Free An Incredible Case of Dinosaurs by Kenneth Oppel Page A

them up a swirling marble staircase, then down a long, dimly lit corridor which ended with a set of wide double doors.
    “Miss Frost’s office is through here,” the assistant told them, turning the huge doorknob. “Go in, please.”
    It was the biggest room Giles had ever seen.
    Blinds covered all the windows, casting slices of dusty light into the room. A whole wall was filled with television monitors, scrolling numbers across their screens at a dizzying rate. At the far end of the room was a huge desk, with a long row of telephones on top.
    And behind the desk sat an elegant, middle-agedwoman. She was very pale, as if she hadn’t seen the sun for quite some time. At the moment she was talking into one of the telephones.
    “What do you mean, he won’t sell?” she demanded in a steel-cold voice. “There’s nothing that can’t be bought! Everything has its price. Offer half a million! That should do the trick!”
    She slammed down the phone and looked up fiercely at Giles, Kevin, and Tina.
    “So,” she said, “you’re the Quark geniuses.”
    “Well, they are,” stammered Giles, pointing to Tina and Kevin.
    “What are you then?” asked Miss Frost with a scowl.
    “I’m Giles Barnes.”
    “Not a genius yourself, young man?”
    “I’m afraid not, no,” replied Giles awkwardly.
    “What a shame.”
    At that moment, all the telephones on her desk went off like a bomb.
    “Buy!” she barked into the first phone.
    “Sell!” she yelled into the second.
    “Tell her if she pulls out we’ll sue!” she roared into a third.
    Giles swallowed hard.
    “All right, then,” said Miss Frost calmly, “where were we?”
    Tina cleared her throat and opened her notebook.
    “Miss Frost, I can see you’re very busy, so we’ll try to take as little of your time as possible. Perhaps you could tell us more about your swimming pool problem.”
    “It’s obvious to me that something is living in it,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’m not talking about ducks or geese or swans. Twice this past week, I’ve seen some sort of strange creature break the surface of the water, float on top for a moment, then dive back down again.”
    “What did this creature look like?” Tina asked.
    “I’ve only seen it at night from the window,” Miss Frost replied, “so I didn’t get a very good look. But it reminded me of a giant jellyfish, or a squid.”
    Kevin looked over at Giles and smiled weakly. Tina was busily taking notes.
    “And there have been noises,” Miss Frost went on. “A kind of gurgling moan.”
    “A gurgling moan?” squeaked Kevin.
    “Yes.”
    “Have you ever seen it swimming around in day-light?” Giles asked.
    “It’s not that simple,” she replied. “It’s a very large pool, and in very poor shape. I’ve simply been too busy to keep it up and—well, you’ll see what I mean soon enough.”
    “What would you like us to do, exactly?” Giles asked.
    “I want a full investigation,” said Miss Frost. “I want a comprehensive report. I want to know if what I’ve seen is truly some strange creature, or a figment of my imagination. And, of course,” she added, raising a pale finger in the air, “I insist that you keep this matter strictly secret. I don’t want any of this spreading around, not even to your parents. Rumours start so quickly, and I wouldn’t want people to think I was—”
    “A complete loony?” Kevin suggested helpfully. Then he looked down at his feet, his face flushing bright red.
    “You’ll have to excuse my brother, Miss Frost,” said Tina. “Sadly, he was not blessed with as large a brain as my own. In fact, in numerous tests I’ve performed on him, it seems he really only has a very tiny brain.”
    “I see,” said Miss Frost. “So it turns out I’ve hired one genius for the price of three.”
    “I think you’ll find my brain more than makes up for the others,” said Tina with supreme confidence.
    “I sincerely hope so,” said Miss Frost. “Swift will