by Cathy Hapka
and shivered. “Let’s head back to camp and see what
the others have found,” she said. “I don’t think we
should stay here longer than we have to.”
Chapter 8:
Catching
A Ghost
47
Back at the campsite, Mia and Stephanie raced
toward Olivia. Their friend was on her knees by the
picnic table.
“Olivia, are you okay?” Mia exclaimed.
“What happened?” Stephanie asked urgently.
Olivia looked up. “I’m okay,”she said.“But my
camera’s not. Look.”
She held out the camera she had modified so her
friends could see. The special timer attached to the
top was completely broken.
“The picture memory card was full, so I went
48
into the camper to get a new one,” Olivia explained.
“When I came out, something had knocked the
camera over. The timer is ruined. It’s like something
didn’t want us taking pictures of it.”
“Like the Phantom Horse!” Stephanie exclaimed.
“Let me see,”Mia said, reaching out. She turned
the camera over in her hands. “Ew—it’s slimy!”
Stephanie cautiously touched the camera. “Yuck.
You’re right. It’s wet—like ghost slime!”
“Or animal drool,” Mia added. “Let’s check
for pictures.”
Olivia scrolled
through all the
photos on the
camera. “I don’t see
anything—wait!
Here’s one!”
Stephanie and
Mia peered over
Olivia’s shoulder.
49
“Is that . . . a tongue?” Stephanie asked.
“It’s a little hard to tell,” Olivia said. “Does it look
like a tongue to you, Mia?”
Mia didn’t reply.
“Mia?” Stephanie asked.
With a shake, Mia snapped out of it. “Yeah,”she
said. “It’s just,that picture gives me an idea.”She
looked at her friends and smiled. “Guys, I think I
know how we can solve our mystery!”
As Stephanie, Mia, and Olivia were working
at the picnic table, Emma and Andrea raced up
to the campsite. “Guys, you’ll never believe what
happened,” Emma shouted. “The Phantom Horse
saved Andrea!”
“The Phantom Horse did what?” Mia asked.
Emma quickly explained what had happened.
“Are you okay, A?” Mia asked, concerned. “You
could have gotten hurt.”
50
Andrea nodded. “I’m fine. And I don’t know for
sure the Phantom Horse saved me.” She rolled her
eyes at Emma. “But something really weird is going
on. Did you guys find any other clues?”
Mia, Olivia, and Stephanie exchanged a look.
“Actually,” Olivia said,“Mia has a plan to prove
that there isn’t a ghost after all.”
51
“You do?” Emma and Andrea asked together.
Mia nodded. “Whoever or
whatever
the culprit
is left a clue on Olivia’s camera.” She pointed to the
slimy box. “And it gave me an idea. We’re almost set
up here. Andrea, if you wouldn’t mind grabbing the
cooler, we’ll put the last pieces into place and catch
our ‘ghost’ once and for all.”
As the sun was starting to set, the girls put their
new plan into action. “Places, everyone!” Stephanie
whispered.
Mia set a plate of hot dogs on the picnic table
beside Olivia’s camera, and then hurried out of sight
around the camper. Olivia hid behind a large tree
trunk. She held a small remote in her hand that had
come with camera. It would let her snap pictures
from a distance.
Nearby, Emma crouched next to a large rock.
Stephanie and Andrea joined Mia behind the
52
camper. All five girls had chosen spots where they
could see the whole clearing.
“Do you think this will work?” Andrea whispered.
“I hope so,” Mia whispered back. She pursed her
lips and whistled:
“Whooooo!”
There was silence. Mia held her breath.
53
If the legend were true, that whistle should
attract the Phantom Horse.
Nothing happened. After a moment, Andrea
leaned closer.
“Try it again,” she whispered.
“Whooooo!”
Mia whistled.
It grew darker and darker in the clearing as Mia
continued to whistle.
Soon the only light came from the campfire.
“Whooooo!”
Mia whistled a final time.
Suddenly, the quiet was broken by loud rustling
in the bushes nearby.
“Look!” Andrea whispered. “Something’s
coming!”
Mia leaned forward and held her breath. A
shadowy figure was creeping out of the woods!
Chapter 9:
Heading Home
54
Olivia jumped out from behind the tree and
started snapping pictures as fast as she could. “I got
it!” she cried. “I got its picture!”
“It’s the ghost horse!” Andrea exclaimed. “Quick!
Grab it!”
“That might be a ghost, but it’s no horse.” Mia
rushed out and switched on her flashlight.
Instantly, the clearing was bathed in bright, white
light. A small figure crouched by the picnic table,
blinking at them.
Mia gasped. The creature looked awfully familiar.
55
“Charlie?”
Mia cried. “What are you doing here?”
At the sound of her voice, the little dog wagged
his tail. He barked and leaped onto the picnic
table—straight for the hot dogs!
Andrea burst out laughing. “It
is
Charlie!”
Mia grabbed the puppy in a hug. “How did you
get out?” she asked. “I shut the door before I left.”
Olivia thought back to the previous day. “Wait,
didn’t your mom come out after you?” she asked.
Mia’s eyes grew wide.“You’re right! He must have
sneaked back out when she opened the door.”
56
“But how did he get all the way up here?” Emma
asked. “Did he follow the camper? Or maybe he
stowed away in the trailer?”
“Of course.” Mia smacked her head with her
hand. “He went after the cooler! He saw me put the
hot dogs in. He’s always trying to pop the lid off.”
“But why haven’t we seen him?” Olivia asked.
“I don’t know.”Mia shrugged as Charlie licked
her face. “That part is still a mystery.”
Suddenly, a loud whistle pierced through the
darkness. Everyone froze.
“Did you hear that?” Emma squeaked.
“Here, boy!” a voice called.
“Where’d you go?” another voice shouted.
A moment later, a man and a young boy with
flashlights stepped into the clearing.
“Oh, hello,” the man said. “Sorry to bother you.
<
br /> My son and I are looking for a lost puppy.” He
smiled when he spotted Charlie in Mia’s arms.“Hey,
that’s him right there!”
57
“Actually, this is my puppy, Charlie,” Mia said.
“He came camping with us by accident.”
“Oh, that explains it!” The man laughed. “That
fella sure has an appetite. He came sniffing by our
tent last night. We thought he was a stray.”
“We’ve been feeding him!” the young boy
chimed in. “He really likes hot dogs.”
Mia shook her head. “So
that’s
where you’ve
been going.” She ruffled Charlie’s fur. “You followed
your stomach!”
“Well, I’m glad he has an owner,” the man
chuckled. “At least he’s safe and sound now.”
The girls thanked the two campers for taking care
of Charlie. Then the father and son headed away.
58
“Silly Charlie,” Andrea said. “You made us think
you were a ghost horse.”
“That’s why we kept hearing whistles,” Olivia
realized. “It was that man calling for Charlie when
he wandered off.”
“I
told
you guys there was no ghost horse,”Mia
said. “All our evidence points to Charlie.”
“Well, not quite
all
of it,” Emma said. “Why did
Charlie drool on the camera?”
59
Mia grinned. “Actually, that’s what gave me the
idea for our experiment. I noticed Olivia licking
peanut butter off her fingers right before she went to
set up the camera. When I saw there was drool on it,
and the picture of the tongue, I figured all we had to
do was set up more bait, and our thief would come.”
Olivia nodded. “It was a hungry little dog the
whole time.”
“But what about what happened to Andrea in the
woods?” Emma insisted. “She said the whistle she
heard didn’t sound like the others.”
All four girls looked at Andrea.
After a moment, Andrea shrugged. “It must have
just been the wind,” she said finally. “And I was lucky
that the root was there.”
“Yeah,”Stephanie agreed. “You could have really
gotten hurt. No more wandering off for any of us.”
She rubbed Charlie’s belly. “That includes you, you
hungry puppy.”
Charlie barked. All the friends laughed.
60
By the next morning, the girls had fully planned
their project presentation.
“When we get home, we’ll shoot some video of
Andrea telling
The Tale of the Phantom Horse
,”
Stephanie said as she rolled up her sleeping bag.
Olivia nodded. “I have pictures of Charlie, his
paw prints, and the spilled food. We can use them
to explain how we searched for clues and how Mia
came up with her experiment.”
“Sounds good.” Stephanie brushed off her hands
and looked around. Everything was packed away.
“This was great, wasn’t it?”
“Definitely.” Emma grinned. “I wish
all
our
homework was this much fun!”
Just then, a car horn beeped. Olivia’s parents
pulled up to the clearing. “Did you have a good
time?” Olivia’s dad asked as he hopped out.
“The best!” all five of them replied.
Mia, Emma, Stephanie, and Olivia clambered
61
into the camper. But Andrea hung back. She glanced
over her shoulder, out at the trees. The wind rustled
past, swirling the leaves across the ground.
“Thank you,”she said very quietly.
“Everything okay, A?”Olivia poked her head
back out of the camper.
Andrea turned. “Yeah,” she said with a smile.
“Let’s go home.”
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