Chapter 4
“It’s ok.” Jiffy’s voice softened. Behind us was a rock-solid wall. Jiffy put his hand out to show that he had no intention of causing any damage to the eggs or the Platamander. I had got to the very furthest corner of the cave, away from the creature and its eyes locked on to me. It was looking at me a certain way that I thought was peculiar. The eggs were cracking and shaking, “We mean no harm to you and your precious family,” said Jiffy calmly. We were about to leave but as we tried to get to the entrance, the Platamander stopped us from getting past.

The Platamander’s spines had flattened and its claws retracted, its face was calmer and its teeth were shorter. It had blue eyes glared at us. It was looking at me but it had now locked onto Jiffy, watching his every move. The air had got stuffy and the Platamander’s claws clawed at the air. It was like it was trying to show us something. It let us pass through the entrance. It was like Jiffy had bonded with the Platamander. The ocean had lead through the cave system. We had followed the trial of water as we knew it was leading to the entrance. “How do we keep this a secret?” whispered Jiffy,
“We could say that the cave caved in?” I suggested.

We were walking through the street and cars rushed past our faces. Luke’s Lagoon shop turned the closed sign to open. Money burned out of people’s purses. Outside of the cave, people queued for ice-cream. They grabbed the cones viscously, getting snatched by seagulls.

Finally we reached the van, Jiffy and I reached over to the coffee machine to make a coffee. We both exploded with joy. The story has not even started.