Owen frowned and shifted in bed. Something was draped across his chest, and it seemed to be poking his cheek. Confused, he felt the object with both hands. It was solid in places, but rough and squishy in others. It appeared to be some kind of branch . . .
As his hands wandered over the structure in full, Owen's eyes shot open. He was holding a stegoceratops tail. Across from him, on the other bed, Claire was fully stegoceratopsian and deeply asleep. Owen lifted her thagomizer off of his chest and let it drop to the floor with a heavy "thud". He shuffled over to her sleeping form and poked her side.
"Claire?"
She gave a little snort and rolled over. Owen climbed up on the bed and poked her harder.
"Claire."
She mooed deeply. He jabbed two fingers into her belly.
"CLAIRE."
She grunted and pushed him away gently with her front foot. Her beak parted in a wide yawn, and she opened her eyes unevenly. When she saw him sitting beside her, she frowned in confusion.
"Owen, what's going on? I'm trying to sl-"
She caught sight of her elephantine foot. Owen clamped his hand over her mouth before she could scream.
"Shhh. Don't panic. You'll wake Barnaby."
Owen blinked as he felt tears running over his hand. He pulled it away and saw that Claire was looking rather distressed.
"Owen, I'm sorry," she choked, "I must have been having nightmares and I . . . I changed. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry . . ."
He stroked her muzzle and pressed his forehead against her cheek.
"Shhh . . . Shhh . . . It's not your fault . . ."
She hiccupped.
"If Barnaby finds me like this, he'll kill me for sure."
Owen rubbed her front horn.
"Don't say that. We'll be fine."
He held her as she mooed in short bursts, which was probably the stegoceratops equivalent of sobbing. He patted her head helplessly, trying to comfort her and keep her quiet at the same time.
"Claire, don't cry," he whispered, "Please . . . I can't watch you cry when you've done nothing wrong. Don't cry. Don't cry, Clairebear . . ."
She blinked away her tears.
"Clairebear?" she giggled. Owen gave a half smile.
"Yeah. Would you rather have another nickname?"
She nuzzled his shoulder.
"'Clairebear' is fine."
Their tender moment was interrupted when they noticed a light in the hallway. Claire fell silent and placed her front feet over her beak in terror.
"What's all the noise about?" Barnaby grunted from the other side of the door, "Did I hear something moo?"
Claire winced.
"Shit . . ."
"Is anyone gonna answer me?" Barnaby barked.
"Um, yes!" Owen chirped, "Everything is fine. I just . . . have a stomach ache . . ."
Claire shot him a questioning look. He shrugged sheepishly.
"I'm coming in . . ." Barnaby growled.
Owen dashed over to the door and locked it.
"Sorry, you can't."
"Why not?"
"We're . . . naked?"
Claire cuffed him.
"Owen!"
"Well, it's kind of true . . ." he said, pointing to her scaly body.
They both jumped as Barnaby kicked down the door. Claire saw a shotgun in his hands, and something inside of her snapped. She bolted for the other side of the room, forgetting that there was nowhere to go. Before she could stop herself, she jumped through the window. Her rump got stuck halfway through. In the second she took to wiggle out of her uncomfortable position, she saw a bright flash. Then, she popped through the window and slid down the roof. She landed on a conveniently-placed mattress, sending up a flurry of white feathers. Before she could catch her breath, the ground erupted into a cloud of dust as Barnaby shot at her, and she ran away fearfully. He continued to shoot, pausing only to reload his gun. One pellet nicked her frill, leaving a small cut on the edge. She trumpeted in terror and continued to run across the open plains. When she was out of range, she paused to catch her breath. As she stood panting in the grass, knees bent, she remembered a crucial detail of her escape.
"Owen!"
She had left him behind. He was back at the house with Barnaby. Oh, god. He was probably already dead!
"Owen . . ." she sobbed.
"I'm right here!"
The tiny, high-pitched voice made her jump. As she did, it came again, louder this time.
"Stop moving around so much! I'm having trouble holding on already."
Claire suddenly became aware of a set of tiny claws digging into her tail. She lifted her thagomizer and turned around to examine it. There was a small rodent clinging to her scales. She shrieked and flung him off.
"Ow! Claire! What are you doing?!" he asked in his squeaky little voice.
Claire's eyes went wide.
"OWEN?!"
He brushed himself off.
"Yeah, it's me. I think I'm a rat or something . . ."
Claire shook her head.
"You're a jerboa, Owen."
"A what?"
"A jerboa. They're nocturnal rodents found primarily in Australia or China or Connecticut or something."
Owen scratched his massive ears with his back foot.
"Okay, but how do I change back?"
"Depends."
"On what?"
"How you got to be this way in the first place!"
Owen's whiskers twitched. He curled his long tail behind him in puzzlement.
"I think Barnaby changed me. He had this weird stick . . . I'll bet it was a magic wand!"
Claire winced.
"Speaking of Barnaby, we ought to get going. If he finds us, we're in big trouble."
Owen flicked his tail back and forth.
"But if we run away from Barnaby, I won't be able to change back!"
Claire frowned.
"Would you rather be a living jerboa or a dead human?"
Owen considered this.
". . . Fine. But I don't want to be an animal for much longer."
Claire frowned.
"Welcome to the club."
***TSJWFEW***
Barnaby growled as he ran his hand over the tracks left by the hybrid dinosaur. He would have had her, were it not for that stupid mattress outside of the window. Someone was helping her . . .
"BARNABY!"
He jumped as a voice called to him from out of nowhere.
"Where are ya? Who's talking?" he croaked.
"It's Julia Spurr, you moron!" the voice hissed, "Where is the stegoceratops?"
"How are you talking to-"
"ANSWER ME!"
He gulped in fear.
"I lost her. She left tracks, but once they reach the canyon, they'll be trotting over solid rock."
Spurr growled.
"Listen, Barnaby. If you don't find them by the time they reach the mines, I'll be forced to send in a bigger dog. You don't want that."
Barnaby gulped.
"I shot the girl. She's bleeding. I can have one of my badgers sniff her out . . ."
Spurr's voice came again, as cold as ice.
"See that you do."
***TSJWFEW***
Claire and Owen hiked all the way to a vast canyon. It was still dark out, but the sun was beginning to rise over the hoodoos in a pink glow. They journeyed across the badlands, headed for nowhere in particular. Claire found that she was slightly more nimble than most four-ton dinosaurs, as she was able to hop from rock to rock in order to cross the gaps along the trail. This made it easy for them to cover a lot of distance in a short amount of time.
As they traveled further and further from Barnaby's house, Claire felt her nervousness melting away. This lack of stress allowed her to change back to her usual shape. Unfortunately, Owen wasn't so lucky. He had fallen asleep in her arms, still a jerboa, albeit one with a beard. She stroked his flappy ears as she walked along the trail. Even though she wanted him to change back, she had to admit that he was rather cute.
After a few paces, they reached a dead end.
"Owen?"
He opened his beady little eyes and blinked a couple of times.
"What?"
"We're lost."
They were standing on a narrow cliff that circled a large, red rock formation. There was nowhere left to go.
"We'd better turn back . . ." Claire mumbled.
"Wait," Owen interrupted, "There's an old coal mine over there!"
He pointed to a cave. At the mouth, an old-timey minecart waited on a rickety track. Claire took one look at it and laughed.
"Owen, we can't use that cart! It could be dangerous."
Owen snuffed.
"I know. We can just walk through the caves on foot. I'm sure there's more than one exit."
Claire shook her head.
"What if we get lost?"
"We won't. I have a great sense of direction."
Claire strutted over to the mouth of the cave.
"It looks dark. We won't be able to see."
Owen climbed up to her shoulder and started tugging her hair.
"Check the cart for a lantern or something."
Claire swatted him away.
"Ouch! Don't pull on my hair!"
"Sorry. Just search the cart, okay?"
Slowly, Claire leaned over the edge of the minecart and looked inside. There was an old straw bag, a few lumps of coal, and what looked like a half-eaten hat. There was certainly no lantern, which meant that it would be foolish to enter the cave.
BANG!
The sound of a shotgun made Claire jump. As she did, she fell over the edge of the cart and landed inside. To her horror, it started moving. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light, and Claire felt something heavy sitting on top of her.
"Yes! I'm back!" Owen cheered as he examined his human hands.
His celebration was cut short, however, when another shotgun blast rang through the cave. He yapped in fear and ducked deeper into the cart, which was starting to roll at an alarming speed. Claire risked peeking over the edge and saw that the tracks were on a downwards slope.
"Owen, I have good news and bad news."
"Yeah?"
"We're going to be able to outrun Barnaby."
"And the bad news?"
"We'll probably crash and die."
They screamed as they rolled faster and faster down the tracks. It was too dark to see, and Claire had a sneaking suspicion that the roof of the cave was only a few feet above them. Thankfully, they zipped into an open area, which was lit by oil lamps. Claire didn't have time to question where they came from, however, for the tracks turned sharply to the right, and she found that she had trouble hanging on.
"AAAAAAAAAH!"
They switched directions again, and Claire saw something horrifying. Barnaby had somehow taken an alternate route to end up where they were headed. As they zoomed past, he dropped a badger into their cart. The animal hissed and clawed at Owen's face.
"HOLY SHIT!"
Claire tried to slap the badger away, but ended up hitting Owen instead.
"OW!"
"Sorry . . ."
Suddenly, the tracks dipped down like some kind of crazy roller coaster. All three occupants of the cart screamed at the top of their lungs as they plunged into the abyss.
"WHO DESIGNED THIS TRACK?!" Claire shrieked.
They continued to scream as they rattled through a series of dark tunnels. Claire heard a high-pitched squeaking sound and realized that they had woken up a colony of bats. She felt leathery wings fluttering against her skin and shuddered. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the badger being overcome by the animals, falling out of the cart with a foamy roar.
"The badger's gone!" she announced.
"Uh, Claire? We have bigger problems . . ." Owen gulped.
Once again, Barnaby had pinpointed their location. He stood on a dark ridge, pointing a strange stick at them. Claire ducked out of the way as a beam of light shot from its tip. She thought Barnaby had missed, until a very small and fragile Jerboa-Owen landed in her lap.
"Aw, shit!" he squeaked.
They continued to chug along the track noisily, moving out of Barnaby's range. Thankfully, the track seemed to be on less of a slant now. Claire shifted so that she was able to peek out the front of the vehicle. She immediately regretted this decision. There was a huge drop coming up. It seemed to be nearly perpendicular to the horizon. There was a fifty-fifty chance that they wouldn't be able to slow down before reaching it.
"Quickly! Lean against the back!" Claire commanded.
"Um, I probably weigh less than a pound, Claire . . ." Owen grumbled.
She ignored him and proceeded to lean backwards, hoping that it would be enough to slow them down. Luckily, it seemed to be working. They came to a stop at the precipice, teetering precariously on the crest of the track.
"Don't move a muscle . . ." Claire whispered.
The cart seemed to be fixed in place. Claire exhaled.
"Well, I guess that settles it," Owen said, hopping down from her shoulder, "Let's get out of-"
When he crossed over to the other end of the cart, they both realized that his less-than-a-pound weight was enough to tip them forward. The cart shot down the tracks at a breakneck speed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
They dropped into another tunnel and emerged outdoors. When Claire's eyes adjusted to the harsh sunlight, she saw that the tracks ended abruptly over a deep canyon. Below was a wide river. They were done for.
"OWEN!" Claire screamed.
He clung to her face, but was soon pushed away by a growing horn. His face brightened.
"Wait a minute! Fly, Claire!"
She whimpered.
"I don't think I can."
He swung over her horn and sat on the ridge of her growing nose.
"Change all the way! We can fly to safety!"
Claire closed her eyes and concentrated. She let the fear enhance her transformation. Before she knew it, she was sprouting plates.
CRACK!
It was too late. The cart fell away from her body, and she found herself spiraling through the air, only half-changed. Her plates started to buzz a few seconds before she plunged into the rushing water. A cloud of bubbles escaped her beak as she screamed. Then, she felt a sharp pain, and everything went black.
***TSJWFEW***
Barnaby paced back and forth on the edge of a flat rock. He had seen the hybrid and her rat fall into the river, which meant that they would probably be dead within a few minutes. Even so, he knew that these dinosaurs were tricky animals. It might be a good idea to make sure that they were one hundred percent deceased. With a crooked grin, he jogged back to his barn, grabbing his aviator goggles along the way.
***TSJWFEW***
Claire awoke to the sound of a high-pitched sniffling. She opened her eyes slowly, feeling rather dizzy after her fall. She was still a stegoceratops, and she was lying on her side like a seasick rhinoceros. She was cold and wet, but her pounding head was the real cherry on the sundae of discomfort. When her double-vision cleared, she saw a very distressed jerboa sitting on a rock.
Owen had his face buried in his hands, and he was shaking miserably. At first, Claire thought that he was shivering with cold (indeed, his fur was jutting out in wet spikes), but a gentle sobbing proved her wrong. She scooted closer to Owen and poked him with her tail.
"You okay?"
He jumped in surprise. When he saw her staring back at him, he rushed over and hugged her front horn, which was almost twice his size.
"You're alive!" he cheered.
Claire grunted and shook him off.
"Of course I'm alive, you dodo! Didn't you check for a pulse?"
He ignored her sardonic remark and wrapped his tiny rodent arms around her beak, weeping openly.
"I thought you'd drowned!"
"Thought or hoped?"
Owen wiped his eyes and smiled.
"Don't ever die again, okay?"
Claire nodded.
"I'll try not to."
She stood up with great difficulty. Somehow, she had scraped her knees, and they were stinging like crazy. Owen was no better off. Although he was miraculously uninjured by the fall, he was shivering profusely, and with his minimal body heat as a jerboa, that could mean trouble. Claire promptly scooped him up and let him climb onto her forehead. He spread himself out along her frill to dry off in the sun.
"I guess this means we have to find another way to get back home, huh?" he squeaked.
Claire was too tired to reply.