“What on Earth are those?” J.J. cried out as a flock of birds with the body of an ostrich and the face of an eagle barreled towards us.
“Who cares? Just run!” Ginger avidly recommended.
I had no clue where we were running to, and I saw nothing in the immediate area that suggested we could exit out of this building either! I scanned our surroundings to pinpoint some sort of refuge, and I spotted some trees with branches that were gnarly enough to climb each of them as easily as a ladder, so I did. The others followed suit, and mercifully, these fowl foes couldn’t fly! Actually, their wings were so comically small that I wondered what Mother Nature had in mind when designing these creatures, and I wasn’t surprised they became extinct well before the modern time period!
Osra breathed a sigh of relief, “Phew! We’re safe up here!”
“Are we though?” Kamali challenged her. “Sooner or later, we’re going to need to get down!”
“I wish Aleck was here!” I lamented. “He probably has an encyclopedic knowledge of these things! I don’t know why we would’ve taken him dress shopping with us, but it would’ve been convenient!”
Miriam commented, “And I wish Blaise was here so that we could sacrifice him to these beasts!” J.J., Nick, and Cricket gazed at her in shock, so she clarified for them, “He’s a zombie, so he’s already dead! Of course, most of these guys are spirits, but unlike with my ex, I wouldn’t wanna risk them getting permanently erased!”
Ellie suggested, “How about we stop speculating on what we wish we’d have and start thinking of what we do have to get rid of these ugly monsters! Hmm… No coconuts or anything!”
As the feathery fiends pawed at the base of our stronghold, Natalia suddenly had an epiphany, “Hey! Our clothes are made from animal fur, so maybe that’ll count as flesh to them!” She removed her slipper and tossed it down to their level. The odd birds sniffed it, which I thought was impossible since they had no noses, and they apparently assessed there was not a sufficient amount of sustenance and resumed their pursuit. Natalia posed to us, “If we lose a garment here, it doesn’t count as losing it in real life, right? I doubt the Big Guy will be quite so forgiving again…”
“Seriously, what in the heck did you all do to be so afraid of him?” I probed. “Aren’t you on the same side as him?”
“Uh, Connor? Could this conversation maybe wait for a while?” Kendra shot back as she eyeballed our avian adversaries.
Cricket frustratedly yelled, “Does this place have anyone working here, or do they just let these freaks roam free without supervision?”
Jasper put forward, “Maybe they’d get repelled with water…”
“We don’t have any water!” Eamon pointed out.
“Yeah, but we do have other fluids in us!” Jasper argued.
Eamon winced at that notion. “That is the most ungentlemanly proposal I’ve ever heard! And I’m including all of the drunkest fellows’ ideas in the seediest of taverns! …Which I’ve only passed by…”
Jasper contended, “But, we have nothing else!”
“There has to be some other method that’s far less crude!” Eamon quarreled.
“Uh, guys…!” I vied to get their attention as I observed the odd birds slowing down.
Jasper bickered, “How are you alright with slaying a beast but not peeing on it?”
The odd birds had outright ceased their movements, so I tried again, “Guys…!”
“It’s a fair fight!” Eamon disputed. “This… well… it could liberate us from danger, but… to perform such a feat with ladies present…”
“Oh, I’d be fine with it!” Miriam put in. “I’ve seen it a million times after dealing with my late husband’s inebriation! You two never met Blaise, did you?”
Jasper relayed to her, “We’ve seen him! We watch over Connor, and since he’s dealt with him a lot, so have we! He’s safe in Hell… I’m pretty sure…”
Miriam balked at that last phrase, “Pretty sure? You mean, you’re not completely sure he’s getting the eternal damnation that he deserves?”
“Well, he’s been known to escape,” Jasper admitted.
“Guys!” I waved my hands around in this instance, but I couldn’t get them to shift their focus to me whatsoever!
Miriam’s eyes went wide upon hearing Jasper’s statement. “You mean there’s a chance he’s out right now? Where could he have gone? Who is-?”
Nick cut her off, “Woah! The birds are asleep!”
“Wow! Why didn’t you tell us?” Jasper accosted me. I threw my hands up in exasperation as a response.
“How soundly do you think they sleep?” Ginger posed to the group.
I canvassed the others, “Who wants to test it out?” Eamon eagerly volunteered, but given his recent history with this, I canvassed the others, “Anyone else?”
Nobody budged an inch. Cricket affirmed, “Not me! I won’t be the guinea pig!” She folded her arms definitely, and in so doing, she lost her balance and plummeted to the ground beneath us! “Or maybe I will!” she nervously muttered as she lay in a heap on the floor. She glanced up at the flock, and none of them stirred from her graceless entrance into their proximity, so she slowly rose up. “It seems fine!” Cricket determined in a soft tone.
We cautiously crept down, and while it appeared as though they weren’t going to stir, we didn’t want to take any risks. When we all descended to their level, Ellie nearly sneezed, and several fingers went to her nostrils to block it. She managed to stifle it while simultaneously flicking off everyone’s touch, and then we went back to tiptoeing out of their circle. Kamali stepped on Kendra’s foot by accident, and numerous palms flew to her lips to muffle her outburst. She swallowed the remainder of her exclamatory utterance, but she glared at an apologetic Kamali for a lengthy stretch. One of the slumbering avains randomly stretched out its limbs, which almost tripped Osra. We all caught her prior to her making contact thankfully! At last, after a panicky few minutes, we were able to return to a normal gait and flee that spot!
A significant amount of traveling later, we beheld the opposite end of the edifice! A glass observation window loomed over the treetops, and somewhere below that was a door marked, “Employees Only.” J.J. read that and then remarked, “Oh, and the rest of this joint is totally fine for the public to explore?”
“Finally! We found it!” Kendra rejoiced.
“Found what?” Ellie questioned. “We don’t even know what we’re looking for!”
Kendra didn’t get daunted by her presentation of this fact. “Yes, but someone in there is bound to give us some directions to the Eye! Whatever it is!”
Eamon exclaimed, “In any case, no one shall prevent us from progressing in this journey!” All of a sudden, a Tyrannosaurus Rex at least twelve feet tall positioned itself in front of that entryway and roared at us! Eamon casually dismissed this, “He’s nobody!”
“Everyone scatter!” I directed. “It can’t get us all at once!”
“I dunno about that! I’m pretty positive when I was a kid I was able to squish a bunch of ants that scattered on a sidewalk! I dunno why I did that!” Ginger shouted as she raced from the dinosaur’s reach.
Nick hid behind a bush and bemoaned, “Man, I would’ve stayed in the jungle if I knew we’d wind up in Jurassic Park!”
Miriam recalled, “Oh! I heard they can’t see you if you stand perfectly still!” She struck a motionless stance, and the T-Rex made a beeline for her. Once it got pretty close, she determined, “Well, that theory’s wrong!”
J.J. crashed into some brush, and a spear fell out of the branches! “Alright! We’re gonna live!” He expertly hurled the spear at the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and for a flash, we all grew hopeful that this nightmare would conclude! To our dismay, the spear bounced off of the dinosaur’s skin like a ball on a hard surface! “We’re all gonna die!” J.J. sobbed.
It got close enough that it could’ve swallowed J.J., and I simply couldn’t allow that to occur! I mean, I didn’t know anything about the dude, but it was as though he was a bad person! Or maybe he was a bad person in reality, but I was fairly certain that if he did anything heinous, he still didn’t deserve to get eaten by a monster! I threw a rock and hit its eye! It left its hunt of J.J., and I victoriously expressed, “Yes!” It started to chase me, so my tone altered completely. “No!”
To keep track of its activities, I hurried away from it backward, and in hindsight, this wasn’t such a fantastic plan! I did alright for a while, but soon, I wound up tripping over a stick and falling onto my rear! Nick denoted, “Wow! That’s a family trait, isn’t it?”
“Not helpful!” I snapped. The dinosaur approached me, and I deduced that its breadth surpassed my range of motion to dodge its advances. “Someone do something!” The massive creature grew closer and closer, so I manically repeated, “Do something! Do something! Do something!” It didn’t seem like anything was transpiring on their part, so I readied myself to punch and kick in hopes that this activity would annoy it enough to make me less palatable. My body braced itself for a struggle, but then…
“Bad Lilith!” a man with gray hair, glasses, and a beard that nearly reached his belly scolded the behemoth as he sprayed a misty, red liquid at her. She recoiled, and he echoed his sentiments for emphasis of this chastisement, “Bad! Bad Lilith!” The T-Rex repulsively reacted to the substance (I didn’t get the impression his berating had much of an impact on her!), and she scurried off in sheer irritation.
I supposed I ought to have conveyed gratitude for him saving my life, but all I could do was snicker, “Lilith?” I chortled over this bit of unexpectedness until I caught his confused ogling, and then I briefed him, “That was my ex-wife’s name! A totally different kind of maneater!”
The man got slightly shocked by that information. “Really? Her name was Lilith? That’s a strange name for a human! …I’m Doctor Oogha Oogha, by the way!” I was about to introduce everybody, but a hideous shriek sounded from afar, so he advised us, “Let’s get you inside!” We swiftly complied with that prompt and tailed him through the doorway.
It astounded me to learn that this society had an elevator system! Albeit, it was a somewhat primitive pulley system, but still, their advancements perpetually astonished me! As he carted us up, he articulated, “Don’t play around- I know exactly why you’re here!”
“You do?” I got baffled by his assessment. I didn’t esteem that anyone from any era knew about the Rainbow Tektites’ existence let alone the least evolved one! It relieved me to postulate that someone in this world understood our plight- it certainly would’ve saved precious minutes as we discoursed with a knowledgable ally! Or was he? He did not instantly indicate that he was friendly to our cause, and given Damon’s ability to gain support somehow, I speculated on whether or not we would’ve been safer with Lilith! I fretted over the possibilities, but there wasn’t much I could’ve done about any negative circumstances coming into fruition! Seriously, there wasn’t exactly anywhere to escape to in this shaft!
“Naturally!” Doctor Oogha Oogha confirmed. I feared the worst, but then he merrily stated, “I know a teacher when I see one!”
I chuckled, “You got us!” I couldn’t help but laugh- we didn’t have to lie to him about our identity! At least not completely, we still couldn’t reveal why we arrived at this facility…
Doctor Oogha Oogha tittered, “You can’t fool me! Observation is my specialty- I’m a scientist!”
When we got to the top level, we beheld an extensive laboratory with various workstations that had a view of the landscape that was rather breathtaking! I disliked that it enchanted me given all of the different manners in which we could’ve gotten snuffed out, but hey, what could I do? “Welcome to the Center for Enigmatic Discoveries!” Doctor Oogha Oogha pridefully beamed at us. “I’m excited that you’re considering this organization for your next field trip!”
“Yeah, this seems like a great place to bring children!” Ginger dryly kidded as she witnessed a Spinosaurus terrorizing a pack of small reptiles.
“What’s in that stuff?” J.J. catechized as Doctor Oogha Oogha set his repellent down.
We all anticipated hearing about a mysterious formula comprised of complicated and possibly impossible-to-understand ingredients, but instead, Doctor Oogha Oogha imparted to us, “What, this? It’s a blend of chili powder and other spicy ingredients. That species hates this scent!” He ignored our dumbfounded visages and persisted with his tour, “I founded this institute forty years ago, and it went through about a dozen name changes before I settled on this one! The other ones kept spelling out naught subjects with their acronyms!”
I grinned as I recollected Ismeray going through the same ordeal with what she called her covens, and I would’ve presumed he was her ancestor if we were on the same timeline! I spotted a book on an adjacent table, and it swayed my mind to Phoebe. If she had been present, I felt she would’ve reminded me to keep my focal point on the important task imposed on us, so I shook off this rumination and requested, “I heard the Eye of Stonerac is here! Could we see it?”
“Yes, you..” Prior to Doctor Oogha Oogha getting to finish his sentence, he noticed an empty cage on the carpet. “Where did he go?” He rubbed his chin contemplatively, and while a part of me was curious about what he kept up here, another part possessed no desire to find out. I would’ve rather it stayed a secret and never have had to contend with it, but I had a hunch I would find out in the most startling fashion possible! If he kept it in his quarters, it couldn’t have been dangerous, right? A knob on the opposite side of the room turned, and…