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II - AUNDRIA

      SEVEN EIGHT NINE TEN

       PART III - DISCOVERY

      ELEVEN TWELVE THIRTEEN FOURTEEN FIFTEEN SIXTEEN

       PART IV - REX, OR CREATION OF A MONSTER?

      SEVENTEEN EIGHTEEN NINETEEN TWENTY TWENTY-ONE TWENTY-TWO TWENTY-THREE TWENTY-FOUR TWENTY-FIVE TWENTY-SIX

       PART V - CALIFORNIA

      TWENTY-SEVEN TWENTY-EIGHT TWENTY-NINE THIRTY THIRTY-ONE THIRTY-TWO THIRTY-THREE THIRTY-FOUR THIRTY-FIVE THIRTY-SIX THIRTY-SEVEN THIRTY-EIGHT THIRTY-NINE FORTY FORTY-ONE FORTY-TWO FORTY-THREE FORTY-FOUR FORTY-FIVE

       PART VI - TRIAL

      FORTY-SIX FORTY-SEVEN FORTY-EIGHT FORTY-NINE FIFTY FIFTY-ONE FIFTY-TWO FIFTY-THREE FIFTY-FOUR FIFTY-FIVE FIFTY-SIX FIFTY-SEVEN FIFTY-EIGHT FIFTY-NINE

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Teaser Chapter

      PART I

      RACHEL

      ONE

      November 12, 1998

      San Luis Obispo, California

      Midnight

      Rachel Lindsay Newhouse stumbled outside of the brightly lit restaurant onto the dark, chilly streets of San Luis Obispo. She was intoxicated and upset. She had a fight with her roommate Andrea West, and she was ready to go home. The only problem was she did not have her car. The girls rode togetherin Andrea’s car and Rachel was not about to ask her best friend for a ride. Not after their argument.

      Rachel gathered her wits about her and stepped onto Nipomo Street, where the restaurant Tortilla Flats, or “the Flats,” as the locals liked to call it, is located. The Flats is a trendy Mexican-foodrestaurant that serves passable California Mexican cuisine, but whose main priorities are their top-shelf margaritas. That was the reason why Rachel was there in the first place. She was out celebrating with the Beta Theta Pi fraternity on this Thursday night and was ready to partake of the Sauza-tequila-and-limeconcoctions with no hassles. At twenty years of age, however, Rachel Newhouse was not old enough to drink legally in the state of California.

      Neither was Andrea West, her roommate. It was because of that that Rachel found herself standing outside the restaurant and shivering instead of inside throwing back another margaritawith some cute guys from her college, Cal Poly.

      Andrea, who was also only twenty, could not get into the bar side of the Flats. Both girls had employed the old “smudged stamp” routine to attempt to get inside. Some drinking establishments will mark the top of their customers’ hands with a black felt-tip marker or a black stamp, which is a signal to the doorman that they have already been inside and can reenter without hassle. Minors who want to circumventthe whole identification process at the door merely get someone who has legally gained entrance into the bar to offer up their stamp. The minor licks the top of his or her hand and rubs it against the marked customer, thus creating a reasonablefacsimile of the stamp.

      At least that was the game plan.

      Rachel Newhouse’s smudged stamp worked with no problem.She immediately bolted in and began to enjoy the festive atmosphere. Unfortunately for Andrea, the doorman stopped her and informed her that she would not be allowed in the bar side. She could only enter the restaurant side. Andrea stood by herself for the next hour, until she finally saw Rachel leave the bar side and head toward the rest room. Andrea met her at the door and began to complain. Soon the girls started to argue. Suddenly Rachel tore out of the restaurant, leaving Andreabehind. Once outside, Rachel waited shortly, hoping her friend would follow her. When Andrea did not appear, she took off.

      As Rachel headed east on Nipomo Street, she began to shiver in the brisk Central California coastal air. Downtown San Luis Obispo is located only seventeen miles from the PacificOcean and decorated with such gorgeous beaches

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