Prologue Part 1
Sometime in 2002:
Nikki Harrison sat in the back of her parents' pickup truck. Her brown silky hair floated in the air as the truck drove. The truck then passed a sign that said, "Welcome to Reefside!"
"Finally.." Nikki thought as it passed by. She had been stuck in the back of the truck for almost 5 hours, just sitting and waiting, and now, she was finally there. She peered through the little window that looked into the car. She tapped on it, and her mother turned her head towards her and smiled. Nikki smiled and then leaned against the window, her back on it. She closed her eyes and smiled to herself. This was actually the first time she was actually happy about traveling again.
Her parents, being paleontologists, never stayed in the same place too long. And when they were called off, Nikki had no choice but to go along with them. Sure, it had done some good for her, such as getting an experience of a real dig, getting to help out, and she even learned to identify fossils. But it had never given her a chance to have a real life, with real friends. The longest she had ever stayed somewhere was for a month!
"It's not like I was popular or anything anyway" She thought to herself.
Her parents then decided to lay off their work for a while and bought a house in Los Angeles. Of course, Nikki was as happy as could be that she could finally lead a normal life. But of course, that was short lived. It had only been a couple months before her parents got a call to come for another dig.
"This dig will make history! If we're right, there will be dozens, possibly hundreds of fossils of a dinosaur clan" Her father tried to reason with her, but all it had resulted in was some yelling and the slamming of her door.
Nikki turned her head back into the window and looked at her father driving. Sure he meant only the best, it was just that sometimes, he took his job too seriously. His job was his life, and vice versa. Though her mother always tried to convince her that it wasn't true, it was obvious that she was trying to convince herself as well. Her father tried to make it up to her by promising a long vacation afterwards. Nikki reluctantly agreed, and went along on the dig.
The truck took a couple more turns, and then started going off road. They went on for about another 10 minutes, and arrived at the foot of a small cliff. Nikki looked with amazement. There was a huge cavern where she could see many workers picking at the walls, some shouting orders, some digging. Nikki jumped out of the back and landed on the dirt, causing some dust to arise.
"Well?.." her father asked as he got out
"Okay, you were right..this is cool.." Nikki said as she looked at the huge cavern
"Tommy!" Her mother then yelled excitedly.
A man with a hard hat, whom Nikki never saw before, walked over to her mother.
"Its nice to see you again" The man said as he took his hat off.
"Nikki, this is Dr. Tommy Oliver. He's friends with your Aunt Hayley." Her mother said
"Pleasure to meet you Nikki" Tommy said and held his hand out to shake
"Pleasure.." Nikki said quietly
"Nikki don't be rude!" Her father then scolded
"It's okay, really, I understand, you don't have to if you want to" Tommy said withdrawing his hand
Nikki smiled "maybe he's not that bad after all" She thought to herself
"So have you found anything yet?" Her father then asked Tommy as they began to walk away
"Nothing much yet..not enough to identify what kind of clan we're dealing with" Tommy said putting his hat back on. He then turned around to Nikki and motioned for her to follow them. Nikki smiled and ran to catch up.
"I got your equipment right here," Tommy said reaching into the back of his truck. He pulled out two hard hats and two toolboxes.
"I wasn't expecting you to bring your daughter…but I think I have some extra things for her to work with" He added with a smiled as he pulled out a blue backpack and another hardhat.
"Thank you Tommy" Nikki's mother said
"It's no problem really..Say Nikki, why don't you explore the caverns and see if you find anything?" Tommy said handing the stuff to her
"Sure!" Nikki responded
"Are the caverns safe?" Nikki's mother asked
"Of course, we had two teams explore them today, not a thing to worry about" Tommy said as he handed Nikki's parents their equipment.
Nikki excitedly took out her flashlight, put on her backpack, and ran off.
"Be careful!" her mother yelled after her
"I'll be fine mom!" Nikki yelled back as she disappeared into the cavern.
"Now, let's go over there, we found our first bones there" Tommy then said and lead Nikki's parents to a sector of the dig site.
Nikki turned her flashlight on, and explored the tunnel, which to her seemed to go on forever and ever in darkness. She waved to some of the workers as she passed them, and continued down the tunnel. She then came to a spilt. One tunnel was pitch dark, the other had some workers talking and laughing. Nikki started down the pitch-black tunnel.
After what seemed like forever, Nikki checked her watch and gasped.
"Aw man..Mom's gonna kill me..I've been in here for 3 hours already.." Nikki said and turned around to head back.
A loud horn blasted throughout the whole dig site. The workers began to take off their hats and gather up their things.
"Well, we'll try again tomorrow" Nikki's father said climbing out of a large ditch
"Agreed" Tommy said as he got out of the ditch, and passed some towels to Nikki's parents
"Have you seen Nikki? None of the workers ever saw her come out of the cavern" Nikki's mother asked worried
"Don't worry, I'm sure she probably came out and started wandering around the site" Nikki's father reassured.
"I wouldn't be too sure," Tommy said holding a walkie-talkie "I just called all the sectors, no one has seen her all day"
"I'm gathering a search crew right now" A worker said through the walkie- talkie
"Thanks John" Tommy said back "come on, let's go join them" Tommy then put his hands on Nikki's mother's shoulders "don't worry, we'll find her"
"Thanks Tommy" Nikki's mother said
"C'mon Tommy, we're starting" Nikki's father yelled
"Let's go" Nikki's mother said to Tommy and they both ran over to catch up
"Now let's see. I came in from that way..no..That way." Nikki said to herself and then sighed "great. I'm lost" She said and flung her backpack on the ground. She then sat on the dirt and put her head back. But something was different about this wall. She stood up and pointed her flashlight at the wall. She gasped with excitement
"Oh my god. It's a raptor!!" She said and started to feel the bones "This is amazing!. It's a whole skeleton! Fully preserved..no bones appear to be missing.."
She then kneeled down and looked at the Raptor's claws.
"It's still sharp.." She said still amazed. She then reached into her backpack and took out a small chisel and hammer and started to take out the claw of the Raptor. Finally, it popped out of the wall and into her hand.
"Unbelievable" She said as she examined the claw. It was no bigger then her thumb, while a normal adult raptor's claw would be as big as her hand.
"It must've been a young raptor," She said as she fiddled around with the claw "I can't wait till Mom and dad see this"
A green glow then appeared behind her. She stood up slowly and then turned around. She gasped as she saw a small swirling green thing. "What the…" She said as she stepped closer to it. "What is it?" She then reached out to touch it. "I wonder what this….AHH!" Nikki then screamed with sheer terror as she was sucked into the green light, and then disappeared into thin air, along with the invisaportal she accidentally went through.
…..To Be Continued in Prologue Part 2…..