The Missing Read online

Astraea looked up and saw a massive multicolored lizard-like creature. Its head was lifted, and it appeared to be sniffing the air. “What is it?”

  “It’s a kind of dinosaur,” Jake cried. “We are so toast!”

  “Look at those teeth!” Tryn called. “It must be a carnivore.”

  “What’s a carnivore?” Render called.

  “It means it’s a meat eater,” Jake said. “And it looks like we’re on the menu!”

  The immense dinosaur’s head tilted to the side and the one huge eye spotted them in the undergrowth. It roared again and started to lunge.

  “Shoot for its eyes!” Cylus called as he loosed an arrow.

  The centaurs fired arrows at the dinosaur. Most bounced off the scaled head, but one struck the corner of the creature’s eye. It roared in pain and raised its head, staggering backward.

  As they watched the first dinosaur, the foot of the second dinosaur crashed down on the ground right beside them, missing Tryn and Astraea by a breath.

  Astraea couldn’t hold back a scream at the size of the scaled foot beside her. Brutus the giant was big, but somehow his size didn’t scare her. This foot was terrifying. Then again, it could have been the huge, sharp claws at the end of the reptilian toes.

  No sooner had the foot come down than it was moving again as the creature charged at the wounded dinosaur.

  The thunderous sound of the two dinosaurs crashing together was hideous. What made it even worse was how their tails swept across the ground, shearing down trees and brushing everything away as they fought.

  “We have to get out of here!” Tryn shouted.

  “How?” Jake cried. “Those two are destroying the whole area. Wherever we run, they’ll get us.” The words were just out of his mouth when a thick, long tail swept over their heads. “Whoa, that was too close!”

  “We have to fly!” Zephyr shouted. She looked over to Astraea. “Get on my back, now!”

  “What about the others?” Astraea called as she climbed up onto Zephyr’s back.

  Tryn reached for his skateboard. “Jake, use your board!”

  “What about us?” Render cried. “You’re not going to leave us here, are you?”

  “Of course not!” Tryn ran up to the centaur and looked at him, as though sizing him up. “Vulcan never builds anything weak. If you are strong enough to hold on, my skateboard should be able to carry you. Darek can hold on to Jake’s board.” He looked at Zephyr. “Are you strong enough to carry Cylus?”

  “I don’t know!”

  A massive foot slammed down on the ground near them again as the dinosaurs moved closer. The roaring intensified as the fight grew more violent. Suddenly the two wrestling monsters fell to the ground and started to roll around.

  “Zephyr, please,” Cylus called. “Please try. I don’t want to die here!”

  “Fly, Zephyr!” Astraea cried above the sounds of crashing trees and furious, fighting monsters. “Hurry!”

  In the tight confines of the jungle, Zephyr opened her white wings. “Cylus, when I take off, catch hold of my back legs. Don’t let go!”

  Astraea looked over and saw Tryn and Jake were already on their skateboards. She could no longer hear them over the roaring, but as she watched, the two skateboards’ wings appeared and started to fly, lifting Render and Darek with them.

  “Go, Zephyr, go!” Astraea cried as a dark wall of rolling dinosaurs bored down on them. This was it, the one chance to get away. If Zephyr couldn’t fly, they were doomed.

  2

  ZEPHYR FLAPPED HER POWERFUL WINGS as hard as she could, whinnying. Normally she needed to run to take off, but with the dinosaurs rolling toward them, there was no time or space—she had to launch from a standing position.

  Astraea threw her arms around Zephyr’s neck and started to flap her own tiny wings, offering as much help as she could.

  “C’mon, Zeph, you can do it!” she shouted. This was the first time in their lives that Astraea had ever been on her best friend’s back. How tragic if it was the last.

  The thunderous wall of dinosaurs was right in front of them. Zephyr’s wings beat down harder and faster as they started to lift off the ground. There was a backward jerk as Cylus caught hold of her back legs and his weight pulled them down, but then Zephyr moved again. Higher and higher until they managed to clear the area just as the two fighting monsters rolled through.

  Astraea looked down to see Cylus hanging from Zephyr’s back legs. “You made it!”

  “Yes,” he called up. “But I think I’m going to be sick.”

  “Don’t you dare,” Zephyr shouted. “Because if you do, I promise I’ll drop you!”

  Astraea hugged her best friend’s neck. “Zephyr, you’re amazing!”

  “This isn’t over yet,” Zephyr cried. “Cylus is too heavy for me. I can’t carry him much farther.”

  It was only then that Astraea realized they were still in a lot of danger. Seated high on Zephyr’s back, she looked around, hoping to find somewhere safe for them to land. Beneath them, the two monsters continued to wrestle, their unpredictable movements making a large area unsafe. “Zephyr, over here!” Tryn shouted.

  Astraea looked back and saw Tryn and Jake on their flying skateboards several lengths behind them. Render was hanging on to the underside of Tryn’s board, while Darek clung to Jake’s. The boards looked like they too were struggling to carry the added weight of the heavy centaurs.

  “There!” Tryn pointed to a rocky plateau rising out of the dense jungle. “Zephyr, turn around. We can land there!”

  Zephyr was panting with exhaustion as she tilted her wings and managed to turn around. Astraea could feel her powerful wing muscles quivering and straining to carry Cylus. “You’re doing so great!” she encouraged.

  Beneath them, Cylus was looking green. Just as Zephyr flew above the plateau, he released her legs and landed on the ground. Going down to his equine knees, he kissed the ground.

  Zephyr touched down beside him. Her wings drooped and her head hung low. When Astraea slid off her back, she ran up to Zephyr’s head and hugged her tightly. “You saved us!”

  “Tha—” Zephyr gulped air. “That was the hardest thing I’ve ev-ever done. I hurt all over, and my back legs feel like they’ve pulled out of their sockets.”

  Cylus regained his legs and trotted over to her. “Thank you, thank you, Zephyr.” He threw his arms around her neck. “I am so sorry I called you Pegasus’s daughter. I promise I’ll never do it again!”

  Astraea felt Zephyr tense as Cylus hugged her. Zephyr gasped. “It’s okay, Cylus. You don’t need to strangle me.”

  Darek and Render came up to them. Their faces were flushed, and Render had a beaming smile on his face. “That was the best thing ever! I never imagined how exciting flying could be. If we survive this, I am asking Vulcan to make me some wings!”

  “You are not going to fly!” Cylus said.

  Astraea looked at Zephyr and sighed. “That didn’t last long.”

  “What?” Cylus said to them. Then he considered what he’d just said and cleared his throat. “What I mean is, you really want to fly again?”

  “If you’ll let me,” Render said. “I loved it.”

  Cylus stole a look at Astraea. “If, um, if you really want to fly, I’m not going to stop you.”

  “Really?” Render could hardly contain his excitement and reared high on his back legs. “I’m going to fly again!”

  Tryn and Jake were standing at the edge of the plateau, looking out over the jungle. The two massive dinosaurs were still fighting. They were crushing a large area of trees as they rolled around. Finally they broke up, and the loser, covered in blood, limped away. The victor threw back his head and roared before heading in the opposite direction.

  “Wow,” Jake said in shock. “I can’t believe what we just saw. How could dinosaurs make it to this planet?”

  “It’s likely they evolved here,” Tryn said. “We had a form of lizard on my old world, Rhean. There are some on Xanad
u as well. It is reasonable to assume they evolved here as they did on Earth. With ample food and limited predators, they were able to grow to that size.”

  “Really?” Render said.

  Tryn nodded. “Look at Jake, Astraea, and me. We come from different worlds and yet we have the same shape. Two arms, two legs, one head with two eyes, ears, and a nose. Granted there are some difference—I’m silver and Astraea has wings—but they are largely caused by our different environments.”

  Astraea looked down at the departing creatures. “We don’t have anything that big on Titus.”

  “But you do have lizards,” Tryn said. “These are just bigger ones. Besides, Titus has giants. Earth doesn’t and Xanadu doesn’t, either—as least as far as I know.”

  Jake shook his head. “I wish my phone worked and I could have gotten a video of that fight. I never imagined that dinosaurs would be so colorful. I thought they’d just be gray like in the movies.”

  Tryn turned a tight circle. “It doesn’t matter what color they are—we’re in real danger here. Let’s just get the snakes and go before they or their family come back to eat us.”

  “I’m all for that,” Zephyr added. “I would love to go home and soak in a tub of warm water. My back legs are killing me.”

  They were standing on the flat top of the rocky plateau. The jungle was far beneath them, while above them a clear cloudless sky went on for miles. Without the trees offering shade, the sun was huge and blazing and the heat was more intense than any of them had ever experienced before.

  “We’ve also got to get out of this sun,” Tryn warned. “I’m safe with my silver skin, but you guys are going to burn to a crisp if you stay exposed much longer. Astraea, you’re already turning pink.”

  Astraea looked at her arms. “I know, and my skin is starting to prickle.”

  “Then let’s get moving.” Jake shut his eyes and breathed a great sigh of relief. “I can still feel Nesso. She’s alive.”

  “How are we going to get down to her?” Darek asked. “Fly again?”

  “I’m happy to,” Render offered quickly.

  “No way,” Cylus said. “I’m not going anywhere but back to Earth or Titus. You guys can fly all you want, but I’m keeping my hooves firmly on the ground.”

  “I don’t think you’ll have to fly, Cylus. I have an idea that I think will work.” Tryn placed his skateboard down and stepped up on it. “Take me to the snake, Nesso.”

  The tiny wings on the board appeared and started to flap. Tryn was lifted into the air, over the edge of the plateau, and down toward the trees. “Stop!” he called. “Hover.”

  As the skateboard hovered above the trees, Tryn called to Jake, “The skateboards do work at tracking. Come on. We’ll go get Nesso and her friends and come back.”

  Jake put down his own board and climbed on. He turned back to Astraea. “We won’t be long. Try to find some shelter or something. This sun is a killer!”

  Astraea looked across the flat top of the plateau. “Where? There’s nothing up here but flat rock. Just go get Nesso and her friends and we can leave.”

  Jake nodded and called to his skateboard, “Take me to Nesso.” The tiny wings appeared, lifted the board off the rocky ground, and carried him over the edge.

  Astraea, Zephyr, and the centaurs watched them dip down toward the jungle and vanish into the trees. As the moments ticked by, the stinging prickle on Astraea’s skin was turning to genuine pain as her skin burned. She looked over at Zephyr and saw that her muzzle was already red and the skin inside her ears was peeling with the sunburn.

  The centaurs were not escaping the sun any better. Their bare shoulders and torsos were turning bright red.

  Astraea looked around. “Jake’s right. We have to find some shade up here or we’ll be burned to a crisp.”

  “Where?” Cylus said. “Look around you. We’re at the top of a big flat rock.”

  “I know,” Astraea agreed. “But we can’t stay here.”

  Darek and Render were walking around the edge of the plateau. They stopped at one spot and stared down.

  “Hey,” Darek called. “Everyone, over here. It’s a bit of a climb, but there’s a ledge right below us and a cave. If we can make it down there, we can get out of the sun.”

  Astraea followed Zephyr to the centaurs and peered over the edge. Beneath them were several large rocks jutting out of the side wall, which looked like an uneven staircase down to the ledge. The ledge itself wasn’t overly generous, but it was wide enough to hold Zephyr and at least one centaur. Then there was the cave cut into the wall, which looked dark and deep. Though it would be a simple climb for her, Astraea knew it would be tricky for the centaurs with their hooves. She looked at Zephyr. “I’m fine getting down and you are too. But it won’t be easy for the centaurs. Would you mind going down first so you can stop the centaurs if they start to fall?”

  Zephyr bobbed her head. “Good idea.” She trotted a few paces away and then leaped off the edge. Opening her wings, she gracefully glided down the side of the plateau, then circled back and landed lightly on the ledge. She stepped up to the cave and peered in.

  “It’s really deep. I can’t see the back of it. But it’s a bit cooler. Come on down.”

  “You go first,” Cylus said to Astraea. “That way you can check for any loose rocks.”

  Astraea doubted her weight would dislodge many rocks compared to the bigger centaurs. But she was prepared to try. With Zephyr offering encouragement from below, Astraea started to climb down the side. Some of the rocks were sharp and cut into her hands. But after a few minutes, she was grateful to jump the final distance and land safely beside her best friend.

  “So, who’s first?” Zephyr called up.

  Cylus took the lead. “I’ll go.” The large centaur peered over the side and rubbed his chin.

  “Anytime today would be good,” Zephyr called.

  “I’m thinking,” Cylus said. “This isn’t easy, you know.”

  Zephyr looked over at Astraea. “This isn’t going to work. They won’t be able to do it.”

  “I heard that,” Cylus called. “And I can do anything.”

  Cylus went down to his knees and maneuvered his equine body around so his back end went down first while his hands clung to the top edge. The centaur looked down for the next step and made it safely. But when his hands released the top edge and reached for a grip on the next rock down, the rock beneath his front hooves broke away. This created a rock slide that pulled Cylus away from the wall as he and the rocks tumbled down the side.

  “Cylus, no!” Astraea cried.

  “Astraea, get back!” Zephyr shoved Astraea into the safety of the cave and stood among the tumbling rocks, waiting for Cylus to hit the ledge. She was struck multiple times, and cried out, but refused to leave.

  “Cylus, curl up,” Astraea called. “Pull in your legs!”

  The centaur did his best to curl into a ball, but when he hit the bottom, he smashed into Zephyr’s waiting legs and his front hoof cut a large gash into Zephyr’s shoulder. Despite the wound, Zephyr held true and stopped Cylus from tumbling over the edge.

  When the rock slide ended, Astraea ran over to Cylus. She helped him climb to his feet and brushed away the small pebbles that cut into his torso. “Are you all right?”

  “A bit bruised, but I’ll live.”

  Astraea looked over to Zephyr and saw the deep gash on her shoulder from Cylus’s hoof. “Zeph, you’re bleeding!”

  “It’s nothing,” Zephyr said as she inspected her wound. “But if this leaves a scar, I’m going to be really angry.”

  Astraea pulled up the hem of her tunic and pressed the soft fabric against Zephyr’s cut to slow the bleeding. “We need some ambrosia to help you heal.”

  Cylus was shaking and pale as he reached out to Zephyr. “That’s the second time today you’ve saved my life. Thank you, Zephyr.”

  Above them, Render and Darek were looking down in shock. “Cylus, are you all right?” Render
called.

  Cylus nodded. “But there’s no way for you to come down. All the rocks have fallen.”

  “We can’t stay up here; the sun will kill us! We’re going to have to jump.”

  Zephyr shook her head slowly and heaved a sigh. “You’re not going to jump. Stay where you are. I’ll be right up.…” She looked over to Astraea. “I can’t believe I’m actually doing this.”

  “Doing what?”

  “You’ll see.” Zephyr looked at Cylus. “Would you and Astraea clear away the rubble? I’m going to need space to land.” She opened her wings and launched off the side of the ledge, then circled up and disappeared out of sight.

  “Zephyr, where are you going?” Astraea called.

  “She’s just landed up here,” Render called down.

  Cylus grunted as he shoved a large boulder over the side of the edge and then moved over to an even bigger one. “Come on, Astraea, give me a hand.”

  Only then did Astraea realize what her best friend was planning. She joined Cylus in clearing the fallen debris off the narrow ledge. “She’s crazy,” Astraea said. “Carrying you nearly pulled her legs off. How can she carry Darek and Render?”

  “If she doesn’t,” Cylus said as they strained to shove another large boulder over the side, “Render and Darek are as good as dead.”

  “Get ready,” Render called from above. “She’s taking Darek first. She said there’s not a lot of room down there and she’ll need your help with Darek when she’s closer.”

  With the last of the debris cleared, Astraea and Cylus looked up and waited.

  Zephyr shouted, “Get ready,” as she appeared with Darek holding on to her back legs.

  Zephyr appeared over the edge, flapping her wings harder than Astraea had ever seen. Darek was holding on to her back legs as she seemed more to float than fly down toward the ledge.

  “Please don’t drop me!” Darek cried.

  “Then don’t let go!” Zephyr grunted.

  “We’re here for you,” Cylus called. “Just a bit closer.” He reached up and caught hold of Darek’s rear hoof to direct him down. “Nearly there…”

  Astraea caught hold of Darek’s front hooves and guided them down. When he was a few feet above the ground, she called, “Let go.”