“Is that Fiona, or is that the tarbosaurus we saw earlier. I can’t tell them apart.” Elspet stood still, her back plastered against the cliff walls.

“It’s Fiona. She’s having fun teasing us. You can change back now, Fiona.” Callum shouted.

The tarbosaurus moved closer. Its feet pounded on the ground, shaking it.

“I’m scared. I don’t think it is Fiona. I think it’s that one that sniffed us earlier. It’s come back to finish the job. Callum, what will we do?” Elspet grabbed his shoulder and hid behind him.

A roar rumbled down the canyon and a t-rex stepped around the corner. The tarbosaurus turned to look. The two creatures sized each other up.

“Is one of those Fiona or are we about to witness a fight between to real dinosaurs?” Elspet stepped out from behind Callum to see better.

The t-rex grew in size until it was double the tarbosaurus.

“It’s Fiona! Thank goodness.” Elspet clutched her fingers together.

The two dinosaurs ran at each other. The tarbosaurus seemed to have no fear of the t-rex. It crashed into Fiona’s legs and bit one. The t-rex bent over and grabbed the other dinosaur by the neck. Blood spurted out of the t-rex’s leg, drenching Elspet and Callum with a thick red mess. Fiona crushed the tarbosaurus’ neck with her powerful jaws and threw it into another canyon.

She ran up to her friends. “Climb on my tail. We’ve got to get that alexandrite. This is taking way too long and we’re running out of time.”

“This is cool. A talking tyrannosaurus that’s going to give us a ride. Take a photo of me on the t-rex, Elspet.” Callum chuckled and climbed up Fiona’s tail. When he reached her head, he sat, dangling his feet over into her eyes.

“Say t-rex, Callum,” Elspet called. She snapped the photo just as the last velociraptor came around the corner.

“Quick, Elspet. Jump on Fiona’s tail and climb up.” Callum called to her with urgency.

“Hold on you two,” Fiona said. They wedged themselves between two of the spikes on her neck. “We’re going for a ride.”

She ran through the canyons, Callum directing her to the pile of bones in the middle of the canyon. “There is a nest of baby velociraptors coming up. It’s the one past that. There are dinosaur eggs there, all fossilized. Quit bouncing so hard.”

With the bigger raptor on her heels, Fiona kept running, not stopping to see any of the remains. She reached the nest with eggs. “We’re here,” she said. “Climb off and start cracking open those eggs. I’ll keep the other one busy until you find it.” The t-rex bent over and Callum rolled off. Elspet jumped to the ground and Fiona turned to face her foe. “I have a good idea.” Elspet watched Fiona turn invisible. “He can’t see me now. I’ll have to surprise him.”

The velociraptor, seeing Elspet and Callum alone and unprotected dashed for the two of them. It got within a short distance and was about to jump at them, claw extended and aiming at Callum’s belly, when the invisible t-rex grabbed hold of the raptor’s tail, lifting it into the air. “You’re going for a ride.” Fiona twirled the screeching dinosaur in the air and flung it into the desert sand. “I command you, snakes of the desert, to attack that dinosaur and feast on it.” From her height she could see the slithering reptiles come from holes in the sand and smother the lame raptor with their writhing bodies. “That’s the end of them.” Fiona shrank back down to her normal size and turned into herself once again. “That was fun.”

“Did you really eat one of those raptors?” Elspet started laughing.

“I did. It was so gross. It tasted like rotten liver.” Fiona gagged. She kneeled down and started smashing the eggs. “Wait, don’t smash any more. This isn’t right. We’re destroying history.” She closed her eyes. “It’s in this one. Put the others back in the nest.” She picked it up and held the egg in front of her. “I can see it in there. I don’t think I’ll break it. I think I’ll put it in my backpack and take it home like this. We can always donate the shell to a museum or something.” She opened her pack and put the egg inside, making sure it was in a safe place.

“We didn’t get to see a protoceratops. It would have been cool to have seen one of the gentle dinosaurs. Oh well. I suppose we should go back now. This has been really cool, hasn’t it, now that it is over and not so dangerous any longer,” Callum said.

They stood in a circle. “Whenever you’re ready, Fiona,” Elspet said. She took Callum’s hand and he took Fiona’s.

She was about to utter the words to return when someone came behind her and put a knife to her throat. At the same time Callum and Elspet found themselves with knives at their throats too.

“So, you tried to escape. Nobody escapes from Genghis Khan. You have humiliated me in front of my entire army. Three children escaping. Let me assure you it won’t happen again.” Khan spoke, though only Fiona understood. “Give me the gemstone.”

“We don’t have it. One of the dinosaurs ate it,” Fiona lied.

Khan ripped her backpack off and poured the contents out. “There is nothing in there. What is this egg?”

“There’s a whole nest of them over there. I wanted to take one back with me.” Fiona knelt and put everything back in the pack.

General Khasir grabbed Callum and pulled him away from both of them. A sharp knife dug into Callum’s throat. A drop of blood oozed out and rolled down onto his shirt.

“Genghis Khan, your loyal general is plotting to kill you. He hates you. He’s jealous of the attention you get and thinks he’s a better warrior than you,” Fiona said.

The general removed the knife from Callum’s throat and turned to the Khan. “She speaks nonsense. You would believe her over your general? She is lying.” Khasir glared at Fiona.

“I don’t trust either of you. You’re both selfish!” Elspet cried out.

Khan glanced at Elspet and then turned to face Khasir. He shouted at him and soon the two of them were in a raging argument.

“Callum, give me your hand.” Callum moved towards her. They held hands. Khan shoved his knife into Khasir’s stomach. Blood bubbled out of the general’s mouth. “Daleth shapish yam bet.” Fiona was able to get the words out before Khan reached her. The three of them disappeared, leaving a stunned leader, and his general dying in agony.