morning, noon, and
night! How I yearn to lash out! To strike! To kill all the fools that surround me! But I cannot. No! That would not be in character for William Roger Tennant, great advocate of human virtues. Caretaker of all life-forms. Bah!"

  «This guy's a psycho,» Rachel said, perched on the top of the open door. «l mean, even for a Yeerk, this guy's a psycho. We're talking, "Where's my medication? Lock me up in a rubber room" psycho.»

  «Yeah,» I agreed weakly. «Nice psycho. Good psycho.»

  Then, amazingly, Tennant turned his palm up and opened his hand. I struggled to my feet.

  54 "There, there, little birdie." He stroked the feathers on my chest. "Good little birdie. Goooood leeetle birdieee."

  He held me up right in front of his face. I resisted the temptation to take a chunk out of his nose.

  "I have an idea, little birdie. If you can tell me your name, I will give you a treat. What is your name, little birdie?" he said. "Tell William Roger Tennant your name."

  55 What is your name, birdie?" he repeated.

  «Uh, do I have to answer this question?» I said to Rachel.

  «Bail,» she replied. «Let's just get out of here.»

  Tennant continued to stare straight into my eyes, that weird, "I'm about two Cokes short of a six-pack" smile still plastered to his face.

  «l don't think he's going to let me go without an answer,» I said.

  Noise in the hall! The thundering of padded feet. Hooves. Could Tennant hear them? He wasn't reacting.

  «Guys! What's going on? Should we come in?» Jake said.

  56 «No. Stay in the hallway,» Rachel said. «We're about to make a quick exit. You can take down Tennant when he follows. »

  "Don't you know your name, little birdie?" Tennant hissed, eyes narrowing. "All my precious little birdies know their names."

  «Make your move, Marco!» Rachel said.

  I bent my legs, ready to spring.

  Sudden suspicion darkened his face. "Unless you aren't one of my precious birdies at all."

  I jumped backward, out of his hand. Flapped frantically, trying to get out of his reach.

  "Unless you're one of the Andalite bandits in morph! Computer! Alert Status One! Andalite intruders!"

  Tennant took a wild swipe at me. Missed. I shot toward the ceiling. Turned to follow Rachel to the doorway. Only ten feet away!

  WHAM!!

  «Aaaargh!» I hit the carpet beak first.