A WORLD OF GIANTS AND DANGER

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Gus felt like he was flying through a water funnel. It was dark and he couldn't see where he was going. It felt like he was moving fast. He was flying along, head first like on a playground slide, but it felt like he was floating.

The only light was from his green thumb which was out in front of him, guiding the way.

Gus looked around. The funnel was rather beautiful, dark but beautiful. The swirling water glowed a bright green so it wasn't that dark but he couldn't see beyond the wall. Probably a good thing. He did not want to imagine what was on the other side. There were no other sounds except from the rush of wind over his ears and body.

Something suddenly bumped into his shoulder and he let out a scream. Turning his head he saw that it was his wagon. And with it was his blue backpack.

"All right!" he cheered. He eased himself into it, got on his knees and took hold of the handle. If he was going to land on the other side of this ride he was not going to land hard.

The rushing wind was soon joined by the calls of, what seemed like to Gus, whale calls. They echoed eerily in the water funnel and all around him. It was spooky and a bit unsettling.

Gus looked back the way he had come and there was nothing but a swirling water tunnel for as far as he could see. He looked down below him past the wagon and it was the same thing. Rushing and twisting green water.

Looking ahead and squinting, Gus saw that the funnel was beginning to finally open up. He had come to the end of the ride!

All around him the water and its green glow started to change. It was now transforming from a magical green to a murky color like a swamp or marsh.

Gus gulped, closed his eyes, and braced for impact. His knees trembled so much that he was forced to lean back in the wagon, his hands gripping the handle.

The next thing Gus knew, he and the wagon had splashed down. The whale calls and rushing wind faded away. The boy had been gently deposited in a pond somewhere in a murky body of water. Once it was over, he opened his eyes and stared.

He found himself floating in a primeval lake. He could see translucent strands of underwater vegetation below him. Around him were large trees that had curling vines and roots around them. But these trees were different then the ones in Central Park.

Gus tried to stay calm, but he had a finger to his mouth in worry. He had done this before when he and Rosie found Central Park in ruins.

What if he couldn't get back home? The Star-leaf!

Gus began to look for it. But he couldn't find it. It was gone.

"Great!" he said out loud. "Now what do I do?"

Paddle to shore was what he had to do. Reaching up, Gus broke a branch off of a tree and used that as a paddle. It was a good thing his wagon was able to float with him in it.

Once he was on the bank, got out of his wagon and pulled it out of the water, Gus looked around. It was mostly forest as far as he could see. Dense, but strangely defoliated. Then he heard a distant bellowing. It startled him and he jumped as he spotted what looked like moving tree trunks.

But those were not tree trunks.

They didn't have any leaves what so ever. Gus raised his head, looking higher…and higher still. Suddenly his little mouth dropped in surprise as his eyes widened. Those weren't tree trunks at all. They were legs. And belonged to the biggest animal he'd ever seen.

It was a dinosaur. No, two living, breathing dinosaurs!

Gus almost fell over his wagon in disbelief and wonder as he backed up. The dinosaurs had long necks and big bodies with long tails. And they didn't look or acted stupid like the depictions in his books.

But since they were bigger then he was, and that they might not notice him, Gus quickly got his backpack, grabbed his wagon and moved away from the dinosaurs. The last thing he wanted was to get stepped on.

He walked for a time until he was out of the forest. He could still hear the bellowing calls of other dinosaurs.

"I gotta' see where I am," he decided, when he was clear of the forest. He put his backpack on, took the wagon's handle, and began to walk. To where, he didn't even know. As he walked he noticed that the air here was different then in New York City. The fumes and smells of the city were familiar to him. But this was totally different. It felt heavy and a little humid cleaner too than at home and Central Park, and full of smells.

Gus reached the top of a ridge, set the wagon handle down, and surveyed the area. There were rolling hills and plains with dried, dead grass. There was a setting sun in the late afternoon sky to the west with lingering shadows.

That meant that it was going to get dark. And Gus didn't bring a flashlight with him.

He didn't know what to do. If he stayed where he was and did nothing, he'd be in the dark sooner rather later.

He decided to head toward the pine forest straight ahead of him from across the meadow.

As he made his way down with his wagon and walked among some of the dinosaur herds, Gus couldn't help but notice that he was gaining a lot of odd stares from the animals. A few would even stop and look at him curiously, watch him for a moment, and then be on their way.

Gus gulped as a grumpy bunch of Triceratops passed him by with little ones following close in their shadow. He shrank back when the big dinosaur snorted at him, its eyes narrow with suspicion.

Wanting to get away and avoid trouble, Gus ran for the forest. Once he was safely inside with his wagon , he leaned against a tree and let out a long breath.

"Whew! That sure was close. I guess not all dinosaurs are friendly here,"

The herd kept moving and so did Gus. The forest was quite as he trudged along, the wagon's rattling the only sound, aside from a few birds.

He had to find another Star-Leaf. That was the only way he could get home. He figured that there must be one in this forest somewhere if he looked hard enough. He raised his thumb to see if would glow. And it did. But the glow was faint. But that still gave him hope. Gus's chance to go home was here in this forest, and he was going to find it.

In the silence, Gus became aware of soft, footfalls through the trees. Was something following him?

He walked a little faster, almost tripping over a branch. Something or more than one thing was definitely stalking him; he could hear hisses, hushed warbles that come from behind him, then in front, then to the sides.

Rounding a corner, there stood a dinosaur. Gus stopped in his tracks. This dinosaur kind of looked like a an ostrich. But he could see that this was no ostrich at all.

Gus felt a little uneasy upon seeing it. The dinosaur was gangly, pale green with darker blotches along it's neck and back. Its arms were long with three, bony claws. On its arms were wort-like protrusions.

The Ornithomimus leered at him. A small, tasty morsel that had wondered into it's gaggle's territory. And such an odd one too. It made a warbling call in the back of its throat, its bug-eyes glinting as more of its friends appeared from behind the trees.

Gus knew he was in trouble now. The dinosaurs had him surrounded from all sides. He had to get out of there. He ditched the wagon and ran for it.

But Gus had forgotten that he was seven years-old. He was not fast.

The group of dinosaurs gave chase, pecking and clawing at him with sharp beaks and claws. Gus screamed as he was knock down to the ground on his stomach.

They had him now. And they were going to eat him!

Gus quickly curled into a tight ball, protecting his head and bringing his knees up to shield his chest and face.

The Ornithomimus flock began jabbing and pecking at Gus with their beaks again.

Gus cried, "Leave me alone! Get away from me!" He closed his eyes good and tight. He wanted to go home. He didn't want to be here anymore.

Then from out of nowhere there was a loud bellow, followed by noisy thundering feet coming right toward him.

"Help!" Gus screamed. "Help me!"

There was a rush of wind above him, lashing through the air like a large scythe. The group of Ornithomimus yelped in fright and scampered away, back into the dark forest to which they came.

As the scampering feet of his assailants died away, Gus uncurled his body and propped himself on his elbow. But when he noticed that a shadow was over him he looked up and gasped.

It was a long-necked dinosaur, like the ones he had seen in the forest when he had arrived. And it wasn't alone either. There were two others with it. And they were all gazing down at him.

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