Jurassic World: The Animated Series

JW003

"The Evolution of Maisie"

Richard Atherton Elementary School, San Heulva, California

Maisie Lockwood stood in line in the cafeteria. She stared straight ahead as the lunch lady gave her fish sticks, macaroni and cheese, and extra baby carrots. She nervously looked around the room.

She nervously approached a table of three girls. "Um…is this seat taken?"

The three girls looked up at Maisie incredulously. "Seriously," Britney, the ringleader of the group asked. "The new girl wants to sit with us? What is with that accent, did you transfer here from Hogwarts?"

Maisie bit her lip. She had grown up in California, but had been sequestered within the Lockwood Manor her whole life, with only Iris and her 'Grandfather' as her only company. So…she picked up their British accent. Even now she wondered if her 'mother'—her genetic template, the original Maisie Lockwood, spoke with this British accent, and that was why Iris had always insisted upon proper pronunciations…

Not that she could share those thoughts out loud. So instead, she locked onto the 'Hogwarts' comment.

"The Dracorex hogwartsia was named after the dragon in the Harry Potter books," Maisie said, automatically drawing from her encyclopedic knowledge of Dinosaurs. Britney's look of disgust became even worse. "Freak"

Maisie's head sank, and she trudged away towards an empty table. She sat down and picked at her food, but didn't eat it. She'd been so excited before coming to school for the first time in her life…But now...She felt more lonely than she had when she was living with Iris and her grandfather.

She put the carrots aside in a Ziploc baggie. She wasn't going to eat them, so she might as well give them to Styggy when she went to the zoo after school. Styggy really liked tubers, and pickles.

"Hey," a boy's voice said, sitting down across from him. He had dirty-blond hair and was wearing a souvenir t-shirt from Jurassic World.

"You like dinosaurs?" the kid asked.

Maisie nodded.

"Me too," he said. "I've seen you at the zoo, by the T. rex area. That's so cool that they got a T. rex."

Maisie nodded again, and smiled.

"I'm Whit Magnus," the kid said excitedly. "Come by my house after school! I have something really cool to show you!"

Maisie smiled and nodded again, shyly. The bell rang and Whit Magnus ran off. Maisie was ecstatic: she was finally making a friend!

She practically ran out the door after school let out. The Richard Atherton Elementary School was about was about seven blocks away from the San Heulva Zoo. So Maisie would walk there after school let out.

The DPG task force had temporary accommodations in four trailers parked at the edge of the zoo, adjacent to the Penguin and Puffin coast (so the morning air always smelt of fish) they were attempting find houses or apartments near the zoo, but so far, only Franklin and Zia had.

Whit Magnus was waiting for her outside when Maisie got outside. She'd already texted Claire that she was going to a friend's house after school, and had gotten back the message:

See! We knew you'd make friends! Be home by 6pm for Dinner. I'll feed Styggy for you—C

It brought a smile to Maisie's face.

To Maisie's surprise, a black limousine pulled up to the school and a burly looking Polynesian man stepped out and opened the door for them.

"I love dinosaurs," Whit said, smiling. "Always have. I went to Jurassic World every summer until they closed it down. That was so stupid."

Maisie didn't say anything.

"It was the best," he said excitedly. "I'm so glad that the San Heulva Zoo has the T. rex now. I can see a feeding every day if I want to. You do, right? That's why I saw you there?"

Maisie nodded again, still unsure of what to say to this overexcited boy. Fortunately, he didn't seem bothered by Maisie's silence in the slightest.

The Limousine pulled through the wrought-iron gate of one of the mansions on the swankier side of San Huelva (which still wasn't that far away from the school or the zoo, it was a small town.)

Massive concrete walls obscured the building from the street-level view. You couldn't see anything on the property if you hadn't passed through the gates. Maisie wistfully thought of the Lockwood manor, her former home.

"Look!" Whit said, pointing. Maisie's eyes suddenly widened in shock. Casually grazing on the rosebushes in Whit's front lawn was a trio of Triceratops. Two adults, and one juvenile. One of the adults was missing a horn.

"My dad bought them for me," Whit said proudly. "At some kind of top secret auction or something. Aren't they cool?"

The blood drained from Maisie's face, as she uttered the first words she'd managed to muster since she met Whit.

"Oh crap," she said.

THREE SLASH MARKS RIP ACROSS SCREEN

John Williams's Classic Jurassic Park theme begins to play, accompanied by the following images.

Jurassic World: The Animated Series Theme song.

Owen Grady riding a motorcycle alongside Blue.

Claire Dearing riding on the back of a Sinoceratops.

Maisie petting Styggy the Stygimoloch.

Alan Grant sketching Blue.

Franklin Webb operating a drone from his laptop.

Zia Rodriguez brushing the teeth of an unconscious Rexy.

Jess Harding yelling angrily at Ian Malcolm.

Roland Tembo firing shots at the Spinosaurus rex

Rexy stomping out of her Paddock and letting out a Triumphant ROAR!

The Jurassic World Logo. 'The Animated Series' Subtitle beneath it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Maisie was torn as she made her way through the zoo tunnels towards the lounge.

As soon as she passed by the door to the empty giraffe enclosure where Styggy the Stygimoloch spent her days, the Pachycephalosaur trotted out of the enclosure to eagerly great the young human who kept feeding her.

Maisie absently opened her Ziploc bag full of baby carrots and held them out to Styggy, who just as eagerly gobbled them up. Styggy then began following Maisie down the corridor like a puppy.

As they passed by the former cheetah enclosure, Blue trotted out and greeted Maisie with the four sharp barks and clicking sound that was the Raptor greeting.

"Hey Blue," Maisie said. "Not training with Owen today?"

The raptor seemed a little put off, and nipped at Styggy in irritation. Styggy ignored the raptor, like she always did. Blue barely tolerated the Stygimoloch, and in particular disliked its mischievous behavior. It was often sneaking extra food, which Blue found intolerable.

But both animals had a great deal of affection for Maisie, and so basically tolerated each other for her sake.

As such, both nuzzled the obviously distraught Maisie Lockwood and she approached the lounge. Blue suddenly hung back, causing Maisie some alarm. She could hear agitated voices on the other side of the door. She opened it a crack.

"There's no getting around this one," Owen was saying. "It's already killed three people, and maimed a fourth. We can't relocate this one. We have to put it down."

Maisie suddenly gasped.

"The Allosaurus doesn't know any better," Zia argued. "It's just looking for food."

"Which in this case is hikers," Owen replied. "We have no choice. We gotta smoke this one."

"If we killed every predator who killed a human," Zia argued. "Then we'd have to kill Rexy and Blue too!"

"Blue has only ever killed in self-defense," Owen said. "And never eaten."

"And Rexy actually doesn't like humans," Claire said. "She thinks humans taste bad, and only ate humans when she was stressed or hungrier than usual. Given choices, she'd eat a Velociraptor, or a Carnotaurus, or especially a goat, before she'd ever go after a human."

"Which is why both Blue and Rexy got continuances," Owen said. "But that's why we had to race against the clock to contain Rexy in the first place. Because if human became part of her balanced diet long-term…Then we'd have to smoke her too."

"Look," Roland Tembo piped up. "We all knew that this would happen eventually. We don't have to like it, but we do have to do it. The Allosaurus can't be running around the redwoods killing humans. It has to be put down."

Maisie now understood why Blue had been hanging back. Her pack was fighting. For a while, it looked like. This had agitated Blue because she didn't know what the pack had been fighting about.

"You wanted this to happen!" Zia accused the hunter.

Roland's face actually softened. "No ma'am I did not. I respect carnivores. I respect hunters. I built my whole life around understanding them, and having to shoot one that's gone rogue is the last thing I ever want to do. It hurts me deeply. If it weren't a threat to human lives, the Allosaurus would be an ideal candidate for my African Dinosaur Preserve. But I knew what I was getting into when I signed onto your crazy outfit, and don't pretend that you didn't know either."

"I can't be a part of this," Zia said quietly. "I swore an oath as a Paleo-Vet that I would do no harm to Prehistoric Animals."

"That's fair," Roland said. "You can sit this one out. But the rest of us have a job to do, right Mr. Grady?"

"Right," Owen said. "Blue?"

The Velociraptor darted past Maisie, and ran to Owen's side. Maisie and Styggy quietly followed.

"Let's get this movable feast under way," Roland said.

Zia collapsed onto the lounge couch, crying. Blue nuzzled Zia affectionately, but then turned and followed Own and the others out the door.

"I'm sorry about the Allosaurus," Maisie said to Zia, who quickly looked up and began wiping her tears.

"Oh honey," Zia said. "It isn't your fault."

"Yes it is," Maisie replied. "I'm the one who let them out, remember? I know Owen and Claire made Mitchell and his government people think Claire did it, but it was me. That Allosaurus killed those people because of me."

"Oh honey!" Zia said. She pulled Maisie into a tight hug, and Styggy tried to nuzzle them, but couldn't actually squeeze in.

"Don't you ever apologize for that, Maisie," Zia said. "Valuing life is not a weakness. You can't control the actions of others, you can only control your own. You chose to save the lives of those dinosaurs, and no matter what…you did the right thing."

"Thank you, Zia," Maisie whispered.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So," Owen said as Roland bent down and examined a footprint. "We wanna talk about the Brachiosaurus in the room?"

"Dude, too soon," Franklin said.

Owen winced. "Sorry…I was just…"

"You mean Extinction Now," Claire said.

There was a chill that fell over the group.

"Grant?" Roland asked, after a moment. The paleontologist walked over to Roland's side.

"Yeah," he muttered. "That's an Allosaurus footprint."

"But is it the right Allosaurus?" Franklin asked. "There's more than one. If we gotta do this…then lets be one hundred percent-,"

"It's the right one," Tembo said, quietly but firmly. Franklin fell silent.

"We can't afford to let this Allosaurus get away," Tembo said. "Those Extinction Now people are gunning for us. If we make a mistake…"

"Then Rexy, Styggy, and Blue's lives are all at stake," Owen said.

"And any other dinosaur we try and rescue," Tembo continued. "They already think we're too soft, just because Rexy's still alive. These people want to see the dinosaurs go extinct again. They think that we don't have the—"

"We all know the stakes, Roland," Claire said. "Even Zia."

"I want to save these animals too," Roland said. "I want future generations of hunters to be able to say 'I hunted an Allosaurus!' I don't want them to die out again."

"But Extinction Now has got a lot of supporters," Grant said quietly. "A lot of supporters who are right about one thing…these animals have killed people before. They're wild animals, not pets. Even Blue, though she's adopted us…She's still…"

"She's safe around us," Owen said. "But there's a reason she's not on display like Rexy is."

"Their website has a Kill Count," Franklin said, the website now open on his tablet.

"God, that's morbid," Claire said.

"But it sure gets their point across," Grant said.

"Yes, they're counting the people who this Allosaurus got."

The group fell into an uncomfortable silence.

"Come on," Roland said finally. "Our job is to make sure that counter never goes up again. Let's move."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Maisie quietly finished her homework and packed it up into her binder and backpack. She hung it on the wall hook by the Lounge door and walked down the hallway where the offices were.

Jess Harding, the San Heulva Zoo Director; and their generous host, had an office on the very end of the hall. Claire and Grant had offices on either side of Jess's, while Owen and Roland had token offices that neither used.

Jess's office door was open, and Zia was talking to Jess.

"Zia?" Maisie asked. The two older women paused and glanced back at Zia.

"Dinosaur question…is there any food that Triceratops love as much as Rexy loves goats?"

"I don't think that it's physically possible to love a food as much as Rexy loves to eat goats," Zia replied.

"Heliconia," Jess said. "Also banana leaves. But mostly Heliconia."

"What is Heliconia?" Maisie asked.

"It's a tropical plant, indigenous to Coasta Rica and parts of south and central America," Jess replied. "There's some in the feeder bays if you want to see what they look like. I picked some up incase Claire's team ever got any Triceratops and brought them back here."

"Why are you asking, honey?" Zia wondered.

"I was just curious about Triceratops, that's all," Maisie lied.

"How do you know so much about Trikes?" Zia asked Jess.

"I told you…my dad literally wrote your textbooks, Zia," Jess said. "He pioneered your field. The very first Paleo-vet. I got to meet some of the Trikes from the first park, before it went belly up."

"Anything Triceratops doesn't like?" Maisie asked.

"Toxic berries," Zia said.

"Car horns," Jess said. "They hate those. Trust me."

"Girl, you have got to tell me about what happened to you at the first park," Zia said, clearly intrigued.

"Well I was only 14," Jess admitted.

Maisie quietly backed away from the two women, and quietly entered the zoo tunnels.

Styggy trotted up to her, sniffing.

"Come on Styggy…" Maisie said, "Let's go rescue some Triceratops."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Owen and Roland stopped, both looking ahead. Blue was on alert as well. Franklin's drone hovered quietly overhead. Roland, Blue, and Owen had gone deeper into the forest, with Franklin, Grant, and Claire remaining at the truck, Grant communicating through the speaker on Owen's iPhone, sharing everything he knew about Allosaurus.

"We're close," Roland said. "It's up ahead, in the denser part of the forest. I can't get a clear shot. It knows we're hunting it. I can sense it. We need to flush it out."

Owen nodded. This was a drill that he and Blue knew pat back at Jurassic World, but one she hadn't done in a while…and never without Charlie, Delta, and Echo. But the basic principle—flush out prey for the attackers to strike—should still be the same.

Owen straddled his bike, holding out his signal clicker. He clicked once.

He had Blue's attention.

Four fast clicks. The signal for the 'flush out' plan.

Blue glanced over at Roland, then at Owen. She snipped back a confirmation chirp. She understood.

Owen whistled. The 'attack' signal.

Blue darted to the right, as Owen drove his bike to the left.

Roland was actually impressed, though he was loath to admit it.

He heard a saurian roar nearby. He removed his elephant rifle from his shoulder and took aim.

The Allosaurus burst out of the foliage, charging at Roland.

He fired.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Unfortunately for Jess Harding, she currently had no security guards. They had all quit when Rexy became a resident of the zoo. Owen and Roland had recommended some Ex-Navy and African Hunters who would be ideal replacements, but she hadn't managed to fill the position as of yet.

Which made it all to easy for Maisie to slip into the vehicle maintenance shed and steal a golf-cart. Once in the cart, she made her way towards the feeder bay for the large animals.

The Heliconia and banana leaves were obvious. Heliconia was a very pretty flowering tree. There was a lot of it. Enough to feed a whole herd of Triceratops. Jess was optimistic, Maisie decided.

Maisie quickly loaded as much Heliconia onto the golf cart as she possibly could. She drove the cart right past the ticket gate and onto the sidewalk, Styggy curious, and keeping pace with Maisie and the vehicle.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Maisie pulled up in front of Whit Magnus's mansion. She observed the giant wrought-iron gate that she'd entered through when she arrived, but there was also a smaller, person-sized iron gate next to it.

Maisie hopped out of the golf-cart, and walked up to the gate. She glanced back at Styggy, who was nibbling on one of the Heliconia plants.

Maisie let out a sharp whistle.

Styggy HATED whistling. The high-pitched noise hurt her ears, and she would instinctively and automatically attack anything that made a whistling sound.

She was not maneuverable, however, and once she took aim, it was easy for someone with good reflexes to simply sidestep her, as Maisie did.

The person sized wrought-iron gate went flying.

"Thanks Styggy," she said. She grabbed a Heliconia stalk and ran onto the mansion's property.

"Now I get to betray my only friend," Maisie sighed. Styggy followed Maisie curiously.

The Triceratops were not hard to find. They were busy eating—ironically—a topiary shaped like a tyrannosaurus rex. Maisie noticed that half the plants in the yard were stripped bare. The Trikes were running out of food to eat.

The juvenile trotted up to Maisie and sniffed at the heliconia. She took a bite out of it and squeaked excitedly. She took another bite. She began backing towards the gate, when suddenly she bumped into a person.

Maisie spun around. Behind her was the burly Samoan limo driver, who was glaring at her.

Maisie noticed that Styggy was pawing at the remains of a rosebush behind him, seemingly unnoticed.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" the guard demanded.

"I'm taking the Triceratops," she said. "They're starving. They've already eaten half the yard, and these lawn plants can't be all that nutritious."

He grabbed Maisie's arm. "I don't think so, girly."

"Try and stop me," Maisie said, and whistled sharply.

Seconds later the security guard went flying as Styggy slammed into him from behind. Maisie got up and dusted herself off. The juvenile triceratops had finished off the heliconia, and was now sniffing around for more.

The two adults were now wandering in their direction as well. The one that was missing a horn was starting to look agitated.

Maisie ran back to the golf cart, pulling off another heliconia plant and placing it by the door.

The juvenile immediately trotted over and began eating it.

Maisie and Styggy ran back to the golf cart. Maisie drove forward, to the wrought-iron gate. She honked the horn.

The two adults snorted and began charging towards her.

Maisie slammed on the gas pedal of the golf cart and floored it. She yanked a heliconia plant off of the back seat and tossed it behind her. She heard the loud clang of the gate as it went flying when the triceratops busted through the gates.

They began to follow her. Maisie dropped another heliconia. Then she honked again...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jess yawned, stepping out into the zoo. Having just finished going over the list of possible security personnel candidates that Owen and Roland had provided had been exhausting, but possibly rewarding if it worked out.

Now it was time for the nightly rounds before turning in. She paused by the rhino enclosure. It was the only large animal that she hadn't had to move when Rexy moved in, she guessed, because the rhinos couldn't actually see Rexy.

There was an upturned golf cart inside the rhino enclosure, and Rocky, their resident juvenile male appeared to be eating…heliconia…which was scattered around the golf cart.

"What in the-," Jess started to say. Then, her thoughts evaporated as a large triceratops that was missing a horn trotted up to the upturned golf cart and began nibbling at the heliconia, unperturbed by the rhinoceros.

"Lady Margaret?" Jess asked blankly.

She stared in confusion before she noticed two other triceratopses in the rhino paddock.

"MAISIE!" Jess yelled suddenly, finally putting the puzzle pieces together.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The DPG truck rumbled into the loading entrance to the zoo. Zia stood waiting for the others as they got out.

"You guys need to have a talk with Maisie," Zia said to Owen and Claire. "Jess will fill you in."

Blue leapt out of the back of the truck, and seeming quite pleased with herself, happily greeted Zia before darting into the zoo tunnels.

"Miss Rodriguez," Roland said, approaching her. "I have here—according to Dr. Grant—a juvenile male Allosaurus. I hope that you can make use of its organs and blood to help the animals we have now."

Zia looked surprised.

"You keep acting surprised when you talk to me," Roland said. "But you need to realize that we're on the same side. My motivations might not align with yours, but we both want the same end goal. If this Allosaur can be used to help other dinosaurs, then its death will not have been in vain."

Roland turned to enter the zoo tunnels.

"Wait," Zia said. "You're right…Because of the cloning process, all of the two and three fingered therapod are compatible blood types with each other. So he could definitely help. Maybe even save Rexy or Blue's life one day…"

Roland nodded.

"But," Zia said. "You're said we're on the same side…so maybe I can give a little too. I'm not…I don't need his head. If you wanted to…I don't know…have it stuffed as an advertisement for your lodge. That might be okay."

Roland's jaw dropped.

"Don't…don't look at me like that," Zia said. "Claire told me about how much you donated to the cheetah breeding program last year. And Jess told me how you planned to give the profits from the hunting preserve to the San Heulva Zoo. I know…that this could actually be good for the animals, in the long run. So…like you said…so the Allosaurus didn't die in vain."

"Miss Rodriguez," Roland said. "It takes a lot to surprise me. But you have floored me. I promise you…together, we will make it count."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Maisie sat quietly on her bed in the trailer at the far end of the zoo. She could hear the sounds of the penguins chattering at each other in the building next to her.

She hugged her stuffed monkey tightly as Claire and Owen entered. Claire gave Owen a look, and he hung back by the door.

"Hey sweetie," Claire said, sitting down by Maisie. "Jess told me about what happened. Are you okay?"

Maisie nodded quietly.

"Good," Claire said. "Because you are in so much trouble!"

"Why didn't you tell us about the Triceratops?" Owen asked. "They may look peaceful, but they can be just as dangerous as Rexy."

"I was going to," Maisie said quietly. "I really was. But then I heard about the Allosaurus. The Allosaurus that you had to kill, because it had killed, because of me…and I didn't want to burden you any more. I didn't want you to have to…get in more trouble because of me. I didn't want anyone else getting hurt because of me…"

Maisie began to tear up.

"Oh sweetheart," Claire said, and in a heartbeat she and Owen were hugging her tightly, together.

"Don't ever feel like you can't come to us with something," Owen said. "Big or small, no matter what dinosaur issues we're having."

"Maisie," Claire said. "You are the most important thing in the world to us."

"More important than Blue?" Maisie wondered.

"Much more important to me than Blue," Owen said. "Which Blue knows, that's why she's got your back."

"So if you find out that there's some dinosaur in your friend's backyard, or something," Claire said. "Tell us, don't try and save them on your own."

"I wasn't really on my own," Maisie said. "Styggy helped."

"Great," Owen replied. "Then Styggy's grounded too."

"I don't really have any friends," Maisie said. "So…grounding me isn't really a punishment, where am I going to go?"

"You can go help Jess shovel Triceratops dung for the next two weeks," Claire said, smirking.

Maisie groaned loudly, but then giggled and hugged Owen and Claire again.

A few moments later, Owen and Claire stepped out of Maisie's room, and both breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm so glad she's okay," Owen said. "When Jess said…"

"I know, right?" Claire said. "Scariest moment of my life."

"Thank God for your sister's advice," Owen said. "Because I did NOT know how to deal with that."

"Yep," Claire said. "I'm buying her the biggest fruit basket ever from Edible Arrangements and an entire shopping Cart of Ivy Rose cosmetics."

"Are you as proud of her as you are mad?" Owen asked.

"Definitely," Claire said.

"Me too," Owen said.

"I can hear you two geeking out over being parents!" Maisie called from the other room.

Owen and Claire could only grin at each other.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Owen and Claire returned to the zoo the following afternoon to see a very angry looking man dressed in black with a black Stetson and red bolo tie yelling as Jessica Harding.

Putting the bags of food from the Dairy Queen down the street on one of the picnic tables near the rhino enclosure, Owen and Claire approached the angry man.

"Owen, Claire," Jess said quietly. "This is Rand Magnus, the oil tycoon. He seems upset about the newest additions to the zoo."

"Those are MAH animals," Magnus said, with a thick Texan accent. "Ah paid for them!"

"Oh please tell me someone recorded that," Claire said. "Because if I recall, correctly, illegally obtaining smuggled dinosaurs has been deemed a class-one felony."

Rand Magnus's face went pale.

"These animals were obtained in a raid by a DPG agent," Claire said, narrowing her eyes. "And according to our paleo-vet, were severely malnourished. But…you wouldn't know anything about that, Mr. Rand? Would you?"

"This is not over," Rand said glaring at Claire.

"Yes," Owen said, stepping forward. "It is."

"Consider yourself banned from my zoo," Jess Harding said, glaring at him.

As Rand stormed off, Maisie Lockwood exited the zoo tunnels, wearing pink overalls, and smelling…distinctly less pink. She stopped short.

Whit Magnus was glaring at her.

"You!" he yelled. "You stole my Triceratops!"

"Rescued," Maisie replied, calmly. "And they weren't yours to begin with."

"You Bi-," Whit yelled, moving towards Maisie threateningly.

Before he could finish his swear or his threat, there was a loud screech and instantly, Blue and Styggy had bounded out of the zoo tunnel entrance from behind Maisie. Styggy snorted angrily at Whit, while Blue screeched.

The color drained from Whit's face as Maisie held up her hand like she'd seen Owen do a hundred times before, when trying to calm the raptor.

"Blue!" Maisie said. "No! No! Go back in the tunnels. I'll be fine, okay?"

Blue looked very unconvinced. But the raptor lurched forward and hissed loudly in Whit's face, before turning and darting back into the zoo tunnel.

Styggy observed this interaction, and decided to mimic it, burping loudly in Whit's face, before departing back into the tunnels.

With both dinosaurs gone, Whit stared blankly at Maisie for a moment, and then turned around and ran like Blue had actually decided to chase him instead of returning to the tunnels.

Maisie just smiled to herself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The following day, Maisie went through the lunch line with a little more gusto in her step. Whit stared at her in the line, as if trying to figure out what to make of her. Maisie made a lunging motion at him, and he dropped his tray and ran to the other side of the cafeteria, wildly looking around, wondering if Maisie's dinosaurs might appear from nowhere again and attack him.

Satisfied, Maisie sat down by herself and picked up her sloppy joe, with the intention of taking a bite, when she heard the sound of several trays slapping down on the table next to her.

She looked up to see Britney and her two friends Caitlyn and Ashley, who were all staring at Maisie in…awe?

"Whit Magnus is one of the biggest tools in the school," Caitlyn said. "Thinks he owns everything because of his dad."

"How the heck did you manage to scare him like that?" Britney asked.

Maisie was taken aback for a moment.

"Please!?" Britney asked. "I'm sorry about how I acted yesterday…please tell us how you did that?"

"My parents work for the DPG," Maisie said finally. "We're all big dinosaur nuts…so I went over to his house yesterday…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Claire and Owen were napping together in a hammock that Owen had hung between two trees near the rhino exhibit. The two of them had been watching the Triceratops roam around the enclosure.

Every member of the DPG seemed fascinated that the Triceratops and Rhinoceros seemed to have no issues sharing the enclosure with each other. Roland was observing from a hide in the paddock, Grant was furiously sketching the Trikes from the picnic tables next to the exhibit.

And Owen and Claire had been watching from their hammock, before dozing off.

Until Claire's phone began ringing.

"Hello?" she asked, lazily answering.

"Amanda?" she said, sitting bolt upright in the hammock.

"Guys!" Claire said. "We've found the Mosasaur!"

To be continued…