Theodosia

c h a p t e r n i n e

B U T T E R F L I E S

Theodosia had never been so stressed out in her entire life.

Nicky seemed to be having the time of his life in front of her, enjoying the thrill of riding a dinosaur, but Theodosia couldn't share in his excitement.

One reason was that she hated the lull of the beast as it ran. It was making her nauseous. People weren't meant to ride giant dinosaurs. It just didn't feel right.

The other reason was Ahkmenrah.

Nicky, being the smallest, naturally sat in the front, then, Theodosia, and then...it was Ahkmenrah. She didn't want to make eye contact with him, let alone sit pressed up against him. She felt like a idiot, being nervous because she was sitting near a handsome boy, but she couldn't help it. And the jostling from Rexy's running wasn't helping with her already queasy stomach.

At this rate she would end up vomiting on Cecil once they finally caught him.

She looked over at Larry who was getting closer and closer to Cecil. She could hardly hear or see him over the roaring wind and through the blowing snow, but her eyes managed to follow the dark hair of Teddy's horse. Despite being outnumbered, Larry caught up to Cecil in record time just as the path narrowed and turned up ahead.

Central Park, somewhere Theodosia never thought she would see, but had heard (from random tour groups) that it was quite lovely, turned out to be a giant circle – or at least, the path they were on was a giant circle. Larry was running parallel to Rexy, and inevitably, the two had to converge. It was either Rexy ended up running towards Larry and Cecil, or he barrelled through a forest full of trees with a child, a wax figure, and an ancient mummy on his back.

In the heat of the moment, Theodosia really couldn't decide which choice was worse.

Burying her head into Nick's back as the snow hit her face, Theodosia held onto Nick as Rexy came to the bend that spit them back onto the other side of the path and came running straight towards Cecil and Larry. It was the miniatures who were guiding Rexy with a tiny toy hummer with a bone tied to the back, and truthfully, Theodosia should have never trusted them as guides. The path had ended, they had nowhere else to go, but the tiny yellow hummer was still driving towards Cecil and his carriage.

Cecil gestured for them to move just as the toy hummer almost met with the hooves of the carriage's horses, but the miniatures had already veered away. Theodosia, Nicky and Ahkmenrah watched helplessly as the miniatures drove towards a tiny hill of snow and crash landed in a puff of fiery smoke.

But they hardly had to time dwell on the sudden loss, as Rexy ran straight past the crash, not slowing down a bit.

Theodosia quickly looked back towards Larry who was still racing Cecil. She couldn't lose sight of them, and it was easy to lose sight in the snow. She watched until eventually Cecil's carriage stopped, and he was thrown from his seat.

"Rexy!" she shouted. "Turn around!"

The bone that had been leading the dinosaur had disappeared with the miniatures. Theodosia had no idea if he would listen to her, it seemed like he only followed the bone, exactly like a dog, but to her surprise, the dinosaur turned with grace and started running straight for the stopped carriage.

Rexy stopped as Larry approached Cecil, picking up Ahkmenrah's tablet from the snow-covered pavement.

Theodosia was buzzing with excitement. If wasn't for the child sitting in front of her, and the fact that the fall from Rexy's back might break her legs, she would have jumped down in an instant to join Larry in what she assumed was a righteous, gloating speech. She had so much to gloat about, and she did not want to miss out on her chance.