"I'm pretty sure if she knew anybody in the Sharing she would've mentioned them when I said it was an evil cult, or like, anytime in the ensuing several hours, it's not like most people in the Sharing are quiet about it. She gets that I am a secret talking pigeon who is on the run from evil cultists. I pretty much left her in the dark about whether or not I have any talking pigeon friends. So, yeah, the worst thing that could happen is somebody's gonna find out I'm in Phoenix and I can morph. Pretty fucking bad, yep. I did it anyway."
"It certainly seems like it, yep. Okay. Do you think she wants to be an Animorph? Is her lifestyle amenable to being helpful? Do you have any read on how good she is at keeping secrets even when they have been identified for her?"
"She definitely wants the cool shapeshifting powers, and is generally not on board with evil cults. I dunno exactly how she could help or exactly how she'd want to. And I don't think she's gonna be telling anybody she made out with a talking pigeon all afternoon."
"If she doesn't want to help, giving her shapeshifting powers is not necessarily a good idea. Makes her more useful if the Yeerks get her and a bigger security risk."
"Does that mean its literal meaning or are you also implying that you will not hold it against me if I decline to Animorph Random Beloved The Third?"
"Okay. I'm suspending judgment. Can you get her to come here without anybody particularly paying attention to her destination?"
"Yeah, probably," he says. "Dunno if she'll jump just for 'hey, wanna see my secret pooka nest?', though. Can I tell her my talking pigeon buddy wants to meet her?"
"She thinks you're a pooka?" asks Bella. "Yes, you can tell her your talking pigeon buddy wants to meet her. For that matter, perhaps I should actually be a pigeon and we should meet elsewhere than here. A park or something."
"Okay. I will do that, then." She opens up her notebook, makes some marks that could be edits to her schedule.