Sienna was seriously disappointed when she climbed from the back of the car. She had caught glimpses of trunks and buildings in the headlights, but they got out into a very ordinary looking garage. Four walls. Tools on the wall. A workbench. And the car obviously. Not a lot of space other than that. At least there was a couch opposite the bench. Maybe she could have a little nap. She had slept in the transport, but it just hadn't seemed enough. Ethan burst out behind her, and judging by his face was equally disappointed. Blue was already out, sniffing every corner she could find.

Sienna didn't know where they were to go or what they were to do, so she just hovered, awkwardly. When she thought he wasn't looking she took the chance to stare at Josh. He really did look like all the scientists, but he was so young. Almost as young as they were. Like the people in the clips from the beforetime. She wasn't very good at being discrete though and he caught her more than once. Each time, he ran his fingers through his hair. There wasn't a lot of it, shorter even than Audrey's. On top anyway. Why was she analyzing his hair? She never gave Ethan's or the doctors' hair any thought ever.

"We could wait until later to raise Blue up on the platform. Once the neighbours are asleep. Unless we can leave her in here?" Sienna wasn't sure what the platform was that Josh was talking about, but she doubted Blue would be happy to be locked in here if they were out there.

"Blue should be fine in here," Faren cut in. "She'll be able to sense the kids aren't too far away… though she may want to see where they are, not just smell them." Faren rubbed their chin with their thumb. "She's been trained to be away from them during the day in the facility, but now that they're out… she's pretty clever, she could break out of here looking for them… maybe we should wait until later."

"We'll need to put the barriers up on the platform if we take her up," Audrey cut in. "That thing isn't exactly an easy ride. Harder with claws on your feet."

"That's not a problem," Josh said, his eyes flicking to Sienna. She darted her own eyes away too quickly to see his lingering on her feet, before returning them to Audrey. "I made a new barrier that stays up most of the time. It's annoying to take down when we need to but it's much safer than the old one."

"Good, good," Audrey murmured. Sienna tuned out of their conversation. She didn't care where they were. She hadn't noticed a house or any building other than the garage, so she wasn't sure where there was to go. She eyed the couch wondering if she could sit on it. Ethan beat her to it. He threw himself down so he was lying taking up the whole space.

That decided her. She sat on his legs.

"Sienna!" he whined. "I was here first!"

"You can't take the whole couch!" She wiggled so the bones in her bum would annoy him.

"Get off!" he growled so loudly the adults turned to them.

Sienna leapt to her feet, face flushing that everyone saw her being so childish. Audrey! Josh! Dr. Santos didn't count. They was used to it.

Fortunately, Ethan seemed equally mortified and drew his legs up as soon as they were free. Awkwardly, Sienna, sat back down, using her body to hide her hand and she gave him a sharp pinch. He grunted, but not loudly enough to give her away.

"Are you kids going to be alright if we leave you here alone for a little while?" Dr. Santos asked.

"I'm not sure I want to leave them alone after all they've been through."

"We'll be fine," Sienna cried. She wanted them to know that "all she had been through" wasn't that big a deal.

"I'll come back down in a minute with some food. Do you like books?"

Both Ethan and Sienna nodded. "I'll see if I can find something good for you."

The adults left through a smaller door at the back of the building and for the first time, since being found, Sienna and Ethan were alone.

"I think they're good people." Ethan stated after they had sat silently for a couple of minutes, each in their own thoughts. Ethan had clearly been thinking similar things to her.

"I think so too."

"What do you think will happen next?" Sienna thought about all the stories she had read and watched. Most of them had the strange girl falling in love with a normal boy and their love fixes everything. Either the girl becomes normal or they find a place where everyone is strange. She didn't think either of those were going to happen any time soon. In fact, she was worried. She had seen a lot more stories where the weird kid got treated badly. She couldn't tell Ethan that though.

"I think Dr. Santos and Audrey will find a home for us. Where we will have friends, and there will be dinosaurs for Blue and lots of sky."

Ethan sighed. "I don't think it's going to be that easy." Beneath his fringe, his lips puckered in the right hand corner. It was his worried mouth.

"Maybe not," she leaned over and ruffled his hair.

"Quit it!" he interrupted, swiping her hand away. She removed it, but continued talking:

"But we have to believe we can find a home. Somewhere better than the compound."

"I hope you're right."

A few minutes later, the back door opened and Josh entered. He had the straps of a bag in his fist which he placed on the bench. "I hope you two like adventure stories." He glanced over his shoulder as he laid everything out from inside the bag. Both Sienna and Ethan crossed the room to see what he had brought. "It's just sandwiches. I didn't want the neighbours looking down and thinking there was something weird happening."

Sandwiches sounded amazing! After eating protein bars for two days any type of real food would be awesome.

"Yum!" Ethan yelled grabbing the closest one. "Not for you, Blue!" he swatted their companion away. Obviously Blue needed to investigate also.

"Here," Josh removed the lid of a container, only just withdrawing his fingers in time. Blue had already emptied it of the raw steak that was inside. "I thought she might like that." Blue removed herself a little to chew on her meat. She still watched them carefully between bites though. "And I have a couple of books for you. We thought it might be best for you to wait until the neighbours go to bed before coming up to the house. I can stay here with you if you like. Or I can get Faren or Audrey to come back."

"We're fine," Sienna had already picked up one of the books and was reading the blurb on the back. "Blue will look after us." She grabbed the unclaimed sandwich with the other hand and was already on her way back around the car to the couch.

"Right, then. I guess I'll leave you to it."

Ethan had grabbed the other book and raced to beat her back to the couch. "Stay away from my side!"

Sienna took her eyes from the book long enough to roll her eyes at Josh, so he would know she wasn't as immature as Ethan. Then she slumped back down to read. Josh grabbed a screwdriver and slipped back out the door without either of them noticing.

"I think you can stop worrying that the kids think you deserted them." Josh dropped the screwdriver on the counter in the kitchen and rejoined the others in the living room. He dropped into a recliner facing Faren. Audrey was stalking backwards and forwards across the room, like a caged tiger. "They barely noticed me once they had books in front of them!"

"That sounds like my kids," Faren laughed proudly.

"I got onto your mum," Audrey cut in. "She'll be home soon and knows not to put the car in the garage."

Josh nodded. He had worried about the explosion if Blue and his mother encountered each other unexpectedly.

"I'm glad the kids are fine." Her voice was quiet as if she wasn't really paying attention to him.

"You know you haven't touched your sandwiches." Josh prodded. Apparently he wasn't the only one she wasn't noticing.

"Oh yes." She sat down and picked one up. It didn't quite make it to her mouth before she was up pacing again.

Josh had no idea what the two adults had been talking about while he was ground level, but he doubted they were having much success with what to do. Seriously, what did they think they were going to do with a dinosaur girl and a velociraptor? Maybe if they found clown shoes for her, people might not notice, but they'd have to lose their pet. Whatever. It wasn't Josh's problem. He got out his notebook and tried to turn his thoughts to the elasmosauri pair, but they kept coming back to the two kids and dinosaur in the garage. Neither adult made things any easier, both lost in their own thoughts.

Josh was relieved when his mother finally arrived.

The story Aunty Audrey told was every bit as incredible as Josh had hoped. Genetic experiments on the kids, their escape, tracking them through the wilds. Soon, Josh hoped his mum would let him apprentice with her. He was more eager after this story, even if his mum was aghast at several points. And then they arrived at the predicament. What to do with two (Two! Ethan was a dino-kid too!) dinosaur kids.

"They are clearly human, then?" Josh's mum asked.

"I didn't even realise the boy was part dinosaur. They act just like regular kids." The fight over the couch reminded him of him and his mates.

"The corporation has no legal grounds to detail human beings. No matter what they did to them genetically." Faren and Audrey shared a glance.

"True," Faren flicked the end of their ponytail around their finger, then dropped it. "They will want to keep this quiet."

"I'm concerned about the lengths they will go to keep it quiet." Audrey said this in almost a whisper.

Josh froze. He had watched stories about evil corporations - they were some of his favourites. But would a real corporation kill a couple of kids and everyone who knew about them? It definitely wasn't legal to … detain children. But murder?

"And you brought this to my door?" His mother's tone was icy.

"They're children, Ruth."

Josh's mother buried her face in her hands. His mother might not be a badass like Audrey, but she was usually on top of everything.

"How many people would they stop at killing? Can we tell ten? Twenty?"

"You know I never play the odds, Ruth." That was true. In all her adventures, Aunty Audrey never took unnecessary risks.

"So we either tell everyone or hide them."

Um," Josh broke in. His aunty and mum always respected his opinions, but this was a conversation where they might not welcome his thoughts. "Shouldn't we ask the kids what they want?" Everyone's eyes looked at him. "Like, if we tell everyone, law enforcement, media, then those kids will be known wherever they go. They'll never have a normal life." Everyone was listening, so he continued. "And if they go into hiding, they will always be on the move, always hiding. They'll never have friends or a normal life that way either. But shouldn't they decide which way to ruin their lives?"

"What about blackmail?" Those words from his mother's mouth made Josh choke.

"I wouldn't want the kids to be a part of that decision." Had Aunty Audrey already considered blackmail?

"It still wouldn't solve all our problems."

Audrey still not sitting, crossed to the windows and peaked out. "I think the neighbours are asleep. Let's get the kids in here and we'll sleep on it tonight and hopefully by morning we have some other solutions."