Bones
- Like the headstrong young woman that she is, Kate takes Matt's admission that it could be the island as her cue to head off into the forest.
- So despite all of Matt's protestations, he finds himself following Kate into the forest to seek out the bones of the poor newborn whom her grandfather saw fall into the dense trees.
- Matt worries about the possibilities of dangerous plants and animals on the island, but Kate informs him that she's memorized books upon books about Oceanica. The worst thing they might encounter would be a wild pig.
- Matt feels defeated from the get-go. It's a huge island after all, so how are they supposed to find the bones of one possibly-mythical creature?
- As they walk through the forest getting pooped on by numerous large, tropical birds, Matt merely waits for Kate to tire out. She's wearing a long dress that she has to continuously hike up to walk in the woods, and he's convinced she'll get sick of it soon.
- Matt keeps making sure that he knows his bearings so that they can get back, even though he's pretty sure that even if you spun him in circles he could go directly back to the Aurora. He's good with directions like that.
- Kate is already fantasizing about the zoological society's reaction if she is able to bring back a set of bones. They couldn't dismiss her then, could they?
- Matt grumpily notifies Kate that he really needs to get back to the ship soon. She insists if he's so uncomfortable he should just go—but she has no idea where she is, so he can't leave her now.
- They reach a plateau, and Kate is starting to realize how futile their search really is. Matt feels bad when he sees how crestfallen she is, and suggests that maybe there might be time for another look around.
- Matt jumps as a small, bright red snake slithers past his foot and coils under a fern. Kate is freaked out, and tells him not to move—it could be poisonous.
- The snake suddenly launches itself at Matt's face, only narrowly missing, so the he and Kate turn to run; the snake follows, leaping at them like a demon pogo-stick.
- Matt manages to place a solid dropkick after one of the snake's lunges, and it goes sailing into the undergrowth.
- Kate and Matt giggle as they relax after their brush with death, and then the snake reappears bouncing toward them, fast.
- They start to run again, but the snake is gaining on them; Kate suggests they climb a large tree and they scramble up it as fast as they can.
- In his haste, Matt bumps his head against something solid… the skull of a full skeleton of one of the creatures Kate is searching for.
- The skeleton is still complete, it's bones picked clean by birds but held together by sun-cured sinew and bits of muscle.
- It looks just like the sketch in Benjamin Malloy's journal, complete with bat-like wings and a skull like a panther's.
- Kate hands Matt one of the rib bones that had come apart, and explains how it's hollow inside just like a bird's. In fact, the breastbone is built like a bird's too—but it's not a bird. Definitely not a bird.
- Kate begins to cry, worrying Matt. Turns out they're happy tears, though, and she's just super happy to have proven her grandfather's discovery.
- They agree to come back later when they can photograph and disassemble the skeleton to take back to the Aurora.
- First though, Kate makes Matt promise that the creature is their little secret—he can't tell the captain and risk having their discovery taken away from them.