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sample of the animal’s DNA. The DNA is the stuff inside the cells that sort of serves like a how-to manual for making the animal.
    When you acquire, you have to think hard about the animal, focusing on it and blocking everything else out. Then the animal kind of goes limp, like it’s in a trance. It takes just about a minute.
    It was easy to focus on the shrew, what with it squealing in terror and squirming to get out of my hand. But it was gross, definitely gross. I know there’s nothing really wrong with shrews, but still. They freak me out a little.
    When I was done, I opened my eyes. “Okay, little shrew, thanks for your help. You can go now.”
    â€œI’m not sure this is a good idea,” Jake said doubtfully.
    â€œReally?” Marco was sarcastic. “You’re not sure it’s a good idea for Rachel to turn into a shrew in order to lure a vicious cat down from a tree so she can morph into that cat and sneak into the assistant principal’s house? What worries you about that plan?”
    Cassie looked worried, too. “You know, Rachel, usually a cat will play with a mouse a little bit. But sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they go right for the neck bite. The mouse — or the shrew—dies instantly.”
     Tobias said.
    He “said” it so only I could hear. I could tell, because nobody else reacted.
    I looked up at Tobias and winked. I knew he would see it. I rubbed my hands together. “Okay, let’s do this.”
    I concentrated once more on the shrew. The shrew was now a part of me. I don’t know how it works, but it does. Somehow, thanks to the Andalite technology, the DNA of that shrew was stored away inside me. It was like having a map to guide me as I transformed. Not that I had a clue how I was able to do it.
    The first sensation was of shrinking. It’s a long, long trip down from being five feet tall to being less than an inch tall. It’s like falling. Except that you can feel the ground under your feet the whole time.
    One minute I was looking Jake and Marco and Cassie in the face. The next minute their faces seemed to be zooming high up above me. I was falling downthe length of their bodies. It was like they were huge skyscrapers and I had jumped off the roof or something.
    My outer clothing fell around me like a big, collapsing circus tent.
    There was a slight grinding noise as my backbone collapsed into a size smaller than my little finger. There was the disturbing, not-quite-pain sensation that goes along with some morphs. Like you knew it should hurt, but it didn’t quite.
    I could feel the tail sprout from my tailbone. A long, hairless tail. Not at all attractive.
    My legs practically disappeared, they were so small. I was a chubby little ball of fur no more than two inches long, with four tiny feet.
    Then the fear kicked in. The shrew’s fear.
    It hit me so hard I began to shake. I rattled with terror. I quaked with terror.
    I was surrounded! Predators everywhere! I could smell them. I could see them — huge, looming, slow-moving creatures standing over me.
    â€œRachel? You okay down there?” It was Cassie. She lifted the folds of my clothing off of me.
    I heard the voice and sort of understood it, but it was more like distant thunder. It didn’t really mean anything. At least not to the shrew.
    It was looking for a way out. Its brain might havebeen terrified, but it was also amazingly smart. It was evaluating every possible escape route. It was measuring the distance between the three sets of legs. One set of legs moved slightly.
    I was off like a shot.
    Running! Running!
Blades of grass seemed six feet tall. Twigs were like fallen trees that I had to scramble over. My little feet moved with incredible speed. I scooted past a beetle that seemed to me to be as big as a dog.
    â€œRachel, you have to