First published in Great Britain by
HarperCollins Childrenâs Books in 2017
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Text copyright © Laura Martin 2017
Cover artwork © Fred Gambino
Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2017
Laura Martin asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work.
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Source ISBN: 9780008152925
Ebook Edition © 2017 ISBN: 9780008152932
Version: 2017-03-03
This was a bad idea. Spectacularly bad, actually. It went against everything Iâd learned in my short time topside, but all that didnât change what we had to do. I glanced back down at my dadâs map, but it showed the same thing it had always shown. The only way to get to Lake Michigan was to leave the shelter of the trees and make a run for it â in the open. My eyes flicked up to take in the sprawling grassland in question, filled, as I knew it would be, with dinosaurs.
A large herd of what I thought had to be Dracorex hogwartsia was grazing close enough for me to count the spikes that bristled all over their bony heads, making them resemble the dragons of fairy tales they were named after. But these creatures were not the stuff of fairy tales or history books. At least not anymore. Behind the herd of dracorex was a grassland that used to contain houses, roads, cars, and everything else humans had used to stake their claim on this earth. All that was gone now. Which made sense, I guess, considering the dinosaurs were the ones who ruled things these days.
âI canât believe weâre doing this,â Shawn muttered, running a hand through his blond hair so that it stood up in sweaty spikes. âThereâs no way we can make it to the lake without getting eaten.â
âWhatâs your point?â Todd asked as he swung his arms in lazy circles to stretch out his shoulder muscles.
âMy point,â Shawn said, grimacing, âis that there has to be a way around this, a way that isnât so exposed. Weâve always gone around the open areas. Except,â he amended, âfor that time we almost became a T. rexâs lunch.â He paused a moment, stifling a shudder. âAt least in the trees the only dinosaurs we encountered were little ones. Out there,â he said, gesturing in front of us, âthereâs nowhere to hide, no trees to climb, and nothing to slow down those massive monsters.â
âWe knew that the closer to Lake Michigan we got, the more open it was going to be,â I said flatly. His attitude shouldnât have surprised me. Iâd grown up with Shawn in North Compound, and unlike Todd, whoâd grown up topside, being aboveground was still an uncomfortable and terrifying experience for both of us. I just hid it better.
âYeah, but I didnât think it was going to be this open,â Shawn grumbled, and I tried not to roll my eyes as I turned my attention back to the grassland. Iâd read that dinosaurs liked to congregate near a source of water, but this was a little ridiculous. Herds of green-, brown-, and amber-coloured dinosaurs were scattered in every direction as far as I could see. To our left, a large group of stegosaurs grazed quietly in the knee-high scrub grasses, the sun reflecting off the wide flat plates that sat in single file down their sloping backs.
âTry to relax,â I said, even as the knot in my gut twisted a little tighter. âIf we read the map correctly, the lake should be just on the other side of those hills.â
âDunes,â Todd corrected. âThose things that look like hills are called dunes.â
âWhatâs a dune?â Shawn asked.
âBig mounds of sand,â Todd explained. âThey border the lake.â
I glanced back out across the tall wavy grasses, silently wishing Shawn was right and there was another way. While the prospect of finally getting to the lake sent a thrill of excitement through me, Shawnâs reminder of our last dash into the open made my already edgy nerves buzz uncomfortably. After a lifetime underground, we hadnât known any better than to run across an open meadow. It had been the first of many near-death experiences. The note and map my dad had left for me, urging me to take his compass and the small memory plug it contained to Lake Michigan, hadnât said anything about how to actually survive topside. That part weâd had to figure out the hard way.