"Do you see her?" Owen called as he watched Claire flittering above the trees.

"No! It's dark. Give me a minute."

Claire knew, of course, that she didn't have a minute. Flying with her plates required a massive amount of energy, and she was starting to lose focus. Every muscle in her back was screaming for her to take a break, but she had already decided that that wasn't an option. Her baby girl was somewhere out there in the forest, lost and frightened and all alone. She couldn't give up now.

"Claire, maybe you should come down," Owen shouted.

"I can't!" she groaned, "I lost her scent. This is . . . our only . . . hope."

She could feel her plates slowing down. Gradually, without wanting to, she sunk. When she landed, Claire lay on her side, panting with exhaustion. Owen ran over to where she had touched down and rubbed her snout, but she was beyond comfort.

"What have I done? . . ." she whispered, "I've failed our family, but Lily most of all. I just wanted her to feel like she had nothing to be ashamed of, but in the end, my own doubt ruined her. I don't know if I can ever make things right . . ."

Owen cradled her head.

"No, Claire, don't say that. We can fix this. Once we find Lily, we'll explain everything. We'll tell her how much we love her-"

Claire shook her head.

"She won't believe me. I lied to her, and now she can never trust me again."

Owen's face hardened.

"That's not true. For sixteen years, you've devoted every last ounce of your energy to raising that child, teaching her right from wrong and giving her all the love that she deserves. She adores you, Claire, and one mistake won't be enough to change the way she feels about you. We need to bring her back, and once we sort this out, everything will be just fine."

Claire was about to reply, but she heard light footsteps coming towards them. Charlie stumbled out of the forest, panting and wheezing.

"The others are back. They didn't find Lily on the main road. There aren't enough of us to search the forest, but Barry says he has a plan."

"What plan?" Owen asked.

"I'll explain along the way. For now, make a mental packing list. We're going on a little trip."

***TSJWFEW***

Lily gawked in amazement as Tess led Liam and her through the train. They passed through sleeping quarters, storage areas, and kitchens, but the most impressive part of the train was the box car for storing animals. There were all kinds of trained beasts in the cages that lined the walls, from tigers to elephants to white horses. Tending the livestock were beefy men, some of whom seemed shorter than the norm. They peeked at Lily over their shoulders, making her rather nervous with their stares. Tess didn't seem to notice this.

"Welcome to Tesseract Goop's Traveling Circus. Here, you'll find the finest livestock and the most enthusiastic cast. I treat my employees well, and thus, they're glad to be working here."

Lily tried to get a look at one of the men shoveling hay, but he turned so that she couldn't see his face. Tess opened the back door, and they moved to the next compartment.

"We have clowns, acrobats, strongmen, freaks-"

Liam tapped his toe impatiently.

"Yeah, yeah, got it. Can we hear about the wishes now?"

Tess smiled.

"Of course."

She pulled back a thick, purple curtain, revealing something that looked very much like a private room. Judging by the fancy bookshelves, plush couches, and ornate paintings, Lily guessed that it belonged to Tess herself.

"This here is my office. Little small, little cozy, but serves its purpose well. I'll just grab a contract and fill it out for you. Then you sign. Simple as that."

Lily sat down in front of a table which was supporting a large, transparent sphere. She stared at the object with curiosity. Tess gave her a nod.

"That's exactly what you think it is. Not fully functional, since it only shows the past and present, but it comes in handy every now and then."

Lily stared into the crystal ball.

"So you're telling me that you can actually see visions in this thing?"

Tess nodded.

"That's how I knew you were in trouble . . . among other things . . ."

She turned around and reached for a scroll on a high shelf. While she was distracted, Lily brushed her hand over the crystal ball, wondering if she could see something too. All at once, she was confronted by a horrific vision. In her mind's eye, she saw a dark figure writhing around in pain. It looked like a stegoceratops, but it was no one Lily recognized. She drew her hand away fearfully, hoping Tess hadn't noticed that she'd been interacting with the device. Luckily for her, she was busy writing something on the scroll.

"Alright, now all you have to do is sign this form, and you're mine for the next few months," Tess trilled as she placed the fancy piece of parchment in front of her guests.

Lily blinked.

"Months? . . ."

Tess nodded.

"You can't just join the circus for a day or two. I need to be sure that you're ready to commit. It shouldn't be a big deal. You don't have anywhere else to be, do you?"

Lily bit her lip. Her mother had warned her not to sign contracts without reading them over carefully, and something about this deal was rubbing her the wrong way. To be bound to this circus for months at a time felt wrong somehow, just as though she was handing over her life to a complete stranger. Tess had a point, though. Being a part of this act was better than wandering aimlessly through the wilderness. And then there was the matter of her wish . . .

"I can't go back to where I came from," Lily whispered, "My mother doesn't want me anymore, and I'm sure my father doesn't either. I have nowhere else to go."

Liam nudged her shoulder.

"Lily, are you sure you're not just being a teenager? I mean, I came here to be the raptor I've always dreamed of being, but you seem to want something else. Would you rather be back home?"

She shook her head.

"Here, I have a chance to be someone. If I work hard, I might be able to make up for the fact that I'm . . . that I'm me. More than anything, I want to make my parents proud, but I can't do that by just being myself. If I can become more than what I am, they'll have a reason to love me. That's what I want more than anything in the world."

"Are you sure they don't love you already?" Liam asked, "I mean, if they raised you for so long, they must have had some attachment to you."

Lily shook her head.

"I was a burden. They're probably much happier, now that I'm out of the picture."

Liam gave her an uncertain look.

"I'm not sure about this. What if they come looking for you?"

The faintest of smiles breezed across Tess' face.

"You could fool yourself into believing that they'd come back for you, Lily, but you'd be wasting your time on a dream that may never come true. It's much more sensible to take advantage of the opportunity you've been given. Will you take charge of your own destiny, or will you let the world decide for you?"

She held out a quill, which Lily snatched from her with a furrowed brow.

"I'll do it, and as for my wish, I want my mother to be happy."

Tess shook her head.

"I don't operate in abstracts, honey. I need something concrete."

Lily thought hard.

"Then I want you to make her human again."

Tess smiled slowly.

"That, I can do. Just sign here."

***TSJWFEW***

On a private jet, one large enough to carry a stegoceratops and seven other passengers, those precise people were about to cross the border that separated Tennessee and North Carolina. Owen sat next to Claire, who was lying in the aisle because she was too large for a seat. Charlie, Echo, Blue, and Foxtrot were sitting in the back row with three stuffed duffel bags lying at their feet. They had grabbed pretty much anything they could find before leaving the house, including random clothing and a ridiculous number of old horseshoes. There hadn't really been time to plan ahead, but Owen trusted in Barry's ability to save his ass when he needed it. Speaking of Barry, he was in the bathroom with Delta, and no one dared disturb them for fear of learning what they were up to.

"So how exactly did he manage to hire this plane?" Claire asked, groggy from being awake for so long.

"Barry . . . He has connections," Owen began, "He gets really sensitive about it, though, so I wouldn't bring it up. Let's just say that he's from a privileged family and leave it at that."

Echo grunted as she tried to pull a slim sock over her foot. She struggled to stretch the fluffy thing, then gave up with a bitter sigh.

"Who on Earth has feet this small?"

Owen laughed.

"That's a horn-cozy, Echo. It's not meant for feet."

She looked at it with narrow eyes.

"That makes sense. I guess we'd better find clothing that fits us when we land, considering I've been wearing the same shirt for three weeks."

Claire nodded.

"We can get you something decent eventually, but for now, I'd like to focus on searching for Lily. If you'd prefer to do some shopping on your own-"

Echo shook her head.

"No, Claire, I'm with you all the way. Lily is family. I won't rest until she's found."

"Me neither," Foxtrot declared, "Lily is one of the nicest people I've ever met. Even though she's basically prey, I feel emotionally attached to her."

"She's my sister," Charlie whispered, "We made a promise to each other, and I'm prepared to honor it."

Claire gave the faintest of smiles.

"Thank you. That really means a lot to me. Once Lily is safe in my arms, I promise to do everything I can to make you feel at home on our ranch. If you want to be a part of our family, I won't stop you."

Echo stood up and walked over to Claire with a serious face. She wrapped her arms around her neck and started purring. Charlie did the same, then Foxtrot joined in too. Owen smiled and gave them all a hug before sitting down and taking a deep breath.

"I know things look bleak right now, but I'm confident that Barry can help us fix this. If we work together, nothing can stop us."

"What about the end of the world?" Blue asked as she flipped through her in-flight magazine.

"Nothing's the end of the world," Owen said firmly, "We can get through anything together."

Claire nodded.

"That's true. We've been in tough situations before, some so bad that we thought we'd never recover, but we've always kept our wits about us. We just-"

All of a sudden, she jolted. Owen undid his seatbelt and knelt down beside her.

"Claire? . . ."

She caught her breath.

"I'm fine. It was just-"

She gasped and arched her back. Owen stumbled backwards in panic as she rolled onto her side.

"Claire!"

She gasped for air, kicking her legs violently. The others gathered around her, but Owen pushed them back.

"Give her some space!"

Claire curled up in a ball, then arched her back again, screaming like she'd never screamed before. She thrashed around in agony and trumpeted with fear. Owen struggled to hold her still, hoping to minimize the damage she was doing to herself, but she very nearly impaled him with her horn. It would have gone right through his chest, in fact, if it hadn't begun to shrink at that very moment. The bone was pulled back into her head in spurts, and its twin followed. Claire shrieked and rolled onto her belly, and Owen was alarmed to see that her plates were disappearing too.

"Claire! What's going on?!"

She winced helplessly, tears streaming down her cheeks. The tissue around her tail began to recede, but it did so before the bones inside could adjust to the change. For this reason, her flesh tore apart in several places, exposing what lay beneath. Owen began to hyperventilate.

"CLAIRE!"

She opened her mouth to beg him for help, but instead of speaking, she coughed up blood. Owen held her in place, praying that she wouldn't choke. She screamed through the fluid and grabbed her belly, which was rippling unnaturally. The outer layer shrunk, crushing something inside of her. She tried to scream again, but what came out was a deep rasping sound. Owen watched her with tears in his eyes, utterly terrified. The rest of the raptors seemed petrified as well. Hearing the commotion, Barry and Delta stumbled out of the bathroom and gaped at the scene with horror.

"What the-"

"HELP US!" Owen bellowed.

Barry grabbed the first aid kit, but found that nothing inside was of use. The bones in Claire's legs, meanwhile, had begun to splinter and rearrange. Charlie whimpered and shrunk away in fear as not-quite-formed fingers shot out of Claire's front feet. It was then that Owen guessed what was happening, though he was powerless to stop it.

"Claire, hang on! Just hang on!"

New teeth began to appear along the edges of her beak, which was in the process of withering away. Piece by piece, her frill dissolved into hair, which landed on her uneven shoulders. She gurgled before throwing up something green and mushy, and Owen had to hold her back to stop her from falling into it. She was easier to restrain now, because she was about two thirds of her usual size. Skin was beginning to spread across her scales. She tried in vain to scratch it off. Some of her scales flaked away and fell to the floor, and when she saw this, she grabbed them and pressed them back in place, hoping that they might stay where they belonged. It was a futile effort, and soon she was in too much pain to resist the involuntary transformation.

Owen held his wife as she shrunk and shrunk and shrunk. Finally, her snout receded, and a fully human Claire lay in his arms, wearing the exact same clothing as the day she changed. For a while, Owen could do nothing but stare at this familiar stranger, but he realized that she was still recovering from the transformation, and decided to move her out of the bloody puddle she was kneeling in. He slipped his arm behind her back and carried her over to a seat near the front of the plane, where he laid her down and brushed the hair out of her face. She was sweating heavily, and seemed to be disoriented. Echo brought her a cup of water, and Owen offered it to her, only to have her turn her face away. She breathed in short gasps, but in this panic, she was becoming more lucid. Her wide eyes focused on the people that surrounded her, and Owen was alarmed to discover that her pupils were almost pinpricks. Just when he thought she might be brain-damaged, Claire's throat twitched. Her mouth hung open for a while before she could find the strength to speak.

"What . . . happened . . ."

Owen touched her cheek.

"Claire, are you hurt?"

She shook her head ever so slightly.

"Not . . . hurt," she rasped, "But . . . feel . . . funny . . ."

Tears brimmed at Owen's eyes. He laced his fingers through hers, and when she looked down at her own hands, her eyes went wider than ever before. She stood up quite suddenly and stumbled to the back of the plane. Owen tried to restrain her, but she pushed him away. She reached the bathroom and fell against the wall as she struggled with the door's handle. She finally opened it and collapsed over the sink. When she looked up at her reflection in the mirror, she became absolutely still. Owen stepped forward to take her hand, but stopped himself. There was no way to predict how she would react, and it was possible that she needed space. There was nothing stopping him from asking if this was the case, however.

"Claire?"

Slowly, she reached up and touched her cheek delicately, as if she was not convinced that the woman in the mirror was, in fact, her. Owen gulped and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Claire . . ."

"What have they done to me?"

Owen choked a little.

"Claire, I don't-"

"You should have let me die."

Owen was taken aback. He looked around helplessly, then wrapped her in his arms.

"Claire, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

She sobbed into his shoulder, shaking violently.

"Owen . . ."

"Claire, it's alright. It's going to be alright."

"Owen . . ."

"What?"

She sobbed.

"I'm a monster."