To convince Ethan to get back into the boat the following morning, Sienna had to promise that they would get out and walk along the riverbank anytime he felt worried. Sienna knew that it might not be possible to walk past the scary bits, but hoped that he would understand when the time came. Fortunately, so far everything had been pretty calm. There were a few rapids where she noticed Ethan gripped, white knuckled, to the rope, but they weren't bad ones.

He hadn't been thrilled yesterday afternoon when the current whipped the boat away once it was free from its nesting place. But they had got through to the ends of those rapids without either falling out of the boat again and once the water calmed, they had paddled easily to the bank.

The night had been particularly unpleasant. There were definitely no buildings to shelter in, so they had had to use the tent, but it was tiny. They could also hear every cracking twig and rustling bush outside them. They had tried taking turns staying awake, but Sienna found when she was lookout, she kept dozing off and when she was sleeping, she never really slept. She'd leapt awake at every sound. It was probably the fear of being off the water that really had convinced Ethan to get back in the boat. She knew she felt much safer on the water. Now, she had to fight sleep. The gentle rocking of the boat was so calming.

Periodically, Ethan would poke her and she would jump awake. He didn't seem to be as sleepy. He sat in the front of the boat, watching the river as if he expected it to grow teeth and bite him. "Hey. Si." Her eyes sprung open. This time he called her rather than nudging her.

"I'm awake." She blinked and squinted in the later morning sun. They had been on the river a while already. "What is it?"

"I think it's a lake."

Looking around herself, Sienna could see that the angle of the river banks had changed sharply and they were heading into more open water.

"What do we do?"

"Do? Nothing. The boat is still moving. We're safe out on the water. I say for now we let the current do the work for us."

"Do you think there's … anything in the water?"

"There would be fish. I doubt there's anything too scary though. It's not that big a lake."

Sitting with her bottom on the floor and nestling up against the side, Sienna drifted back into a doze.

"Sienna, look!" She had no idea how long she had been resting when she felt Ethan's fingers at her ankle.

"Have you rested at all?" she groaned, looking up. "Teeth and claws!" She clambered to her knees and then onto the side so she could see better. "It's Nessie!" She always enjoyed reading stories and myths were some of her favourites.

"I think it's an elasmosaurus. Look at that neck!" The neck was what had made it look like the Loch Ness monster. It arched gracefully from the water, its dark, curved body breaking the surface behind it.

"It's beautiful!" Moments later, the snake-like head dipped down into the water, the body rising and disappearing after and she was gone. "The world's a pretty cool place. Thanks for waking me to see that." She ruffled Ethan's hair. "Serious though, you need some sleep." His eyes were red ringed and puffy. "I've been resting all morning. It's your turn now, okay?" He scanned the lake around them, taking in the still water. Finally he nodded.

"Okay." He dropped down to the floor of the boat, and resting his head against the side, closed his eyes.

Whether he slept or not, Sienna wasn't sure, but even resting would do him good. She tried to keep herself busy at first by looking for more plesiosauri, but when none surfaced, she started looking through their packs for useful supplies. Some things she pocketed so she could get to them fast. She had to stop herself from eating another bar. They only had ten left and no sign of civilization. She couldn't eat just because she was bored. She looked back out over the lake. She didn't often have time alone to think. Usually she would be in lessons with the scientists or reading a book or playing with Ethan. She wasn't sure she liked it. The more she thought about their plan the less she was confident that they would succeed. Once away from the compound, she had assumed there would be humans everywhere. All the books she read and AVs she watched had big cities packed with humans. But now she was out here, there was no-one. Had the dinosaurs killed all the people? Or were they just really far from them all? Maybe they were on some sort of uninhabited island.

She continued in her thoughts as she pulled out a telescope she had found in her bag. There was something curious towards the bank. It was an iguana like creature sunning itself on a mound of mud. Through the telescope, she could make out a really interesting shape to its head… maybe an atopodentatus. They had a hammer head.

Just as she leant back to wake Ethan, there was a great splash of water. She gasped as something had the atopodentatus in its jaws and dragged it, tumbling into the water. She couldn't take her eye from the scope as the splashes continued. She could see the pale underside followed instantly by the rough, dull green lumpy side. A crocodile maybe. If it was, it was huge! Soon the view became too much for her. She retched over the side of the boat. Sitting back up, she looked over at Ethan. Amazing, he was still sleeping. She was thankful for that. He didn't need to know what was all the way over there on the shore of the lake.

As much as she couldn't stand to look at it, Sienna's gaze found its way back to that shore. From this distance she could see movement, but thankfully no details. Frustrated with her mind constantly returning to what she had just seen, she unclipped one of the oars. If she wasn't going to sleep, she may as well paddle. And the other shore of the lake seemed like a great destination.

She managed to get herself into a great rhythm. Several strokes this side, slide, several strokes the other. The hardest part was not knocking Ethan. He clearly needed the rest he was getting. Before too long though, Ethan stirred naturally on his own. After stretching, he grabbed the other paddle and started helping her.

"Did you see any interesting dinosaurs while I was sleeping," Ethan asked with a yawn.

"Maybe an atopodentatus," she replied without thinking. "But it was really far away." She added quickly. The sky darkened momentarily and she took the distraction to look up. Before thinking, she swung her oar over her head. It cracked against the head of a pterosaur. The flying creature was knocked to the side, but recovered quickly and rose back into the air.

"Bloody teeth!" Ethan hissed. "Good shot!"

Sienna scanned the sky for any more of them. They were clear blue and empty. For the first time while being in the raft, she felt like a goat on a chain in a T-rex paddock. "How do you feel about getting off this lake?" she asked, returning the paddle to the water.

He dipped his in and kept up with her faster stroke. They were not fast enough.

Shadows dappled above them as many bodies darted between the sun and the children. They tried to defend themselves using the paddles, but the tapejaras started using their large crests at the top of their heads to ward the blows off. After receiving a couple of savage gouges from the onslaught of beaks, there was only one escape. Both kids dove into the water. The pterosaurs dove in after them but the water slowed their descent and the scrapes glanced off the kids. Rising only enough to catch their breath and dive again, the kids tried to stay under water as long as they could. There were fewer attacks, but they still came. "Sienna!" Ethan's voice became much clearer once her head cleared the surface.

"Ethan!" she called back.

"Come over this si-" A shadow above sent her diving under again. This time though she swam under the raft and resurfaced next to Ethan.

"We can't see their shadows over here," she frowned wiping water from her eyes that she raised to the sky, hunting.

"I know. But I don't think they see so well through the shadow either. None have attacked in ages."

"Really?" she frowned searching the sky above them. She could see the tapejaras circling, but Ethan was right. None seemed to be diving. "This is good. We can swim in the shadow of the boat." Until they go away at least. She knew what things were in this water. Pushing the boat gently with one hand, Sienna started kicking. If they stayed in the shadow they would be safe from the flying predators and it would mean they were going in a straight line. Right? She knew the shore with the crocodile lay behind them. Unlike Ethan, Sienna was a strong swimmer. He just needed to hang on to the boat and she did all the work. Even so, she was tiring by the time the dark shapes in the sky were no longer circling them.

Sienna swam a few metres away from the boat to check the more of the sky. It seemed clear.

"Let's get back in," she huffed as she swam back again.

"Are you sure? They could come back."

"I'm getting tired." It was true. She was tiring. But she didn't tell him that she was certain she would be able to make it to the shore. The thing she was most tired of was the fear of what might be swimming up behind her or under her. She shivered and hauled herself into the boat. It was surprisingly very difficult and she nearly tipped it several times. But she made it and hauled Ethan in after her. "We'll keep a careful watch on the sky okay. If we have to we'll jump back in the water." Ethan nodded. "Okay then. And look, we're nearly at the shore."