I ran off before Olivia could respond. I couldn't handle seeing her making that face. It made having to leave all the harder. But I also wanted to see Nate and the others. It'd been so long since I'd seen them.

Maybe I could borrow Hideo's interdimensional phone to call Elliot and Olivia once I returned home.

I glanced up. Elliot would probably react badly when the time to say goodbye came too.

I held out my hands and released psy-waves to analyze my surrounding. It provided images in my head similar to how echolocation is said to work for bats and dolphins.

My eyes widened as I detected Elliot. He was moving fast as he dodged the attacks of a strange giraffe-like creature with antlers.

I ran over to where I had sensed Eli and found him and Prince Iah on the floor.

"Oh, hey, Alex," Elliot said with a weak smile as he turned to look at me.

"Where's the giraffe monster?" I asked, looking around.

"Rude," Iah said, pushing himself up.

"Huh?"

"I'm the 'giraffe'," he said, pointing to himself with his thumb.

"You?" Isabel did transform into a giant phoenix, and I had heard that some in her clan could turn into dragons, turtles, snakes, and tigers too, but not giraffe-horse-deer-things.

"Yes, me," he said, leering at me.

I backed away. "Sorry. I'm just surprised by it."

He laughed. "A lot of people are at first. Doesn't help that only one every generation has this form."

I tried not to laugh. "I see."

"But usually people call me a horse or a deer, not a giraffe."

"Sorry, again."

He stood up to his full height. "It's alright." He moved his arms around. "Well, if you excuse me. I'm going to go do some laps."

"You're not tired after that?" I asked.

"I'll be lying if I wasn't, but I have to train if I'm to keep giving Lei a challenge."

Who was Lei? His rival?