Finally, the passage split. One tunnel headed down, but the other headed up.

At last!

He’d just begun his ascent when he got buzzed again. There was no better description. Something zipped past his ear. He whipped around, but nothing was there. It was like being pestered by a mosquito in a dark bedroom.

Shaking his head, Jake continued up.

Only to be dive-bombed again.

“Quit it!” he yelled, swinging out with his torch.

He marched with his head low, his torch high.

As he rounded a bend, a pair of huge eyes reflected the tiny flame. Something huffed, blowing foul air at him. Then it roared, blasting back his hair, almost snuffing his torch.

Jake turned on a heel and ran.

The pounding of heavy legs followed—at first slowly, but gaining speed. Another bellow rolled down the tunnel, washing over Jake.

Hitting the crossroads, he took a sharp turn into the passage that headed down. He didn’t know where it led, but he dared not stop moving. As he ran, a humming buzz zipped past his shoulder, rushing ahead of him, as if leading him onward.

Whatever had been dogging him was still with him. A fleeting thought passed through his mind as he remembered how the creature had dive-bombed him earlier. Had it been trying to warn him not to go into the other tunnel?

A roar brought his full attention back to the moment.

His sudden turn had confused the beast, but he knew it wouldn’t last long.

Jake sprinted faster and reached the end of the tunnel. It dumped into another cavern. At least it wasn’t a dead end. Across the chamber, a tunnel exited the cavern and headed up. Jake even felt a fresh breeze blowing from it, the breath of the Great Wind. It had to be the way out.

Unfortunately, between him and that tunnel stood a slavering mass of raptors. He’d stumbled into one of their nests. Dozens of eyes stared at him, shining again with that hungry malignancy.

Jake backed up a step.

So maybe this was a dead end after all.

26

PROPHECY OF LUPI PINI

Jake backed into the wall as the velociraptors stalked toward him. Jaws peeled open into wicked saurian grins, revealing teeth that could shred him. One raptor lifted its nose and sniffed the air, cocking its head one way, then the other.

Jake held out his torch, his only weapon.

Or almost.

He still had the emerald crystal in his pack; but by the time he got it free, the predators would be on top of him. As enfeebled as the stone had made him when he wielded it, he couldn’t ward off so many at once without it.

As his arm started to shake, something buzzed above his head.

He stared up and found a winged snake hovering a foot past his nose, tangling and writhing in midair. About three feet long, its body was half the thickness of a garden hose, its scales an iridescent green in the firelight. Membranous wings shimmered and flapped. Its small diamond-shape head, fringed by a spiked cowl, hissed at the pack of raptors, baring fanged teeth.