Claire lumbered away from the site of the massacre with no particular direction in mind. She swayed dazedly as she made her way through the jungle, feeling her heart weighing down her chest like a clump of cement. Owen sat perched on her frill as usual, though he was absolutely silent. She would feel his tears landing on her face every now and then, which would in turn make her cry even harder. They had left the bodies behind, having no way to bury them without the proper equipment. About halfway through the day, they saw scavenger birds flocking towards what lay behind them. Claire tried her best not to think about it, but she couldn't stop herself from imagining the buzzards tearing into her friends. Finally, after a few flips of her stomach, she ran over to the bushes and threw up.

As she heaved and spat, she felt herself shrinking down to her former size. Owen grabbed her hair as it grew, holding it out of her face. When she was done, she coughed and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She stood up on two legs, only to find that they were too wobbly to support her. She stepped on a broken twig with her bare feet and fell to her knees, grunting in pain. Owen flipped over her head in the fall, and promptly let go of her hair.

Claire crawled away from the putrid puddle she had created and collapsed in the mud. Owen lay flat on her cheek as she sobbed and gathered fallen leaves in her hand like she was kneading a blanket.

"Owen . . . Owen, what are we gonna do?" she quavered.

He tried to reply, but the words got stuck in his throat. He began to weep, letting his tears merge with hers as they fell.

"This is my fault!" Claire wailed, "It was my responsibility to protect them, and they all died!"

Owen shook his head fiercely. He still didn't have the strength to speak, but he did his best to let her know that it wasn't her fault. Claire continued to sob, ignoring his attempts to comfort her. Wet mud caked her face, but she didn't care. She simply rolled around like a dying animal, wailing at the top of her lungs.

"Owen . . . Owen . . . Owen . . ."

She jumped in surprise as a large dinosaur head poked out of the bushes. The animal had a strange purple and blue crest, and a head full of tangled, muddy hair. Claire recognized her as the same dinosaur she had seen dangling from the helicopter with Lowery. That fact, and her trademark doe-eyes, indicated that she must be-

"Vivian? . . ."

The dinosaur nodded sadly.

"Yeah. It's me. I'm stuck this way forever."

Claire gulped.

"I'm so sorry . . ."

"We could have saved me, but Lowery screwed up big time," she sneered bitterly, "Now I have to be a stupid dinosaur for the rest of my life. And we also caused the collapse of the Interdimensional Police Force, which blows. If I had been human, I could have saved María and Enrique, but I guess we can pin that on Lowery too . . ."

Claire sat up straight.

"Where is Lowery?"

"He's looking for Mr. Masrani," Vivian explained, "He crashed into an anthill, but we don't know which ant his spirit got transferred into. We may have shattered the soul-pot, so it's unlikely we'll be able to give him a better body. Sucks for all of us. Except Lowery."

Claire frowned.

"I don't understand . . ."

Vivian scoffed.

"Well, it doesn't really matter. It's over. My life is over. I have to live this way. What am I gonna tell my boyfriend?"

Claire wrapped her arms around her legs and put her forehead on her knees. She started crying again. Vivian blinked in surprise and pulled her neck into a gentle curve.

"Wow. I didn't think you'd be that torn up about my problems . . ."

Claire sniffled.

"I'm not. My daughter just died."

Vivian's eyes went wide.

"I didn't know you had a kid . . ."

Claire wiped her nose and hiccupped.

"I did. And she was the most wonderful-"

She broke into a fit of sobbing. Vivian placed her massive foot on her shoulder.

"God, I've never seen you like this. Are you going to be okay?"

Claire coughed.

"No!"

Vivian nuzzled the top of her head.

"Well, if you ever need a friend, I'm here. You're not alone."

"You also have me . . ." Owen said quietly.

Vivian whinnied and stumbled backwards.

"Shit! Did that rat just talk?"

"Jerboa," Owen muttered weakly.

Suddenly, Lowery burst out of the jungle, a small Petri dish in his hands.

"Alright, I've narrowed it down to six ants. They all keep waving at me, so-"

He noticed Claire and Owen.

"Oh . . . Hi, guys. Did Vivian tell you what happened?"

Claire nodded.

"She told us a little."

Lowery looked down at his shoes guiltily.

"I'm really sorry for screwing things up. I just wasn't clear on the magic genie rules."

Claire was too sad to question his peculiar comment. She wiped her eyes and stood up.

"Where are you guys headed?"

Vivian shrugged.

"Well, I'm a dinosaur now, so there aren't really a lot of options."

Lowery placed his Petri dish on the ground and walked over to her. Slowly, he rested his hand on her snout and looked her in the eye.

"I'm really, really sorry. If we could trade places, I would do it in a heartbeat."

Vivian snorted.

"Well, you did look better as a dinosaur."

Claire's jaw dropped.

"You too?"

Lowery nodded.

"I was an 'Ankylowerydocus' for a while. I guess we can all claim that we belong to the hybrid club. Well, everyone except Owen . . ."

They turned to look at the forlorn jerboa, who had wandered away during their conversation. He sat on a small rock with his ears folded over his back. His lip was quivering, and he looked about ready to break. Claire knelt down beside him and put her hand on his back. He closed his eyes, squeezing out two fresh tears.

"She's gone . . ."

Claire gulped and stroked Owen slowly. He continued to stare at nothing.

"She was my only family, and now she's gone . . ."

Claire swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Owen, I'm your family too. We're in this together. I love you."

Owen looked up at her with despair. His eyes were red around the edges, and his fur was dark where the tears trickled down.

"I love you too, Claire. I love you more than anything. That's why I can't bear to watch you get hurt. If something happens to you, I don't know if I . . . I mean . . . I won't . . ."

He buried his face in his paws, sobbing heavily. Claire felt his shoulders shaking beneath her fingers. Finally, he gasped for air and gave a loud sniff.

"It doesn't matter what I do. Someone will always get hurt. There's nothing I can do to stop it. You'd all better leave. I'm of no use to you."

The group noticed one of the ants crawl out of the Petri dish. It made its way over to Owen, where it stood up on its back legs and made weird arm gestures.

"I'm guessing that's Masrani . . ." Claire muttered.

"Shhh. He's talking to me," Owen said, adjusting his massive ears so that they were pointing directly at the insect.

The bug waved his creepy little legs around dramatically, pacing back and forth. He was indeed speaking, though his voice was too high-pitched and quiet for Claire to hear. Owen, with ears twice as large as his body, seemed to be picking up the sound just fine. He listened intently, nodding in agreement every few seconds. When Masrani was done speaking, Owen let him crawl onto his paw and handed him to Vivian. The ant rested on her eyebrow, and Owen turned to Claire.

"There are war elephants on the loose."

Claire nodded slowly.

"Yeah . . . I guess so . . ."

"We can't let them hurt anyone else."

Claire bit her lip.

"What are we gonna do?"

Owen's whiskers twitched as he frowned in determination.

"We're gonna stop them."

"How?"

"By fighting them."

". . . How? . . ." Claire repeated.

Owen stood nobly on the root of a tree and shook his fist.

"We're going to work together and take them down!"

Vivian nickered sardonically.

"How are we gonna do that? Elephants are huge!"

Owen put his hands on his hips.

"You may feel tiny in front of an elephant, but I feel tiny in front of you. Mr. Masrani is even smaller. Doesn't mean we have any less control over our destiny. It's a big world out there, which means we're all very, very small."

Vivian snorted in agitation.

"But they're elephants!"

Owen frowned.

"And you're a dinosaur! In fact, you're a hybrid, so you're twice the dinosaur anyone else is . . . except for Claire . . ."

For once, Claire didn't mind this kind of remark. She promptly began to change until she was one hundred percent stegoceratops. She lifted Owen up onto her horn and held her head high.

"I'm not going down without a fight," she declared valiantly, "You can stay here, if you want, but I'm not going to let my baby die in vain."

Vivian turned her head uncomfortably.

"But I can't fight. I'm a herbivore."

Owen gave a curt nod.

"Yes, but so are hippos. Hippos are the most dangerous animals alive. It's not what you are: it's what you do with what you got. Anyone can fight elephants, whether they're a dinosaur or a smartcar- Hi, Barry!"

Everyone turned to look at the car, who gave them a quick wave.

"Hey, guys. I saw what happened. You'll be glad to know that I found someone who can help."

"Oh, lord. Is he gonna try to convert us?" Lowery asked.

Barry turned to the bushes.

"Come on out!"

"Is it safe? . . ." a shy voice quavered from the trees.

"Yes!"

"How do you know?" the voice persisted, "You don't have to worry about fierce animals like I do. You're just a smartcar."

"Oh, yeah?" Barry growled, "Well, this smart car is turning into a PUNCH-buggy!"

He zoomed into the trees and pushed a shivering elephant into the clearing.

"And that's just how I roll," he sassed cockily.

Claire's jaw dropped.

"Barry! You found the elephants!"

Barry moved back and forth in an attempt to shake his head.

"I only found one, and he didn't even participate in the war."

The elephant smiled sheepishly.

"I don't do so well around blood, and I have a peanut allergy, which is weird because-"

Claire darted forward and gave a loud snort. The elephant shrunk down with a quiet "eep".

"Tell us where the others are!" she hissed with venom. The elephant put his ears over his eyes and whimpered.

"I can't! They'll kill me!"

Owen hopped from Claire's face onto the elephant's trunk.

"What do they call you?"

"Humphrey," the elephant replied.

Owen smiled.

"Well, Humphrey, it's your lucky day. If you switch to our side, we promise we'll treat you right. No funny business like those war elephants. You're on the hybrid team now."

The elephant peeked out from under his ears and looked at the sincere, kind faces around him. Although the group consisted of an ant, a jerboa, two hybrid dinosaurs, a smartcar, and a very scruffy man, something about the ragtag team felt right. After a moment, he held his head high and puffed out his chest.

"They're on the other side of those mountains. Follow me."