Cerulean Found

Chapter 75 - A Thousand Tiny Eyes Full of Hunger, Full of Thirst

The Crattle dung isn't hard to find at all. We follow the stench to the trunk of a mamey tree, which is a hundred yards away. The pellet is bright yellow and the size of a large hot dog. It's disgusting to look at and smells even worse than it looks.

Josh pulls out a first aid kit from his backpack. He places the latex gloves on and then pulls the tweezers out. He begins to break the pellet up in his fingers, movely slowly and gently, feeling for the hard bones. After the whole thing is almost completely squashed flat, and I begin to lose hope, Josh picks up the tweezers and begins to pull small tiny cream colored bones from the smelly yellow mess. I hold up another small plastic container and he drops the bones in it one by one as soon as he extracts them.

I am amazed at how many little cream bones he is able to pull out of the pellet. There must have been at least 30 pieces of bone.

When Josh is done, he throws the gloves into the black plastic trash bag that we are using to throw all of our garbage in and then we gather our belongings and begin to head up the center trail. Our destination is the top of Mount Jalukka, which is the tallest of the Alcari Mountains.

It is now twilight as we make our way up the steep and narrow trail. The sky is a faded shade of violet as the moon starts to climb into the fast approaching night sky. It is only a matter of time before we will be completely consumed by total darkness. Knowing that our only source of light will be provided by the stars and the crescent shaped moon, sends a shiver down my back. I'm not scared of the dark, because Josh is with me and we have flashlights, thank goodness. What I fear is what the dark night brings with it. The difficulty of locating and capturing the Rapturive.

"How far up are we going exactly?" I ask.

"To the very top. That's where Audrey said the Rapturives live," Josh replies, as he leads the two of us up the trail. "I asked Jeremiah if this was true, if they actually do live at the top, and he said it was. Apparently the little creatures like the high altitude. They live in holes at the top of the brushbrillo trees, which if you didn't know, only grow at high altitudes."

"Huh. Interesting, I had no idea" I reply, as we trek along the thick wooded trail.

"We're almost there," Josh finally informs me. "The trail ends at a flat plateau of land that overlooks the whole island. The best views can be seen from there, however you'll probably have to take my word for it because I'm not sure we'll be able to see much by the time we get there, maybe just some city lights."

"If we aren't going to be able to see anything, how are we supposed to find the Rapturive? Especially if it lives up in the holes at the tops of the brushbrillo trees?" I ask.

"Jeremiah said it shouldn't be too hard, they're nocturnal you see. I was just as concerned as you, but he assured me that the creatures sleep in the day and then come out at night to play."

I do not like the sound of that. "So we're just going to wait around for them?"

"That's the plan," Josh answers.

"But that may take hours!" I retort. My voice comes out a bit more whiny than I had intended.

"That's why it's important to have good company. Aren't you glad we have each other?" he offers.

"Yes," I mumble. I don't like the idea of waiting in the dark forest for a mysterious animal. An animal that is known to come out and play at night! That just sounds horrible.

"Do you know what they look like, by any chance?" I ask.

"I saw a picture on the internet, and they look like a cross between an oversized scorpion and a rattlesnake," he replies.