Read The Encounter for Free Online

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Cassie reminded everyone.
     Jake advised.
    They drifted back from the shore of the lake. I stayed behind. I no longer have a time limit to worry about.
    The Yeerk ship was creating a warm updraft, so I spread my wings wide and rode it up. The two Bug fighters were still circling low and slow. On the shore all around the lake, the bogus Park Rangers and the few Hork-Bajir kept up their patrols.
    Then I saw her.
    I know to human eyes, every hawk looks pretty much alike. But I knew right away it was her—the hawk I had freed from the car dealer.
    She, too, was riding the thermal, a thousand yards higher than me. Without even really thinking about it, I adjusted the angle of my wings and soared up toward her.
    She saw me, I was sure of that. Hawks don’t miss much of what goes on around them. She knew I was coming toward her, and she waited.
    It wasn’t like we were friends. Hawks don’t know what
friend
means. And she certainly did not feel any gratitude toward me for saving her from captivity. Hawks don’t have that sort of emotion, either. In fact, in her mind there may have been no connection between me and her freedom.
    Still, I soared up to her. I don’t know why. I really don’t. All we shared was the same outer body. Weboth had wings. We both had talons. We both had feathers.
    Suddenly I was afraid. I was afraid of her. And it was insane, because there I was, floating above an alien spaceship so big it could have been turned into a mall.
    But it was the hawk that frightened me.
    Or maybe not the hawk herself. Maybe it was the feeling I had, rising up to meet her in the sky.
    The feeling of recognition. The feeling of going home. The feeling that I belonged with her.
    It hit me in a wave of disgust and horror.
    No. NO!
    I was Tobias. A human. A human being, not a bird!
    I banked sharply away from her.
    I was
human.
I was a boy named Tobias. A boy with blond hair that was always a mess. A boy with human friends. Human interests.
    But part of me kept saying, “It’s a lie. It’s a lie. You are the hawk. The hawk is you. And Tobias is dead.”
    I plummeted toward the ground. I folded my wings back and welcomed the sheer speed. Faster! Faster!
    Then, with eyes that Tobias never had, I saw the wolf pack below. And I saw the danger before them.

CHAPTER 10

    M y four friends stood stock still. They were staring with deadly focus at five other wolves.
    The two packs had run into each other. Between them lay a dead rabbit. It was the other pack’s kill. My friends had stumbled into them. Now the two alpha males were locked in a deadly dominance battle.
    One of those alpha males was Jake.
    The other was an actual wolf.
    Jake had human intelligence on his side. But if it came to a fight, the other wolf had more experience. He hadn’t gotten to be the head wolf in his pack by losing fights.
    I would have laughed if I could. It was ridiculous! But at least it took my mind off the female hawk. Off the feeling that drew me to her, that called out to me, even while Yeerk ships zipped in a deadly dance through the air.
    Then it hit me with a shock: The time! They’d been low on time when they’d left the shore and started back. How much time had elapsed?
    I swooped down low. I demanded.
     Jake snapped tersely.


    what
?> I yelled. boss
wolf. You guys are way low on time!>
     Cassie said.
    Suddenly the other big male snarled and took a step forward. Instantly Jake bared his teeth still

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