Skellig

Chapter 26

“THERE IT IS,” SAID MINA. “ARCHAEOPTERYX. The dinosaur that flew.”

She laid the heavy encyclopedia on the grass beneath the tree. We looked down at the clumsy creature. It was perched on a thorny branch. Beyond it, volcanoes belched flames and smoke. The great landbound creatures—diplodocus, stegosaurus—lurched across a stony plain.

“We believe that dinosaurs became extinct,” said Mina. “But there’s another theory, that their descendants are with us still. They nest in our trees and our attics. The air is filled with their songs. The little archaeopteryx survived, and began the line of evolution that led to birds.”

She touched the short, stunted wings.

“Wings and feathers, see? But the creature was a heavy, bony thing. Look at the clumsy, leaden tail. It was capable of nothing but short, sudden flights. From tree to tree, stone to stone. It couldn’t rise and spiral and dance like birds can now. No pneumatization.”

I looked at her.

“Do you remember nothing?” she said. “Pneumatization. The presence of air cavities in the bones of birds. It is this which allows them free flight.”

The blackbird flew from the tree above us and dashed into the sky.

“If you held the archaeopteryx,” she said, “it would be almost as heavy as stone in your hand. It would be almost as heavy as the clay models I make.”

I looked into Mina’s dark eyes. They were wide open, expectant, like she wanted me to see something or say something. I thought of the baby in my lap, of Skellig slung between Mina and me. I thought of his wings and of the baby’s fluttering heart.

“There’s no end to evolution,” said Mina.

She shuffled closer to me.

“We have to be ready to move forward,” she said. “Maybe this is not how we are meant to be forever.”

She took my hand.

“We are extraordinary,” she whispered.

She looked deep into me.

“Skellig!” she whispered. “Skellig! Skellig!”

I stared back. I didn’t blink. It was like she was calling Skellig out from somewhere deep inside me. It was like we were looking into the place where each other’s dreams came from.

And then there was sniggering and giggling. We looked up, and there were Leakey and Coot, standing on the other side of the wall, looking down at us.