Maggie and Tommy exhaled as they made it to the surface and dragged themselves out of the water, all while coughing and wheezing. The two laid down on the fuzzy grass. After relaxing and letting the sun dry them out, they got up to pour the water out of their systems.

“You know what, maybe that wasn’t such a good idea...” Tommy muttered, rubbing his eyes.

“You think?” Maggie retorted, squeezing her long hair like a wringer to get rid of the water.

“Well, at the very least, we got out of there, ok.”

“Yeah, but where’s the dinosaur and that geeky friend of yours?” Maggie asked.

“Oh yeah, now that you mentioned it, where are they?” Tommy repeated.

The two stood around, calling out for him and the Thescelotitan. They tried as loud as they could, but they couldn’t get a single reply.

Something about the area seemed off, too. The water looked more like a small pond instead of a big lake, no sand beside the pool, not as many trees as before, either. The grass behind them felt fuzzy. Bushes also appeared in every corner of the location.

Eventually, Maggie gave up and sat down in a huff.

“Oh, what’s the use?” She muttered, placing her hands on her cheeks and crossing her legs. “If we keep at this, we’re more than likely going to call in some predators unintentionally.”

“Fair enough, I guess,” Tommy said with a shrug. He rested one of his hands on his chin and hummed to himself.

“Well, genius, what do you suppose we do now?” Maggie asked, getting up and placing her hands on her hips.

“How should I know?” Tommy moved his hand over to point at her, “And you didn’t want me to think, remember?”

“When did I—?”

“Why don’t you think of something?”

“What? You got us into this mess!”

“I was trying to save us both; what about you? You almost got caught, and you keep getting into trouble...”

“Oh, like you’re one to talk! Are you saying this is my fault?”

“Why are we even talking about this? My friend could be in danger for all we know!” Tommy shouted. His body trembled, and his voice shook up.

Stolen novel; please report.

Even Maggie took a step back from him. Seeing him with his head hung low and his fists clenched, she walked a little closer and slowly extended her hand out to him.

“Hey, are you ok?” She asked.

“Do I look ok to you? And why do you care now?” Tommy thundered. He rose and made Maggie jump back.

Maggie feared she might have pushed him too far. He had a good point also; why were they arguing at a time like this?

“But, I—”

“No, it’s not entirely your fault all of this is happening, it’s also because of your... weird dad!” He roared.

Tommy looked over and saw Maggie speechless. Her eyes widened, and her arms fell to the floor. He looked down at his hands and touched his lips.

Oh no, why did I say that? What was I thinking?

“No, wait, I didn’t mean—”

“What?”

It was Maggie’s turn to hang her head low. She bit her lip and marched over to where Tommy stood and pushed him to the ground.

“What do you know about my dad? I didn’t get to know much about him myself!”

“Wait, are you saying he...?”

“Shut up!”

Before the situation they got in could get uglier, Tommy heard rustling noises coming from some bushes. He picked himself up as his attention focused on one shrub that moved slightly.

“Who's there? Show yourself!” Tommy ordered.

“Uh, oh, got to go.” The unknown figure muttered.

The dark shadow disappeared from the bushes and ran off, with Tommy giving chase. The figure tried to hop over some rocks and duck under branches, but it tripped on a root and tumbled to the ground, along with dropping something red beside its body. It didn’t take long for Tommy to chase the crook and tackle him like a football player, as he looked at it face to face.

His eyes widened upon finding that the figure didn’t look human, even though it could move and talk like a human. It seemed to look more like a brown bear than a human being, or at least, a bear with human tendencies.

Tommy took a glance from his shoulder and noticed the red item and went over to pick it up, without letting go of the animal-human hybrid and setting it free by accident.

“Hey, this is Maggie’s backpack!” He deduced, turning to look at the bear-like creature, and scowled.

“Oh, is that so?” The bear-human hybrid playfully asked.

“When did you have her bag? Why did you run away? And what are you?” Tommy asked while glaring.

“No, wait!” The bear begged and quivered. “Please don’t hurt me! I was just hungry; that’s all!”

“Tell me, was there anyone else you saw while you took the bag?”

“No, this bag was out on the open field so—”

“I don’t believe you. Why should I?”

“But didn’t you—?”

“Leave him alone!” Maggie ordered, catching up with them.

She stomped over and snatched her backpack from them. She opened the bag to find fewer berries than before, then closed it and approached the bear.

“Can you tell us where you found this?” She asked calmly.

“Sure thing, I’ll try my best.” The bear nodded.

As the three headed off and followed the strange creature, Tommy couldn’t help but be stunned. He expected Maggie to act a lot differently, mainly because a stray animal took her bag and could have messed with her other stuff, if possible.

Maggie looked over and could tell he was dying to say something, but rolled her eyes and scoffed instead.

“You’re just as bad as those two scientists!”

“Wait, what did I—?” Tommy tried to defend himself.

“Is there something wrong?” The bear interrupted.

“No, it’s nothing; don’t worry about it.” Maggie waved the statement off.

“Oh, ok. Hey, this seems like an excellent opportunity to introduce ourselves. My name is Ruth. What’s yours?”

“My name is Maggie, and to my left is Dorkus.”

“Hi, dork.”

Tommy’s mouth gaped as he grew outraged. How could they joke about such things at a time like this? Instead of correcting the bear, he yelled at him.

“Can you just take us there already!?”

“All right, all right!”