Chapter 3

"Wow!"

"Dude, you're awesome! You're like the brother I never had!"

"Me, too!"

"Crash, Eddie, you both have a brother."

Buck sniffed the possum twins. He upturned them and held them by their tales.

"Can we keep him?" Buck moved onto Manny. He landed on his face.

"Buck" he barked.

"Wha?"

"The name's Buck. Short for Buckminster. Long for…Bu." Moving to Diego, he felt a saber, "Huh. A little dull."

"See, Di, I told you you should hunt with Derek." I whispered.

He moved to me, "Okay, preggers, how'd you break your tooth?"

"Long story. Tell you later. And my name's Alice, not preggers."

"This one can take care of herself, mate," Buck whispered to Diego, "Now, why are you here?"

"Our friend was taken by a dinosaur."

"Oh, well, he's dead. Welcome to my world. Now go home. Off you pop."

"Ellie, maybe the deranged hermit has a point—"

"Manny, we came this far, we're not giving up on him." The she-mammoth said.

I nudged Manny's kneecap, which was about as far up as I could reach, "Manny, we don't leave friends behind. I don't care how annoying it is that Sid didn't listen to you. We are going to save our friend."

"I know, Alice."

"I got tracks," Diego said. He smiled at us.

Buck hopped down and licked the print, "Mmm, yes, Mommy Dino, carrying three babies, and some floppy green thing." He sounded puzzled.

"Yah, we're friends with the floppy green thing," Manny said.

"You got all that from the track?" Diego asked, growing more jealous by the minute.

"Not really. I saw them pass by here earlier. She's headed to Lava Falls. It's where they care for the newborns. To get there, you have to pass through the jungle of misery," He said this in a way that freaked me out, "Through the chasm of death, to the plates of woe."

"Whoa" the possum twins breathed.

"Okay, good luck with the slow decent into madness. We'll be going now." Manny started to walk.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Y-you think this is some type of tropical getaway? You can't protect your mate, mate. What are you going to do with those flimsy tusks," He wiggled Manny's tusk, "When you run into the beast? I call him…"

"Rudy" I breathed.

Buck's shoulders slumped, "Ah, how'd you know?"

"Lucky guess?"

"Oh, I thought it would be something intimidating like Sheldon. Or Tim." Manny said.

"Manny, you've never met Rudy."

"And you have?" he scoffed.

"What, is it all of a sudden nobody-listen-to-Alice day?"

"You mean, there's something bigger than mommy dinosaur?" Crash asked.

"Aye."

"Eye?" Crash pointed to his eye.

"Aye aye. He's the one who gave me this." Buck pointed to his eye patch.

"He gave you that patch?"

"For free?"

"Maybe he'll give us one!" Crash and Eddie started doing their handshake thingy.

Buck starred at them like, 'what in the world are they doing?'

"Welcome to my world." Manny said.

"Abandon all hope, he who enters there!"

"Manny, stop!"

"Alice, I don't want to hear it!"

"This is how you talk to a woman with a hormone imbalance who can normally kick your butt? I don't think so," I told him, "We need to hire a guide. We need to," I turned to Buck, "Will you help us find the floppy green thing? Otherwise Manny and Diego are heading straight for a carnivorous plant."

"I'm thinking."

"Please?" I gave him the face that always worked on Manny and Diego.

"Oh, alright. I like you. You're strong."

"Thank you, Buck." I trotted to Diego and Derek, "One crisis averted."

"But I got rules! Rule number 1: always listen to Buck! Rule number 2: Stay in the middle of the trail! Rule number 3" he drew himself up to his full height and said, "He who has gas, travels at the back of the pack. Onward! To the jungle of misery!" Buck called.

"Oh" Crash hung his head and turned to bring up the rear.

A few minutes later, we heard Scrat's scream.

"Sounds like a jungle of misery to me." Eddie said.

"Stick close to me, boys. And whatever you do, don't touch the vegetation! Especially the fruit. That goes for you too, Manny." He was talking to Ellie about her blood sugar.

"You're hungry! There's some fruit!"

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you. This isn't exactly your playground." Di said.

"Yah, as if I'm going to be afraid of a pretty flower."

"Manny, what did I say about not touching the fruit!? Oh, why don't you listen to me anymore?" I turned to Derek, "Der, back me up here!"

"She's right, Manny. And I'd appreciate it if you tried to not cause her any more stress. I wouldn't do that to Ellie."

"Sorry, Derek"

"No harm done. Glad to see you didn't get eaten by a carnivorous plant." Derek shifted from Mammoth back to saber form.

I pushed him, "Show-off" I muttered.

Buck starred at us.

"Oh, sorry, Buck. Derek's my mate. He's a shape shifter, and so am I. But I'm not shifting as of late."

I almost missed Sid's singing, even though every time he did it, I shifted form—somewhat. Once, when Sid went into a particularly off—key version of 'Eye of the Tiger,' I'd ended up with a duckbill and a platypus' tail growing out of my head. Once I told them I was pregnant, Derek had scarred Sid into not singing anymore. I definitely missed Derek's singing, though.

I don't know what brought that on...am I getting sentimental?

Derek was up front, talking to Manny.

My father. The voice I'd never hear again. My mother. The second half of the whole. How their melodies had blended together. Perfect harmony—at least to my ears. And to others. I'd never heard anything like it, nor will I again. Talatha and Hunter Clearwater. Without meaning to, I'd started crying.

"Alice? What is it?" It was Ellie. Against my better judgment, I'd began to like her, "Are you okay?"

"Yah, I'm fine," I wiped a tear.

"Missing Sid?"

"Yes. Even his singing."

Ellie laughed.

"Missing shape-shifting?"

"You have no idea."