Chapter 3

When Murielle awoke again, light was coming in from the front of the cave. There was also movement, creating shadows that prevented the light from being as bright as it normally was. The movement was accompanied by deep grunting sounds. In addition, there was a fetid smell... 'Somebody really needs a toothbrush ... and maybe some mouthwash.'

Checking her own breaths from each of her bodies, using the olfactory senses of each other, Murielle concluded that the 'fetid breath' smell wasn't coming from either of her. The smell was more like the way a predator's breath smelled. In fact, it smelled an awful lot like... 'A T-Rex! There's a T-Rex in my cave!'

She both jumped up, squealing and hugging her backs against the rear wall of her little sanctuary. Nothing followed or pounced on her, though there was a low throaty rumble in response to the terrified, squeaky noises both of her had just made. 'That's impossible! There's no way something that size could get in here!'

More willing to sacrifice her sister's waiting body than risk her own, as hers was the one with the shape-changing feature, Murielle moved her second self forward to spy on the cave entrance. A few seconds later, she confirmed the facts. It was a T-Rex. And it had its head stuck in the mouth of her cave.

Murielle laughed nervously and approached, daring to bring both her bodies closer to that enormous, toothy mouth. She could hear it breathing and one dinner-plate sized eye regarded her with that bright reptilian demeanor created by evolution to unnerve its prey, but that didn't prevent both her bodies from flinching when it blinked at her.

Timidly moving right up to the dinosaur's huge snout, Murielle reached out and gently placed the palm of her hand right between its quivering nostrils. "Your nose is soft," she whispered, mesmerized by the closeness of this giant of the prehistoric world. "I never noticed that when I fed myself to your brothers and sisters, or maybe it was you who would seek me out for a midnight snack?"

The T-Rex's nose quivered and it blew out a powerful snort, causing Murielle to jump back a step. Its head moved slightly forward as if to follow, wedging the beast even more firmly into the cave opening.

"So you smelled me and thought you could surprise me in here, huh?" she ventured. "Now I can't get out of here, and you can't even open your mouth for me to feed myself to you. Boy, you're dumb."

In physical contact with the prehistoric creature, Murielle was actually receiving images from its walnut-sized brain. And it wasn't one of the half-grown T-Rexes she used to play with back at the lodge – back when life was simpler and we were exploring our newfound powers ... Back when we never considered that we might lose each other to creatures like you.

But Murielle knew with a dark certainty that dinosaurs hadn't killed her sister; people had. Those she and Miranda had thought of as family – Elaine, Tara, Tia ... They were her enemies now. 'Not that I'll ever see any of them again... '

Murielle was startled out of her dark reverie by the T-Rex, who suddenly emitted a yelp of pain and transmitted sudden terror along with a righteous rage through Murielle's hand contact. Something was biting its foot – the foot that was outside the cave where it couldn't turn around and protect itself.

Anxiety and fright radiated by the T-Rex filled Murielle's mind. All she could think of was how she could get the pain to stop. There had to be some way the T-Rex could protect itself. Amazed, she found herself, along with the T-Rex's frantic mind, searching through her own mind for a solution.

'Teleport! Yes! Go somewhere else! Go where there are no teeth!' Hugging herself against the monster's gigantic snout, Murielle encompassed the beast as best as she could with all her attention. 'Go somewhere! Go grasses! Safe in grasses!' And they were there. One giant, angry, frightened T-Rex, one small, naked, frightened girl.

"I suppose you're gonna try and eat me now," Murielle exclaimed as she backed away, too disoriented by the beast's invasion into her mind to concentrate on a safe location. Safe being, of course, away from you!

The T-Rex stared down at Murielle as the girl stumbled and fell backwards. It squatted down to view her more closely, moving its head right over her legs to stare at her, eye to eye. Then it moaned at her and grunted twice.

Murielle sat up, every nerve on edge. The beast sat very still. "I hope this isn't some sort of cat-and-mouse game you're playing with me," she murmured as she reached forward to touch its soft, velvety snoot again. "Cause I promise – if it is, I will cook you from your nose to your toes and have you for dinner." Her palm touched soft, quivering flesh. Her mouth dropped open in utter amazement.

"You're thanking me?"

Murielle fell sideways into the grass, both hands wrapped around her middle, laughing and crying at the same time. These were unintelligent, unthinking beasts that consistently killed and ate anything that moved. Everything they did was pure instinct. There was no thought involved, only action and reaction. And this one was... Thinking!

Murielle sat up, needing to know more. Quickly placing her hand back on the T-Rex's nose, she thought into its head, 'Do others think like you? Do you have a language or anything? Are you actually INTELLIGENT?'

The T-Rex blinked several times, confused by her emotional barrage of questions. It knew how to handle problematic creatures. It ate them. Faster than Murielle could react, the creature snapped at her hand, closing its teeth on her thin wrist. It started to jerk backwards to tear off her irritating little claw, then stopped as though it suddenly realized what it was doing.

With a soft whimper that sounded a lot like a pet dog that had just been punished, it released Murielle's hand and squatted down so that its chin was actually resting on the ground.

"Oh my God! You are intelligent," Murielle gasped, then looked at her arm where her wrist had been trapped between its teeth. "You could've torn my arm completely off – but you didn't. Because I helped you."

Not knowing whether to laugh or scream or flee in terror, Murielle concentrated on something she could handle. Caressing her bleeding wound with her other hand, she bathed her skin in soft, blue fire. In a moment, the wound was completely healed.

The T-Rex immediately stood and grunted down at her from twenty feet up. It was definitely trying to tell her something. Or maybe it was just surprised at her actions, or afraid of the fire, or...

Chapter 4 »