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A CHLOE WENDLETON MYSTERY:
Curse of the Stone Idol
~Rita Hsu Syers

Chapter One

The monstrous T-Rex leaned toward Will Reed, its massive mouth opened wide to show huge teeth at least six inches long. It roared thunderously, one of its colossal hind legs stomping the ground in frustration.
The beast wanted to eat the small boy that stood fearlessly in front of it, but a steely quality in the boy's eyes made it pause momentarily.

Will Reed gazed up at the T-Rex calmly, utterly unafraid of this ferocious creature that loomed above him. The T-Rex was at least fifteen feet tall. The T-Rex roared in anger again, but now there was a definite tone of fear in its voice as it pawed the air in front of it. It began backing slowly away from the boy who eyed him so sternly, unwavering, stubbornly standing his ground. Will Reed never backed down from a fight, and the sooner this fearsome monster understood this, the better.

Slowly…carefully, the boy raised his bow and the only arrow he had left,and prepared to slay the beast. He had no choice. To let it live would mean it would continue to kill randomly and eat poor, unfortunate human beings who had no idea how to protect themselves against this vicious dinosaur...one of the most
feared creatures in all of history.

This one was a man-eater. He had already eaten fifty villages of men, women and children as he chomped his way through the jungle. Finally, a desperate government had called on Will, begging for his help before every human being in their small country was consumed. Will Reed, famed Dinosaur Hunter, was not going to let that happen. The beast had finally met its match.

Seeing the boy raise his bow and arrow and take careful aim, the T-Rex rushed at him, roaring maniacally. Will Reed stood quietly as the ground shook beneath him, waiting…waiting…it was almost on him, hold it, Will, steady, wait until you see the whites of its eyes...

"Will?"

I'll get you, you beast, and when I do I'm going to hang your head on my bedroom wall, and when Chloe sees it, she'll…..

"Oh, for pete's sake, are you daydreaming AGAIN?"
Ah yes, that's right, come to Daddy, you disgusting, smelly, over grown excuse for a…
"WILL!"

Will Reed jumped, startled out of his reverie, and turned around. Maya Roubideaux was standing directly in back of him, screaming in his ear like a banshee. Of course, admittedly he had never heard a banshee before, but he knew as sure as frogs were green that it would sound just like Maya's voice…shrill, piercing, and loud enough to freeze even a charging T-Rex dead in its tracks.

"Why are you screaming in my ear, Maya, I'm right here!"
"Sure you are. I've been calling you for ten minutes. We're going back to the dig now, are you coming or what?"
Just then, Chloe Wendleton came over the hill from the dig site, her Golden Retriever, Killian, at her side. She was dressed in khaki shorts and a white polo shirt that had the words "Montana Dinosaur Dig 2010" written on it in black letters. Maya had braided Chloe's long, auburn hair in a French braid, and Will thought she looked beautiful. But then, Will always thought Chloe looked beautiful.

Killian was wearing a red bandana around his neck. He drank thirstily from a big water bowl that was filled at all times for the dog. The big Golden Retriever had become the official mascot on this dig, and everyone loved him.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" Chloe smiled at both of them. It was so cool in the shade. The dig was about a half a mile away, in the middle of the Montana flatlands, and it was hot enough to fry an egg out there.
Maya and Will were standing in front of a trailer that was nestled among a stand of ponderosa pine trees. They were both dressed exactly like Chloe. They had come up from the dig ahead of Chloe to have some lunch and check their emails. Chloe stayed behind with the other members of the team. They had just
found another nesting site and she was helping to uncover it. "Will was daydreaming again. I had to call him four times before he heard me." Maya shook her head in disgust as she took a Snickers bar out of her
pocket, taking a big bite.
"What is it with you lately, Will?" teased Chloe, "You're doing an awful lot of daydreaming. How come?"
Chloe, Maya and Will had arrived in Montana four days ago. Professor Cooper Wendleton Continue>>