Cryptid Hunters (marty and Grace, #1)

Cryptid Hunters is the first book in a series by Roland Smith. The novel is set in a world where cryptozoology, the study of animals whose existence has not been scientifically proven, drives competing factions seeking to find or exploit rare creatures.

Marty and Grace O'Hara are 13-year-old twins attending a boarding school in Switzerland, though they look nothing alike. Marty is tall, brown-haired, and adventurous; Grace is small, blue-eyed, and exceptionally intelligent. When summoned to the headmaster's office, they learn that their parents, Sylvia and Timothy O'Hara, famous photojournalists, have disappeared after a helicopter crash in the Amazon. Grace faints, a recurring response to overwhelming fear, and confides that childhood nightmares she had not experienced since age six have returned.

Six months later, the twins receive an e-mail from Travis Wolfe, who identifies himself as their uncle and legal guardian. They never knew they had an uncle. The headmaster reveals that Wolfe runs a technology company called eWolfe and has paid their tuition for years. Grace wants to stay at school, but neither twin has a legal choice, and they are sent to live with Wolfe on Cryptos Island, a privately owned island in the Pacific Northwest.

Phil and Bertha Bishop, an older couple who work for Wolfe, fly the twins to the island by seaplane. The twins explore Wolfe's stone house, finding a library filled with books on cryptids, creatures whose existence is unproven. They meet Wolfe, a very large man with a bushy beard, wild brown eyes, and a limp, accompanied by a tiny teacup poodle named PD. When Wolfe sees Grace, astonishment crosses his face, though he quickly masks his reaction.

The novel introduces Noah Blackwood, a famous conservationist with his own television show and animal theme parks called Noah's Ark. His public image conceals sinister motives: He collects rare animals, displays them for profit, then kills them for private taxidermy trophies. He is pleased to learn the twins are complicating things for Wolfe.

Grace overhears a conversation between Wolfe and Dr. Laurel Lee, a cultural anthropologist and former circus aerialist. Laurel explains that near Lake Télé in the Republic of Congo, a Pygmy named Masalito gave her an egg from the nest of Mokélé-mbembé, a creature described as a small sauropod dinosaur. She sent the egg to Blackwood's laboratory for analysis, but Blackwood's people stole it and had her fired. She recovered the egg and fled. Wolfe declares they must go to Lake Télé to protect Masalito from Blackwood. He mentions that the twins' parents were investigating Blackwood before their crash.

Marty discovers a Gizmo in his room, a handheld computer with GPS tracking and satellite e-mail. He learns about Wolfe's animal scouts: Bo, a bonobo chimpanzee, and Vid, a raven, both fitted with cameras that stream footage to the Gizmo. Wolfe presents the twins with their father's backpack from the crash site and refuses to take them to the Congo, planning to send them back to Switzerland. Grace argues they should go. Though Wolfe initially holds firm, he relents. Grace trains with Laurel on fear-management techniques, and the group departs for the Congo with the twins in charge of the animals.

During the flight, Bo escapes through a cargo hold hatch. Grace follows PD down after the chimp, but a supply-drop sequence activates, and the canister, with both twins and the animals clinging to it, drops from the jet at 18,000 feet. Grace faints. Using skydiving skills from a secret course his father once took him on, Marty straps Grace to the canister and survives when the parachute deploys.

Wolfe contacts them and instructs them to reach the Skyhouse, a tree house he built near Lake Télé, and wait. They are in the country illegally, so outside rescue is impossible. Over two grueling days, the twins hack through the jungle. Grace undergoes a striking transformation: She is comfortable in the dense forest, unbothered by insects, and sleeping without nightmares, while Marty is plagued by leeches and bites. They reach the Skyhouse during a lightning storm and climb 100 feet to its platform.

Butch McCall, Blackwood's ruthless enforcer, has been tracking the children. He steals the Gizmo from Marty and impersonates him in e-mails to Wolfe. Grace explores the Skyhouse's second floor and finds women's clothing, a baby nursery, and a trunk with a painted rose on its lid. An African gray parrot that followed her speaks: "Rose is back." Grace faints, and a full memory surfaces. Her recurring nightmare is a real memory: As a baby, she watched a woman named Rose place her by a tree before a Mokélé-mbembé attacked and killed Rose. Wolfe shot the first creature, but a second seized his leg; Masalito killed it. Grace realizes Wolfe is her father, not her uncle, and Rose was her mother.

Butch enters the Skyhouse while Marty is away, finds Grace unconscious, and carries her to his camp. He tells her Noah Blackwood is her grandfather. Grace does not believe him. That night, she doses the men's food with sleeping pills, recovers the Gizmo, and overhears Butch instruct his men to intercept and kill Wolfe and Laurel. She escapes into the jungle.

During their trek, Wolfe tells Laurel the full story: As a teenager, he met Rose Blackwood, Noah's daughter, at the Seattle Ark. They fell in love and had Grace at the Skyhouse. Rose was killed by Mokélé-mbembé when Grace was about a year old. Rose insisted Blackwood must never learn about Grace, warning he would corrupt her. After Rose's death, Wolfe gave Grace to his sister Sylvia and Timothy O'Hara, who raised her as Marty's twin to keep her hidden.

Marty blows a molimo, a musical instrument on the Skyhouse roof, summoning Masalito, a small Pygmy elder. They communicate through drawings and split up: Masalito tracks the men sent to ambush Wolfe, while Marty follows Grace. When the twins reunite, Grace tells Marty the truth makes no difference; he is still her brother. On the dying Gizmo, she tells Wolfe she knows he is her father and that it is okay. The parrot leads them through a vine tunnel into Mokélé-mbembé's nest, where they find the carcass of the last female and two intact eggs.

Wolfe neutralizes Butch's ambush with a tranquilizer pistol. On Wolfe's instructions, Marty burns the carcass to destroy DNA Blackwood could exploit, and they take both eggs. At the Skyhouse clearing, Blackwood arrives by helicopter. He approaches Grace, and Butch ties her up. Blackwood claims to be her loving grandfather, but Grace refuses him. Marty escapes along canopy cables with both eggs and a decoy: a soccer ball from the nursery filled with motor oil.

Marty demands Grace's release, holding an egg in each hand. He hurls the decoy against a tree, where it splatters convincingly. Butch aims his shotgun, but Marty threatens to crush the remaining egg. Blackwood cuts Grace free. Wolfe arrives armed, followed by Laurel, Masalito with a drawn bow, and Bertha in camouflage with an automatic rifle, having parachuted into the Congo. Bertha disarms Butch.

At Rose's grave, Grace takes Wolfe's hand and says they will know her mother through him. Marty reveals he kept both real eggs. They commandeer Blackwood's helicopter, flying out with the eggs and Rose's trunk. Back on Cryptos, Wolfe's partner Ted Bronson builds a dinosaur egg incubator, and Wolfe and Grace begin getting to know each other. Grace learns that her Moleskine journals were sent by Wolfe all along, continuing her mother's standing order. The search for Marty's parents continues, and Marty prepares for the visit of his friend Luther Smyth, which coincides with Grace's real 13th birthday. Wolfe remains vigilant, suspecting Blackwood has a spy on the island.