Have you ever had to face the fact that your past self is a completely different person?

I have, and let me tell you, it's a nightmare of an experience.

It all started when Moonwatcher brought a stack of family photo albums to the hotel for me and my friends (minus Owen, who was at the zoo with Maisie) to flip through. How she got them, I would never find out, but she seemed to have an album for each of us. I was beyond asking why she had bothered to gather them in the first place, and I also didn't ask if this was some nefarious plot disguised as a fun activity. Moonwatcher could do whatever she wanted, and none of us had the power to stop her. At least this time, we could enjoy a fun bonding activity.

In theory.

Inside my own book were pictures from my childhood, and as I stared at my grainy, red-eyed self, it dawned on me that I would never have that body back. Not the body of a child, but the body of a human, the one I was born with. The body of Claire.

Those blurry photos depicted a lost object, or maybe a corrupted one. My current figure had quite literally been molded from my former shape, after all. But I looked nothing like my old self. And as much as I loved my dinosaur-ness, I realized that it came at a cost. No one could have imagined that that human girl would become a giant, scaly dinosaur that was capable of killing. I thought about how I had torn apart large game in the wild, staining myself with blood. It recontextualized my messy-faced baby pictures in a disturbing way. And then there were the later pictures, where I was a teenager, or an adult. I used to be attractive. Was I attractive for a dinosaur? I couldn't say for sure. And Owen probably couldn't tell either. He had fallen in love with my human body. Or, to put it less shallowly, he had fallen in love with me when I was a human. Either way, I looked very different now. He seemed to be attracted to me still, but what if he was just remembering the way I used to be? He couldn't possibly love me more. Oh, god, he was just settling for me, wasn't he?

Eventually, I realized that I had been staring ahead for quite some time, but as the world came back into focus, I saw Eli flipping through his own book. I had almost forgotten what he looked like as a human, but I can say with absolute certainty that as a teenager, he used to be a major dork, based on his high school photos. I found it kind of funny, but Eli had a very different reaction. I could see his lip quivering as he turned the pages, and I got the feeling that his reaction to his past mirrored my own. Perhaps he was even worse off than me. Come to think of it, he really hadn't indicated that he was at ease with his new body . . . like, at all. Sure, he took pride in his ability to drive people around, but for the entire time we were dating, he had never once indicated that he was comfortable this way. In fact, he had always made rather negative remarks about his appearance, which was why I often avoided telling him about how much I disliked the smell of gasoline on his breath, or how the whirring inside of him sometimes distracted me from what he was saying.

I suppose we had both lost quite a bit. Those photos, charming as they were, were a cruel reminder of what we had given up to be here. That perfect, idealized world where we could have grown up and started a regular family had vanished. We couldn't live like our parents, and while that was a good thing in many ways, it was also hard to let go of that simplified version of life. I was always told that my destiny was to find a man who loved me, marry him, and live a normal life. Obviously, I challenged the hegemony by focusing on my career, and I would've sworn up and down that I never needed to have a nuclear family to be happy, but now that that option was off the table, I felt cheated, in a way. And worse still, Maisie would never get to have the same kind of childhood that I had been blessed with. She had been forced to grow up so fast . . . and it was mostly my fault. Leaving her was the biggest mistake that I had ever made, and that was saying something. And then there was Owen, who had his own issues to take care of. Come to think of it, we weren't exactly a functional couple when we adopted her. Maybe we were neglectful parents.

This notion almost made me want to give up entirely, but I stopped myself from pursuing that line of thought. That was the same self-destructive behavior that had caused me to run away in the first place. Maisie needed me, and even if I hadn't always been my best self, I owed it to her to become that person now.

I gave a little jump as Eli closed his book with a loud thump.

"I don't know if I want to reminisce anymore," he stated flatly.

I turned to look up at his watering eyes, trying hard to convey my sympathy.

"Eli, I know that things have changed a lot, and we're not the same people we used to be-"

"I was a piece of shit before I changed, and now I'm a car. Maybe I could have had a happy life, but I fucked up, and now I'm here. I wish I could go back in time and slap myself."

"Eli . . ."

"How pathetic am I? I have to drink gasoline every day to stay alive, but my life is still better than it was before I became barely-a-person. This is all there is for me."

"Eli, don't-"

"I'm a failure. I'm a murderer. I'm a piece of scrap metal. If I could do it all over, I would, but I'd probably just screw it up again. I don't know why I'm even here."

"Here, in this building? . . ." Franklin asked cluelessly.

"No, existentially," Eli huffed, "I don't know if I was put on this planet for a laugh, or to make everyone miserable-"

"You weren't put on this planet," Moonwatcher interrupted.

Eli frowned.

"Well, why did you bring me here, then? Seems like I don't serve a purpose."

"Plus, he was basically dead in the other world," Gunnar said coldly.

Zia kicked him.

"Gunnar! You were dead, too!"

"Because of him."

The room seemed to get a lot colder.

"We're none of us innocent," Wheatley grumbled dismissively, "But there comes a point when you gotta say, 'Hey, I know I've done bad things, but that Radio Shack isn't going to get un-robbed, so I may as well hook up this junk to my sex doll and pray that it works."

We all stared at him for a moment. After a beat, Franklin cleared his throat.

"Okay, before that got weird, I was sensing a bit of tension between some of us. Can we maybe not fight? I don't like it when we fight."

Eli sighed.

"Seems like I'm the problem here. What else is new."

I held his paw.

"Eli, come on. Lots of people are better off for having known you. I wouldn't be the person I am today without you."

"Yeah, you'd be living a normal life as a human."

I let my paw drop from his. Seeing my expression, he sighed.

"I'm sorry, Claire. I don't think there's anything wrong with the way you are now. I'm glad you're happy, but I didn't give you a choice. Even if things worked out for you, it was still a crappy thing for me to do."

"Well, it wasn't directly your fault."

He shook his head.

"Doesn't matter how direct it was. We all know it happened because of me. I ruined so many lives, and I don't know if I can even begin to-"

"Eli, you didn't ruin my life, and you don't owe me anything."

He met my gaze.

"I owe you a lot, Claire. But I'm not sure if I can do anything except keep living, and hope that things work out in the end."

"You're underselling yourself. You're a great man."

"If you can even call me-"

"I can, because you are. You may be made of metal, but you're a real person. A good person. If you don't like the way you look, I wish you'd at least realize how important you are to me, and to everyone who knows you."

He exhaled slowly.

"Alright. But I wish I was . . . not this."

I pressed my forehead against his side gently.

"I know. But you're still you."

He chuckled softly.

"Not a very comforting thought."

I rolled my eyes.

"Eli, can't you just accept a compliment, for once?"

He shook his head.

"Nah, I don't feel like I deserve them. But I'll try to remember what you told me."

"Are you also going to remember what you did to me?" Gunnar snapped.

I whipped my head around to face him.

"That's enough! I've tolerated this for far too long! Look, I know that not all of us can be friends, but for those of us who are, it's really not fun when you butt heads."

Gunnar crossed his arms sourly, mooing with anger.

"Well, maybe we shouldn't all hang out at once, then."

Wheatley snorted.

"Fat chance, since those two were banging a few months ago."

Franklin, who had been in the middle of drinking a glass of water, promptly spat out a thin cloud of mist.

"Whoah, you can't just say that!"

Wheatley shrugged.

"We're all thinking it, right? I mean, there's the coward, the lesbian, and the horny dinosaur, but the car doesn't fit into that group."

"Please don't ever call me 'the horny dinosaur'," Gunnar muttered.

Wheatley shrugged.

"Point being, you guys have a trio plus Claire, but she has them romantic entanglements with the car and what's-his-face."

"I know you know his name!" I spat, "And for the record, this is why you're not in any friend group."

"Hey, I'm friends with plenty of people. But you guys are all messed up. And I think it's mostly the fault of the only one of you whose relationship chart features both sex and murder, respectively . . . I hope."

Eli lowered his head.

"Ken, I know I've done bad things-"

"And the rest of us know it, too. Why are you so drawn to the people you hurt? I mean, hell, the only real friend you have is the guy whose girlfriend you fucked, and you're still trying to repair things with the man you killed. How does that work?"

"It doesn't," Gunnar hissed.

Eli stared out at the faces of his peers, most of them hostile, then suddenly stood to leave. He didn't say anything before rolling through the automatic doors. I glared at my companions, then stormed out, too. I could see Eli driving down the path, but he seemed like he wasn't in a talking mood, and to be honest, neither was I.

I turned away from my ex and started what would undoubtedly be a very long walk through the jungle.

***TSJWFKFEW***

I'm going to be honest with you. I've never been good with dinosaurs. Not just being around them, though that's also an issue, but I'm just not that knowledgeable about them in general. Sure, I learned a few fun facts working alongside them, but unless we're talking about practical things that I had to know about the dinosaurs on our park manifest, I'm pretty clueless. I mean, sure, I can tell you exactly how many female Triceratopses you can keep in a small enclosure without a fight breaking out (six, by the way), but ask me what time period they lived in, and I blank. I'm inclined to say Tri-assic because they're Tri-ceratopses, but please don't laugh at me if I'm wrong. Lowery used to do that every fucking day. This one time, I got Utahraptor and Dakotaraptor confused, and when I told him that it didn't matter because they're both raptors named after states, he went on and on about how one of them was the biggest raptor there ever was, blah, blah, blah. And I still can't remember which one he was talking about. Maybe I can guess based on which state is bigger? No, that can't be right. They're named after where they're found. Let's just say that Dakotaraptor is the bigger one. I mean, I might be wrong now, but hey, they're always finding new fossils. Maybe they'll find some giant arm and I'll be retroactively correct.

Anyway, my point is that I can't always tell what a dinosaur's species is just by looking at them, which is why I assumed that the giant komodo dragon creature I spotted was some obscure dinosaur that I hadn't heard of. But as soon as I caught its scent, I realized that it smelled like something from another planet entirely. And it was wandering around aimlessly, so I figured I might need to keep an eye on it. Since we were in an open field, it saw me coming, and promptly covered its head, dropping to the ground and cowering in fear.

"Please don't hurt me! I just needed to get away from him!" she whimpered.

I cocked my head and moved closer.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I don't even know who you are."

She peeked through her fingers.

"We've met before. At least, I think-"

"You might be confusing me with another version of myself," I interrupted, "It's hard to explain, but most people who recognize me are thinking of another me."

"Right. You had feathery wings before."

"Then that's definitely the other me."

She sighed with relief.

"Right. I thought I might be misremembering, because I had forgotten about it until a few days ago. Did you know that we're living in a fictional story?"

"Yes, but I find it endlessly confusing . . ."

She grabbed my shoulders.

"This is where you belong, right? This is your world?"

"Not really . . ."

She let me go.

"If you're a traveller too, you must know about the place where the worlds meet."

"The what?"

She turned to me with excitement.

"I was walking through the desert, minding my own business, when someone came up to me. She was a big, yellow reptile, and she said, 'Don't panic. We've met before, but you don't remember.' And then she touched my head, and all these memories came flooding back! She told me that I had to go to the place where the worlds meet, because my story was over for now. It was so bizarre! There was a masked man who told me that from now on, I would live a happy life surrounded by my friends and family, even the ones who had died! I was so excited, but then I realized that everyone was back. See, there's this person whom I didn't want to meet up with again, because the last time we saw each other, it was kind of awkward, and then he died, and I was like, 'Okay, that's too bad, but ultimately convenient for me,' so how am I supposed to deal with him when we left things the way we did?"

"Um . . ."

"Anyway, then I remembered that I can turn into a Dewback for some reason, so I snuck through a portal and came here in disguise, and it worked out perfectly because everyone's a reptile here. Please don't blow my cover! I can't let anyone find out that I'm here. Not the man in the mask, not that Moondasher lady, and certainly not him."

I swallowed.

"I . . . okay? . . ."

She patted my back.

"Good lizard. Remember: you never saw me . . ."

She walked backwards, twirling her fingers mysteriously, then wheeled around and ran towards the jungle.

Obviously, I wasn't about to question it.

***TSJWFKFEW***

Well, after all that weirdness, I thought I had the rest of the day more or less to myself, because I had been planning a dinner with Zia, Franklin, and Gunnar, but things didn't go my way, as usual. Fifteen minutes into our meal, Moonwatcher burst into the restaurant and called Zia over. She explained that she needed a paleovet (in her words, "even a really crappy one"), and Zia followed her out the door, though she was quite pissy about the phrasing, of course. I thought that I could at least stay with Franklin and Gunnar, but it wasn't long before Moonwatcher came back.

"I'm going to need you, too."

"Why?"

"To find Owen."

My heart skipped a beat.

"Why do I need to find Owen?"

"He ran away."

I dug my claws into my palm.

"Moonwatcher, please explain what's going on so I don't have to keep asking questions!"

"Owen got into a fight with Eli. He left him bleeding by the garage."

Well, that was enough to get me running.

***TSJWFKFEW***

When I arrived at the scene, Eli was bleeding heavily from a gash on his neck. Zia had a towel pressed against it, but it wasn't doing much good.

"Does your gasoline clot?"

"I don't think so. Better tape it up."

Eli winced as Zia tended his wound. He met my gaze and smiled weakly.

"Sorry for interrupting your dinner. I didn't mean for Moonwatcher to bring you along too. I hope you're not still hungry . . . not that this would be enough to get you worked up. Have you ever seen a less appealing blood type than literal gasoline?"

"I wouldn't attack you, even if you were bleeding the regular kind of blood."

He bit his lip.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. I wasn't trying to imply that you'd act on your feelings."

"I know. But for the record, I'm barely having those thoughts anymore. Being forced to hunt for survival gave me a new outlook on the whole 'violence' thing."

". . . I imagine it would."

"Maybe we need to throw Owen into the woods for a while too."

Although I was joking, my tone was cold. Eli let out a long breath.

"Don't be too hard on him, okay? It wasn't entirely his fault. I egged him on, and-"

"He dealt the first blow, I bet."

Eli's brow creased with worry.

"Claire, I know what it looks like, but trust me, I went too far. I don't blame him for-"

"Are you sure you're not just being hard on yourself to protect him?"

"I'm sure. He shouldn't have snapped like he did, but I shouldn't have said what I said. And I shouldn't have kept fighting him. I was so angry . . . Can you tell him that I'm sorry? I'll tell him myself later, but I don't want him to think that I'm mad at him, until then."

"I'll tell him, if I can find him."

"He can't be too far, right? Maybe you can track his scent."

"All I smell is gasoline right now."

"Sorry."

I shook my head.

"Eli, you don't need to apologize for bleeding. Get yourself fixed up, okay? I'm going to find Owen and work things out."

As I turned to leave, I saw Gunnar rushing towards me. He looked panicked, and I could tell that this was going to be yet another crisis.

"Claire! Claire! There's an emergency! Glenn just came here from the other world, and he wants to buy a dinosaur. I told him that they're sentient here, but he's convinced that I have the power to sell them to him!"

"Just tell him that you're not in that business anymore," I huffed, trying to dodge him.

He stepped in front of me, blocking me with his massive body.

"I tried! He won't listen!"

"Then maybe distract him with your fast-talking bullshit!"

He snorted.

"Okay, first of all, I wasn't that kind of auctioneer. I'm not proud of what I did, but I was a professional, not some cartoon character. But Claire, I really need your help!"

"I'm busy."

"I know, but there's a lot at stake here. See, he spotted Franklin, and since he's familiar with horses, he has his heart set on purchasing him in particular!"

I put my paws on my hips.

"Gunnar, there's no way Franklin can be sold into slavery. It's highly illegal, and super racist, by the way."

"I know he has legal protection, but- Wait, why is it racist?"

"Because Franklin's black!"

". . . I legitimately did not know that."

"Gunnar, you can't be serious . . ."

He grunted.

"Look, I met him as a dinosaur, okay? And this is so not the point. He's in trouble, and we need to save him!"

When I didn't answer, Gunnar stamped his foot.

"Claire, you can't seriously be thinking about abandoning him when he's about to be sold to an American rancher, especially since he's from the South, and based on what you said-"

"What I'm actually thinking is that you've made me second guess myself. I just assumed that Franklin was black because he's like those nerds I saw on tv in the 80's, but he might be something else? . . ."

He frowned, unimpressed.

"Claire, you've known him for several years."

"Hey, I'm not the one about to sell him into slavery!"

"I'm trying to stop him from being sold into slavery, Claire, and for the last time, I need your help!"

I turned towards Owen's faint scent trail, then back to Gunnar. I didn't like the idea that I had to choose between my friend and my partner.

"Gunnar, keep him busy. I'll deal with your thing later, but until then, you can handle it."

"But-"

"Please."

And with that, I left him behind.

***TSJWFKFEW***

On my way to find Owen, I once again ran into a strange reptile. This one had tusks and elephant feet, but all the same, it had a similar smell to the giant lizard. I didn't want to get involved, but he blocked my path, and I wasn't about to mess with something that large.

"I require information."

I backed away quickly.

"Oh, what now! Look, I'm sorry, but I'm kind of b-"

"You may think that I'm a lowly Torbull, but I have more power than you could ever imagine. You are going to answer my question."

I swished my tail.

"Make it quick."

He cleared his throat.

"I'm looking for a Dewback. I followed her through a portal."

Uh-oh. I had really gotten myself involved in something strange.

". . . Why are you looking for her?" I asked, trying not to show my alarm.

"The last time I saw her, she strongly indicated that she was interested in a relationship, but then I died. Now that I'm back, I want to follow up on our last interaction."

I swallowed nervously.

"Um, can you think of any reason why she might not want to talk to you about that? . . ."

"I tried to murder her friends and destroy everything she loved, but that shouldn't matter because I'm showing an interest in her hobbies."

"Hobbies? . . ."

"Well, she turned into a reptile before coming here, so I did the same thing with the help of a dragon. I don't see the appeal, except that you don't have to wear clothes."

I curled my tail around my legs.

"Well, I'm no expert, but if I had to guess, I'd say that she was just trying to blend in? . . ."

"Oh. Then I know nothing about her interests. But once I find her, I'll ask."

I took a deep breath.

"If she decided to come here on her own, maybe she doesn't want to be found."

He glowered at me.

"That's ridiculous. The last time we spoke-"

"Listen, I'm going to be honest. I think you should give up and go home. I spoke to your lizard friend earlier today, and she said that she was avoiding someone. I'm pretty sure she was talking about you."

His lip quivered.

"You're lying . . ."

"I'm sorry, but I'm only telling you what she said. I think she just wants to be left alone."

After a pause, he lifted his head and started bawling. I flinched as he squealed miserably.

"WAAAAAAAAAH!"

I sat there awkwardly as he sniffled and snorted. He buried his snout in the dirt.

"I THOUGHT SHE LIKED ME!"

I patted his shoulder awkwardly.

"It's alright. You'll be okay. You just have to move on."

He whimpered.

"I don't want to!"

After a beat, he stood up and pointed at me.

"You. You're a woman. What can I do to make her like me?"

I glared at him.

"Well, if you hadn't mentioned that stuff about trying to kill her and her friends, I'd tell you to bring her flowers and write love songs, but-"

He patted my head.

"Good lizard. I'll do exactly that."

My eyes went wide as he lumbered away.

"Wait! I didn't mean that you should- Oh, forget it. I have my own problems to deal with."

I turned away and continued on my journey. I felt badly, leaving things like that, but I wasn't fit to be anyone's therapist, and I didn't enjoy being thrust into these bizarre conflicts.

Like I said, I was having enough trouble dealing with my own shit.

***TSJWFKFEW***

The island we currently inhabited was different from the Isla Nublar I once knew, but I had a general sense of where Owen might have run off to, and his faint scent confirmed my suspicions. I followed the trail to a waterside clearing. Owen's footprints shrunk to a human shape along the path, meaning he probably wasn't expecting another fight. When I finally spotted him, he was sitting between three trees. Two of them stretched out like giant canopies. Their branches almost looked like scribbles against the pale sky. The other tree was a sickly-looking thing with pale bark. I ran my paw over it as I walked past, realizing how empty this place looked without Owen's bungalow.

As I sat down beside him, Owen exhaled slowly, letting his legs splay out in front of him.

"It's funny, when things get really rough, at the very least, you can usually count on having a home to return to."

He looked out at the calm waters.

". . . but not me."

I bit my beak and laid my head on the ground beside his waist. After a moment of silence, Owen took a deep breath.

"I really fucked up."

I gulped.

"I'm sure Eli will forgive you if you apologize."

"You know that's not what I meant."

I shifted my paws to rest my chin on them.

"I mean . . . we don't have to break up over this."

"But what if we should? Seems like I just keep letting you down over and over, and we never really stop to ask ourselves if it's worth it."

"That's not true. I've thought about this a lot."

"Well, maybe you're not thinking clearly."

I lifted my head as he stood up to leave.

"Owen, don't-"

"Come on, Claire. We both know that I'm bad for you. Everyone does. Anyone with a lick of sense gave up on me years ago, and I don't see why we need to keep pretending that this is going to work out."

"Owen-"

"For Christ's sake, Claire! I can't even get into a fight with my best friend without tearing his face off, so what makes you think th-"

I shut him up with a kiss. When we broke apart, I looked into his eyes.

"I love you."

"I know you do, but that's no excuse."

I shrugged.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you, except . . . I love you."

After a pause, he sighed.

"I love you too, but I'm pretty bad at showing it."

I hummed.

"Well, I don't know. You've been better, recently."

". . . Have I?"

"You have."

He ran his fingers through his hair.

"I wish I could be as good as you think I am. I wish I could stop myself from ever letting you down."

"You haven't let me down."

"Well, I let Eli down, for sure."

"He said that he's not angry. I'm sure you can fix this, but I need to know . . . Were you fighting about me?"

He nodded slowly.

"What did you two say, specifically?"

Owen shook his head.

"I don't even remember. But I know that whatever it was that set me off, it shouldn't have."

"Are you jealous of Eli?"

He sat down again, heavily.

"Yes. He's a better man than I am, if I'm being honest. I can see what he's doing right, and I can see what I'm doing wrong, and if I tried, I could be like him, but . . . it would all be a lie, wouldn't it? I'm not a good person like he is. I'm garbage, and pretending I'm something better than trash is dishonest."

"Owen, you're not garbage, and there's nothing that makes Eli inherently good or inherently better than you. Being a good person means doing good things. There's nothing fake or deceitful about that."

"But Eli-"

"Eli isn't any different from you. You both have a chance to be good people, to do good things, but for some reason, you've convinced yourself that you're inherently bad, which isn't true at all. You two have both done shitty things, but as soon as you stop doing those shitty things and start acting decent . . . Well, that's what makes you a good person. Trying."

"Trying . . ."

"Yeah. No one is just 'good' without trying. We're defined by our actions, and our actions are defined by what we choose to be. You've come so far, Owen, and I know it's scary and frustrating and hard to get through, but you're doing it. You're better than you've ever been before, because you're trying so hard, and-"

I gasped as Owen wrapped his arms around me. More shocking still, I could feel tears slipping down his face and onto my chest.

"I'm sorry, Claire. I'm so, so sorry. I love you. I've always loved you. I'm so grateful to have you in my life."

I batted my eyes.

"Owen . . ."

He let his arms drop and wiped his nose, looking away awkwardly.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Why don't you say these things more often?"

He took a shaky breath.

"I-I don't know. I'm just afraid, I guess."

"You don't have to be. This is what I've been wanting from you since the beginning."

"An emotional breakdown?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Honesty, Owen. I wanted honesty."

He sniffled.

"Even if it means losing all respect for me?"

"Who said anything about that?"

"I just assumed that-"

I placed a claw over his lips.

"Enough, Owen. Forget everything you think you know. If we're gonna make this work, we need to start listening to each other instead of assuming things. We're on the same team."

"Yeah, I guess we are."

He rested his head on my chest. I purred. After a long silence, he let his arms slip from my shoulders.

"I should talk to Eli."

"You should. Like I said, he's not mad at you."

"Of course he's not. He's pretty great."

"Are you mad at him?"

"No."

"See? You're just like Eli. You both made a mistake tonight, but there's no reason you can't mend your relationship."

Owen smiled.

"Yeah. Eli's been a good friend to me. I wish I was a better friend to him."

"Well, the first step is-"

"Apologizing. I know. I'll meet you back at the hotel, okay? I won't be long."

I smiled and licked his cheek. He changed into his dinosaur form to cover more distance, but before he could leave, a third party joined our discussion.

"Can we have a word?"

I jumped five feet in the air as Moonwatcher appeared beside me. She watched as I arched my back instinctively.

"Sorry to sneak up on you like that."

"NOW YOU'RE SORRY?!"

She stared at me without changing her stoic expression.

"There's something I need to tell you. Follow me to the hospital."

"Is Eli okay?!"

"Eli is fine. I sent him home. I'm here to see you."

That wasn't a good sign.

"Is this about Franklin?"

"What?"

"Is Franklin in trouble because of me?"

"I haven't seen him. Why?"

"Well, someone named Glenn was hoping to buy him."

"Glenn, the guy who works for Rand Magnus? He left a while ago. I wouldn't worry about it."

"Oh . . . Well, if Franklin's safe, what's this all about?"

"Like I said, you need to follow me to the hospital."

"Alright. I'll go."

As Owen started to follow us, Moonwatcher held out her hand.

"Not you."

He gulped and backed away slowly.

Whatever this was about, I didn't like it one bit.

***TSJWFKFEW***

Well, my initial fear was that one of my friends had gotten into an accident, but Moonwatcher assured me that this wasn't the case. I didn't expect her to be so honest with me, and that made things even more anxiety-inducing. If she was fine with telling me that this wasn't about my friends, the actual reason for my visit must be far worse.

Moonwatcher brought me into the ultrasound room, locking the door behind us. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then showed me a screenshot of my ultrasound from the day of the watch incident. I couldn't figure out what I was looking at, but even though the saurian organs were unfamiliar, I saw something that definitely didn't belong inside of me.

"I don't know how to say this, so I think it's best to be straightforward. The results of your hormone sample gave me reason to believe that something was off, and the ultrasound confirmed it. You should probably start hunting for two."

"Hunting for two?"

"It's a dinosaur joke. It means you're Preggo my Eggo."

My eyes went wide. After a beat, Moonwatcher sighed with exasperation.

"It's a waffle joke. It's means you're pr-"

"I know what it means! But Owen and I have only been together for a short time. How could I get pregnant so soon?"

Moonwatcher gave me a serious look.

"You didn't."

And then the painfully obvious, soul-crushing truth dawned upon me. I wanted nothing more than to go back to the way things were a few minutes ago, before I had to worry about this dreadful revelation. This made things a million times more complicated, and I wasn't ready.

I wasn't ready.

"I'll let you go home now," Moonwatcher said quietly, "Tell Owen, and once you figure out a plan of action, I'll help you do whatever needs to be done."

I nodded vacantly. Guilt tore away at my gut, because I knew that- despite everything I said to Owen that day- I would be the first to break our agreement. I wasn't ready to be honest with him.

I couldn't tell him.

I rushed home in a frenzy, only I wasn't going home. I realized too late that I had taken another path, and I knew what I was about to do, but it was wrong, so wrong, and-

Eli stood when he saw me coming. He stared at me with concern, and I rammed into his chest, sobbing pathetically. He patted my head with uncertainty, fear wafting off him in delicate plumes.

"Claire, what's wrong? . . ."

"I'm pregnant! . . . I'm pregnant! . . ."

I didn't expect it to slip out so suddenly, but there it was. Eli frowned with confusion, then twisted his mouth.

"Well, that's not the end of the world. I can't imagine what you're feeling right now, but I'm sure Owen will understand-"

I shook my head fiercely.

"It's not his."

Eli froze. He said nothing as I continued to weep, but slowly, he sunk to his knees.

We sat there at the top of the hill, not knowing what to do.

Everything was dark beneath a moonless sky.