"What do you mean you won't come out?"

"I'm boycotting our friendship."

"That's not even possible! You can't boycott a friendship!"

"And you can't tell me what to do!"

Ellie paced back and forth in front of the door to Robin's flat. The happy little collie followed her erratic movements, wagging its tail as it tried to keep up with her.

"Look, Robin, you have to come out sometime," Ellie growled, "You're being very immature, even for you."

"I am NOT being immature, Mrs. Poopypants!"

Ellie gnashed her teeth and balled her hands into fists.

"Come out, Robin," she said warningly.

"No!"

Ellie sighed and rubbed her temples. She inhaled through her nose and placed her hands in a prayer position.

"I offered you a dog. What else can I do?"

Robin stomped her foot, making the ground shake.

"You can bring Orange back."

Ellie flapped her wings sharply.

"Is a dog not good enough?!"

"Oh, I'm taking the dog!"

A yellow paw whipped out from behind the door and dragged the whimpering collie inside. Ellie flinched as it slammed shut again. She looked at her feet, then lifted her head a little.

"Please, Robin. I don't want us to be mad at each other forever."

"You should have thought of that before you let my cat die."

"SERIOUSLY?"

Ellie trembled in fury, then stormed down the hall before she had the chance to really lose her temper. Once she was outside, she screamed and started punching a tree to vent her anger. Unfortunately, she didn't know her own strength, and it cracked in half, landing heavily in the middle of the road. Ellie sighed, dragged it into the grass, and wandered down the path.

"Why can't she forgive me? I did nothing wrong . . ."

She smiled politely as two raptors gave her a questioning glance. Running a little more rapidly, she broke off the main path and headed into the forest.

"She's just sour about Orange. She'll get over it."

Ellie darted between the trees. She grabbed a low-hanging branch, ripped it from its bow, and began to twist it in her hands.

"It's only temporary. It's only temporary."

She emerged on the other side of the jungle and began to pad across the field, changing into a raptor along the way. She tossed her knotted branch to the side and ran at full force.

"Robin always bounces back. Always. It's just taking longer than usual-"

She screeched to a halt when she saw a baby raptor sitting in the middle of the field. She sighed deeply and scooped him up.

"What are you doing so far from home, Felix? Don't you know that Charlie will be worried sick about you if you disappear into thin air?"

'Boo!' the raptor cooed, lifting his arms playfully.

Ellie shook her head and sent the raptor back to the Valley on a magical cloud. He stared at her with amber-colored eyes as he drifted away. Ellie flapped her wings and changed into a swan. She soared over the island at a low altitude, keeping her eyes open for more trouble.

"She'll bounce back. She has to. She has to. She has to . . ."

Ellie looked up as a dark shadow blotted out the moon. Elkay fluttered down from the starry sky and flew beside her.

"Hey, Ellie! How did your talk with Robin go?"

Ellie looked away.

"Not good. We're still angry at each other, I guess. How's Claire?"

Elkay frowned.

"Alright, Mrs. Topic-Avoider. I'll tell you how Claire's doing when you answer this question: If your talk went so badly, why did she take your collie?"

Ellie scoffed.

"Because she's Robin. She likes animals and is surprisingly good at holding a grudge. How is Claire?"

Elkay rolled her eyes.

"She's fine. I made it halfway through the chapter, but stopped to come find you. It's no big deal. Claire and Owen are okay for now. They're with some weird creationist, though . . ."

"Who?"

"Barnaby, I think his name was. Yeah. He's a real nutcase."

Ellie exhaled sharply.

"Great. Now people will think I'm against creationism."

"Which is kind of ironic, since you're God now."

Ellie didn't respond. She had a lump in her throat, and tears were stinging her eyes like tiny droplets of fire. Elkay drifted closer to her.

"Hey. What's wrong?"

Ellie sniffled and wiped her eyes with her webbed feet.

"I don't know. I just thought I could make things better with Robin, but she's still mad at me. I want to be friends again. Everything is so hard . . ."

Elkay had nothing to say. She simply flew by Ellie's side, opening her mouth every once in a while to start a new conversation, but closing it every time. She gave a little jump, however, and pulled a phone out of her ear.

"Zebil's texting. I sent him to spy on Spurr."

Ellie turned her head.

"Is it safe?"

"Who cares? He's a giant, blue tiger. He can handle himself, even if it isn't."

"What does the text say?"

Elkay cleared her throat.

"Halfway to the Spain of JW. Just read chapter. Barnaby is a real coot! Lol. I hope you've investigated those last few lines. Could be trouble. Wouldn't want him to attack Owen and Claire while they're gleeping."

Ellie cocked her head.

"Gleeping?"

Elkay twisted her beak.

"I think he meant 'sleeping'."

Ellie nodded.

"Makes sense. What does he mean by 'those last few lines'?"

Elkay shrugged and pulled out a manuscript.

"Sounds like he has reason to believe that Barnaby is dangerous. Based on the stuff I read, he's just a weird, old- HOLY SHIT HE'S WORKING FOR SPURR!"

Elkay tugged on Ellie's tailfeathers, bringing her to a stop in midair. They landed on the ground and read the parchment with wide eyes.

"Oh god. Oh god. He's gonna try to kill them! I just know it!" Ellie gasped.

"Don't panic. Nothing's happened yet. We have time to reach them before he attacks," Elkay blathered.

"How do you know?"

"I DON'T! I'M JUST TRYING NOT TO FREAK OUT!"

Ellie waddled back and forth.

"Okay, okay, okay. Let's fly over to the Jurassic World . . . World . . . and see what we can do. Where are they at?"

Elkay searched through the interdimensional files.

"Um . . . Tennessee. Where's Tennessee?"

"South of Kentucky."

Elkay snapped her fingers.

"Right! . . . Where's Kentucky?"

Ellie frowned.

"Seriously?"

Elkay tapped her toes.

"You know what? Let's just use Google maps. Are you ready to go?"

"I'm not about to start packing a suitcase . . ."

Elkay snorted.

"Yeah, alright. Hop on."

Ellie demorphed and grabbed Elkay's horns. With a powerful beat of her wings, they soared into the sky. They were going so fast that they didn't notice the yellow allosaurus who looked up at them sadly as they zipped through the interdimensional portal, headed for a different but similar world.