Invasion

CHAPTER 20

A male Siberian tiger, to be exact. Ten feet long. Seven hundred pounds of deadly speed and unbelievable power.

You know those old Tarzan movies you see on TV sometimes, where Tarzan is wrestling a tiger? And actually winning? Let me tell you something. You want to know what your chances are of wrestling a tiger and coming out alive? They're about the same as your chances of jumping off the Empire State Building and surviving.

"I have an idea," Marco said shakily. "Let's leave."

"Don't run," I said. "It might just get his attention."

"I think he's noticed us," Marco said. "I think he knows we're here, Jake. I think he's looking right at us! Look at his teeth!"

"Don't freak! I have an idea. The morphing. If I acquire him, it'll put him in a trance."

"Acquire? Acquire what? You can't acquire anything about him. He's the acquirer, and you're the acquiree. He's going to acquire your butt for dinner! He's going to acquire you and spit out the bones."

I swallowed hard. I tried to touch the tiger, but my hand was shaking too much. I took a couple of deep breaths. I heard somewhere that's supposed to calm you down, I guess it works. Unless you're practically sitting on a tiger. Then absolutely nothing calms you down.

"Nice tiger," I whispered.

He just watched me. He had this lazy "who cares?" look. This look of total, complete, absolute confidence. Almost like he thought I was funny. Like maybe he enjoyed watching me shiver and shake.

"Please don't kill me," I said.

"Don't kill me, either," Marco added.

I reached my shaking hand toward the tiger. His eyes followed my hand, I touched his flank. It rose and fell with his breathing.

"Concentrate," Marco whispered.

I was already concentrating real hard on the tiger. I was concentrating on his teeth, I was concentrating on the rippling muscles under his pale orange and black pelt. I was totally concentrating on the fact that he could swing that big, massive paw of his and send my head flying across the grass like a soccer ball.

Then the tiger's breathing slowed. His eyes fluttered a little and slowly closed. "How long does the trance last?" Marco whispered.

"Well, about ten seconds after you break contact. That's what it was with Homer."

"Ten seconds? Ten seconds?"

"Yeah. So be ready to run."

"I've been ready to run!"

I started to pull away, but then I hesitated. It was a strange moment, because right then I realized what I was doing. It hit me. This tiger was becoming part of me. All that power and confidence was becoming part of me.

"He's beautiful, isn't he?" I said.

I expected Marco to say something sarcastic. But he said, "Yes. He's magnificent." Then he added, "But let's get out of here before he shows us why he's king of the jungle."

"That's lions," I said. "They're supposed to be king of the jungle. But let's not tell him that. You ready?"

He nodded.

"Now!" I yelled.

I jumped up and we tore for the ladder. In my head I was counting off the seconds: one-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-one thousand…

Something moved. Fast! An orange and black blur!

Right then I realized it. Duh. There was more than one tiger in the habitat.

I heard screams coming from the spectators above. I guess they could see us now that we were out of the bushes.

Marco leaped and grabbed the rungs of the ladder. He scrambled up. I was about one-tenth of a second behind him. The tiger leaped. His claws scraped the concrete just inches below me. And then he let out a roar that made the rungs of the ladder vibrate in my hands.

Ggggggrrrrraaaawwwrrrr!

What a noise! It echoed and reverberated and made my insides turn to liquid.

Marco practically flew up the ladder and over the side of the wall. I flew right after him.

It's amazing how fast you can climb a ladder when there's a tiger roaring for your blood.

"There they are!" someone yelled, "Get them. Stop!"

Guards! At least three of them.

"Should we morph?" Marco yelled to me.

"No! Just head for the crowds! There! Over by the dolphin tank."

It was a close call, but we made it to a big crowd just a dozen feet ahead of the guards.

From that point, all we had to do was hunch down and squirm between all the people till the guards lost sight of us. We worked our way to the front gate, always crouching so our heads wouldn't show above the crowds.

"What did you do, morph into a midget?" It was Rachel. She was right in front of me, looking amused. Tobias and Cassie were there, too.

"The guards were after us," I said. I had almost stopped shaking from my close encounter with the big cats. Almost.

"Oh, quit playing around, Jake," Rachel said. "Let's get out of here. I have to be home for dinner."

It turned out the other three had not been chased at all. They'd lost the guards easily, and had just gone on acquiring morphs while Marco and I were risking our lives in the tiger habitat.

The most annoying thing was that none of them even believed our story. Marco and I were a little resentful over that.

We climbed on board the bus and practically collapsed into the seats.

"We could have been killed," Marco said, pouting. "Really. I'm telling you. It was down to a few inches."

"Yeah, whatever," Rachel said. "Don't obsess over it. After all, we still have tonight to deal with. Whatever danger you think you had today, it will probably be nothing, next to what's going to happen tonight."

"Tonight." Cassie shook her head. "And I haven't even thought about studying for that math test tomorrow."

Rachel laughed. "We may not have to worry about tomorrow."

"Thank you, Little Miss Cheerful," Marco muttered under his breath.