He pulled his head back and took a few more steps, pushing the tall grass out of his way. This land business was far more untidy than the water... bits of dry grass scratched his skin under the shell. Pulling his head in would be more than a little uncomfortable.

He thought he heard waves breaking on the beach to his left, and turned to follow the sound. He stretched his neck again, another futile attempt to see over the grass. Grass everywhere, all around. He should never have let them talk him into leaving the beach.

The sound he had heard stopped briefly, and the waving grass stopped moving. A sound he had thought universal was common! It hadn't been waves, but wind!

He pulled his head under his shell to think, and was faced with the unpleasant thought that both they and he were lost. Either that or they, in their youth, had forgotten their promise to return by a certain time.

But he was certainly lost.

The grass started waving again as he heard the wave sound start. He heaved his legs forward, and started the awkward process of turning around. Why had he listened to them...

They said they had explored the island before, and had even come back to the ocean with strange plants from beyond the beaches.

The grass behind him was flattened, the tips pointing directly toward him. Only one step forward, and he realized this wasn't going to work. The grass jabbed him about the neck.

He heard something sniff behind him, and pulled everything he could under his shell.

Something scraped his shell once, twice, three times. Hot breath washed over one of his legs and a whine of frustration came from above.

He narrowed his eyes, glaring at the tiny strip of ground he could see from inside his shell. They hadn't mentioned dangerous animals...

He was going to give those kids such a talking-to when they got back to the ocean!

If they got back...