Ellie eased deeper into the cave, secretly nervous that Neithhotep was planning to attack her while she was defenseless. She knew that Elkay was waiting for her outside, but her eagerness to take on her own mother was definitely not going to work to Ellie's advantage. One little slip-up, and Neithhotep would be facing the rage of a mentally unstable dragon. Of course, she could probably defeat Elkay in a nanosecond, but still . . .
"Neith? . . . Neith? You there?" Ellie called, pausing to let her echoes subside. She froze as she heard something shifting in the darkness. It sounded like a tail being dragged across stone. Ellie jumped in surprise when a beam of light appeared to her left. A human Neithhotep held a flashlight under her face spookily and smiled.
"Boo."
Ellie took a deep breath and folded her wings behind her back.
"Neithhotep, I'm not here to-"
"I know what you're here for, and I accept. By The Star, someone needs to supervise you so you won't get into any more trouble."
Ellie frowned.
"Neithhotep, I wouldn't have had any trouble if you had just stayed out of my business."
She shrugged.
"Well, you know how it goes: you start off with a plan, then something goes wrong . . . Bam. Chaos. It's the way of the Jurassic World."
Ellie gave a reluctant smile.
"I know. Thank you for helping June."
Neithhotep cocked her head.
"Oh, I didn't really help her. She helped herself. More accurately, you helped Claire help herself, and she helped June help herself. It's quite simple, really. Not sure why you didn't think of it sooner."
Ellie nodded.
"Does this mean you're coming back to Isla Nublar with Elkay and me?"
Neithhotep snorted.
"Oh, absolutely."
Ellie smiled warmly.
"Great. Let's tell Elkay."
They strolled through the mouth of the cave, where Elkay was waiting. She pricked her ears, then flattened them behind her head, bracing herself for the worst possible outcome.
"Are we okay?" she asked with a cautious monotony.
Ellie nodded.
"We're okay."
Elkay reared up on her hind legs and gave a whooping call, disbanding the army of dragons. They broke formation and flew into a glowing portal, which closed gently behind them when the last soldier was through. Ellie smiled and turned to her great-grandmother.
"Well, I guess that's settled, then. What should we call you?"
"Neithhotep."
"Can't we call you 'Neith'?" Ellie asked jokingly.
Her mouth twitched.
"We'll see."
Elkay hopped up and down excitedly.
"Ooh! Ooh! Why don't we do the phonetic initials thing again? Let's see . . . Lord Neithhotep makes LN which makes Ellen . . . Okay, let's not do that. It might get confusing."
Neithhotep crossed her arms.
"You, my dear, will be calling me 'Mother'."
Elkay folded her ears back.
"Right."
Neithhotep gave a quick nod.
"Right, indeed."
She turned to Ellie.
"I imagine you'll be wanting to explain everything to Claire and her friends- Oh, the secondary Jurassic World characters are being guarded by Robin, by the way."
Ellie nodded.
"Good. Go on."
"While you work out all of their problems- and they certainly have a lot of problems to work out- I'll carry June back to the Isla Nublar of Jurassic Park. That statement seemed backwards, but you understand. Anyway, I recommend that you speak with Claire directly. Given her . . . um . . . permanent state, she'll be requiring certain accommodations from this point on. Before I grab our saurian friend from the mountaintop, I would like to blatantly hint that Barnaby's ranch is abandoned, at present, and I can most certainly stegoceratops-proof the house, if necessary."
Ellie raised her eyebrow.
"You had this figured out the whole time, didn't you?"
Neithhotep smiled.
"Well, until you interfered with my story, yes."
Elkay frowned, pursing her beak in agitation.
"You've got a lot of nerve, claiming that this story belonged to you the whole time!"
Neithhotep shrugged casually.
"Well, you know what they say: everyone's the hero of their own story."
And with a wink of her kohl-lined eye, she soared towards the mountain's peak to rescue June.