Troy's POV

A few days later, we were at the Amber Beach airport, our luggage in our hands. Noah had jet lag; Jake had been hyperactive in the plane because he apparently didn't, ah, like heights, or airplanes for that matter. Gia had nodded off in the middle of a movie and was yawning and recovering, just getting acquainted with her surroundings. So far, only Emma and I were alert, which may or may not have been because of our element, air.

"So now what?" Jake was still a little jittery.

Gia shrugged, and then yawned. "We go to my cousin's place."

Noah scratched the back of his head. "Doesn't she have like a, job or something?"

"Oh, yeah," Gia frowned, looking a little confused. "Then we go to the place where she works."

Emma obviously was not comfortable with this, looking at her friend as if she had a screw loose. I didn't blame her. "I'm not sure that's a very good idea." She pursed her lips.

Gia rolled her eyes. "That's a load of bull-"

"Language," I intercepted.

"Shut up, Captain America," she muttered. "The point is, she works for archeological purposes for a museum. The one I told you about. The Amber Beach Dinosaur Museum."

I checked my watch. "We should get going."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious."

"I'm no captain."

Cue the eye-roll.

Moving on to Act II.

The Amber Beach Dinosaur Museum seemed like a pretty cool place. A statue of a Triceratops decorated the entrance, and wooden crates, probably filled with excavated dinosaur fossils (or bones, whatever) were covered with old white, now yellowing, cloth sheets. We pushed through the glass doors to walk into a world of Dinosaur bones.

The first thing we saw as we entered was a huge bone structure of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. It glared down at us, jaw unhinged, as if any moment it was about to come alive and try to eat us, so we'd have to morph into Spandex suits and kill a museum display.

Gia studied the monster, and then shrugged. "Cool."

I rolled my eyes and walked to the left of the statue. "Moving on," I called, gesturing with my hands.

We encountered a snack café, the Dino Bite Café, inscribed upon yet another Triceratops.

"Man, they must really love Triceratops dinosaurs here," Jake muttered.

"Can we grab some food?" Emma complained. "I ate nothing in the flight. The food was horrible."

It was true. None of us had eaten anything, especially Jake, who'd been busy puking into a paper bag.

"Of course." Gia barged right in.

I looked back and shrugged, following her into the café.

By the time all of us were inside, Gia already had a table picked out, and was sitting on one of the chairs, gesturing to us impatiently. As I pulled back a chair and sat down, a smiling girl, with dark hair and dark eyes was standing next to the table.

"Hey," she said, smiling brightly. "I'm Shelby. Welcome to Dino Bite! What would you guys like to have?"

Gia frowned as she read the menu. "A Bronto Cheese Burger…for all of us?"

Emma half-raised her hand. "I'll have Fossil Fries."

"And a drink." Gia added.

Shelby grinned. "Stego Smoothie?"

Gia looked a little weirded out. "Sure."

"Pterodactyl melts." I said.

She jotted the order down on a notepad. "Your order will be ready shortly." She gave us one last smile, and left.

"Cheesy." Noah muttered.

About fifteen minutes later, we were digging into our food.

"This is absolutely great!" Jake said.

Noah looked up from his Bronto Burger, moth still full. He tried to make a comment, but it sounded like a prehistoric man trying to speak.

He gave up after a few seconds, and succumbed to his burger.

We paid the bill, and we walked out, Gia's Stego Smoothie still in her hand. She tried to make slurping noises while drinking, making Noah sigh in exasperation.

As we walked, we met a guy skateboarding and mopping the floor at the same time, alongside listening to music on his gray headphones.

Gia stopped abruptly, and dropped her smoothie right in front of him. I thought she wanted to pick a fight, but when I looked at her, her hand was still in the same position, her eyes wide, and her straw dangling from her lips.

"Aw, man I'll have to clean that up." The guy frowned, but grinned as he looked at her. "But I don't mind it for pretty ladies. Especially the ones swooning and fainting before me."

I looked at Gia in confusion, wondering, until my gaze fell on the guy's nametag.

My jaw fell open.

Chase Randall.