I own Amelia, Mary, Earhart, Levo, Valde, the egg, and Miami (see Breathe Deep before reading)

"Survival of All or None"

By: Lady Jenna

Zippo had allowed for Marion to bring a few of his chosen books with them on their trip to the Hatchery. Despite the failure of their first trip to the Hatchery, Marion, David, Karl, and Amelia easily made it to the Hatchery. On this trip Earhart and 26 joined them, causing a bit of a hassle for Karl, especially when 26 go her eyes on the wide-open fields of her youth. The second they arrived 26 ran off and Karl ran off after her and Earhart ran after him to make sure neither of them got lost. The Matriarch and Samantha walked out of the Hatchery to greet them. Marion and her little sister shared a hug.

"Your mother has been waiting for you to arrive, Amelia," the Matriarch told her. Amelia nodded.

"Yes, where is your house?" David asked her. Marion and Amelia pointed in the direction 26, Karl, and Earhart had run off in. David stood on his toes and saw the roof of her house.

"The egg is making a noise," Samantha told them happily. The three of them looked worriedly at each other before entering the Hatchery.

"26! 26! Get back here! 26!" Karl yelled chasing the dinosaur over the grassy field. 26 was pretty far in front of him, making a loud honking noise as she ran. Earhart was even farther behind Karl, already out of breath.

"Karl! 26! Ow! Oh ow!" he yelled running after them. 26 eventually ran to a good sized, single floor house. She walked right past the door and over to a window. Karl stopped running to catch his breath and Earhart soon joined him.

"Oh my…" Earhart said and Karl looked at him. They heard a woman yell in surprise from inside the house. Soon the front door opened and a woman poked her head out and looked down the side of the house at 26, who noticed the woman and ran over to her.

"You scared me half to death," the woman said running her hand on the top of 26's head. The woman looked up and at Karl and Earhart. She smiled warmly.

"Hello," she said to them. Karl sighed and walked over to her, Earhart behind him.

"Sorry," he apologized, "she's not used to the fields."

"Oh it's quite alright. Hello," she said to Earhart.

"Hello, Miami," Earhart said. Karl looked a little surprised.

"Miami, what?" Karl asked looking back and forth between the two. The woman laughed.

"Are you Karl, or David?" she asked him. Karl paused.

"Karl," he responded. Miami outstretched her hand.

"Hello Karl, I'm Miami. I'm Amelia's mother," she said and he shook her hand, a little shocked.

"Uh, hi, I here you're nice this time of year," Karl said receiving a confused look.

Marion smiled as they followed the Matriarch and Samantha through the Hatchery. It had been awhile since Marion had been in here and she missed the feeling of it. Amelia had fresher memories of the Hatchery but she was still pleased to be back. David on the other hand was searching everything he could see with great curiosity.

"So this is the Hatchery?" David said followed by a chuckle. Amelia tapped his shoulder and pointed over to a corner of the room.

"That's where Marion and I met for the first time," she told him.

"She caught me," Marion added.

"She landed on me," Amelia corrected her.

"How old were you guys?" David asked them.

"Oh, we could just walk," Marion said smiling.

"Marion had a bit of trouble with it, that's why she landed on me," Amelia said with a small laugh.

"Miami and I have been friends for almost thirty years now," the Matriarch told him.

"Miami?" he asked.

"My mother," Amelia explained. He nodded in understanding.

"I was there when her first child was born, and she was there when mine was," the Matriarch said with a gently laugh.

"She was nine months pregnant but she was there," Amelia said.

"Miami saw Marion before I did," the Matriarch said.

"I was there for Marion's birth as well. I was in a womb though so the event didn't reach me that much," Amelia explained.

"That's the capsule I found the egg in," Samantha said as they passed it.

"That's an odd contraption," Marion said and Amelia agreed with her.

"And here's the egg itself!" Samantha said proudly showing the egg. It was in its own area with a few sun stone fragments around it. The symbol was showing up and David ran his hand over as he examined it again. Amelia looked worriedly at the symbol then at the Matriarch, who was watching her for her response.

"I do know I've seen the symbol before…" Marion said. She turned to her mother.

"Any luck figuring it out?" Marion asked.

"No," the Matriarch said still looking at Amelia, who was in turn still looking at her.

"I've never seen a symbol like it before," David said.

"Hey! Look who we found," Karl announced as he, 26, Earhart, and Miami walked over to the group. Amelia placed her hand to her mouth and ran past them all abruptly.

"What's with her?" Karl asked them.

"She see it?" Miami asked the Matriarch worriedly. The Matriarch nodded and Miami took off after her daughter. Earhart quickly followed them.

"Is she alright?" Marion asked her mother worriedly. The Matriarch nodded.

"Amelia just has things to deal with," the Matriarch said looking at Karl who knew what she was talking about. Well, he knew more then the other's did.

Earhart searched the Hatchery over and over with no sign of Amelia. He found Miami a few times, but not her daughter. He was beginning to worry about her. Miami had filled Earhart in on a few personal aspects of her daughters, things neither of them knew about. He had always wondered why he had been privilege to such things, but now he knew. Miami knew Amelia was stronger than her sister, and that Amelia would eventually find everything out. And he would have to be there to help her through it. He was worrying about her.

Marion had set up all of the books Zippo had loaned her and now she, David, and Samantha were searching through them carefully looking for the symbol made up of circles and lines. Zippo had given them a large variety of books dealing from the World Beneath to the Outer World. They would search through the book she brought and Zippo would look through the ones in the library. If he found anything he promised to send word to them. She knew the symbol, and it plagued her mind. Why would an egg have a symbol on it? What was it an egg for? Why was it in a waterproof capsule on the beach? But mostly what she wanted to know, was who put it there. For now she would have to work on finding the symbol. It had to be in a book. She had seen it before, so it must have been in a book. Even Samantha said it looked familiar. But her sister didn't read a lot, not as much as Marion did. Marion also had a sinking suspicion her mother knew something, but she had no reason to doubt her mother. If the Matriarch did know the mystery behind the symbol, and was concealing it, then she had good reason. Miami seemed to know something too, though. What was it Marion couldn't find?