The group had retired to the ski lodge. Everyone except Owen and Claire, that is. They were still making their way down the hill, blathering on and on about clothing and tongues and whipped cream for some reason. Gray was in bed, but the rest of the adults (and Zach) were swapping stories. Well, Lowery and Karen were swapping stories, anyway. Elkay was on her iPad (the new one, which had been a present from Ellie). As Lowery and Karen laughed, she stared at her electronic device with dead eyes, like a mindless zombie. Being the parent of two teenagers, Karen noticed this, and made a snarky comment.

"Are you gonna socialize, or do you have something against us mortals?"

Elkay shrugged.

"I don't find you interesting. I'm sure I have nothing to contribute to the conversation, anyway."

Lowery frowned.

"How is it that you're able to write about us as characters, but when it comes to actual interaction, you don't seem to care?"

"It's all in the context," Elkay said breezily, "If one of you were to tell me that you're allergic to oranges, for example, I won't care now, but when I think of it as a character trait, it suddenly becomes interesting."

"That makes no sense," Lowery snuffed.

"I never said it made sense," Elkay retorted flatly.

Zach leaned forward in his chair.

"So, you used to write stories about the people we know?"

Elkay nodded.

"I narrated and served as the author. Both are very different things."

"Why?"

"Well, the author is never-"

"No, I mean, why did you write about them?" he clarified.

Elkay shrugged.

"At the time, I was setting up a therapeutic exercise for my grandson, but somewhere along the way, I realized that what I had created held some artistic merit. I stumbled upon my destiny by accident."

Karen scoffed.

"You keep talking about our lives like they're a part of some . . . 'grand plan'."

"They are," Elkay declared, "The Star chose Ellie. I don't know what this is all leading up to, but there is a reason we're here. We're like seams in a quilt that we may never end up seeing."

Lowery snorted.

"That's a bunch of bull."

"It's not," Elkay huffed, "The Star is alive: more alive than us, in fact. It knows what it's doing."

Lowery hummed.

"So, you're saying that our destinies are controlled by a magic rock?"

"It's not a rock."

"A magic crystal, then?"

"It's not a crystal, either. It's The Star, plain and simple."

Lowery scoffed.

"Fine. I'm done arguing with you."

"If only that were true . . ."

Zach stood up.

"I'm going to bed."

"Brush your teeth," Karen reminded him.

"I will," he lied.

Elkay smirked.

"He's not going to brush his teeth."

"Do it," Karen said, "I'll feel if you brush is wet."

"Ew, Mom!"

"Do it!"

Zach groaned and marched away to his room in the lodge. Elkay rolled her eyes.

"He's probably going to wet his toothbrush to trick you."

Karen crossed her arms.

"How did you know that he wasn't planning to brush his teeth?"

"The manuscript said that he was lying."

Karen frowned.

"Aren't you writing it?"

"Kind of. It's like having something dictated to you, but you're allowed to add your personal flair. That's only in omniscient narration, mind you."

Karen sighed.

"None of this makes any sense."

"It does, but it's complicated."

"And I suppose this also has something to do with your ramblings about destiny?" Lowery quipped.

"Can you repeat the question?" Elkay requested naïvely.

Lowery rolled his eyes.

"I was being sarcastic. I just don't buy this whole 'destiny' thing."

"It's not destiny, exactly," Elkay muttered, "I mean, things need to happen, but we don't know what events will take us from Point A to Point B. The marker that connects the dots may stray, but it will always hit its mark eventually."

"That's ridiculous."

"You want an example?" Elkay sneered, "Take a look at the group. It's well on its way to becoming just like its predecessor. We already have three out of four couples set up, and we've filled the slots of the Leader and her partner, the wise-cracker and his boring girlfriend, and the former villain and his mild-mannered subordinate. All we need is the ditzy comic relief and her somewhat bland counterpart. It's just like before, only instead of normal dinosaurs, the group has hybrid alter egos."

Lowery blinked.

"Wha-at?"

"Stegoclaireatops, Indominus Owen, Ankylowerydocus, Stegokarentops, Pachyvicolophus, Mozaradon."

Lowery blinked.

"None of those words made much sense, but I think I get your drift. In any case, I can't change into a dinosaur voluntarily, and when was Karen ever a hybrid?"

"Claire's wedding. Long story," Karen muttered tersely.

"Exactly. And what I'm getting at is that eventually you'll be able to change back and forth," Elkay declared, "You'll be just like the last group."

Karen blinked.

"So, there's hope for Claire?"

Elkay gave the faintest of frowns.

"I wouldn't call it 'hope'. Claire has grown accustomed to the way she is right now. She wouldn't change, even if she could. Especially since Lily knows her as a dinosaur . . ."

"I know Claire," Karen stated confidently, "She'd change back. It doesn't make a difference whether or not she's the same as Lily."

Elkay smiled.

"You may think you know Claire, but she's far more complex than we give her credit for."

"Excuse me, but I think I know my own sister, thank you very much!" Karen snapped.

Elkay quirked a brow.

"Wanna bet? Let me tell you a secret: Ellie was able to change Claire back all along. Now that you know, you can tell Claire when she comes back. We'll see what happens."

Karen put her hand over her mouth.

"She . . . She didn't have to be a dinosaur?"

Elkay shook her head.

"Nope. And don't start yelling at me. I can tell you're mad. Don't be. This is not your problem. If anyone should be angry, it's Claire."

Karen stood up.

"Don't you dare tell me not to be angry! You've caused my sister some serious pain!"

"But she also had Lily."

"So?"

"She loves Lily more than anything in the world."

Karen was fuming.

"You bitch! Do you know what you did to her?"

"Yes. And she's out there skiing right now. She went on a vacation with her family. Did she do that when she was human?"

Lowery stood up and put his hands on Karen's shoulders.

"I think we all need to calm down."

"No, we don't," Elkay said with a malevolent grin, "As a point of fact, Lowery, many bad things have happened to you because of Ellie and me. You had an epic adventure, and it was never even narrated."

"Why not?"

"We were busy with other things."

Lowery frowned.

"I don't care about some stupid story."

"If you want, I can write it for you, based on your recollection."

"I said that I don't care."

"I know. But I can write it for you."

Lowery stared at her intensely, then took a deep breath and sat down. Karen placed herself beside him as his face became solemn.

"It all started when I got a call from Vivian . . ."

"We know that part. The unnarrated portion begins when you were picked up by Squadron X."

Lowery nodded.

"We were on our way to warn Barry that he was about to be captured. We knew that Neithhotep was using her starfish daughter's magic for sinister purposes. We overheard this when we escaped with Masrani, who was a helicopter at the time. We decided that we had to tell Ellie about the plot. We didn't know anything about her back then, so we didn't have a lot to go on. That's when we ran out of fuel. We were stuck in the middle of the ocean. Things looked pretty bleak."

***TSJWFEW***

But then, a large aircraft appeared from out of nowhere. A beam of light descended from the hull, and the group found themselves being lifted into the vehicle.

***TSJWFEW***

"Sounds good so far," Elkay stated, "And that's when you met María, right?"

"Yes."

"How would you describe her?"

"She was infinitely kind. Spunky. I don't know, she-"

"No, physically."

"Well, she had dark hair, dark eyes . . ."

"You're allowed to say that she was black."

Lowery frowned.

"Yeah, alright. Her partner was Enrique. He was nice. Knew a lot about jewelry, for some reason. They were good people. I miss them. When Hoskins attacked the ship-"

"Stay in order."

Lowery nodded.

"Okay. We were picked up by Squadron X, and they told us about their mission."

***TSJWFEW***

"We're the Interdimensional Police Force. It's our job to prevent conflict between different dimensions."

***TSJWFEW***

"It all seems like a distant memory, now," Lowery said quietly, "But I remember María. It would be hard to forget her. The way she smiled, the way she laughed, the way she punched Hoskins' wolves . . ."

"Stay in order."

Lowery sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"We sent Enrique to find Barry, but somehow, our communications got tangled up in a weird dimensional . . . thing. We were all like: 'Enrique? Enrique?', and the guy on the other end was like: 'No, this isn't Enrique!'."

"And?"

"We lost Barry. We tracked him to Cambodia. While we were wandering in the jungle, Vivian and I found the genie. He said that the first one of us to ask a question could be changed back."

"So, you were a dinosaur by this point?"

"Yes. Neithhotep changed me."

"When?"

"Before Hoskins attacked us with his wolves. Anyway, the genie-"

"Do you remember his rhyme?"

"What?"

"The genie speaks in rhyme. What did he say?"

"I don't remember. All I know is that I wished for a thousand wishes, which pissed him off. Vivian apologized, and the genie made a bargain. He said that the first one of us to ask a question, a real question, would change back. I wasn't thinking. I asked, 'Why?'."

Elkay nodded and typed something on her iPad.

"That was pretty dumb. I'll bet Vivian was mad."

"Very. She still is . . ."

Lowery fell silent. Elkay stopped typing.

"You okay?"

Lowery took a deep breath.

"If you want to know what I remember, I'll tell you. I remember what happened when they shot the ship down. It was so big that it seemed to fall in slow motion. There were several explosions in different places. During one of the blasts, María's radio went silent. Then, the entire thing burned up. It's all ash and shrapnel now. That's all that's left of my friends. No one will remember them, because they did their best to go unnoticed. They gave up their legacy so that they could fight for what they believed in."

Karen put her hand on Lowery's. He squeezed it gently.

"So, if that happened because of your stupid destiny, I don't think I like the way the Universe is being run," Lowery whispered.

Elkay stopped writing. She looked up at him with a neutral expression.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't mean that."

"I do. I wouldn't change the past, even if I could, but I'm sorry it had to happen. Karen, you should accept his proposal now."

She blinked in surprise.

"What? Now?"

Elkay nodded.

"Why not? I mean, you love him, right?"

Karen sputtered.

"Yes, but . . . I mean, it's so soon."

"You should marry him as soon as possible," Elkay affirmed, "We only have so much time on this earth. It's better to spend most of it with the people we love. Don't take time for granted. We could be moments away from death and not know it."

Karen took a deep breath.

"Lowery, I'm not sure I believe this whole destiny thing either, but . . . I mean, we're together now . . ."

She shook her head.

"I don't know what I'm saying."

"You're saying that you love him," Elkay stated, "No need to overcomplicate things."

Karen nodded resentfully.

"Yeah. I guess that's what I'm saying. But I'm not going to accept your proposal just yet. I need some time to think about this."

"Take all the time you need," Lowery said gently, "Don't listen to the dragon. We aren't going to die at any moment. I won't let anything happen to you, Karen. I'm not going to lose you like I lost my friends."

"Lowery . . ."

"And I'm not going to screw up your life like I did with Vivian. I learned my lesson. This time, I'm going to do it right. I'm in this one hundred percent. I love you too much to bullshit my way through life."

"Oh, Lowery . . ."

Elkay turned away as they gave each other a hug. They all snapped to attention when they heard Claire and Owen enter the lodge. Their voices became clearer as they approached the lobby.

"-far away from the others. The walls are pretty thick here, so if we're quiet-"

Owen fell silent as he entered the room. He smiled pleasantly.

"Hey, guys. How's everything?"

"Good," Lowery said, "I think I figured out how to justify bad things happening to good people. That, or I've gone completely insane."

Owen chuckled.

"Well, let me know how that turns out. I'd love to stay and chat, but Claire and I-"

"-are exhausted, and we need to . . . relax . . ." Claire finished coyly, secretly running her tail down Owen's leg.

Elkay locked her eyes on Karen's and nodded towards Claire. Slowly, with a trace of hesitancy, she stood up and made her way over to her sister.

"Claire, I just discovered something that you might find disturbing," Karen said seriously.

Claire's face fell.

"Is Lily okay?"

"Yes. This is about you."

Claire cocked her head.

"Is there something . . . wrong with me?"

Karen took a deep breath.

"Ellie was able to change you back the whole time. There is no reason for you to be a dinosaur."

Claire blinked twice.

"Oh . . . okay . . ."

Karen bit her lip.

"She can change you."

"Into wh- Oh, into a human, you mean."

"Yes."

Claire hummed.

"Well, I guess I'd better say something to her."

She turned her head.

"Come on, Owen."

The two of them strolled down the hall towards their room. Elkay waited until they were gone, then glanced at Karen.

"Did she react the way you thought she would?"

Karen held her mouth open for a few seconds before finding the right words.

"She . . . She said that she was going to call Ellie . . ."

"Mhm. Do you think she'll be human by morning?"

"Probably. Yes."

Elkay smiled.

"We'll see."

***TSJWFEW***

Claire did not change overnight. She entered the lodge's dining hall as a dinosaur, looking rather well-rested after sleeping in. She sat across from Karen, who stared at her sister with disbelief. At first, Claire didn't notice her reaction, but she eventually caught sight of her unusual mien.

". . . What? . . ."

"Did you talk to Ellie?"

"Hm?"

"She lied to you. You can be human."

Claire blinked.

"Oh, right. Yeah, I asked her about it, and she said that she lost her ability to change me back very recently. I just have bad timing, I guess."

Karen narrowed her eyes.

"You talked to her directly, right?"

"Mhm. I called her with a payphone."

"What payphone?"

"Oh, you know . . . the payphone. It's downstairs."

Claire yawned.

"Well, I'd better get some breakfast. Do you know if they have waffles here?"

Karen shook her head very slowly.

"I don't know . . ."

"I might just grab some cornflakes. See you in a bit."

Karen watched her sister lumber away. Not taking her eyes off of her, she snatched Elkay's arm as she strolled by.

"Ouch!"

"Does this lodge have a phone?"

"Karen, let go!"

"Does this lodge have a phone?" she repeated.

"No! Of course not! We don't get coverage in these parts. Your personal calls will have to wait. Now let me go, you crazy witch!"

Karen released her. She didn't see Elkay storming off bitterly, because she had her eyes fixed on Claire. She was balancing a bowl of cornflakes between her horns, and she had waffles skewered on her tail spikes. Thinking that no one was watching her, she grabbed a can of whipped cream and squirted it in her mouth. She licked her beak quickly when she heard Owen coming. He reached out and caught the bowl of cereal as it slipped from her horns. She congratulated him on his sharp reflexes, and they shared a kiss.

Karen turned back to her own breakfast. Somehow, she wasn't feeling hungry anymore.