Here is November's chapter, barely in time.

EDIT: And for anyone who read this before, this is a major edit happening at the tail end of the chapter. Sorry about that, but i hope you enjoy the read.

Test Flight

Day 4, Morning

We were in the woods behind Cassie's barn, there still wasn't any wind.

But that's fine, for the first time in all of history, humans were going to fly under our own power! Well, in technicality, not humans, but you get the idea. My heart was racing, I'm going to fly without a plane, parachute, or anything but my own body to keep myself from falling to the ground. I was both terrified and excited at the same time.

We stopped at a small clearing in the woods.

"This looks like as good a takeoff spot as any," I said.

"Alright, let's do it," Rachel said, stretching her arms.

"But we should be careful not to fly close together," Cassie pointed out. "Birds of Prey are normally solitary creatures, you don't see groups of them, especially comprising of different species."

((Good thing to keep in mind,)) I said offhandedly.

"Whoa, Jake man, was that you?" Marco said in shock. His eyes were wide open

"Yeah, what about it?" I asked.

"I heard your voice in my head but...it sounded so different," Marco explained.

"Yeah, I'm with Marco, for once," Rachel agreed, hands on her hips. "Your voice sounded so...clear, and less nasal."

I sputtered, so shocked that I was unable to properly formulate words. But it didn't take me long to give out my incredulous response. "Rach, my voice is nasal?"

"I-I think it kind of sounds hot..." Cassie said, I turned to look at her, my cousin's comment forgotten. Cassie was blushing, she scratched the back of her head.

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked them. "My voice has always sounded like this, in my head and out!"

"Wait, I think I might know what's going on," Rachel said as she walked over to and leaned on a pine tree, lifting a branch that was in front of her face. "Did you know that we don't hear our voices as they come out of our mouth? We actually hear our voices in our throats, which is why we sound different on camera footage."

My eyebrows shot up, and my hand went to my chin as I thought about it.

"Huh, who knew?" Marco commented, then his eyes lit up. "Hey Jake, rehearse the opening narration of The Dark Crystal in thought speech!"

"I don't think he knows that well enough," Cassie commented.

"Well, at least we now know that awesome Jake voice is in your head. Just a figment of your imagination!"

((Alright, that's enough,)) I said in my voice. ((We're here to fly, not recite lines from 70s movies.))

"It came out in the 80s!" Marco said in an outraged tone of voice. "The 80s!"

((Whatever,)) an undoubtedly female voice said, Rachel, judging by the tone.

"Alright..." Cassie said awkwardly while blushing. "Let's do this."

"So I'm on clothing bank duty...again," Marco said.

It didn't take us long to undress, and we ignored each other and looked at the opening in the trees above us. I pictured the animal I was going to turn into, envisioned it in my mind and said his name.

Osprey.

Once more I felt the changes begin with a sound like shifting sands. I looked at Rachel and Cassie, they were both turning into small feathery flying machines too. But Rachel was morphing the fastest, Cassie followed closely behind. I noticed that my changes were going by the slowest, but this doesn't surprise me. I only morphed this animal once before, a couple of minutes ago in the barn.

I felt the falling sensation as I turned my face to the opening, then again my lips and nose turned into a beak, and my hips realigned themselves until I was leaning over. My skin turned grey as tiny hairs came out all over my body except my lower legs. I felt a strange sizzling all throughout my body as I became lighter, my dense human tissue replaced by the lighter stuff birds are made from.

I diverted my attention away from myself just in time to see Rachel, her transformation seconds away from completion, let out a whoop in thought speech, and a screech as her Bald Eagle morph took to the skies.

My arms and hands shrivelled and my fingers fused into a single appendage, then the flight feathers poked out of my arms, like rows of knives. They grew longer in a very short time. My toes fused together and became bird talons, and my chest started expanding, the flight muscles there growing. My sight and hearing went out of service again temporarily, but when it returned they were both acute.

I saw that Cassie's transformation was complete, she jumped up and started flapping to the sky. For a minute I was surprised that Cassie was an Osprey as well, the same one as me in fact, she joined Rachel in the sun.

((Whoah, this is awesome!)) I heard an unfamiliar voice in my head, but who else could it belong to? Cassie.

I felt the changes complete themselves, and the mind of the Osprey returned, but this time I was in control. I spread my wings and began flapping up, up, and up towards the trees. With a feeling of ecstasy that grew with my altitude I rose into the air. I flapped, moving my wings as hard as I can, working my arms and chest with superhuman power, I was not used to exerting this much force, but to the Osprey this level of strain was trivial, it was hard, but he was experienced enough that flying was easy. What else should he expect from an act he performed every day?

"Fly my babies! Fly!" Marco cried out from the ground below. "They leave the nest so fast!"

As I flapped I rose above the trees, and immediately it hit me.

((I'm flying,)) I said in everyone's head, still unsure. ((I'm flying! Oh man, ha ha, I'm flying! Ha ha ha ha ha!))

It was glorious, the wind in my face, the elevation, a human part of me was scared, still scared, but the human fear of plummeting to my death was small, it was close to nothing, I knew I would be doing this often, so even that small twinge would only grow smaller in time. I wanted to rise, go higher up, I wasn't sure how, but the answer was right in front of me, I decided to trust the Osprey. He knew what to do, I spread my wings out and I felt the warmth rise under my wings, I felt myself rising up.

((Whoa-ho!)) I exclaimed.

I also noticed a sort of shimmer around me, heat.

((Hey, I see you caught a thermal!)) I heard Cassie's voice in my head.

(Huh, did I?)) I answered back.

Marco

The only thing I could do was stand and watch, I climbed to the top of a tree and could catch glimpses of them. Their laughter and joy, it was so infectious that I ended up smiling for real myself. Seeing Jake and the others so… happy, made me regret not taking Elfangor up on his offer all the more. I wished nothing more than to be up there, with them.

I looked around myself and saw that I was alone, the only human being in this corner of the forest for quite some distance, other than my friends.

I looked back at the sky, trying to find the birds. More than any other moment in my life previously, I felt like a fool for refusing the power. Tobias and his dad said it was my choice and mine alone, and they respected it. But they also said that my choice wasn't permanent, I could change my mind anytime I wanted. Tobias is coming back with the cube a couple of days from now, according to the letter. I'll make the choice then. Though Mr. Head-in-the-Clouds also said we needed to prepare to fight these… Controllers, whatever they are.

But this is coming from a guy whose father literally died in his arms only a couple of days ago. I remember what happened to my mom, and that was bad enough, but Tobias? He was the one who pulled the trigger on the gun that killed him. Everybody takes loss differently, but Tobias' took it especially hard. I wouldn't blame Tobias if he arrives here later than he said. He can take his time, he needs it.

When I get the morphing technology there will be plenty of time for me to catch up.

But I really wish Tobias would hurry up. I have a lot of questions I would not like to wait on any longer than necessary.

What on Earth is even a Recorder? Is it an object, an archive, a person? Why do we need it? More importantly, why did Elfangor describe it as "The Last?" If these Andalites are an interstellar civilization, then what happened to the other ones?

I took out a small pocket book out of the back of my shorts and opened it up. I removed the pencil from the spiraling wire binding and started writing down my new questions.

I really hope I don't overwhelm Tobias when he comes back.

Day 5, Morning

I got up, brushed my teeth and combed my hair. I did all of the daily chores I usually do, and with all of that done I went downstairs.

Man, how long did Jake and the others spend flying up there?

I went down the stairs but as I did I noticed that Dad was on the phone. I stopped moving and just stayed there on the staircase.

"Are you serious?" He said.

"..."

"And why hasn't anyone in my department heard anything about this?"

"..."

"...None? No communications, like, at all?"

"..."

"It caused how much damage?"

"..."

"No wonder the other ETs went silent."

I raised my eyebrows, did ETCS locate the alien parasites Elfangor and Tobias warned us about?

"..."

"There's only one?"

"..."

This is turning out to be a very interesting phone call. I felt bad for listening in, but this might be relevant to our coming fight.

"It entered human settlements unnoticed how many times?!"

"..."

"Jesus Christ, and here I thought North America had seen the last of the aliens when the Nartec vacated LA. How is it able to move unnoticed?"

"..."

The period the guy on the other end of the line was talking extended for a long time.

"I...I believe what you're saying and I've seen and heard many things that were just nuts, but this is beyond even that, this is...is...it's just insane!"

I snorted at my dad's usage of my catchphrase.

"Animorph? You're telling me that this creature is a shapeshifter? Why are you going out of your way to tell just me this?"

Shapeshifter? Dad's word usage jolted the last of the sleep out of my system. Are they tracking Tobias? Or an Andalite survivor?

"..."

I leaned too hard on one foot and the wood creaked.

"Hold on, I have to hang up," then I heard my Dad walk around to the stairs and poke his head out.

"Good morning," I said with a smile.

"How much of that did you hear?"

I scratched the back of my head.

"Ah, right to you asking why nobody in your department heard about it."

He groaned and held the bridge of his nose for a little while. Then he hung up the phone and walked away.

"Table. Now," Dad said.

I walked down the stairs to meet my Dad, he was staring at the chair Mom used to sit in as I reached the bottom of the stairs, like usual. The sun was shining, lighting up our house with beams of light, complete with specks of dust floating in the air.

"What's up?" I asked, he turned to look me in the eye. He had the expression that indicated he was getting serious.

"One, you are not to tell a single soul anything about what you've just heard. This doesn't leave the house."

I nodded, that wouldn't be the first conversation I've had about this.

"Two, you do not tell a single soul anything, about what you just heard," Dad said in an even more deadly serious voice.

"Got it," I said.

"Good," Dad said, slouching over and taking a sigh of relief.

"There's an alien on the move, more powerful and deadly than anything on the world, and it's close by. It's heading away from us for now, but if it starts moving south towards us, we're getting out of here. understand?"

I nodded in agreement before Dad walked away from the table, he was already in his work clothes. He took his suitcase and left the house, now I really have a lot of questions to ask.

I held my chin in thought as my mind went into overdrive. I looked at the phone.

Maybe I should bug it? I thought. See what more information would come up?

I shook my head at the risk.

No, I decided. When the fight against the Controllers begins I'll be breaking enough laws, but bugging a government official's phone? Bugging my Dad's phone? I can wait, i'll just wait until Tobias gets here. And I have a crapton of questions that need answering.

Well, hope you like this chapter, this was intense, wasn't it? But anyway please do leave your criticisms in the comments.