Secret at Mystic Lake

by Carolyn Keene

  “I’m really not a nature person,” she went on. “I like comfy beds, and good sheets, and manicures, and cable TV. But Adventures and Company said my deposit was nonrefundable, so I’m doing my best to be a good sport. Like, I brought a ton of nail polish, so if anyone wants a manicure tonight, you know where to go.”

  Bess raised her hand. “Me!” she said cheerfully. “I want a manicure tonight.”

  Zoe smirked at her. “We can complain to each other about all the good TV we’re missing.”

  Caitlin bunched up her lunch bag with a loud crinkling sound. “Anyway,” she said, “we have another twenty miles or so before we get to our campsite, so we’d better get going.”

  Everyone stood, and when I struggled to get to my feet, I fully realized how stiff my muscles had gotten during our short rest—and how sore I would be that night. Oh well. I was really enjoying the ride and the scenery so far. Caitlin led the way through the trees back to our bikes and gear, but stopped short when she got to the road. “Oh . . . oh no,” she murmured.

  “What is it?” Zoe asked, crashing through the trees behind her. “Is something wrong?”

  Caitlin was staring at the ground. “That’s strange,” she said, turning to look at Henry with a confused expression.

  “What?” Zoe asked again.

  Henry looked where Caitlin was staring, and his face paled. “Uh—it looks like . . . ?” he said, glancing at his sister.

  “Exactly,” she said to him. “Weird, no?”

  Bess held up a hand, like she was in class. “Can someone please tell me what’s wrong?” she asked.

  Henry turned to her, clearly trying to look calm. “Oh, it’s no biggie,” he said, adding in a tense chuckle. “It’s just . . . one small problem . . .”

  Caitlin shook her head, then pointed at our packs—where, I noticed suddenly, there seemed to be slightly less gear than there was before.

  “A bunch of our stuff is gone,” she said in a hollow voice. “It looks like . . . our tents are all missing.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Back to Nature

  ZOE PUSHED HER WAY FORWARD, shoving Caitlin aside to take in the empty spot where our tents had been. “Our tents are missing?” she asked. “Are you kidding?”

  Caitlin looked pained. “I mean . . . I’m pretty sure they were all right here.”

  Zoe moved forward and started pushing aside the backpacks, peering around like the tents might be underneath. “Who would steal our tents?”

  Henry moved forward to join her and Caitlin, poking at the backpacks and furrowing his brow. “I . . . hmmm.”

  Bess cleared her throat behind me. “Should we go back?” she asked.

  “No!” Caitlin replied, turning to frown at Bess, at the same time as her brother murmured, “Well . . .”

  But I was still focused on the what, not the what now. “Can we go back to Zoe’s question?” I asked. “Who would take our tents? It’s not like they were that far away, and it’s pretty quiet around here. But I didn’t hear anyone come up while we were eating.”

  George nodded. “Yeah—and it’s not like this is an easy spot to get to. To get to our stuff without us hearing, a person would have to be on foot. But I guess, on foot, they couldn’t have gotten very far.”

  Henry raised an eyebrow. “That’s a good point. Maybe this is a prank.”

  For some reason this made Caitlin turn to him with an exasperated look. “A prank? Henry, if you—”

  But Henry cut her off by raising a hand. “I had nothing to do with it, I swear. I’m just saying, that makes a lot more sense than any other explanation I can think of.” He gestured back to the rest of us, still standing in the trees. “We didn’t hear anybody ride or hike up. But each of us left the group at one point to use the bathroom or get supplies.”

  We all looked at one another uncomfortably. He was saying one of us took the tents. Awk-ward.

  Caitlin seemed to consider his words, then looked back at us, her charges. One by one, she looked us in the eye and seemed to mentally calculate our likelihood of being behind a tent-stealing prank. “Okay,” she said finally, in a clipped, no-nonsense voice. “Let’s spread out and take ten minutes to look for our tents. If any of you know anything about this—no matter whose idea it was—I would encourage you to talk to me about it.”

  With that, she moved along the road, poking through the underbrush, apparently looking for the lost tents. I turned back to Bess and George, who looked as confused as I felt.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Bess muttered, shaking her head and walking over to the other side of the road to start looking. “Who would think this is funny?”

  Zoe glanced at us, let out a deep sigh, and then followed Bess. “This stinks,” I heard her whisper to Bess as the two of them poked through the wildflowers lining the road.

  George and I paired up and went back toward the pond, looking around in any shadowy, covered-up spots. We didn’t see anything, though—no tents, no sign of footsteps, no trampled grass or broken branches. Dagger came back with us and searched a bit too, but it all felt kind of hopeless.

  “This is weird,” I whispered to George as we pulled back the fern fronds covering the bank to find—nothing.

  George chuckled. “Come on, Detective Drew,” she joked. “You’re off duty today. Plus, there’s probably a totally reasonable explanation. Maybe it was just someone’s idea of a practical joke.”

  “Maybe,” I said, remembering that this tour was her dream vacation, and not wanting to step on it. But deep down, my sleuthing senses were tingling.

  What had happened to our tents? If this was some kind of prank, I didn’t get it. And honestly, none of the people on the tour struck me as big pranksters. Zoe didn’t seem to find anything about this trip funny. And while I didn’t know him very well, Dagger seemed a little too Zen to pull a tent-stealing gag.

  He was standing just a few feet away, and I gave him a friendly smile. “So—this is a little strange, huh?”

  Dagger was halfheartedly poking through the plants that covered the pond’s bank, and he looked up at me and shrugged. “I didn’t expect it,” he said, “but it doesn’t make much difference. I’ve slept under the stars before.”

  Sleeping under the stars. When he put it that way, it didn’t sound all that bad. But was it strange that he was so unconcerned that half our gear was missing?

  “All right!” Caitlin, who was still out on the road, clapped her hands and shouted. “I think that’s it, folks. We need to accept that the tents are gone.”

  I glanced at George, who nodded, and we walked back through the trees together to rejoin the group that was re-forming on the road. Henry jogged back from where he’d been searching a few yards back, and Bess and Zoe walked back from the other side of the road.

  Caitlin glanced around at our faces, still looking a little wary. “Anyone find anything?”

  “Yes!” Henry said cheerfully, and when we all turned to him expectantly, pulled a small object out of his pocket.

  “I found a four-leaf clover,” he said, holding it out for all of us to see. “Good luck, right?”

  Caitlin sighed and rolled her eyes. “Great, Henry. That’s great. Very funny.”

  Henry looked offended. “What? We could use all the luck we can get!”

  Dagger chuckled, and George smiled too, but Caitlin didn’t look amused. She gave Henry a pointed stare, and he shrugged again as the smile faded from his face.

  “So what do we do?” Zoe asked, shifting her weight onto one leg and putting her hand on her hip. “Do we go back? I mean, do we really want to keep going if we’re not going to have shelter?”

  Caitlin didn’t have a ready answer. She looked from face to face. “Well,” she said finally. “Tents aren’t a necessity, really. We could sleep out in the open.”

  “Under the stars,” Dagger put in. “I’m up for that.”

  There was some murmuring. Bess looked at Zoe and shook her head.

  “I
don’t know,” she said slowly. “Nature is beautiful and everything, but I’m not sure I’m up for sleeping out in the open for two nights.”

  George pursed her lips. “But if we go back, we lose a whole day,” she pointed out. “And where would we even get new tents?”

  “We’d probably have to stay at the bed-and-breakfast tonight,” Caitlin put in, “while Henry and I drove into town to get some new gear. But we would lose a day. Henry and I have a family wedding to go to in three days—we couldn’t extend the tour.”

  George sighed. We all looked around at one another awkwardly.

  “Actually, I have an extra tent,” Zoe piped up out of nowhere.

  “You what?” George said, at the same time Bess gushed, “You do?”

  Zoe shrugged. “You can’t be too careful.”

  I tried to catch George’s eye—what?—but she was still staring at Zoe, who turned to Bess.

  “It’s a small one, nothing fancy, but there’s probably room for one other person, if you want to share with me, Bess.”

  Bess grinned. “That would be awesome!”

  George was shaking her head now, but before she could say anything, Caitlin held up her hand.

  “Why don’t we take a vote?” she asked. “Who wants to turn back?”

  No one raised their hand. I glanced at George; she gave another little shake of her head. She’s wanted to make this trip for months, I reminded myself. Of course she’s not going to want to cut it short.

  “Okay,” Caitlin said, nodding. “Who wants to keep going?”

  Dagger, George, and Henry shot up their hands. Zoe glanced at Bess, shrugged, and slowly raised hers. Bess followed suit.

  “As long as everyone else is okay sleeping outside, it’s fine with me,” Bess said quietly.

  I realized then that everyone was looking at me, and that I hadn’t put up my hand to vote for either choice. What do I want to do? I asked myself. Not that it mattered; a clear majority wanted to keep going.

  Something about this whole thing still felt very fishy. My sense that something was off—honed by years of sleuthing—was going full force.

  But on the other hand, George was giving me the puppy-dog eyes. She has big brown eyes, so her puppy look is pretty effective. And she only pulls out the puppy-dog eyes on very rare occasions. George is by far the most pragmatic of the three of us—she usually goes with the flow. It’s pretty rare that her feelings come into play when making decisions.

  But now she was clearly having feelings. Please, please, Nancy, let’s keep going, I’m having so much fun feelings.

  I sighed and turned to Caitlin. “Should we be worried?” I asked bluntly. “If our tents were stolen, could that mean someone’s following us? Someone with . . . bad intentions?”

  George looked disappointed as we all turned to Caitlin.

  “I think that’s little dramatic,” she said, looking away with a casual laugh. “It was probably a prank no one’s owning up to, or an innocent mistake. I mean, we’re not the only hikers and bikers in this area, and lots of people stop at this picnic spot. My guess is that another group came by, mistook our gear for theirs, and grabbed it.”

  I wondered if Caitlin’s theory sounded as shaky to everyone else as it did to me. A whole group of hikers came by and none of us heard them? I wondered. And if it was an innocent mistake, why would they take both our gear and their own?

  Then I looked around the circle of faces. Dagger was looking off at the beautiful hills in the distance, seemingly not paying attention. He said he liked sleeping under the stars—maybe he decided to force the issue? Henry was staring down at his hand, picking nervously at a fingernail. I remembered how Caitlin had snapped at him when he’d suggested it might be a prank. Could it be a brother-sister practical joke we were all caught in the middle of? I wondered. Maybe that was why Caitlin wanted to keep going.

  Finally I sighed and raised my hand. “All right. I vote to keep going.”

  George grinned and gave a little jump, reaching over to touch my shoulder. “Thanks,” she whispered.

  We all walked over to where our remaining packs lay, stooping to put our gear back on. My back still ached from the morning’s ride.

  “I guess it could be sort of nice,” I said, catching George’s eye. She looked excited. “Sleeping out under the stars.”

  “Exactly!” George said, smiling again and turning to pick up her bike and throw her leg over the side. “Let’s go!”

  The ride to the campsite was so beautiful, it pushed the whole mystery of the missing tents out of my mind. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood, laughing and joking. Caitlin noted a mother and baby deer just a few yards away through the trees, and Dagger pointed out another bald eagle flying overhead. With the gorgeous views and the wildlife that seemed to surround us, it was easy to forget our troubles—at least for a little while.

  I did notice Bess and Zoe chatting and giggling at the back of the pack like a couple of schoolgirls. At one point I caught George looking at them, a skeptical expression on her face.

  “Bess made a new friend,” I said cheerily, wondering if George was feeling a tad jealous. Even though she and Bess were about as alike as oil and water, they’d been close their whole lives. But since we’d gotten on the bikes this morning, they’d barely spoken—Bess was too distracted by Zoe.

  George just shook her head. “Who brings an extra tent?” she asked, rolling her eyes, then pushed ahead to catch up with Caitlin.

  It was a good question. But really, it was just one of many unanswered questions from that morning.

  The sun was low in the sky, casting a gorgeous golden light on the trees, when Caitlin pulled out a map and told us we were just a few minutes from our campsite on the shores of Mystic Lake. We’d seen the lake shimmering in the distance all day, and now I felt a little thrill of accomplishment that we’d actually traveled far enough to reach it. Then my stomach growled, and I realized how hungry I was. It would feel fantastic to get off my bike, relax, and eat dinner.

  We passed a curve in the road, and then suddenly the lake appeared before us, glimmering in the late-day sun, which was just starting to dip in the sky to meet the tree line. I gasped appreciatively—it was so peaceful and still, the surface of the water almost looked like a mirror.

  “It’s beautiful,” George said.

  Caitlin turned back with a smile. “Wait till you see it in the morning, with a little fog—you’ll realize why they named it Mystic Lake.”

  We pulled our bikes to a stop where a narrow path led into the trees, and then walked them up a gentle slope to a small clearing ringed by Queen Anne’s lace and wild daisies. We were on a small hill overlooking the lake. In front of us another path, this one steep and rocky, led down to the shore. On either side, the flowered meadow soon gave way to dark, pine-filled woods.

  George laid her bike on the ground and took a deep breath. “This is amazing! It’s so pretty here, I’m almost glad we don’t have tents to block our view.”

  Zoe looked up from the ground, where she’d already spread out her pack and was pulling out, in fact, a tiny two-person tent.

  “I hope you won’t mind one,” she said, a sly smile on her lips. “Because a tent is a must for me.”

  “What led you to bring an extra?” I asked, crinkling my eyebrows in what I hoped looked like a mildly curious expression. Was it just a coincidence that someone stole our tents, and she just happened to pack an extra?

  Zoe shrugged. “No offense,” she said, looking over at Caitlin, who was laying her pack on the ground, “but I don’t trust anyone to prepare as well as I can. I’m always like this when I travel—I bring clean sheets even if we’re going to a nice hotel. I bring snacks even if meals are included. It’s just this compulsion I have.”

  A totally weird compulsion. I smiled and nodded, but I wasn’t completely convinced by her answer.

  Caitlin suggested we take a few minutes to stretch, answer the call of nature if we had to, and start colle
cting wood for a fire. Zoe and Bess were totally absorbed in setting up their tent, and George had headed into the woods to use the bathroom, so I decided to start looking for firewood.

  “Do you think she brought a generator and television, too?” a deep voice asked behind me, startling me so much that I stumbled forward. A strong hand reached out and grabbed my arm, pulling me back to my feet. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  I turned and found Dagger behind me, a friendly grin on his face.

  I shrugged, not wanting to say something about Bess’s new friend, but not wanting to make Dagger feel awkward, either. “Different strokes for different folks, I guess.”

  Dagger nodded. “I suppose I should be happy she brought the extra tent,” he said. “Otherwise we’d probably be at the B and B tonight, and we’d miss all this.”

  He gestured behind him, at the gorgeous vista of the sun setting over the lake.

  “That would have been a shame,” I agreed.

  For a moment we just took in the beauty of the lake, the quiet calls of birds around us, the wind flowing through the trees.

  “I don’t mean to be unkind toward the young lady,” Dagger said. “But this won’t be the first time I’ve slept under the stars, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Look at this amazing view, the food we just ate, the companionship—we should be grateful for what we have.”

  “I agree,” I said quietly. Dagger was framed in the glowing pink light of sunset now, so dark I could barely make out his features.

  Then, just as quickly as he’d appeared, he picked up a branch from the ground and was gone.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Under the Stars

  WITH CAITLIN’S LEADERSHIP, WE BUILT a fire and settled our things around it, then dug out the food for dinner and used the campfire to cook hot dogs, buns, and foil-wrapped baked potatoes. It was a simple meal, but when we were finally ready to eat, it was the most delicious food I’d ever tasted. I let out a groan of happiness when I took my first bite of hot dog.