Harper Paris loves to travel. Her favorite cities in the world are Paris (like her name!) and New York City. She has collected many souvenirs on her travels, including a good-luck coin from Japan and a reindeer-horn pendant from Sweden. She also loves mysteries. When she was a kid, she read Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books after bedtime with a flashlight. She now lives with her family (including two cats and a bunny, who are not good travelers) in Ithaca, New York.
Marcos Calo has worked as a professional artist for more than fourteen years. He has worked in different fields including illustration, animation, and comic books. He lives with his wife and daughter in A Coruña, a small Spanish town by the seaside.
Mystery of the Lion’s Tail CHAPTER 1
Wake-Up Call
Squaaawk!
Ethan Briar woke up to a strange noise and glanced around, confused. Where was he? This wasn’t his room. The bed was covered with a gauzy gold canopy, not soccer-ball sheets. He didn’t recognize the tree growing in the middle of the room . . . or the lantern by his bed either.
His gaze fell on the window. A giant bird perched on the sill opened its long, thin beak.
Squaaawk!
Ethan let out a yell. He’d never seen such an enormous bird before—at least not up close!
“What’s wrong?” Andrew Briar called out from the other bed. He fumbled around for his glasses.
“Dad! There’s a pterodactyl in our window!” Ethan exclaimed.
Mr. Briar slipped on his glasses. “Wow, it’s big! No wonder you thought it was from the age of the dinosaurs. I’m guessing it might be a hammer-headed stork. Or a sacred ibis. Wait. Let me look.”