Claire bucked her hind legs in panic as Blue dug into her back. Lily screamed in terror, and Charlie tried to yank her Beta's tail. It was a futile effort. Blue tore into Claire savagely, destroying all pretense of restraint. She was determined to kill.

"MOM!"

Lily spun around and struck Blue with her tail, creating two parallel gashes along her thigh. She didn't seem to notice or care. With a blood-curdling shriek, she clamped her jaws around the top of Claire's neck.

"NO!"

Lily trumpeted as loudly as she could, hoping that someone would come to the rescue. Luckily for her, Owen hopped over a fallen log with a revolver in his hand.

"BLUE!"

She gave him a side glance, then continued her pursuit.

"BLUE! STOP! I MEAN IT!"

The raptor smirked through a mouthful of bunched-up scales. She obviously didn't think he had the guts to shoot her.

"Blue . . ."

He lifted his gun with a pained expression. Her smile disappeared.

BANG! BANG!

She fell away from Claire, writhing around on the forest floor. Owen's face showed panic, and for a moment, it seemed as though he was afraid that Blue would die, but he ran straight past her and knelt in front of Claire, grazing his fingers over her wounds.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded, and he gave her a kiss. He made a point of rubbing her snout, infinitely grateful that he was now able to do so. Lily and Charlie joined them, nuzzling each parent with relief. They had come dangerously close to losing their family. Seeing that all backs were turned to her, Blue let out a deep crow. Owen frowned.

"Blue."

"Why did you do this to me?" she asked in a quavering voice.

"I warned you. I told you to stop. You betrayed me. You don't hurt family, Blue."

"I was your family."

Owen shook his head.

"No. You wanted to compete with Claire. That's not what family is about."

Blue whimpered.

"But . . . you can't possibly love her. We were meant to be a pack. You're a lone wolf, not a father. I'm the only one here who understands you."

Owen shook his head slowly.

"You don't understand me, Blue. I'm a different person now. People change. Love changes them."

Blue sat bleeding out on the ground, trembling with rage. Her claws were curled into tense spirals, and her teeth were clenched so tightly that it seemed they would break. With a roar that cut through the woodlands like a tornado of claws, Blue leapt to her feet and sprinted towards Claire. She stumbled backwards in panic, not realizing that she was very close to a cliff. The ground crumbled under her weight, and she fell backwards just as Blue pounced. They both tumbled down the steeply sloped hill in a confused tangle. When Blue hit the ground, she was knocked out, but Claire was only slightly scathed. Owen dashed over to the ledge, hanging onto a tree to keep himself from falling.

"CLAIRE?"

"I'm okay!" she called, "Just a little shaken up. Blue's unconscious."

Owen nodded.

"Leave her. We're going home as a family."

Claire tried to climb back up, but it only took her one attempt to realize that it wasn't going to happen. She mooed unhappily and fell back on her rump.

"What now?"

Owen looked left and right.

"There has to be a way up. Keep walking along the edge of the cliff until you find one."

Claire gave an affirmative snort.

"You stay there. I don't want us to get disoriented. What's left of the train track is our only landmark. If we lose that, we'll never find our way home."

Owen nodded.

"Alright. We'll be waiting. By the way, you look very attractive."

"Thank you. We'll have to discuss this in greater detail when I get back."

Claire gave him one last smile, then thundered along the base of the cliff, exhilarated by the prospect that everything would return to normal. There must have been some adrenaline left over in her bloodstream after the fight, because her heart was really pumping. She charged through the trees, not even feeling the twigs snapping beneath her feet. She was running faster than any stegoceratops had dared. As a matter of fact, she was literally moving faster than a horse. It felt so good to have her old body back. It was as if she had spent a day in tight, uncomfortable clothing, and was now proudly donning sweatpants. But she didn't feel fat or ugly or unattractive in any way. She felt whole, complete, and . . . well, good. This was the way things were meant to be. This was who she really was.

She thundered onwards, but reared up in panic as Owen stepped in front of her. She found her footing, breathing heavily after the surprise.

"I thought I told you to stay put!"

"Forget that, Claire! Lily's in trouble!"

She trumpeted.

"Trouble?!"

"No time to explain! Follow me!"

He led her into the woods. The glow in her chest had been replaced by a churning void of terror. After all of this, Lily was in danger. Claire had failed her once more. They should have walked together. Why did she think it was a good idea to split up? She was so stupid . . .

Owen slowed to a stop in a dark clearing. Claire caught up to him, panting with a dry tongue.

"Why are we slowing down? Where's Lily?"

"Not here."

Claire looked around.

"Are you lost? Where did you last see her?"

"I'm just following orders."

She wondered what he meant, but when the circus lady stepped out from behind a tree, she knew that she'd been led into a trap. The woman lifted her black cane and pointed it at Claire.

"I'm surprised that worked. Your husband was able to recognize a fake almost immediately."

Claire leaned forward, lifting her tail in warning.

"Don't come any closer."

"I'll do what I want, thank you very much."

She flicked her cane, and Claire was frozen in place. She tried desperately to move, but her muscles wouldn't respond.

"Poor Claire," the villain cooed, "How unfortunate that after all of this, you'll end up being slaughtered by a lowly ringmaster. Well, indirectly. I know you can't be killed by any creature woman-born. That eliminates me. See, I had a mother before I was Tesseract Goop. She's dead now. I really do miss her, but watching you die will make the pain go away."

Claire tried to speak, but she was incapable of moving, of course. She couldn't so much as turn her eyes to look at the vile woman, but that wasn't a problem, because she crouched down in front of her and grazed her index finger over her front horn.

"Gosh, it feels good to see you so powerless. I've waited years to do this. But it's still a little disappointing, I must admit. Although I had to sacrifice my train and circus to capture you tonight, it was barely significant compared to what I expected to give up. I guess a part of me always knew it would be this easy to win, because you're not special. Speaking of which, you're probably wondering why I hate you so much. I'll admit that it's somewhat unfair of me to punish you in this way, when you don't even know what you did wrong. So I'll tell you. Your greatest crime, Claire Dearing, was pretending to be something you're not. You called yourself a Queen, but you're barely even a stegoceratops. You've caused more misery than you know. That's why I won't feel a thing when I watch you die . . . except maybe joy. Joy and satisfaction. By killing you, I'll make this world a slightly better place. I know it's not enough to erase the havoc you've caused, but it's the very least I can do. I'm going to summon my friend now, but we can have some fun in the meantime."

She smiled.

"I'm going to unfreeze your face now. I want to hear you scream."