Chapter Nine

"You kind of look like a pirate with that wrapped around your head."

Emmie rolled her eyes at the boy walking alongside her through the deserted area, "Arg."

"You are pretty awesome though..." Sean pursed his lips embarrased as Emmie stared up at him. "You've got that whole bad girl thing going on."

"Oh really?" she laughed. Reaching out her hand she let it brush against his own. He gazed at her wonderingly as she laced her fingers through his own with a dimpled smile on her pink lips.

She looked up at him scrunching her nose in the process, "You are pretty awesome too."

The sweet moment was ruined when Emmie had to realse his hand as her foot got caught under something hard. She fell forward, hard, down a small hill. Sean gasped and carefully ran down the slump and helped her onto her feet.

"What was that?" glancing back her eyes bugged out. There were bones. Large bones. Bones fifty times the size of her entire body. Dinosaur bones.

"Man, I really wish I read that book..."

There was a thunderous sound in the distance. Emmie latched her fingers around Sean's bicep with paniced eyes. She had read the book.

"We need to hide," she rushed. They both lunged over to a tall mass of rock and pressed their bodies tight against it. His hand found hers once more finding that he felt reassured everytime the action was commensed.

The ground began to shake softly and gradually became harder as something drew near. Emmie clenched her eyes shut tightly wishing she was anywhere but there at the moment.

And then a sound of something wet hit the floor. Both Sean and her gazed down at their feet to see a goopey liquid splat on the sandy floors. Staring upward Sean's jaw tightened at the frightening creature growling above them hungrily.

Another drop of saliva escaped the tyranasuraus mouth landing direction on Sean's face. Emmie would have gagged at the disgusting sight if she hadn't been forced to run for her life as the dinosaur opened it's mouth.

Sean tugged on her hand and started to run in the opposite direction. Their feet hit the floor hard as they ran as quickly as they could. Being already exhausted and extremely dehydrated wasn't helping their case at all. When Emmie felt like she were about to give up from exhaustion and allow the creature to devour her greedily Sean shoved her into a hole in a crevice.

However, it ended up not being the greatest idea as they were trapped between the beast knocking down the matted sand and a wall behind them. Sean and Emmie both screamed as the tyranasaurous made headway and actually got deeper into their hiding space.

Sean turned his head as something pounded on the wall from the other side. A crack started to form and he thought maybe another evil creature would pop out from the other side. But when he saw a familar fist break the barrior he almost cried.

When the hole was big enough he roughly shoved Emmie through the space and followed her quickly just as the monster made it more than half-way through. Trevor brought his nephew into a bone crushing hug. The idea of losing his brother's son was worse than actually losing his brother, if that were possible.

"I am so glad to see you," admitted Trevor.

Sean nodded his head, "Me too."

"We should go," Emmie interrupted as she heard the tyrannasaurs bang against the already broken into wall. "Fast."

Not even a moment after they started sprinting the large creature was on their tale. Emmie screamed as it snapped at her back touching a strand of her hair. Trevor started branching away from them and the dinosaur seemed to beging to tag after him.

"What are you doing?" Sean shouted as he saw that the dinosaur was no longer after Emmie or him, but his uncle.

"The geyser is that way!" he pointed in the opposite direction. "Over there is muscovite. The same type of rock we fell through in the volcanic tunnel."

He frowned, "It wont hold you!"

"It wont hold him either!"

"Trevor, no!" Emmie started in the older man's direction. Sean did not seem to disagree as he too started moving towards his uncle.

Trevor looked back to see the tyrannasaous snap his sharp teeth at him. He managed to speed up just in time for it to miss him by an inch. There was the sound of light cracking, but the rock seemed to be holding out.

"It's not breaking Trevor!" Sean informed as he saw the dinosaur draw closer to his uncle.

Just as the dinosaur opened his jaw and Trevor was in reach there was a horrendously loud boom. The floor gave in under the dinosaurs feet and soon the entire ground around them was shattering.

Sean cried out loudly as he saw his uncle disappear. They both picked up their pace and hanging on the edge was none other than Trevor with a sour expression.

"I hate field work!" he grumbled while Sean pulled him up.

Emmie jumped on the man, which surprised Trevor, sean and herself, and eloped him and a great hug, "Don't ever do that again."

"I don't plan on it," Trevor patted her back awkwardly. When she backed up she grabbed onto Sean's hand and smiled up at him. "The geyser is straight that way. If we hurry we should be able to make it."

"... well this is just great," Emmie crossed her arms over her chest.

Sean sighed exhaustedly, "The water is too hot."

"What we really need is a boat," Trevor said.

"Yeah, how do you suppose we get one of those?"

Trevor shot Emmie a glare for her attitude, but before he could make a comment the sound of splashing in water could be heard. As if the heavens heard their silent prayers Hannah came around a corner paddling an upsidedown tyrasauarous rex head.

Hannah smirked at the three's shocked expressions, "Who had dibs again?"

Trevor and Sean pointed at their chests.

"Mom!"

Hannah brought her daughter into a bone clenching hug when she climbed inside the dinosaur head. The older man shot Hannah a shy smile. He hadn't understood why she had kissed him before he left to go find Sean and Emmie, but he knew as soon as they were out of there alive that would be the first thing he repayed.

After Hannah had been paddling for a few moments she noticed the water begin to sink. She searched around her to see that it was begining to evaporate from the steam, "We are losing water quickly."

A scream erupted is the water disappeared making the skull fall down. Thankfully, it was caught between the wall and couldn't budge much more than few meters.

Sean peered over the edge, "What's that light down there?"

"That's lava-"

"Lava!" Emmie shrieked leaning over the edge. She coughed as some of the fumes made their way up the tube. "I'm so going to die right now."

"What do we do?" Hannah directed this towards Trevor.

"There's nothing we really can do... we ran out of water and that's the only way."

"What about the geyser. What happened to it?"

Trevor shook his head at Sean's question, "No. We are too late for the geyser. WE missed it."

"How?" Emmie scanned the walls. "It looks like the walls are still wet."

Hannah touched the stone, "It is wet."

"And cold," Sean added.

"That's impossible," Trevor frowned. "It's over one hundred and thirty degrees in here."

"Behind you!"

Trevor turned and felt the wall behind him. He pressed his hands against the surface and fold the cold slippery texture, "There has to be some air pocket holding the water behind the walls."

"Trevor..." Sean looked over the edge. "The lava is getting closer."

The older man brought his fingers to his nostrils and sniffed, "Hey, that's magnesium."

A jolt pushed the skull down a few inches. Hannah gripped her fist against the walls to steady herself, "We are slipping!"

"Oh God," Emmie reached out for Sean's hand. "We are going to die."

"Now who's the baby?" he muttered under his breath, but Emmie didn't seem to hear him or care. She just stared wide eyed at Trevor who looked to be deep in thought.

He turned to Hannah and stretched his arm out, "How many flares do we have left?"

"Three," she slung her backpack off her shoulder. Handing him the flares she eyed him as he started pushing himself out of the skull and letting his entire torso swing over the edge. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to light the magnesium," he looked her in the eye and winked. "On purpose this time."

They all watched as he lit the flare and held it against the wall. He cursed as it slipped from his fingers and fell down into the lava with a boom, "It's too wet!"

"That's what she said..." Hannah slapped her daughter in the arm. She looked at Trevor as he reached out for another one.

"I have to go further down. Hold my legs!" Sean gripped his uncle's legs as Trevor completely left the skull. He swung his arm out, but the flare refused to ignite the magnesium. The light went out and he grunted as sweat dripped down his temples.

Sean tugged him back into the skull. Hannah held out the last one and Trevor looked at her sternly, "You are going to have to tie my legs. It's the only way I can get down far enough."

Emmie peeked down and shivered, "It's so close now! I don't want to be burned to a crisp."

Trevor was lowered over the edge and lit the flare. Pressing it against the wall he shook his head. He didn't understand why it wasn't working. But then he looked across at the other side of the wall and noticed that there appeared to be magnesium there as well.

"I'm going to have to throw it to the other side!" he screamed. He didn't wait for a reply as he counted softly to himself and tossed it on three.

Every one was silent as a spark erupted. However, a wave of sadness came over them as it disappeared a second later.

"Ahhh!" Emmie shook a pointed finger at the wall. "Look!"

"It's lit, it's lit!" screamed Sean.

"Trevor," Hannah excitedly followed suit. "It's lit!"

"Pull me up!" he looked down at the lava oozing up towards him. "Pull me up!"

"Pull, pull, pull!" Hannah chanted. Emmie, Sean and herself all grabbed the rope and tugged with all their strength until Trevor fell over the edge into the skull.

He shoved them all to the ground quickly, "Get down, it's going to blow!"

As if on que, the wall bursted open and water poured out. When it met the lava it exploded into a gust of steamy air. The four screamed as it pushed them upward.

"Is that sky?"

All their eyes blinked up at the blue up ahead through the opening. There screams continued as they cascaded up and burst out of the hole.

"Hang on!" Trevor shouted.

"Trust me, I'm hanging on," Hannah sarcastically bit back.

The skull touched the ground of the mountain and they were zipping through fields of fruit and vegetables at an alarming speed. But the more dense the plants became the slower the skull was on it's way down.

They were soon jolted to a stop by a loud boom as they crashed into a wall. Emmie grunted as she looked to her right to see that the rest of them were shaken up, but alive.

"Le mie piante! Il mio tutore bella! Stolti!"

There was an Italian farmer swinging his hands around wildly motioning up the mountains. His frantic shouts were ignored as the four tried to come out of there shock.

When they were all standing up, Trevor turned towards the mountain," Hey Sean. If your mom asks I took you to Italy?"

"Italy?"

Emmie looked behind her with wide eyes, "How the heck did we end up in Italy?"

"La mia vita รจ rovinata ... come faccio a sostenere me e la mia famiglia?" the Italian farmer looked ready to cry as he watched them all with wide terriified eyes.

Sean dug into his backpack and pulled out one of the diamonds he had achieved on his journey. Going over to the man he held it out. In the worst Italian accent ever he gestured for the man to take it, "You take this! We are sorry."

"Wow Sean..." Emmie mummbled mockingly at his accent. She climbed over the edge and stood beside him as the man took hold of the diamond transfixed by it's beauty.

"Sean!"

Trevor held up the bag of jewels looking at his nephew skeptically, "Sean."

"What?" he shrugged his shoulders. "I just took a few geological samples."

"A few?"

"A few pounds of samples, but what do you expect? I'm a scientist's son."

The Italian man hugged the diamond, "You slide again?"

Emmie frowned, "No thank you."

"Take whatever you want!" he urged with a wide grin.

Sean laughed as Emmie gave him an annoyed look. Glancing over her shoulders her eyes widened. Sean followed her gaze and it landed upon his uncle and Hannah who were locked in a passionate kiss.

"Well," she said with a smirk. "I guess Trevor has dibs. Not you."

"I have dibs on the mountain guide," Sean objected slyly.

Emmie raised her eyebrows, "Oh really? Looks like she's kissing your uncle."

"No."

He bit his lip as he stepped towards Emmie. Her gray eyes stared up at him as he pressed a hand against her neck and drew her head towards him. Their lips met briefly and Sean moved back with a cherry blush on his cheeks, "It looks like she's kissing me."

Emmie grinned, "I'm not a mountain guide, stupid."

"Don't be so literal," Sean rolled his eyes.

She looked at her mom who was dazedly smiling at Trevor, "So... it looks like we are going to be cousins?"

Sean snorted, "Gross."

"You think it's gross kissing your cousin?"

"No. Well I mean yes," he furrowed his brows. "I don't mind kissing you because you are not like my blood cousin. If you were by birth then yes I would think it's gross. I just think it's gross that Hannah is kissing Trevor because why would anyone want to kiss-"

He was caught off by Emmie stepping on her toes and kissing him softly on the mouth. He closed his eyes and fell into her kiss.

"Hey!" Trevor called out. "That's enough you two! We need to get home."

"Home?" asked Sean dejectedly.

Emmie took hold of his hand amusedly, "Of course silly. Thought we were going to live on the mountains forever?"

Sean sighed, "I don't want to go to Canada."

ONE MORE CHAPTER LEFT! o_O