***
Dr. Stine heaved his
scepter into air and tried to conjure a spell while he watched the
shadows of Persephone and Alexander struggle while Sorrow carried
them away. He forgot about Stanley’s attempt to snatch the battery
pack away from the Tyrannosaurus rex until Angelique tugged on the
sleeve of his robe. Spirals of white energy emerged from Dr.
Stine’s fingertips. He cursed when the bolts of holy light failed
to impact Sorrow’s wings. Then he watched Stanley dive through the
air and swoop toward the carcass of the triceratops. When Stanley
darted toward the battery pack, the Tyrannosaurus’ head lunged
forward. Its jaws snapped at the empty space where the owl had been
seconds before. Stanley’s talons seized the battery pack. The bird
flapped its wings frantically while he tried to fly away. Blood and
gore dripped from the Tyrannosaurus’ face and teeth as it extended
its neck toward Stanley and tried to swallow him whole. The bird
soared into the air seconds before the beast’s mouth closed around
him.
Stanley dropped the spare
battery pack into the open palm of Dr. Stine’s right hand. Then the
owl landed on his shoulder, blinked his eyes, and ruffled his
feathers. Dr. Stine shoved the battery pack into his pocket with
the one they’d found in the pyramid of the Calypso Desert. When he
heard Angelique scream and Razor bark, he glanced toward the corpse
of the triceratops. The Tyrannosaurus rex exhaled an
eardrum-rattling roar and lumbered toward them. The ground rumbled
beneath the beast’s feet while its massive jaws clicked. Angelique
picked up Razor and sprinted toward the pile of brontosaurus bones.
Dr. Stine ran behind her while Stanley spread his wings and flew in
the air. In the distance, Dr. Stine and Angelique watched Sorrow
hover near a cave.
“
Do something to slow him
down, Razor!” Dr. Stine said. He gasped for air.
Razor jumped out of
Angelique’s arms, opened his mouth extremely wide, and vomited a
huge oil slick onto the ground. Dr. Stine and Angelique laughed
when the pool of oil spread across a wide area of scorched foliage,
burnt trees, and ash-covered rocks. When the Tyrannosaurus rex
charged across the oil-covered ground, its feet slipped on the oil
and the beast lost its balance. The Tyrannosaurus’ feet lost
traction and its legs buckled. The beast tumbled to the ground and
exhaled a shriek. Razor chased his tail, Angelique laughed, and Dr.
Stine smiled. Then the Tyrannosaurus shifted its hips and got to
its feet.
The top of Mount Vera
exploded. Dr. Stine pointed at the volcano while a surge of lava
caused the upper rim of the mountain to disintegrate. Huge chunks
of rock soared through the air and crashed into a nearby forest.
Rivers of lava glowed in the darkness as they streaked down the
sides of Mount Vera and snaked across rolling hills and caused
trees to catch on fire. The strength of the eruption caused the
ground in front of Angelique and Dr. Stine to ripple and buckle.
Lava and fire burst from a mile-long fracture. Strong tremors
caused the earth to rip open along a massive fault line.
“
We’re trapped!” Dr. Stine
said. He paused a few feet away from the wall of flames.
“
There must be a way to get
to the other side,” Angelique said.
They whirled on their feet
when they heard the Tyrannosaurus rex roar. The beast’s yellow eyes
glowed. A long, pink tongue emerged from its cavernous mouth. Its
nostrils flared when it detected their scent. In the background, a
river of lava oozed across rolling hills. Dr. Stine and Angelique
groveled against each other when the T-rex charged toward them.
They felt the wall of fire singe their hair and clothes while the
behemoth’s feet left massive craters on the ash-covered surface of
the scorched ground.
***
Alexander rubbed his eyes,
yawned, and stood in the middle of a pterodactyl’s nest. He stepped
carefully between several eggs and joined Persephone next to the
entrance of a cave. He glanced down at her left hand and noticed
that she’d removed one of the flasks from her satchel. When he
stared at the bubbling, yellow liquid in the flask, he felt thirsty
and wanted to drink the fluid. Something deep and primal in his
mind caused him to resist the temptation. The savage desire of his
inner wolf was getting stronger.
“
How are we going to find
the others? They’ll need our help,” he said.
“
We’ll use the
brontosaurus’ bones to climb down into the valley. We’ll hike
toward the southeast until we find them. I hope they’re not injured
or dead,” Persephone said.
Alexander glanced up at the
sky. He watched the clouds and smoke dissipate. A full moon glowed
in a sea of twinkling stars. He felt sharp teeth grow in his mouth
and scrape against his tongue. His bones widened and grew longer.
His fingernails became long claws. Thick clouds moved across the
sky and hid the moon from view. Strong gusts of wind caused dense
smoke to swell in the air. Alexander exhaled a sigh of relief when
his symptoms subsided. He focused his attention on the yellow
liquid inside the flask. He wanted to splash the liquid against the
back of his parched throat.
Persephone pointed toward
the skull of the brontosaurus. Alexander followed the path of her
finger and noticed more bones, which provided access to the narrow
ledges of Mount Zahn. Alexander realized that a predator had lured
its prey to the foothills of Mount Zahn and feasted on them in the
past. As a result, a stack of bones accumulated over the years. It
wouldn’t take them long to ascend the bones and reach the
mountain’s path.
Persephone glanced at the
sky and noticed a wide break in the clouds. The moon hovered high
above the mouth of the cave. She whirled on her feet when she heard
Alexander grunt and groan. His nose and mouth morphed into a
canine’s snout. Large swathes of fur and hair erupted across his
arms and legs. The bones of his arms and legs stretched.
“
Drink this Alexander.
Please be quick about it,” Persephone said. She removed the cork
from the flask and gave the potion to him. He held the flask with
his left hand and lifted it to his lips. He gasped when he heard a
loud explosion and felt the ground shift.
The top of Mount Vera
exploded. Persephone screamed when a loud, rumbling noise caused
chunks of the cave’s ceiling to tumble to the ground. Screeching
sounds echoed in the cave when a swarm of bats flew from the mouth
of the pit and hovered in the air. Persephone watched fiery chunks
of rock soar through the air and land on the dry pine needles and
dead leaves of a nearby forest. Flames spread across the forest’s
floor, whirled up the trunks of oaks and elms, and engulfed the
forest. She watched a fast-moving river of lava penetrate the
forest and surge toward the pterodactyl’s nest. Persephone glanced
over her shoulder and exhaled a startled cry. Alexander threw the
flask against the jagged exterior of the cave, stared at the moon,
and howled. He dropped to his hands and feet while a bushy, silver
tail extended from his tailbone. A deep, guttural growl rattled in
the back of Alexander’s throat. His eyes glowed in the
gloom.
Persephone stumbled
backward while her left hand reached into the satchel. She removed
another flask from the bag and plucked the cork from its opening.
She glanced over her shoulder and realized that the river of lava
was only a few feet away. A flurry of snarls and barks caused
Persephone to focus her attention on Alexander. She tripped over
her own feet and landed on her back when Alexander lunged toward
her. Yellow fluid spilled from the flask while Persephone thrust
her legs and tried to kick Alexander in the chest. Then the wolf
bared its teeth and leaped toward her jugular vein.
***
Dr. Stine wielded his
scepter into the air and felt energy flow into his hands and
wrists. He aimed the tip of the scepter at the Tyrannosaurus rex
while he stood in front of Angelique and Razor and acted as a human
shield. The Tyrannosaurus slammed its snout into Dr. Stine’s chest
and knocked him to the ground. The scepter whirled across the
ground before it landed near the edge of the wall of flames. Dr.
Stine crawled on his hands and knees toward the scepter. He cringed
when it tumbled into a pool of lava and vanished.
“
Run, Angelique! Run as
fast as you can!” Dr. Stine yelled. He rolled over onto his back
and held his hands in front of his face. The Tyrannosaurus brushed
its snout against Dr. Stine’s hands and opened its mouth wide. He
screamed while he stared at the beast’s huge tongue and sharp
teeth. Dr. Stine felt nauseous when the stench of decayed flesh
flowed from the T-rex’s throat. The beast leaned toward him and
snapped its jaws.
“
I’m not going to leave you
here, Dr. Stine!” Angelique bent her knees, picked up several
stones, and threw them at the Tyrannosaurus. The beast shifted its
attention and looked away from Dr. Stine. Angelique threw a jagged
stone, which impacted the beast’s left eye. The Tyrannosaurus
roared at Angelique and bathed her in a stream of slime and
saliva.
A compartment opened in the
middle of Razor’s chest. The dog barked aggressively, rocked on his
haunches, and jumped between Angelique and the Tyrannosaurus.
Angelique reached for Razor and tried to pull him away. But Razor
slipped free from her grasp and inched closer to the beast. She
yelled: “Stop, Razor! Come back!”
A large net, propelled by a
burst of pressurized air, emerged from Razor’s chest. It spiraled
through the air and spread across the snout and gaping mouth of the
Tyrannosaurus. An adhesive glue on the edges of the net spread
across the scales of the Tyrannosaurus’ forehead, face, and chin.
The Tyrannosaurus shook its head from side to side. It rubbed its
face against the bulk of a rock formation and tried to rip the net
free. The super glue held the net in place.
Angelique picked up Razor
and kissed him on his forehead. She lunged into a sprint and chased
Dr. Stine as they ran a few feet away from the wall of flames.
Stanley hovered in the air and guided them toward a large gap where
they could pass to the other side safely.
Dr. Stine glanced over his
shoulder and smiled. He watched while the T-rex struggled to remove
Razor’s net from its mouth. He pointed at the pile of brontosaurus
bones and climbed the tip of the giant skeleton’s tail. Angelique
clutched Razor and tried to balance herself while she followed Dr.
Stine. They paused when they heard the Tyrannosaurus roar. The
ground shook as the behemoth’s feet pounded against rock and stone.
Dr. Stine and Angelique climbed faster when they realized the
Tyrannosaurus had removed Razor’s net.
Dr. Stine and Angelique
ascended the warped skin and exposed bone of the brontosaurus’
spinal column. White maggots writhed on the decayed flesh and sour
organs of the giant’s abdomen. Huge flies hummed and buzzed in the
air. Off to the left, a woman exhaled a high-pitched scream. Dr.
Stine panicked when he realized it was Persephone. He jumped off of
the brontosaurus’ skeleton and landed next to a pterodactyl’s egg.
He twisted his ankle, winced in pain, and tumbled to the
ground.
Angelique offered her free
hand and helped Dr. Stine stand up. They glanced toward the mouth
of a cave and gasped. Alexander morphed from a blonde-haired boy
into a silver-haired wolf. He threw a flask of yellow potion
against the exterior of the cave’s wall. Dr. Stine broke into a
sprint and ran toward Persephone while a river of hot lava flowed
through a nearby forest and surged toward her. He screamed while he
watched the wolf, Alexander, attack Persephone. The werewolf pinned
her to the ground and tried to rip Persephone’s jugular vein out of
her neck.
Persephone planted her feet
into Alexander’s stomach. The muscles in her legs strained and her
back ached while she pushed the wolf backward. When Alexander
exerted energy and lunged forward, Persephone raised the flask
toward his mouth. His teeth snapped near the left side of her neck.
When he stared at the full moon and howled, she poured the yellow
fluid into his mouth. The antidote spilled across his tongue and
down the back of his throat. Persephone kicked Alexander’s chest
and propelled the wolf away from her. Then she straightened her
legs and got to her feet while she watched Alexander become a boy
again. He collapsed to the ground, stared at the moon, and licked
his lips.
“
Are you okay, Persephone?
Did he bite you?” Dr. Stine said. He ran between two pterodactyl
eggs and rushed to her side. She hugged him and kissed him on his
lips.
“
I’m okay. I’ll have some
bruises later. It could’ve been a lot worse,” she said.
Angelique jogged toward
them and placed Razor on the ground. Stanley hooted while he
flapped his wings and hovered in the air. Persephone and Dr. Stine
watched Alexander moan, rub his head with his hands, and stare at
his torn clothes. A look of shock and bewilderment loomed on his
pale face. He touched his lips and studied drops of yellow fluid on
his fingers. He remembered when his father bit him in the
swamp.
“
So it’s true. I’m cursed.
I became a wolf,” he said. He trembled and burst into
tears.
“
From now on, you need to
listen to me, Alexander! You almost got me killed! If I tell you to
drink one of the antidotes, please don’t argue about it,”
Persephone said.