In truth, I was taken by Oscar’s display of wit, something a world apart from simple playfulness. The cephaloped clearly possessed a sense of humor—a trait of intelligence reserved for … well, for humans.

My urge to urinate increased at the sound of running water.

It was a waterfall, its reverberating acoustics originating farther to the north. My first thought was that it was the runoff from the bat cavern, but looking up, I saw several locations spewing freshwater along the towering rock face—feeder systems running from the fertile forests above, draining into a shallow river that snaked north across the wasteland of sand.

I had not seen the waterway when I was in the cave, my vantage obscured by the waterfall’s mist, and had missed it days earlier when it had been submerged, along with the rest of the valley by the full moon’s devastating tidal surge.

I headed for the bank to cool off—only to have Oscar veer me away.

“No more jokes, pal. I’m tired and hot, and I could use a drink.”

The cephaloped placed a tentacle lightly across my right shoulder, its sucker pad coming to rest along the back of my neck, the physical contact allowing the creature to transmit its thoughts through my bio-chip.

EXTREME DANGER.

What danger? Bats?

BATS ARE NOT DANGER. TEETH ARE DANGER.

Teeth? Define “teeth.”

Leading me by the arm, Oscar escorted me on a bizarre zigzagging trek across the beach, heading in a roundabout direction for Oceanus.

Half a mile away, the cephaloped stopped, gesturing to a smooth avenue of sand pressed four to five feet deep. Each side of the thirty-foot-wide compression was bordered by an occasional five-segmented, four clawed paw print—the paw print as wide as a pickup truck.

ABE, what in the hell could have—

THE SPECIES IS A MEMBER OF THE FAMILY CROCODYLIDAE.

A crocodile? That big?

EVOLUTION HAS DIVERSIFIED SEVERAL BRANCHES OF CROCODILIANS THAT HAVE SPAWNED GIANTS. THE PREHISTORIC CROCODILE, SARCOSUCHUS, AVERAGED FORTY FEET IN LENGTH. DEINOSUCHUS, WHICH LIVED IN THE LATE CRETACEOUS, WAS SLIGHTLY LARGER.

And just for shits and grins, how big would you say the croc was that left these tracks?

SIXTY TO SEVENTY FEET, WEIGHING FIFTY TO SIXTY TONS.

“Wonderful.” Using the binoculars, I scanned the terrain, my hands trembling noticeably. Jason Sloan had promised me cheerleaders and wet dreams; instead I found myself stuck in a monster movie, with my girlfriend cast as the vampiress from—

WARNING: THIS IS NOT A DREAM. TAKE PROPER PRECAUTIONS. CROCODILES ARE AMBUSH HUNTERS. AVOID THE RIVER. CROCODILES HAVE A KEEN SENSE OF HEARING. COMMUNICATE ONLY THROUGH THOUGHT ENERGY WHILE IN THE VALLEY.

Reading ABE’s thoughts, Oscar dragged me by the arm toward Oceanus.

Chapter 23

23

In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.

—ERIC HOFFER, American social writer and philosopher