"Applegate, Katherine A - Animorphs - 23 - The Pretender" - читать интересную книгу автора (Applegate Katherine A)

friends. But how weak is that? How can I go begging for help to deal
with a situation I should be able to handle myself?

I sat on my branch, in my tree, and watched the dry grass. I watched as
only a hawk can watch. With telescope eyes and a mind that never grows
tired of looking for the clues to a kill.

I waited and watched and listened. A twitch of a grass stalk. A slight
puff of rising dust. The faint sounds of tiny feet scrabbling in the dirt.

And from time to time I looked across the meadow at him. At the other
hawk. He was a hundred yards away. The length of a football field. But I
could see him clearly. It was like looking in a far-distant mirror. The
angry, yellow-brown eyes. The wickedly curved beak. The sharp talons dug
into the bark of a branch.

He looked at me. Our eyes met. He was pure hawk. I was ... I was that
unique, misfit creature called Tobias.

I said to him, though of course he understood nothing. won't use my morphing powers against you. It will be me and you. Hawk
against hawk.>

4 He returned his gaze to the field. So did I. I had long since marked
the burrow of a rabbit and its family. Three baby rabbits had survived.

I was human enough to know that people - humans- would be disgusted by
the sight of my killing and eating a baby rabbit. They would rather I at
least go after the adult female.

But they'd be wrong. Life in the meadow isn't a Disney movie. If I
killed the mother, the babies would all die. If I killed only the baby,
the mother would survive to breed again.

Breed more babies for me to take. To rip apart. To eat.

There was another consideration: Rabbits are tougher than mice. They can
aim those powerful hind legs and deliver a blow that will knock you silly.

This is my life. A meadow running short of prey. A competitor who would
like to push me out altogether. And a family of rabbits who had to die
so that I could live.

See what I mean about names not telling you very much? In the old days,
back when I was truly human, "Tobias" was a word that meant wimp. That's
what I was. I guess I was a nice person, back then. I guess teachers
liked me and girls felt sorry for me. But the bullies were drawn to me
like a mosquito to a sweaty neck.

5 That all changed in the most unexpected way you can possibly imagine.
It changed on the night Jake, Rachel, Marco, Cassie, and I went walking

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