1 The Beginning

Brand woke up to the sound of the alarm on his flip phone with a start. "Today is going to be a good day." was the first thing that went through his mind. He didn't really have too many of those in his short 13 years of life up until now although the number of ones he did have seemed to be trending upward. Just the other day some guy saw him hanging around outside the local theater and paid for his ticket. "Nobody should go without seeing The Revengers 3: NeverEnding Battle in theaters! It's too awesome." And he was right. It was awesome.

And today on his 14th birthday he knew that he'd have at least one more good day. Today was the last field trip of his middle school career. And it was a doozy. His class was going to be visiting the Museum of Science and History, or the MOSH as people around his home of Jacksonville, Florida so lovingly called it. Now, normally he wouldn't be all that excited but for the next month the MOSH would be having special dinosaur exhibit.

Brand loved dinosaurs. Dinosaurs were his favorite thing. Better than superheroes. Better than spaceships. Better than just about everything. If Brand hadn't switched foster homes so often he would have begged whichever guardian he had at the time for a pet lizard. "Lizards are basically just tiny dinosaurs." he thought to himself on occasion. He had always wanted a pet. But he couldn't bear the thought of being able to get one only having to release when he moved to the next foster home.

Quickly getting to his feet, Brand grabbed his toiletries and ran to the bathroom. Looking at himself in the mirror he saw a teen of average height, with dark blonde hair and oceanic blue eyes looking back at him. Finishing in there he returned a threw on some clothes and his necklace with a golden cross on it. It was one of the only things his parents had left him. It was only that and a letter with his name in it. He really liked his name as it was quite unique. He couldn't find it anywhere except in his favorite book The Emperor of the Amulets. He liked to think one of his parents, maybe his father, had the same favorite book as him.

Brand grabbed his book bag and bolted down the stairs and into the kitchen which unsurprisingly was completely empty. This latest foster family was definitely the poorest household he'd lived in but they were surprisingly the nicest. He was just fine with that. Both of the adults worked late night shifts at a different gas stations and usually were passed out when he got up for school. On the table was a packet of poptarts and a juice box for breakfast and an expired lunchable to take on the field trip. Even though they were poor this couple never made him go hungry unlike a few of his last stops. He hoped he could stay here for awhile.

Finishing the poptarts and juice, Brand grabbed the lunchable, exited the shabby house, and made his way to the bus stop. After waiting on the bench for a few minutes the big yellow bus pulled up and opened the doors. He climbed on board making his way to his usual spot at the back. As the bus drove on and picked up more and more kids heading to school, nobody ended up sitting next to him. He didn't mind. Brand knew the kids weren't being mean, it's just that they had their own friends to sit next to. He didn't have any particular trouble making friends, but it would be hard for anybody to do when you were constantly changing zip codes and schools.

The bus eventually arrived at its destination: John Ronald Reuel Middle School. Brand got off the bus and hurried to his classroom. Getting to his classroom he rapidly found his desk in the front of the class. He had wished there would be an available desk at the back of the class when he had transferred here but, as with most things in his life, he was disappointed. Instead of unpacking his bag when he got to his seat, Brand deviated from his normal routine and just sat down and waited. He knew he wasn't going to be there very long. BRIIIIIIING - the bell whistled and the rest of his classmates sat down.

"Alright everyone, today I'm going to take roll, and then we are off to the MOSH." the teacher said as he entered the room. "After I confirm everyone's here, you will line up, then follow me out to the bus. Now, say here when I say your name. Clive, Rick, George, Ursula, Stuart, Douglas, Joanne, Eoin, Brian, Brand... Brand?" Brand had zoned completely out thinking about the which dinosaurs he'd like to see first. After the third time the teacher yelled "BRAND!" he regained his senses and shouted "Here!" as his classmates started laughing. After he finished taking attendance the teacher gave the signal and everybody lined up next to the door and followed him to the bus.

Even though on the way to the museum Brand sat near the front, he ended up sitting by himself again which gave him time to think about which dinosaur bones he'd be able to see when he got there. He thought about plant eaters like the giant long necked Brachiosaurus, the three horned Triceratops, the spike tailed Stegosaurus, the armored Ankylosaurus, and the crest headed Parasaurolophus. But his favorites were the meat eaters.

The carnivore dinosaurs were popular with most people and the certainly were for Brand. He thought the chicken sized Velociraptors who were mistakenly made as big as people in the Triassic Planet films were cool. He thought the flying Pterosaurs and the swimming Plesiosaurs were awesome. He thought the theropods like Spinosaurus and Tyrannosaurus-Rex were awe-inspiring. But his absolute favorite dinosaur in the whole wide world, was the Giganotosaurus.

Bigger than a T-Rex, faster and stronger than an Allosaurus, Giganotosaurus was the ultimate land predator. It may as well have been a dragon. It lived in the Late Cretaceous period around 100 years ago in what is now Argentina. In terms of size it was the biggest carnivore to ever live on land. It could get up to almost 50 feet in length and weigh up to 15 tons! The brochure about the exhibit at the museum said that there would be a Giganotosaurus skull on display so needless to say Brand was incredibly excited.

Brand watched as the bus came to a stop right outside the front of the MOSH museum where a big "DINOSAURS" sign was hung. The teacher told everyone to grab their things and exit the bus in an orderly fashion. Brand leapt up out of his seat and out of the bus towards the museum. His dinosaur adventure had finally begun.