by Saless
Chapter 35

"We'll have to experiment with that later. For now, let's go see some dinosaurs!" Mike said. Sarah and Jill agreed and they started walking down the road, looking right and left to find any dinosaurs that might be in sight.

They didn't see any dinosaurs for a while, but the different plants were interesting enough. Sarah thought she heard something behind her at one point, but didn't see anything. She was distracted from that when they came across their first dinosaurs.

"Look a bit different than in the movie." Mike commented.

"Are you really surprised?" Jill asked.

"No, I guess not." Mike answered. They continued the tour and soon came across the T-rex.

"Hey Mike, do you think you could become a T-rex?" Jill asked.

Mike shrugged, "I suppose so, but I can't control it."

"You were able to change back on your own, why not?" Jill replied.

"How am I supposed to do that?" he asked.

"Well, if Sarah being in danger is really the key, then just imagine that she is." Jill said.

Mike shrugged and tried it. Nothing happened at first, but then the now familiar pain of transformation washed over him. That wasn't as bad as before. he thought as he looked down on his tiny fore claws and beyond them to his huge feet.

"I guess you're getting better at this." Jill said.

"Wow, it works! Can you talk?" Sarah asked curiously.

Mike tried, but all that came out was an unintelligible growl. Guess not. Shall I change back now? he thought, hoping Jill would hear it.

"Might as well." Jill replied, "I think you're freaking out the T-rex anyway." The Tyrannosaurus was looking rather skittish.

"Are you guys talking telepathically again?" Sarah asked, annoyed at being left out.

Before Jill could answer Mike changed back. "Sorry, but I couldn't talk in that form any other way." Mike said apologetically.

Sarah sighed and said, "I guess I'd better get used to it. At least now we know you can change shape at will, and even pick your form. I wonder if you can use one of the other forms you've taken here?"

Mike shrugged, "Only one way to find out, I guess." With that he concentrated again, this time on the dragon form he took last time. A moment later he was a bronze dragon again. Yep, I guess I can. he projected to Jill.

"Cool! That ability is getting more useful all the time." Sarah exclaimed. Jill nodded her agreement and Mike changed back again.

"I guess we don't have to worry about dinosaurs after all." Jill remarked.

"Yeah, you could become that invisible giant again and not even the largest dinosaur would be a threat to you." Sarah agreed.

Mike shrugged, "Now that's settled, why don't we go look at more dinosaurs?" The others agreed and they continued on. Some of the dinosaurs weren't in sight, as had been the case with some of the first areas they came to, but they still managed to spot a few more. When they reached the gate they didn't bother trying to go through it and opened another portal home.

They emerged back in Sarah's apartment. Mike went straight to the couch while Sarah and Jill went to the kitchen to check on the bread. None of them noticed a shape dart out of the portal and hide just before it closed.

Sarah sliced up the bread and covered it and then stirred the chicken one more time. "Is Mike working tomorrow?" Sarah asked as she was finishing.

Jill shook her head, "No, I guess not that many people want to take martial arts classes on Christmas Eve."

"Can't blame them. I still have to work, though." Sarah complained.

"How is work going for you?" Jill asked as they returned to the living room.

"A lot better, especially since I'm done training Kris now. She was really slow to pick things up. Tina was great, though, she'll be a big help. Tiffany's even acting more normal now, and the customers are a lot nicer to me than they used to be." Sarah replied.

"Good!" Jill said happily.

Sarah looked at the clock and saw it was getting very late. "I'd better get online and see if Erica's still on!" she exclaimed worriedly.

"Okay, we'll see you tomorrow!" Jill said and hugged Sarah goodbye. Mike said goodnight and they left. Sarah booted up her computer and got online, but there was no sign of Erica.

Sarah left it on and got ready for bed, then cleaned up the kitchen, but Erica still wasn't on. I must have missed her! she thought, hoping she wouldn't be too unhappy with her about it. Then she went to bed and fell asleep immediately.

Sarah woke a little late, so she had to skip breakfast. Then she discovered that she had started bleeding, which didn't improve her mood any. The blood reminded her of the goblins she and Mike had killed, which made her feel even worse. By the time she got to work she was feeling extremely low and barely managed to hide it from Mike and her coworkers.

She found herself dealing once again with people's computer problems that were ridiculously simple or stemmed from extreme ignorance. She had to bite her tongue more than once to keep from saying something she'd regret. When Mike came to collect her she just said "Hi." And followed him out to his car without saying any more until she was home. Then all she said was that she had to get to work on dinner and she was off to her apartment.

Wonder what's eating at her? Mike thought as he walked into his apartment. He was shocked to find that Jill was sitting on the couch talking to Erica! "Erica, what are you doing here?" he exclaimed.

Erica smiled, "I'm here to surprise Sean! Is he home yet?"

Before Mike could answer Jill said, "Why don't I go check on him? We should make sure he finishes dinner before you go over there or he'll forget all about it!" she said with forced humor.

"Okay." Erica agreed. "How have you been Mike?" she asked, turning to him.

Don't tell her anything yet. Mike heard Jill in his head. This was the first time she'd managed something like that and he barely managed to conceal his surprise. "Great Erica. How about you?" he asked with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.

Jill left him to keep Erica busy and ran over to Sarah's apartment. When she arrived Sarah was just getting the chicken out of the fridge. "Sarah, you might want to wait to do that!" she said urgently.

Sarah turned and saw the worried expression on Jill's face. "What's up?" she asked worriedly.

Jill took a deep breath and said, "Erica decided to surprise you, she's here, at our apartment!"

Sarah's eyes widened until they seemed as if they'd pop out of her head. "She's here?! Now?!" she gasped. Jill nodded. "I've got to get out of here!" Before Jill knew what was happening Sarah ran into the living room and grabbed a random book off the bookshelf. She opened a portal and dropped the book absent mindedly, but Jill managed to grab her arm before she could step through.

"What are you doing?!" she exclaimed, "We've got to talk to Erica! We'll have to tell her everything, now."

"No way! I'm going to get myself changed back right now, no matter what! Let go!" Sarah yelled back, trying to wrench her arm free. Jill held on tenaciously, until Sarah slapped her. Jill suddenly let go and Sarah dived through the portal, closing it instantly behind her.

Jill was left lying on the floor where she'd fallen in surprise when she realized she was now male, again! She looked down at herself and was horrified at what she saw, all the more so because she was wearing a dress. Realizing she was stuck like this until Sarah came back, Jill ran into the bathroom in tears and locked herself in.

Sarah fell out of the portal onto a dirt road. She climbed to her feet and dusted herself off while looking around at her surroundings. The road continued on some ways in both directions until it was lost to sight where it turned. The road was closely bordered by old growth trees on both sides. A group of travelers were on the road, mere feet from where she'd appeared. "Who are you?!" one of them exclaimed, drawing a sword. He was wearing plate mail armor and two of the others who were similarly armored drew their own swords. Another man in chain mail armor was looking at Sarah curiously, while a man in robes seemed amused at his companion's antics.

"I…I'm Sarah. Uh, do you know where I can find a really powerful, skilled wizard around here?" she asked uncertainly.

The robed man said, "Are you looking for a teacher?"

"Uh, no, I'm looking to get a curse removed." Sarah replied.

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