He half opened his eyes.

Amber looked down at him, her brown eyes filled with concern.

“Your fever’s breaking, Cade,” she whispered. “I don’t know if you can hear me. Just keep fighting. Just a little longer.”

It was hard to keep his eyes open. He closed them, and felt her fingers smooth his sweat-slick hair.

Fight a little longer.

He could do that.

CHAPTER

1

Two months later

Cade pressed his face into the soil, praying he would remain unseen. He stilled his breath and listened to the throaty rumbles of the giant beasts ahead of him.

Not yet.

The rushing of the river beyond accompanied the sound, and the wind moaned through the leaves of the trees above. But only one sound broke through the tempest of his thoughts. Thudding. Footsteps that shook the very ground.

Branches crackled as they neared, snapping beneath an enormous weight. Cade clenched his fists, forcing himself to remain motionless.

Just a little closer.

One breath. Two.

They were right on top of him.

“Now!” he roared, leaping to his feet.

Without looking to see if his friends had joined him, he charged toward the herd that had halted no more than a stone’s throw ahead of them.

A pair of shouts joined his own as Cade waved his arms at the startled animals: A dozen long-necked sauropods seemed to blot out the sky. More than he had expected.

Twenty feet. Ten. Five.

Cade’s scream choked in his throat. He halted in the shadow of the nearest beast. For a moment their eyes met, and he saw the dull cow-like eyes roll back in their sockets.

Amber and Quintus came to a stop on either side of him, their yells fading, in awe of the elephantine beasts before them.

“Move,” Amber screamed hoarsely. “Come on!”

For a long, hanging second, the beasts only stared. And then, as if by some unknown signal, the herd turned and ran.

“Go!” Quintus yelled.

The very air thundered from the stampede. The chase had begun, and now Bea, Trix, and Yoshi emerged from the trees nearby, crowding in from the side, screaming like banshees and forcing the lumbering giants to hug the riverbank.

As they followed the path of least resistance between the tree line and the flowing water, Cade watched the largest of the beasts slow, though whether due to exhaustion or the realization that the small humans chasing them were no danger, Cade could not guess.

“Just a little farther!” Cade panted.

But the beasts had come to a halt, the nearest creature even turning to face them. It was a large specimen, its neck and flanks pitted with scars from attacks by far more formidable predators.

It took a step forward, its long tail lashing behind. And then, a final outcry, as two more figures emerged from the trees. Scott and Grace.

They waved a giant banner, hollering at the top of their lungs. The flag, no more than a stretched sackcloth between two poles, looked puny. But at its center, painted in ash, charcoal, and river clay, was a giant eye.