Claire clapped her plates together periodically as she ran, summoning the blind spinosaurus like a living decoy. There was no turning back now, especially if her friends were to escape unscathed. She would have to lure the dinosaur away from them for as long as humanly possible, even if the endeavor ended with her untimely death. Given her current situation, it was more than likely that she wouldn't live to see another day. But her friends were safe. That was all that mattered.

The monstrous creature snapped at the air, hissing menacingly as she followed her prey through the forest.

"I know you're there. I can smell your fear," she said smoothly.

Claire continued to run, stumbling briefly on a loose monkeypod root. She shook her head and kept going, ignoring her scraped knee.

"You can't run forever. I'll catch you, and I'll kill your friends too."

Claire's heart gave a small jump. Did the dinosaur know about Owen and the others?

"Where are you hiding, little hybrid? How did you escape my elephants?"

Ah. She thought that Claire was a regular stegoceratops. That made sense. Maybe she assumed that there were more survivors nearby.

"Why won't you say something?" June continued, "The others spoke to me before they died. You aren't worried about getting caught, because you're making a lot of noise. Why, then, won't you say something?"

Claire snorted and slammed her feet into the dirt.

"You're nothing but a heartless murderer."

June smiled maliciously. She was about five bus-lengths away from Claire.

"You're the queen, aren't you? Where were you when I slaughtered your people?"

Claire lowed in fury, digging her toes into the ground.

"How dare you . . ."

"Would you like to know what their final moments were like?" June hissed, "I can't tell you how many of them called out your name. Especially the girl. She screamed 'Claire', even as I tore into her side. I made sure that the wound would be fatal. Did you get the chance to see her before she died?"

Claire wheeled around and charged at the spinosaurus, roaring like an animal. When she was only a few meters away, the dinosaur reached out and struck her hard. Claire mooed in terror as her assailant pinned her to the ground with both paws. June dipped her head down and smirked.

"I'm going to tell you a secret, Claire. You have a magical flower inside of you that can heal any fatal wound. Do you know what I would give to have it? If I were dying, it would not only heal my wounds, but also cure my blindness. I'd be able to see. Imagine what I could do if I had the power of vision. It would be glorious!"

Claire made an effort to wiggle out of her grasp, but the spinosaurus simply put more weight into her. She opened her beak in a silent scream.

"I can't give you a mortal injury, Claire, because the flower would sense it and heal you. Then the plant would disappear forever, and you'd be of no use to me."

"How do you plan to get it, then?" Claire wheezed.

"Simple," June sneered deviously, "I'll let you die of something that the flower is unable to heal. Starvation, drowning, exhaustion . . . I have a wide range of deaths to choose from. As long as it doesn't sense that you're dying from an injury, the flower will be preserved, and I will be able to harvest it from your body."

She held up her claw and adopted a businesslike tone.

"Or, you could save me the trouble and give me the flower. If you do, I'll allow you to live the rest of your days as a stegoceratops to reward you for your sacrifice."

Claire felt a deep rumble escape her throat as she scowled.

"I'd rather die," she whispered.

June chuckled cruelly.

"Have it your way."

She lifted her paws, and Claire dashed away. She ran and ran and ran, but the spinosaur remained in hot pursuit. As she began to pant, she realized what June was trying to do. She was chasing her down in the hopes that she'd collapse of exhaustion and die. Well, it seemed to be working. Claire felt ready to drop.

"You may think you're a queen, but you're going to die like an animal!"

Claire tossed her head and mooed.

"No, no, no!"

June swiped at her tail.

"Yes!"

Claire sprinted forward, noticing a slight incline in the terrain. That was the last thing she needed. She climbed up the steepening hill, grunting with exhaustion. Soon, she was at the base of a rocky mountain, which led up to a storm-shrouded peak. She looked up at the dark vortex with fear in her eyes.

"Can you climb, Queen Claire? I think you'd better try."

With a deep growl, Claire began to hop from rock to rock. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest like a basketball-sized sledgehammer. She wanted to believe that she could make it to the top, but the sensible part of her brain knew that it was impossible. Still, she continued to climb the mountain, aching feet and all.

"Run, run, little Claire! I'm coming for you!"

Claire approached a rather large gap in the rocks. There was a slim chance that she'd make it if she jumped. Scrunching up her face in determination, she charged forward, but her doubt got the better of her. She screeched to a halt near the edge and trumpeted loudly. Her moo of panic echoed down the chasm as she slipped on the crumbling precipice.

"Can stegoceratopses jump, Claire? Why don't you try a leap of faith and see how far that gets you!"

Claire turned around slowly as June caught up to her. She lowered her head, displaying her front horn menacingly, and pawed at the ground.

"Oh, so you're going to try to fight me again? Don't you remember what happened last time?"

Claire snorted and made a lunge for her. June batted her away with ease.

"That won't work, Claire. You can't fight me. I'm too strong."

Claire whimpered as June closed in. She backed up and felt the ledge crumbling beneath her feet. She didn't know how June was planning to kill her without a fatal injury, but she wasn't keen to find out.

All of a sudden, June stopped growling. She snorted, then tossed her head in distress. Claire saw a butterfly flapping against her unseeing eye. Using the distraction to her advantage, Claire charged forward and leapt across the gap. By the time she was halfway across, she knew that she wasn't going to make it. As she fell, however, her plates began to buzz, and she was able to fly the rest of the way. She landed hard on the other side of the chasm, grunting in pain. Her plates stopped flittering. Slowly, she placed her front feet on the ground and pushed herself up. She was definitely too tired to try a stunt like that again.

June swatted the butterfly away and ran her hands along the ground to find out where Claire had moved to.

"Coward! Where are you hiding?"

Claire smiled sassily, still panting.

"The funny thing about being an animal is that you sometimes forget that you can fly."

June roared.

"THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!"

Claire grinned.

"Maybe not, but when has life ever made sense?"

With an aggravated hiss, June charged forward, leaping across the gap with ease. Claire spun around and started running again, feeling her energy seeping away with each bound.

***TSJWFEW***

Owen moaned as he awoke with a pounding headache. Red and white sparks popped against his eyelids. He felt like he was on a Tilt-A-Whirl. Slowly, he reached up and ran his fingers over the sore spot on his forehead. It was an elevated wound, and there was a drop of blood in the center. He winced and stood up unsteadily, stumbling like a drunkard.

"Claire? . . ." he croaked.

She was gone. She was gone! She had left him!

Owen frowned and started jogging though the trees, ignoring his severe headache. He scanned the forest floor for some sort of trail, and found one not too far from where he had been lying. The large footprints in the ground clearly belonged to Claire, but Owen didn't recognize the massive tracks that seemed to be following hers.

Owen began to run faster, praying that Claire was alright. He wasn't sure what kind of an animal could possibly be as large as her attacker, so he deduced that it was June. But why had Claire knocked him out? She wasn't fighting the spinosaurus: she was fleeing. Owen's heart did a flip when he realized that she was leading the monster away from her friends . . .

Without warning, Owen bumped into a woman who had stepped out from behind a leafy bush. He noticed two interesting things. One, she was dragging an unconscious Hoskins across the ground. Two, she had wings.

"You . . ."

The woman dropped Hoskins' tail and held up her hands defensively.

"Look, before you say anything, I'm really sorry about the pointless shit I put you through. I tried to tell your story my way, but the dragon, Neithhotep, interfered with my plans. If she's to be believed, everything will turn out fine-"

Owen stepped forward in an intimidating stance. The woman backed up.

"Who are you?" Owen asked through clenched teeth, "What do you want from us?"

The woman took a deep breath.

"My name is Ellie Sattler. We've met before, but you don't remember. Through a series of complicated and silly events, I became Queen of the Universe. I wanted to give Claire an arc that echoed mine, so that she could become a better person. I felt badly about your situation. You were never meant to be involved in my struggles. It was Zebil who first dragged you into the story, not me. On behalf of him, I apologize. I know what it's like to feel like a pawn in someone else's game. If I had known that things would turn out this way, I swear I wouldn't have tried to help you. I guess Neithhotep was kind of right; some people just need to help themselves . . ."

Owen reached forward and grabbed her by the front of her shirt. She frowned and pressed her hand against his shoulder, shocking him with electricity.

"Don't manhandle me."

Owen let his hands drop, but didn't stop frowning.

"Tell me where Claire is."

Ellie reached into her back pocket and pulled out a paper scroll. She used both hand to open it, then ran her index finger across the page, searching the text with a furrowed brow.

"Last time I checked, she was running away from June. It doesn't really matter, though, because as long as I stay out of your affairs, nothing bad will happen to her."

Owen frowned in puzzlement.

"Stay out of my affairs?" he echoed bitterly, "Aren't you meddling at this very second by talking to me?"

After a beat, Ellie's eyes went wide.

"Oh, no . . ."

***TSJWFEW***

Claire dangled from the edge of a tall cliff, praying for a miracle. The drop would surely kill her, and she was certain that the magic of the flower would not set in fast enough to heal a broken neck. The rock was up to her armpits now, and it wouldn't be long before she was forced to let go. As she began to slip, she called out in desperation, hoping that someone, anyone, would come to her rescue.

But there was no one to help her up.