Stumbling on something extra sharp, I looked down at my feet. A skull stared up at me. I recognized the shape of it—a huge fish, maybe a shark. How did it get all the way here? The lava tube didn’t flood, or the buccaneer wouldn’t be there …

There was only one way. I stared up at the patch of sky above.

Farthing had brought me to the dragon’s lair.

All animals feel wonder, and may exhibit curiosity.

—CHARLES DARWIN,
THE DESCENT OF MAN

I stared up at the opening far above me in the roof of the cavern, just wide enough for a dragon.

The light streaming down from it allowed me to look more closely at what I was standing on. I shuddered. A carpet of bones. Mostly small—fish, I guessed—some encased in large round dried-out droppings. I could see no sign of anything that looked … human. But it would be difficult to tell. I picked up the largest bone I could see; it looked like the jaw of a small whale.

What would Mr. Darwin make of it? He found it fascinating to dissect animal droppings to find out which animal they belonged to and what they’d been eating, and these were as big as a human skull.

Which was about right, considering the size of the animal that lived here.

My heart fluttered in my throat and the sweat soaked through my kerchief and dripped in my eyes. I scanned the cavern for Farthing.

When she hooted, the sound echoed on and on, like we were inside a gigantic hollow ball. I finally spotted her, a flash of green on a wide ledge that jutted from the cavern wall. I didn’t rightly know what to do. I’d been trying to avoid the dragon since I was washed up here and Farthing had seemed to understand that very well, so why had she led me right to it? Ever since I’d met her, she’d helped me—fed me, defended me—or had I imagined that?

“Come on, Farthing, we can’t be here,” I hissed.

She whined, and the high pitch sound echoed. I imagined it spiraling around the walls and out of the opening way above me, alerting the cave’s owner.

I shuddered as I crushed across the bones and droppings. Farthing ducked back on the ledge out of sight. This was no time for playing; she couldn’t have brought me here for that. I propped my burning torch up against the cave wall.

“What are you doing up there?”

The cave shook, and the layer of bones jangled until they covered my feet; it was like being inside an immense baby’s rattle. This time the tremors continued, on and on, and the heat grew unbearable. I needed to run for it … now.

I made up my mind; I was taking Farthing with me. I wasn’t leaving her here in a volcanic eruption, and I didn’t care if she bit or scratched me. I reached out over the ledge, which was just higher than my head, and felt a scattering of rocks, dried seaweed, and something soft and bouncy, like moss.