“We’ll never make it!” Pindor gasped out.

“Keep going!” Jake yelled back. “Don’t give up!”

Ahead, a long, sandy dune blocked their way. Jake had no choice but to lead the others over it. They were soon all on their hands and knees, clawing up the steep slope. The sand kept slipping under them.

The yipping behind them got louder.

Jake twisted around and spotted the pack bounding toward them. There were eight of them, definitely saurian, each standing about Jake’s height, running on two legs. Occasionally one would hop high up in the air like a carnivorous kangaroo, cocking its head from side to side as it scanned the way ahead.

While it was in midair, Jake spotted a single sickle-shaped claw poking out from behind each leg. He’d seen fossils of that distinctive spur. As recognition struck him, fear strangled his throat. He scrambled faster to reach the top of the ridge.

“What are they?” Kady shouted.

Jake swallowed hard. “Velociraptors.”

Kady gawked at him and raised her sword. Even she knew the name of that dinosaur. “Like in the movie.”

After returning from Calypsos, she had watched Jurassic Park fifteen times and now considered herself an expert on the subject of dinosaurs. But the movie got those raptors wrong, doubling their size to make the film scarier. Such movie trickery was not really necessary. Though small, velociraptors were vicious predatory dinosaurs. They hunted in packs to bring down far larger beasts. They were the piranhas of the prehistoric world.

Kady’s sword would never be enough.

Jake pointed down the far side of the ridge. “Run!”

No one had to be told twice. As a group, they took bounding steps and skidded to reach the bottom. But they still had a long way to go. The pinnacle of rock lay the length of two football fields away.

Jake struggled to think of a way to get the pack off their trail and searched for some weapon. He had once used a dog whistle to chase off a tyrannosaurus, but he’d given the whistle to Pindor as a gift. And considering the state in which his friend had arrived here—naked as a jaybird—Jake was sure he didn’t have that whistle. He wished he’d thought to pack another one.

But what did he bring?

Jake took mental inventory.

In his vest pockets he had crammed matches, a lighter, beef jerky, a Swiss Army knife, extra batteries for the flashlight in his backpack, water-purifying tablets, packets of sugar, aspirin, some antibiotics, bug spray, suntan oil, lip balm. He ran through all he had, trying to think if anything could be used as a weapon.

The yipping grew louder behind him.

Ahead, another dune blocked their path, its slope dotted by desert flowers that looked like blue daffodils. At least this sand hill wasn’t as high as the first. He risked a glance behind him, allowing the others to go ahead.

So far the raptors hadn’t cleared the ridge back there.