No way, it was too shallow. The boat skipped toward the shoreline—80 feet, 50, 30, 10, and then he hit the sand and leapt out.
Drake didn’t stop running until he was 50 feet up the first sand dune. He spun back.
The sea was calm. Except for the whitecaps, there was no monstrous lump or wedge-shaped head rearing up. But he knew what he saw. He grimaced as the tingling rushed over him again — and then the sunlight blinked off then seconds later, back on.
Drake looked up at the sky. And what the hell is with that? he demanded of the big yellow orb.
“You tryin’ to commit suicide, son?”
“Huh?” Drake spun.
There was an old guy standing up on one of the dunes, holding his sandals with a pair of binoculars around his neck.
Drake pointed. “Did you see that?” His voice was higher than he wanted.
The old guy’s face twisted in disdain. “Course I saw it.” He stepped aside and thumbed over his shoulder to a sign jammed in on the dune.
Drake’s mouth fell open in disbelief as he read the huge yellow sign’s black lettering.
Kronosaur season — no swimming, no boating, and no fishing until further notice.
There was a stenciled image of the sea reptile he just saw.
“What?” Drake felt his eyes actually bulge. “Is this a joke?”
“Idiot.” The old guy began to turn away. “There’s a reason we stay out of the water this time of year. It’s mating season for the big kronos. They make a kill, and they’ll hang around all year.”
“This is madness.” Drake ran up the dune to grab the guy’s arm. “When did this happen?”
The old guy suddenly looked a little worried by Drake then, who was still tough and brawny-looking even though he was now in his 50s.
“When?” The old guy shook his head, looking confused. “It’s always been like this. Every season on the warm current they migrate up the coast.” He backed up. “Just… just stay out until about October, orright?”
“Yeah.” Drake nodded slowly. “Yeah sure.”
The guy turned and vanished up and over the dunes. Drake looked back out over the water. It now looked ominous, threatening, and mysterious. He then stared down along the waterline where his boat was beached. He really wanted to believe it was some sort of prank on him. But he knew what he saw, and knew something bad had just happened that defied belief.
He felt the tingle in his belly again, and he knew whatever was happening was still happening. His phone rang and he pulled it out, looking at the caller id — it was Helen.
CHAPTER 10
Ben Cartwright put the phone down slowly and turned to Emma.
“That was Drake. He and Helen are coming over; I mean, they’re on their way right now. They want to discuss something important with us.” His eyes were on hers. “He sounded a little agitated.”
“They’re back together?” Emma’s brows went up. And then: “Did they say about what?”
“No.” Ben slid his hands in his pockets and ambled toward her. “But I can kinda guess, can’t you?”
“You think it’s happening to them too?” Emma turned to stare at the empty fireplace for a few moments. “But why us? I mean, why is it just us seeing the weird things going on, but everyone else is acting like all the weird is normal?”
“The weird is normal.” He paused, staring down at her. “The new normal.”
She looked up quickly. “Do you think it’s because we went, um, back?”
Ben shrugged. “I don’t know. How? Maybe there are others, but then, why doesn’t Zach see how strange it all is? To him and everyone else, it seems to them that it’s always been like this, and we’re the ones out of sync.”
“Only we see the change,” Emma said softly.
Ben walked to the window. “And it all worries the hell out of me.” He spoke over his shoulder. “When will it stop? I mean, what comes next?”
The doorbell rang, and he and Emma got to their feet. “Time for some answers,” Ben said.
Emma pulled the door inward as Ben stood at her shoulder. When Drake entered, she hugged him, and then allowed him to pass by her so he could shake Ben’s hand. She went to also hug Helen and chat softly to her.
It’d been a while since they last saw each other or even spoke, and to Ben, they looked the same except their hair contained a few streaks of silver, and the sun had pressed a few more fine lines onto their brows and at the corners of their mouths. However, he bet that the haunted look around their eyes was something new.
“Come through, come through.”
Ben led them into the living room where there was a coffee pot on the table, plus freshly sliced orange cake that Emma had baked that morning. Behind them, the fire popped, and the place looked and smelled inviting, hopefully a sanctuary from all the confusion.
“Where’s boy wonder?” Drake asked.
Ben chuckled and thumbed toward the steps. “I’m betting either slaying dragons or chopping up zombies online.”
“If only he knew what his father had done — slain some real ones; dragons, I mean.” Drake sat down on the couch and looked at its clean surface. “Hey, no dog blanket covered in hair for a change.”
“Yeah, about that.” Ben looked grim and clasped his fingers together. “What’s a dog?”
“Huh?” Drake frowned and held a slice of cake suspended from his mouth. “What does that mean?”
Helen also sat down and Emma spoke as she poured her a coffee. “You see, there’s no such thing… anymore.”
Drake and Helen sat and stared as Ben continued. “We had a dog, we know we did. But he’s gone.” He frowned. “No, he’s not just gone; he never even existed. In fact, no dogs exist anymore.” He looked at each of his friend’s faces. “Except in our minds.”
Emma’s mouth was a flat line. “Something has changed. Somehow, our world has changed.”
Drake lowered his hand holding the cake. “I knew it.” He turned to Helen. “See?”
Ben sat on the edge of his chair, big hands grasping his knees in front of him. “I’ve seen things, weird things, that I don’t understand. I think you have too, right?”
Helen nodded. “Yes, yes. Plants, carnivorous, that attacked my students. They never existed in our time before. I would know if they did.” She shook her head. “And my students acted like I was the crazy one for not recognizing them.”
Drake nodded. “Yeah, that was the kicker for me; everyone else acting like I was the odd one out. I was out boating and got chased by something the size of a freaking whale. But it wasn’t. Looked like a giant lizard that swam under the water… ” He turned to Helen. “What did you say it could have been…?”
“Kronosaurus, Tylosaurus… maybe one of those, but both long extinct,” she said softly.
“That was it — a Kronosaurus—yeah, a freaking monster. Just made it back to shore with my skin.” He sat back and scoffed. “But what was even weirder was on the beach an old-timer chewed my ass off because I shouldn’t have been out on the water.” He scoffed. “You know why? Because it was goddamn sea reptile season—Krono season!” His eyebrows were up. “What the hell? When did that happen? I mean, there were even signs stuck on the beach as warnings. They weren’t there before, I know it.”
Ben nodded. “The world is changing. We now live in a world where dogs don’t exist, and sea monsters do.”