Everyone is loving this story! Thank you all!

I realized tonight that I updated Turtle Warriors and Enter the Highlands a day early ^_^' I thought it was Tuesday when I did that. SO! Extra chapter on EtH!

Review Replies:

Dinosaur Imperial Soldier: I love Jed and Oct ^_^ Definite all time favorites.

Wolfgirl: Of course Teddy and Sacagawea will be there :) I love those too together, and I totally ship them. And I can't wait for you guys to meet her too!

i am me: Thanks! Glad you like it!

Guest: Glad you do ^_^

I am I AM I AM: Glad you like it! And here is the extra chapter ^_^

Next time, I'll be back on normal-ish scedual. EtH will be updated on Tuesday like normal.

Heads up: Dragon's Sanctuary gets two more weeks before it goes on hiatus completely.

And now, it's time to see Claire meet everyone!

Chapter 3

Claire

As soon as night fell, Claire felt herself come to life. She stumbled forward to the railing and put her hand on it, staring down in surprise as the man on the horse and two dinosaurs come to life as well. Other people and animals came from different rooms in the house. Claire stumbled back and stood still, grasping her necklace in her left hand. She realized her sword was in her hand and sheathed it. Then she looked around for that Larry Daley fellow. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she saw him hurrying towards her.

"No, Lancelot, stay down there. I have to talk to her alone for right now." Larry explained, pausing to talk with a hidden man.

"Laurence!" A voice called from down below.

Larry sighed and hurried to the railing. "Yeah, Teddy?" He called.

"Take your time up there. I'll keep these guys in check." The man whom Claire assumed was Teddy called back.

"Thanks, Teddy! Keep an eye on Jed and Oct! They tried sneaking off today."

"We won't sneak off now, Gigantor." A man called. His accent reminded her of the cowboys.

"I'll believe that when I see it!" Larry called down. He turned to Claire and smiled softly. "Hi there. My name is Larry Daley, and you are?"

"Well, I know you know my name." Claire answered slowly. "I heard you and that Dr. McPhee talking earlier.

"I should have expected the Scottish accent." Larry chuckled. Claire did have a Scottish accent. "And I want to be formally introduced, that's why I asked."

Claire thought for a minute. "In answer to your question, laddie, my name is Claire." She paused, a wry smile spreading across her face. "And yes, you should have expected the accent."

Larry's face kept a deadpanned look, but a half smile crept onto his face. He moved to the rail and looked over to see a crowd of museum exhibits chatting happily. Teddy was patrolling the area, Sacagawea behind him, both talking happily. He turned back to her. "Ready to go down?"

"Sure." She was curious to meet these other people. As they walked down she glanced sidelong at Larry. "Are you an exhibit? Same goes for that Dr. McPhee guy."

"No, we're completely human. You've probably guessed that you turn human again." Larry looked through the crowd and pointed out a younger, man with sort black hair. "That's my son, Nick."

Claire grunted. By now, the Easter Island Head had announced her presence, so all the others had turned to look at her and Larry. She wasn't fazed by all the stares. Instead, she examined everyone curiously. Larry announced that they could all meet her one at a time, so as not to scare her.

"Excuse me, laddie!" Claire protested. "I don't get scared easily! You guys won't scare me."

Larry coughed in embarrassment. "Sorry." He muttered.

Claire laughed softly. "Eh, it's fine, laddie."

"Wait, so is 'laddie' your nickname for me?" Larry asked.

"I call any male 'laddie' and any female 'lassie.' That's what I do." She shrugged. "Well now, come and let's meet each other." She added briskly to the others.

A tall man with glasses and a mustache moved forward first, a woman just a bit shorter with long black hair done up in two braids beside him and a horse behind him. "I am Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of these United States. My friends call me Teddy. And this is my horse, Texas." He offered his hand.

Claire shook hands with him. The woman bowed. "My name is Sacagawea."

"My name's Claire. Nice to meet you too!" She bowed in return. She looked up and smiled. "You two are adorable together."

Teddy and Sacagawea smiled and clasped hands. They stepped back and a dark haired, darker skinned young man came forward. "My name is Ahkmenrah, pharaoh of Egypt and guardian of the Tablet of Ahkmenrah. The Tablet is what brings us all to life." He smiled and bowed. "My friends call me Ahk."

Claire bowed, thinking, He's rather cute. She straightened and looked at the people around her. Okay, nearly all the boys are cute…

Ahk moved back and the two dinosaurs caught her attention. Larry's son introduced them. "The T-rex is nicknamed Rexy. He's like a dog; he loves to play fetch and tug of war… just be careful while playing tug of war! The triceratops is Trixie. Rexy has slowly been making her a lover of fetch." Rexy and Trixie growled welcomes. The young man turned back to Claire. "My name's Nick, Larry's son."

"Nice to meet you." Claire smiled.

Next, the knight, Lancelot, stepped forward. "Sir Lancelot at your service, fair maiden." He bowed with a flourish.

"Do I look like a maiden to you?" Claire arched a brow and crossed her arms, a crooked smile on her face.

"Perhaps if you were in a dress." Lancelot smiled.

"Unfortunately for you, I don't wear dresses much. Not a big fan." She grinned.

Lancelot grinned. "My friends call me Lance for short."

As Lance stepped back into the crowd, a monkey leaped onto Claire's shoulder and chattered a welcome. Larry spoke. "That's Dexter, the mischievous, trickster Capuchin monkey. We all call him Dex for short."

Dex chattered a protest and leaped onto Larry's shoulder, smacking him softly. Larry smacked him back and Claire tipped her head, a pained, confused look on her face. Teddy chuckled. "Don't mind them. That's how they bond."

Claire blinked and turned as the Neanderthals came up, one of them introducing himself as Laa. He stood there staring at her, until Claire started to shift uncomfortably. A large, Asian looking man stepped forward and tugged him back into the crowd. He and the other warriors stepped forward. "Name… Attila the Hun." He said slowly in heavily accented English. His eyes and face brightened and he turned to Larry excitedly.

"Very good, Attila!" Larry praised. To Claire he explained, "He's still learning English." His eyes flashed with a hidden meaning, but it faded quickly.

The others came up and greeted her. Finally, Claire was thrown for a loop as she heard a voice call her name, but no one stepped forward.

"Down here!" The voice called.

Claire glanced down and her eyes widened in surprise. "Well." She blinked. "This is unexpected." Craning their necks a bit to look up at her were the miniatures. "How do you fight?" She asked.

They all suddenly grew to normal size. The cowboy was just a bit taller than her. "This answer your question, partner?" He grinned.

"A little bit." She nodded.

"There are some advantages to being tiny." The Roman soldier explained. "We can sneak into places and other things, but that's beside the point. My name is Octavius, General of Rome." He dipped his head. "My friends call me Oct."

Claire dipped her head in return. The cowboy caught her attention by rolling up his lasso. "And my name's Jedediah Smith, but everyone calls me Jed. Nice to meet you, partner." He offered his hand.

"Nice to meet you too." Claire grinned, shaking his hand.

Having met everyone, she turned slowly to look around at her surroundings. She finally came to her original position and found her eyes drawn to Jed. There was something about the cowboy that made her absolutely sure she could trust him. She felt a slightly blush rise to her face and she quickly turned her head to stare at a random pillar. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jed doing the same. In an effort to change the subject, she asked, "What is this place?"

"This is the Museum of National History." Larry answered. "You're in New York, New York, America."

"Interesting." Claire tipped her head back and looked around, spinning slowly in place.

"Is there anything about our world you don't know about?" Nick asked.

"I don't know how to call someone, text, how to work a computer, drive or anything like that." She shrugged. "Honestly, I don't mind. From what I've heard, horseback seems safer."

"That's fair." Larry laughed. "But cars are faster, and in our times, we kind of need the speed."

"Hey Dumb-Dumb, start dance-dance!" The Easter Island Head boomed.

"You want me to start a party?" Larry called.

"Dumb-Dumb is dumb-dumb." The Head answered in replied.

"Okay." Larry kept a perfectly straight face. "Anyone ready for a party?"

Everyone cheered and split off to get it ready. Except for Claire. She just stood there, staring around in confusion. Then she noticed that Jedediah was still standing in front of her. "Hi." She smiled.

"Hey, partner." He grinned back.

Oh boy. Was that it? She felt a blush rise to her cheeks and she quickly looked at her feet. Jed broke the awkward silence. "Are you skilled with a sword and a bow?"

Thank you Jedediah! "Yeah." Claire answered, looking up to meet his friendly blue gaze. "I started training when I was little." She grinned slyly. Jed's expression turned a bit suspicious. Suddenly, she whisked her sword out, spun around him, and trapped him with the sword to his throat and with her free hand on his chest, tugging him into her. "That answer your question, laddie?"

She saw his ears turn red. "Uh… yeah—yeah that did." He stammered.

Claire chuckled, released him and sheathed her sword. Jed turned, the blush fading. "How about that bow of yours? Do you think you can shoot this bandana off of that pillar over there?" He pointed the farthest pillar.

"Try me."

Jed grinned and jogged over. He set up the target and then jogged back. Claire already had her bow out. She nocked an arrow and drew it back. She aimed and released it, hitting the bandana and carrying it away with it till it struck the wall and clattered to the ground. "That, my friend, was way too easy."

Jed stared at her thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "Maybe I'll get Rexy and Trixie to help me out. But for now, I'm impressed. The swordplay was really good. Then again, I know nothin' about it."

Claire shrugged. "What now, cowboy?"

"Your pick, Highlander."

She thought for a minute. "Let's go explore."

"Alrighty then, partner. Jedediah Smith will be your guide." He grinned.

Claire grinned her crooked grin and the two of them headed off into one of the many hallways. A loud clattering sound made them both freeze and tense up, eyes squeezed shut. They slowly opened an eye and glanced at each other, a worried expression on their faces. Jed headed to the doorway and poked his head out. "Everything okay in there?" He called.

"Sort of!" Came Octavius's reply. "The ladder fell over, that's all."

"You okay?"

"Sort of. My arm hurts a bit, but I didn't break it."

"Be careful, Oct. After all we've been through together I don't particularly want you to die in a freak accident." Jed suddenly bolted out the doorway crying, "Easy, partner! That ladder is gonna topple over again!"

Claire squeezed her eyes shut as the clattering sounded again, accompanied by a, "Whoa!" and a "Gah!" She poked her head out of the door way to see Jed and Octavius sprawled on the ground with the ladder between them. "You two okay?" She asked, hurrying out.

"I'm fine." Oct grunted, sitting up.

"Only my pride is wounded." Jed groaned, sitting up and rubbing his head.

Claire helped Octavius up, retrieved Jed's hat and then helped him up. "Apparently, that ladder wants to kill you two. What are you trying to do?" She handed the cowboy his hat.

"I'm trying to tie this ribbon to the railing." Octavius answered. "But the ladder won't hold still."

Claire picked the ladder up, steadied it against the railing and took the ribbon from Octavius. She climbed up it slowly and reached up to tie it to the railing. The ladder started wobbling and she grunted, bringing her arms down. "It starts wobbling the minute I stretch my arms up to tie it on." She muttered thoughtfully. "I wonder…"

Claire reached up to tie the ribbon on again and felt the ladder wobble again. She hurriedly tied the ribbon on and then stopped as she felt the ladder topple over on her. Claire lunged forward and gripped the railing in her hands, holding the ladder with her feet. "Get out of the way!" She shouted.

She was able to glance down to see Octavius and Jed leap away. Claire let the ladder go and hauled herself up over the railing and onto safe ground as the ladder clattered to the ground again. She leaped to her feet and looked over to see her new friend's safe, both staring at her in shock. She hurried down the stairs and examined the ladder. "Aha! There's a nice big crack in this leg." She tapped it. "For some reason, when we reach up to tie to ribbon on, the leg starts to give out. That'll have to be repaired until we use it again."

"I'll go tell Larry." Octavius nodded. "You two can go back on your walk." He hurried off, leaving a nearly protesting Jed behind.

The dusty blond cowboy sighed and turned back to the Highlander. "C'mon."

Side by side, they went to the same hall they'd gone to before. "This is the animal exhibit area." Jed explained. "The dinosaurs, as you may know, are in the lobby."

"Wow. How'd you find invisible animals?" Claire teased.

Jed laughed. "Good one, partner!"

"You'd best get used to my snark, laddie."

Jed grinned and tipped his head to another hallway. He led her to a pharaoh's tomb section. Dipping his head respectfully to the two jackal guards, he led her to the back area. On a wall above a coffin was a golden tablet. "This," Jed spread an arm out towards it, "is the Tablet of Ahkmenrah. This is where the magic comes from."

"Wow." Claire stared at it in awe.

Jed smiled and, after letting her gaze at it for a while, gently steered her out of the Pharaoh's Tomb and into another hallway.

There we are! Everyone has now met Claire!

QotD: Obviously, Claire has multiple love interests. Who would you like to see her with?