For the fifth morning in a row, Maisie came to my room to sneak under the sheets beside me. I remembered a time when I was able to wake up at six in the morning without feeling drowsy in the slightest, but I mostly used this freedom to watch cartoons in secret. Maisie, however, thought that she was getting away with something by sneaking between me and Owen.

But mostly me, if I'm being honest.

She would tiptoe across the carpet, lift the covers, and slither between my arms. Once or twice, I gave her a squeeze just to let her know that I was aware of her presence. She often responded with, "I love you, Mummy." The little rascal knew that I couldn't kick her out after that.

This morning, however, I thought to ask a question.

"Maisie, are you having nightmares?"

She shook her head.

"I dream about the sinking, sometimes, and scary dinosaurs a lot more than that. Eli, once. But I like being near you, that's all."

I nuzzled her cheek.

"Maisie, we can't do this every morning."

"Why not? Don't you want me?"

I snorted.

"Don't try to guilt-trip me. You're cute, but I'm not that gullible."

She smiled and gave me a hug.

"Will you let me stay if I bring you a rat?"

I frowned sternly.

"We agreed, no more rats. Just oats from now on."

"I won't tell Owen."

I felt the blankets shift.

"I can hear you, you know."

Maisie flinched.

"Oops."

Owen sat up in bed, yawning.

"You can give Claire frozen rats, but nothing live. Lord knows, we have enough to deal with, being banned from the pet store, and all . . ."

Maisie pouted, rubbing my snout.

"She's hungry . . ."

I licked her cheek.

"Listen to Owen. A treat is fine every once in a while, but you shouldn't be spoiling me like this."

"But Mom-"

I poked her with my front horn.

"Don't argue, or I'll have to give you a bath."

"You need a rat more than I need a bath!"

I quirked a brow.

"You asked for it!"

She screamed with glee as I started licking her face. She giggled and pushed my snout away.

"Okay, okay! No more rats."

I hate to admit it, but part of me was disappointed that she'd given in so easily. Of course, I could settle for our usual play-sessions, where she had me chase string and whatnot. It wasn't much of a challenge, but it somewhat quenched my desire to hunt.

But not really.

Nothing could compare to that feeling of pouncing on a living creature, and I was realizing more and more that I would have to deal with a kind of withdrawal that came with abstaining from live-feeding. On top of that, the headaches were back. It wasn't a fun combination.

Other than those hiccups, however, things were pretty okay. Moonwatcher was gone, for one thing, which was amazing, and Owen had started warming up to the idea of a physical relationship. He hadn't said anything about it, of course, but now more than ever, I could smell the attraction on him.

There's no such thing as secrets when you're dating a dinosaur.

The downside to this was, of course, that Owen wasn't the only one giving off strong signals. I caught the same scent wafting off Eli every now and then, though it was masked by a thick layer of car-smell. Unlike Owen, who side-eyed me and checked me out when he thought I wasn't paying attention, Eli would emit attraction-smell at the weirdest things. Well, okay, not weird, per se, but unexpected, for sure. There'd be a burst of that sweet smell every time I said something nice to him, which, okay, that made sense, but other times, he'd just be looking into my eyes, and he'd smile like he was noticing something cute about the mannerisms I displayed while ranting about something . . .

. . . You know, if I had to guess.

And it took every ounce of my strength to prevent myself from thinking about him as a viable alternative to Owen, because of course he wasn't: he was Eli, and I couldn't just date Eli . . . even though Maisie was fairly comfortable around him now . . . and he tended to treat me better than Owen . . . and a part of me really, really wanted to-

(STOP IT, CLAIRE. STOP IT.)

Okay, I'm not gonna lie. The whole "sexual frustration" thing was getting to me, but I could sense that Owen was on the brink of deciding to go through with it, so I couldn't very well leave him when we were about to have a breakthrough in our relationship. As much as I was curious about where a relationship with Eli might go, I could still remember a time when Owen was the best part of my life, and as for the intimate stuff-

Well, it would be pretty hard to top him in that department.

And even though he wasn't fully accepting of my new shape, there were times when I'd catch glimpses of the way things used to be, and all of a sudden, I'd remember exactly why we belonged together, why this relationship was worth fighting for. Although he sometimes expressed his love in misguided ways, Owen would go to great lengths to ensure that I was safe and happy, and he had admitted that he was wrong about Dory, so that was progress . . .

. . . That being said, I couldn't come out and say, "I'd prefer to live as a dinosaur now, Owen."

And so, we were back to square one, and like I said, the sexual tension was killing me. Between this and my other instincts, I was having a hard time venting, and I had a feeling that things were about to go horribly wrong.

As usual, I soon realized that my anxieties were only the tip of the iceberg.

Or the tip of the broken-up ice sculpture of Bryce Dallas Howard, if you will.

***TSJWFKFEW***

I didn't regret freeing the dinosaurs on the Titanosaur, but I had to admit, it was difficult integrating them into their new environment. The dinosaurs of my world's Isla Nublar had been wild animals up until a few months ago, and as such, it was difficult to socialize them properly. The dinosaurs of this other Isla Nublar were basically people, and had been living as such for quite some time. And I hated to admit it, but I wasn't well-versed on dinosaur rights. I had made the mistake of talking down to them many times, but there were also instances where I tried to talk about them as if they were the same as humans, which was also bad. They had their own needs, etcetera, and denying that in the name of holding up humanity as the golden standard was pretty biased. Even though I considered myself a dinosaur now, I still had to shake some of that conditioning.

None of this was helped by the fact that the dinosaurs had somehow appointed me their leader. Or maybe not their leader, exactly, but their guidance counsellor, I suppose. I guess it made sense, since I was one of the people fighting for their rights back home, but I thought of them as animals when I did so, and things weren't the same anymore. I was struggling to offer them advice, while coming to terms with my own situation in private. I was still going back and forth on whether I was dead set on staying a dinosaur, because a very small part of me wanted to hold onto the past. To be honest, that feeling was fed not by my own desires, but by the fear that I'd be judged for my choice. By society, by my friends, and especially by Owen. Even though he was conflicted as well, I knew that he was teetering on the opposite side of the spectrum as me. He didn't much like the fact that I was hanging out with natural-born dinosaurs either, which is why there was an air of smugness about him when he showed me a bloody handprint next to a red stain in the dirt behind the garage.

"They're going wild, Claire."

I swallowed, rubbing my foot against my leg.

"There's no proof that it was one of my dinosaurs."

"Who else could it be? It can't possibly be Moonwatcher, since she's trapped on an island somewhere."

"She could be lying to us," I suggested.

"I don't think she'd kill a child and not tell us."

"A child?!" I gasped.

"Yes, the handprint is too small to belong to an adult."

I batted my eyes.

"Oh. I thought Moonwatcher might have added the handprint to let us know that she's still around, but . . . I dunno. I don't think a child died here."

"You don't think the handprint belongs to the victim?"

"No."

"Does it smell different?"

I scratched behind my frill.

"Um, yes. It does. The blood isn't from a human."

"So where-"

"Tufted deer. It's from a tufted deer. They're native to this island."

He frowned.

"Claire, I know. I worked at Jurassic World for several years, just like you."

I shrugged.

"Some things are different in this world. But I've seen the deer around."

"Ah. Can you sniff out the culprit, then?"

I shook my head quickly.

"The blood is covering every other scent."

Owen narrowed his eyes.

"Claire, if this involves Eli-"

"What?! No! It wasn't Eli!" I barked.

"You don't have to protect him, Claire."

I glared at him.

"I think I'd be able to smell gasoline over blood, and besides, Eli can't even eat regular food."

"A raw deer carcass isn't exactly 'regular food', Claire."

"You know what I mean."

I snorted.

"Eli isn't behind this. I know he's not."

"How can you be sure? Are you positive you can trust him?"

"Yes!"

"Then why is the scene of the crime right next to the garage?"

"He only comes here for tune-ups."

"And when was his last tune-up, exactly?"

Suddenly, Eli rounded the corner.

"It ended five minutes ago, actually."

Owen crossed his arms.

"Convenient."

Eli twisted his mouth.

"Truth be told, it was a strain on my schedule, and I was hoping to get through it without hearing you talking behind my back. Why would you even-"

He noticed the bloodstained dirt, and his face fell.

". . . Oh. I see. Look, I didn't do this. I can't even eat animals."

I held out my arms.

"I told him that, but he refuses to listen! And he tried to accuse the dinosaurs, too!"

Eli sighed.

"Don't be such a pain in the ass, Owen."

He turned his head saltily.

"Well, you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?"

My jaw dropped.

"Owen!"

He uncrossed his arms.

"What?"

"You can't say those things!"

"Oh, come on. It's just Eli."

I slapped my tail against the ground.

"It's the principle, Owen! Zia told me that no matter how much you dislike someone, you should never, ever attack their sexuality."

"Why not?"

"Because it hurts everyone who shares that feature, not just them."

"But-"

"Owen! Just listen to me, okay?"

He looked from me to Eli, and back to me, then stormed off. I sighed with defeat.

"What am I gonna do? . . ."

"He'll figure it out eventually," Eli offered.

"Maybe I should have Zia explain it to him."

"Doesn't she work at Isla Taco now?"

"Only on weekends. But I'm sure she'd be willing to help me out. She had a song prepared, last time."

Eli's eyes widened.

"Oh. I kind of want to know what that was like."

"Feel free to ask her, I guess."

"Nah. She doesn't like me much."

After a long pause, Eli inhaled through his nostrils.

"You know I'm not responsible for this, right? . . ."

"I know."

Eli nodded.

"Alright. I'm sorry you've been dealing with so much, lately. If there's any way I can help . . ."

"Do you think you could watch over the dinosaurs in my place?"

"Sure. They seem to like me well enough, all things considered . . ."

"Yeah."

He smiled warmly.

"Do you know what Blue said the other day?"

"What?"

"I asked her how close she was with Owen, since he went back to the island to rescue her. She said, 'He didn't go because of me. He went because of Claire'. I know life has been better, but don't ever doubt that there are people who love you, even if they show it in funny ways."

I tossed my head gently.

"Yeah, well, those 'funny ways' have a 'way' of breaking me."

Eli nodded sadly, but perked up after a beat.

"Hey, do you think it was Blue who did this?"

"No."

"Well, if it was, can you imagine how Owen would react? His own raptor, hah! This must be the weirdest episode of 'Blue's Clues' I've ever seen! Do you think there's more bloody handprints lying around?"

He laughed, but stopped when he saw the look on my face.

"I'm sorry. Bad time to make jokes?"

"I know who did this, Eli."

His eyes went wide.

"Who?"

"I can't tell you."

"Alright."

"But I'm concerned."

He tapped his claws together.

". . . Should I be afraid of this killer? . . ."

"No. Definitely not. But something weird is going on."

"Yeah. There's dry blood down there. Unless you meant-"

"The handprint. It wasn't there before. Someone added it after the fact."

"Weird."

"And it's a child's hand."

Eli cocked his head.

"Oh, really? I think I've lost my sense of scale, being a dinosaur and all."

"It's Maisie's."

"Maisie's?" Eli echoed.

"Yes. She put it there. I don't know why, but she rubbed her hand in the blood and pressed it against the wall."

Eli leaned down to examine the handprint.

"Why would she do something like that?"

"I don't know. She might be trying to shift the blame."

"To herself?"

"I don't know. Maybe she was expecting them to go looking for a human."

"So it was a dinosaur who did it?"

"Yes, it was."

"One of ours?"

"No."

"Then wh-"

"I said I couldn't tell you."

He winced.

"Can I at least know why? Are you protecting one of your friends? Because you know I wouldn't-"

"Eli."

He nodded.

"Okay. I won't pry."

He turned around slowly, then looked over his shoulder.

"See you later. I hope things improve, but if not, you can always come to me, for what it's worth."

I nodded vacantly.

"I know."

"Bye."

"Bye."

***TSJWFKFEW***

That night, I planned a dinner with Zia and Owen, hoping to clear up the etiquette issue. I could understand why Owen was hesitant to accept Eli, but behaving in this manner was a step too far. On the way to the restaurant, Owen and I crossed paths with the yellow dragon and a winged stegoceratops-looking creature, who emerged from a glowing portal, the other side of which showed a fierce thunderstorm. As the dinosaur shook herself off, the dragon tapped her foot with annoyance.

"I told you not to get your feathers wet! It puts a terrible strain on the poor, underpaid Korean animators!"

The dinosaur rolled her eyes.

"Well, you should have let me leave before the world started collapsing."

"You didn't leave me much time. Anyway, do you feel better now?"

"A little. I think I've stopped blaming myself, anyw-"

She caught sight of us, and froze in her tracks. As she stared at me, I couldn't help but wonder why she looked so familiar. I'd definitely never seen her before. I would have remembered.

After a pause, she came back to life.

"You're . . . You're the new ones."

I nodded uncertainly.

"I don't think we've met. What's your name?"

"Lily," she squeaked.

"Queen Lily," the dragon corrected, "She's the ruler of this world, and of all others."

I scanned the trembling blob of a dinosaur. Somehow, I couldn't picture her as the leader of any world. The dragon noticed her nervous disposition as well, and elbowed her gently.

"Hey. Don't be weird about this. We have closure, don't we?"

She nodded shakily.

"It's just weird seeing them again."

"They look different, don't they?"

"That's not the problem."

Owen cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry if we've caused trouble by coming to your world. We didn't mean to-"

The Queen shook her head.

"No, it's not a problem. I'm glad you and M- Erm, Claire? Do I call you 'Claire'?"

I laughed nervously.

"That's my name . . ."

She gulped.

"Right. Claire. Oh god, that feels weird."

She shook her head.

"Anyway, it was nice seeing you, and . . . bye!"

She waddled away hurriedly. I watched her leave, then looked up at the dragon.

"Did we say something wrong?"

She shook her head.

"I can explain later. Where's Moonwatcher?"

"On an island in the middle of the Pacific eating the remains of Céline Dion."

She clicked her tongue.

"Not surprised. Have a nice evening."

And she flew away without further explanation.

***TSJWFKFEW***

The evening went as planned. Zia lectured Owen about the various reasons why his actions were unacceptable, then moved into a broader discussion about sexuality when he asked, and I quote, "Who's this 'Dorothy' you guys keep talking about?" which was his second worst question, next to, "What's up with you guys and fake lawns? I mean, I'm no fan of astroturf either, but-"

Yeah, it was a long night.

As promised, Zia ended with a song, which I hoped was a concise enough explanation for Owen's taste. Having sat through it before, I took the opportunity to step outside for some fresh air. The sky was almost dark, and the grass felt cool on my feet. It reminded me of my family's cabin, only the air was more humid, and I could hear distant roars. I circled the restaurant a few times before pressing my ear against the wall to check if Zia was still going.

"-So aces can be straight or gay

Or neither, if they feel that way

And everyone belongs here, and it's really, really great

Unless they're straight."

That was only the third verse. I still had time to myself.

I sighed and leaned against the building, sliding backwards onto my rear. I curled my tail around my waist and held it in my paws, playing with the spikes idly. A sharp snap caught my attention. I tapped my toes against the ground. The delicate sound waves bounced back to me, and I saw the silhouette of a tufted deer. Glancing from side to side, I lowered myself to the ground.

I still had time.

Before the deer could so much as shriek, I was upon it. It wasn't used to being prey, so the chase wasn't exceptionally thrilling, but it was enough to get my heart pumping. I took a second to relish the feeling of flesh between my teeth before dropping the corpse. Only then did I notice that I wasn't alone. I looked up in alarm, meeting the gaze of my former enemy.

"Dory, I-"

"You need to stop, Claire."

I bit my lower beak, then stamped my foot.

"Fine talk, coming from you! You almost killed me and my friends!"

"And you've come close, too. But we're both better than this. We just need to be given a chance. There are people who love you. Don't lie to them."

My beak quivered.

"But I can't stop these feelings. They're too strong."

"Then express them safely. Don't hide it from the people who are doing their best to support you."

"But if I tell them, they'll leave me."

"Then you must choose between that and living a lie."

I was about to argue with him, but suddenly, the restaurant doors swung open. I licked the blood off my lips, and Dory reached down to grab the deer. I assumed he was going to drag it away, but instead, he shook it back and forth. Confused, I took a step back.

"Claire!"

I jumped at the sound of Owen's voice. Wheeling around, I trembled like a leaf.

"O-Owen! I was-"

Dory shoved me to the side.

"There's no use hiding it. He knows. Send me away to Sorna with the wild dinosaurs. That's where I belong."

Dory held my gaze, and for a moment, I was sure that I couldn't let him take the fall. But that was exactly what happened.

"I'm sorry. I've failed you."

And I meant it.

Dory shook his head.

"It's not your fault. But it's up to you to stop this from happening again."

I nodded, tears stinging at my eyes.

"I understand."

I looked over my shoulder, then lowered my head and closed my eyes.

"You'll be sent out tomorrow morning on the first boat to Sorna."

I had done a lot of shitty things lately, but that was probably the worst. I tried to tell myself that it was fine, because Dory had sacrificed himself for me, but I knew that this was my fault to begin with, and nothing would change that, no matter how much I tried to justify the details. I slunk home with Owen by my side. As we made our way to the hotel room, I paused by Maisie's door.

"I'm gonna say goodnight. You go on ahead."

"She's probably asleep."

"I don't think so."

Owen shrugged and moved away from me. I opened the door, and sure enough, Maisie was sitting on her bed. She looked up at me with tired eyes.

"Did he find out?"

It took all of my strength to stop myself from crying.

"No, he didn't find out."

I limped towards her, then sat on the floor by her feet. She knelt beside me.

"Did I do good?"

I shut my eyes tight, and a single tear squeezed its way out.

"Maisie, I've done a terrible thing."

"It was just a deer."

"I lied. I lied to you, and I lied to Owen, and-"

"I can keep your secret."

I covered my face.

"No, Maisie, I have to tell him."

"No! I don't want him to send you away!"

I wiped my eyes and gave her a hug.

"Maisie, I promise, no matter what happens, I won't leave you. We'll never be apart. Never."

She squeezed my neck.

"I'm afraid . . ."

I wished I had the strength to lie one more time, but I wasn't so fortunate.

"Me too."

***TSJWFKFEW***

After a sleepless night, I wandered down to the docks to bid my double goodbye. I tried to talk him out of leaving, but he said that it was too late, but we would keep in touch. It was strange to feel so torn up about the departure of a creature who had once been my worst enemy, but I suppose after what happened with Eli, I was building up a tolerance for that kind of thing. Maybe people like us were more common than we thought. Maybe we just needed a chance to be good. And maybe the only reason we didn't believe we had that chance was because we felt so alone . . . but we weren't. We had each other.

I felt sick to my stomach watching Dory sail away, but part of me was hopeful that he'd be happy on Sorna. The island was populated with far fewer of his past victims, at least.

Even though I was feeling under the weather, I managed to attend my training session in the afternoon. Owen went through the usual exercises, and repeating those same patterns was like sleepwalking to me. I grew more and more tired, wearing down like a rock being beaten by the waves, and I could tell that I wouldn't make it through the day, so I stood very still. Owen walked up to me with concern.

"Claire?"

"I'm not feeling well."

"That's okay. We can pick up tomorrow."

I grabbed my head as it started throbbing.

"I can't come back tomorrow, either."

He backed away.

"Take as much time as you need. When you're feeling better, we can try again."

"I don't want to."

"Claire, you just agreed to start training again, and if you ever want to be cured-"

"I DON'T!"

I was just as surprised by my outburst as Owen was, but I kept going.

"I'm a dinosaur! And if you can't accept that, it's your problem, not mine."

Owen's face hardened. He nodded slowly.

"Fine, Claire. You want to be a dinosaur? Go ahead. But don't forget what that means."

He marched over to the wall and unlatched the gun. He took aim with one arm. The laser fell on Maisie, who was watching from the catwalk. My heart thumped in my chest.

"Owen, d-"

BREEBREEBREEBREEBREE!

In an instant, I was snarling and snapping at Maisie, though she was way too high for me to reach. She stumbled backwards, then scampered away, screaming through tears. I followed her all the way to the end, and when she was out of sight, I tried climbing the wall. Eventually, the desire to pursue my target wore off, and I fell to the ground, huffing with exhaustion. I turned to glare at Owen.

"How dare you-"

"I'm just reminding you why we need to fix-"

"There is no 'we'. We're through!"

He scoffed.

"Claire, don't be-"

I swiped my tail against his legs, knocking him to the ground.

"Shut up! I hate you!"

He stood up, brushing himself off.

"Yeah, well . . . The Claire I knew died in that car crash, and I'm done trying to save her. I shouldn't have wasted my time on you in the first place."

"No, you shouldn't have."

I could have said more, but I didn't. Instead, I marched out of the pen, slamming my paw against the button as I left. On the way out, I noticed Maisie shivering against the outer wall, and took a step towards her. When she crawled away from me in panic, I faltered, and instead ran into the field, far from that awful, awful place. As I made my way down the road, I passed a gas station. Eli was just pulling out, and rolled up to me with worry.

"Claire? What's going on?"

"Leave me alone!" I screamed through tears.

"Claire!"

"Go away!"

He fell back, letting me charge through the jungle. I could feel him watching me as I left. I didn't stop for him, or for anybody. I raced past Franklin, Perry, and god know who else on my way to nowhere. I finally had to stop when I reached the beach. I skidded to a halt in the wet sand, staring out to where the water met the sky. Slowly, I became aware of the crash of the waves, and the feeling of wet sand on my feet. I looked down, then shifted one of my paws. It left claw-marks in the sand. The tide washed my footprint away. I stepped in the same place, making another indentation, which also disappeared. I continued to do this again and again. Every time, the shape was the same. I knelt down and pressed my forehead against the sand.

I wept with relief.