by Jean Fischer
Alexis tucked the pepper spray into her pocket just in case they ran into a bear. “Scooby-Doo, where are you?” She sighed as they left the cabin.
“What?” Sydney asked.
“I was just thinking about Scooby-Doo,” Alexis explained. “He’s always nervous when he goes sleuthing, and I wondered how he would sneak into the campsite.”
“Are you nervous?”
“A little,” Alexis answered. “Let’s check out the mushrooms first and see if anyone has been digging.”
When they arrived at the spot where the mushrooms grew, they found them—gone!
“Were there hundreds of mushrooms here yesterday or was it all my imagination?” Alexis asked in disbelief.
“They were here,” Sydney confirmed. “And now they’re not.” Someone had dug up the mushrooms, raked the soil, and covered it with dead leaves and pine needles. The shovel was gone, too.
Sydney probed the soil with her foot, looking for clues. “Check this out,” she said, pointing to a spot on the ground.
“Ésprit!” said Alexis. “It’s the mountain man’s boot print! But why would he want so many mushrooms?”
Sydney was busy thinking. “Do you know what, Alex?” she said after a while. “I’m sure he’s the one who left the Field Guide to Mushrooms on the ground at the resort. And I’m sure, too, that he’s responsible for the mushroom we found on the dock and the others floating in the water. And remember, the first night we were here we saw him, and then in the morning the bottom of the boat at our dock was wet, and you noticed a brown, slimy fungus at the edge of the beach.”
“That’s right,” said Alexis. “And mushrooms are a fungus. And that night, after the coyote was killed, we saw the mountain man near our cabin. He was picking at the earth with a stick and putting stuff into a bag.”
“Mushrooms!” Sydney added. “Alex, he was searching for mushrooms there in the dark, but why?”
“That’s what we have to find out,” Alexis said.
They approached the campsite cautiously, stopping briefly when the buzzing noise from the cave turned to the familiar whop-whop-whop followed by “Go back! Go back! Go back!”
“I’m not afraid of that anymore,” said Sydney. “It’s obviously triggered by something we step on or walk by. I think the mountain man is using spooky sounds to keep people away.”
“Like the professor in The Wizard of Oz,” said Alexis.
“Yeah, just like him,” Sydney agreed.
They peeked through the bushes at the campsite. The kayak was gone, and so it seemed, were the mountain man and Fang.
“I’m going to check it out,” said Sydney. “You stay here.” She walked around the campsite, staying well hidden in the brush. She passed the stinking manure pile at the edge of the clearing. Then she went toward the hole in the ground. The purple glow shot up from the hole as it had the day before, and the buzzing noise whirred down below. The fence was still padlocked shut.
“They’re not here,” Sydney said when she circled back around to where Alexis stood. “Stay put, and I’ll get Biscuit.”
Sydney sprinted back to the cabin. Biscuit was waiting for her on the screened porch. Before they’d left that morning, Sydney had attached the mini-microcamera to his collar so he’d be ready to go.
“Come on, boy,” she said, snapping his leash onto his collar. Biscuit sensed that he was on an important mission. Instead of barking and running playfully into the woods, he sniffed the ground following the trail that the girls had taken. Before long, he led Sydney right to the campsite where Alexis was.
“I have the monitor turned on and ready,” Alex said, “and I alerted the other Camp Club Girls that we’re about to go in. Kate sent a message that she’s worried. I told her we’d make sure Biscuit stays safe.”
“Good,” said Sydney. “I think only one of us should go into the cave with him.”
Alexis said nothing.
“I’ll go,” Sydney offered.
“I’ll stand guard,” Alexis said. “And Sydney, be very, very careful.”
“We will,” Sydney promised. Then she and Biscuit walked into the purple glow of the clearing and headed toward the entrance to the cave. Biscuit pulled and strained hard on his leash. He made a gagging, gasping sound as the collar choked him, and he dragged Sydney inside.
“Slow down, boy!” she said. But Biscuit hurried on ahead.
They went through the wide stone-cold corridor toward the secret room, and Sydney noticed that the knapsack was missing—the one with the initials J.C. They rushed past the marks etched on the wall and into the little room with the stalactites and stalagmites. Biscuit seemed to know exactly where he was going. He led Sydney directly to the corner of the room and the locked door. Then he sat and looked at her.
“Are you ready to do some exploring?” Sydney asked him. Biscuit stood on his hind legs and put his paws on Sydney’s knees. She reached for the mini-microcam on his collar and switched it on. Video of the outside appeared on the small monitor that Alexis held in her hand. First, the blue denim of Sydney’s jeans, then her white sneaker with the lace half tied, then the stone floor of the cave, and finally the wooden planks of the heavy, padlocked door.
“Here we go,” Alexis whispered into the face of the Wonder Watch. She took a deep breath and prayed. “Dear God, watch over Biscuit.”
“Okay, Biscuit,” said Sydney. “You go through this little door and check things out, and be quick about it, too.” She unhooked the leash from Biscuit’s collar and let him go. He lay down on his fluffy belly and then slithered and squeezed his body through the little trapdoor.
Sydney ran back to where Alexis was so they could watch the monitor together. “He’s in,” she said, peeking over Alexis’s shoulder.
“So far, all I can see is purple,” said Alexis.
“He must be sitting or standing just inside the door,” said Sydney. “He’s not moving. Why?”
“I don’t know,” said Alexis. “He’s just sitting there.”
Suddenly, the monitor went black.
“What’s wrong with this thing?” Sydney complained. “We just lost our picture. Wait … no … I think the camera is taking a picture of something black. Look. Whatever it is, it’s moving.”
The blackness on the screen bounced up and down and back and forth and then—
“Oh my goodness!” Sydney gasped. A huge, black nose appeared on the screen, sniffing. Then a sparkling, brown eye looked into the camera lens, and a long, pink tongue licked it. “Fang!”
The Wonder Watch jiggled on Alex’s wrist. MESSAGE WAITING: KATE. A message scrolled across the screen. THAT’S NOT BISCUIT’S NOSE! WHAT’S IN THERE WITH MY DOG?
Alexis held the watch toward Sydney. “You tell her,” she said.
Reluctantly, Sydney pushed the button on the watch and spoke into its face. “Fang is with Biscuit. I had no idea he was in there. But he’s friendly, Kate. I’m sure of it.”
GET HIM OUT OF THERE THIS MINUTE!
Alexis answered this time. “Kate, we can’t. It’ll be just fine. I promise. Watch the pictures, and if anything goes wrong, we’ll go right in to get him.”
PROMISE?
“I promise,” said Alexis.
Sydney looked on helplessly. “The only problem with that,” she said to Alexis, “is that we can’t go in and get him. The door is locked.”
“I forgot,” said Alexis. “So now what?”
“Pray,” said Sydney.
“I am,” Alexis said. “I am!”
The picture on the screen changed to a thick, black tail wagging like a windshield wiper on a car. Then the girls saw all of Fang’s behind as he trotted ahead of Biscuit.
“What’s that?” Sydney asked.
A long table showed up on the screen. On it were jars of various sizes. Each jar was filled with a clear liquid, and each held a single large mushroom. The mushrooms seemed to glow in the eerie purple light.
“I see labels on the jars, but I can’t read
them,” said Alexis. “It looks like he’s handwritten a name and date on each one.”
Biscuit must have sensed that the jars were important. He put his paws up on the table and gave them a closer look.
MILLER’S RESORT: 8-1
FOREST: 7-31
WATER’S EDGE: 8-2
“Each one has a label telling where the mushroom came from and when he found it,” said Sydney. “Look, Biscuit’s going into another room.”
The purple glow grew softer as Biscuit left the room and entered another. The girls could see Fang running ahead of him.
“It’s some sort of laboratory!” said Alexis.
Biscuit sniffed around the room, and the girls saw beakers, bottles, flasks, and test tubes. Some of them had green and pink liquids inside.
There were microscopes and Bunsen burners and magnifying glasses and culture jars.
“Maybe he’s a mad scientist,” said Sydney.
“Oh,” said Alexis. “He’s not mad. He can’t be! Like Beth said, there’s a perfectly logical explanation for all of this.”
“Yeah, well … then what is it?” Sydney asked, pointing to the monitor screen and ugly gray spores growing in a culture dish.
“I don’t know,” said Alexis. “He’s obviously doing some experiments.”
“Obviously,” Sydney agreed.
Biscuit wandered past thermometers, trays, tubes, tweezers, scales and stirrers, and blenders and buckets.
“Check that out,” said Alexis.
A large beaker sat atop a hot plate. A shimmering green liquid bubbled and boiled inside, and radiant chartreuse steam rose from the top and hung in the air. The beaker came closer and closer as Biscuit moved in to investigate it. He stuck his nose near the steam and jumped back.
“I think maybe he burned his nose,” said Sydney.
“Or else it smelled bad,” said Alexis. “What do you think the mountain man is cooking?”
“I don’t know,” said Sydney. “But Biscuit doesn’t like it. And have you noticed that Fang is nowhere in sight?”
“I didn’t,” said Alexis, “but now that you mention it…”
WUF!
Alex and Sydney whirled around. There stood Fang. He ran toward the girls and put his big paws on Alex’s shoulders, knocking her to the ground. He started licking her face.
“Get him off!” she cried. “Get him off me!”
Sydney reached down and wrapped her arms around Fang’s middle. She pulled, trying to lift him off of her friend, but Fang rolled over, pulling Sydney down, too. Soon, the girls were on the ground wrestling with the big, black dog.
“He thinks we’re playing with him,” Alexis complained. “Fang, no! Fang, stop it! Sit down!”
Fang sat. He looked at the girls with sad, brown eyes and cocked his head.
“I think he gets it,” said Sydney. She stood and wiped dirt from the seat of her jeans. “Where did he come from? The door to the secret room is locked with a padlock.”
A sick look came over Alexis’s face. “What if there are two of them?”
“Two of what?” asked Sydney.
“Two Fangs,” Alexis answered, standing up. “Maybe that’s another dog inside the cave with Biscuit.”
Sydney picked up the monitor that Alexis had dropped when Fang pushed her down. “I don’t see another dog,” she said, “but where is Biscuit going? Everything is really purple now, and it looks like he’s in another room.” She handed the monitor to Alexis.
Fang sat quietly at the girls’ feet.
“I see something,” said Alexis.
Biscuit was wandering around a room filled with racks of shallow, dirt-filled trays. As he got nearer to them, the girls saw mushrooms popping out of the soil.
“Alex, there must be thousands of mushrooms in those trays,” Sydney said. “Big ones, little ones, all sizes! The room is filled with mushrooms. And do you see that book next to one of the trays? The title says Cancer Fighting Foods. I think I know who the mountain man is and what he’s doing.”
The Wonder Watch jiggled. MESSAGE WAITING: KATE. IT’S A MUSHROOM FARM. WE HAVE THEM IN PENNSYLVANIA. I KNOW ABOUT A BIG ONE IN KENNETT SQUARE. THE MOUNTAIN MAN IS GROWING MUSHROOMS IN THAT CAVE BECAUSE THE CONDITIONS ARE PERFECT: COOL, DARK, AND DAMP.
“You’re right,” said Sydney. “The cave is a perfect place for a scientist to work. I think the mountain man is a scientist, and he’s doing some sort of research with mushrooms.”
“See,” Alexis whispered. “I told you he’s not a mad scientist. He’s a good scientist.”
You MIGHT BE RIGHT, SYD. WE LEARNED IN CLASS THAT SCIENTISTS ARE EXPERIMENTING WITH MUSHROOMS TO HELP SICK PEOPLE. THAT COULD BE WHAT HE’S DOING. WHERE IS FANG? I HAVEN’T SEEN HIM ON THE MONITOR.
Alexis spoke into the watch. “Fang is with us.”
HOW DID HE GET WITH YOU IF THE DOOR IS LOCKED?
“We don’t know,” Alexis told her, leaving out her theory that there might be two dogs.
SOMETHING FISHY IS GOING ON THERE, AND I DON’T LIKE IT. WHAT IF WE’RE WRONG, AND HE REALLY IS UP TO NO GOOD?
Just then, Fang leapt up and took off running through the forest.
“Oh. Oh,” said Sydney. “I don’t like this either.” Fang’s bark echoed through the trees as he ran away from the campsite. “I’m going inside to get Biscuit, and he’d better come when I call him.”
Sydney ran to the cave leaving Alexis alone.
“Sydney is going back inside to get Biscuit,” Alexis said into the watch. “I think we’ve seen enough for one day.”
Grrrrrrrrrrr…. A deep, soft growl came from an alder thicket behind her.
“Fang, is that you?” she asked.
Grrrrrrrrrrr…. The growl was a little louder now.
“Fang, stop it. You’re scaring me,” said Alexis. She took a few steps toward the thicket and peeked through its branches.
There, just a few yards away, stood a huge gray wolf. The sides of its mouth curled back, revealing its razor-sharp teeth. Grrrrrrrrr …
Alexis didn’t dare move. She remembered the pepper spray in her pocket, but she was afraid to reach for it. Even the slightest move might make the wolf attack.
Dear God, please help me, she prayed silently.
BAW-WAW-WAW…. AR-ROOoooooo…. BAW-WAW-WAW!
Fang barreled through the brush and lunged at the wolf, scaring it. The frightened animal ran off through the forest with Fang in hot pursuit.
BAW-WAW-WAW!Baw-waw-waw … baw-waw-waw … The barking faded into the distance.
Alexis sighed with relief.
Then, just as her pounding heart was slowing down, she heard—
“Young lady, what are you doing here?”
It was the mountain man! He stood behind her, strong and tall. He held his walking stick and a plastic bag filled with mushrooms. The knapsack, the one with the initials J.C., was flung over one shoulder. Alexis noticed that his bushy, brown beard twitched, and his brow was creased with a frown. His blue eyes flashed. “I asked what you’re doing here.”
Alexis was trapped. A still, small voice inside told her to be polite. “Hello, sir,” she said brightly. “I’m Alexis Howell. Pleased to meet you.”
She extended her trembling right hand toward the man.
He reached out and gave it a little shake. “Professor Joshua Cantrell.” He introduced himself. “Now, Alexis, what are you doing here?”
Alexis didn’t know what to say. She heard herself babbling. “Oh, so you’re a professor! We thought you might be a scientist or something. We didn’t know for sure, but we figured that you were a perfectly normal person, a very nice man just out here in the woods camping—”
“Little girl, are you lost?” the man asked.
Little girl! Alexis thought. I’m not a little girl.
“No, sir,” she said. “The truth is our dog is in your cave, and my friend went in to get him.”
The Secret Revealed
Sydney arrived with Biscuit on his leash.
>
“Oh. Oh,” she said when she saw Alexis with the mountain man.
“So, this must be your friend,” Professor Cantrell said. “And I’ve seen your dog here before. In fact, I took him back to the resort just the other day.”
“We know,” said Alexis. “We saw you. Sydney, this is Professor Joshua Cantrell.”
“You saw me?” said the professor. “What are you girls doing this deep in the forest? You shouldn’t be wandering out here alone.”
Sydney picked up Biscuit and handed him to Alexis.
“A better question, Professor Cantrell, is what are you doing here in the woods? We know all about you and your mushrooms.”
“You do?” said the professor. “Just what do you know?” He reached over and scratched Biscuit’s ears.
“We know that you sneak around in the dark picking mushrooms. We know that you dug up a ton of them in the forest and that you’re growing more of them in your cave and experimenting with them. We hope that you’re doing something good.”
“And that you’re not a mad scientist!” Alexis added, wishing that the words wouldn’t have slipped from her mouth.
Professor Cantrell laughed. “You’re right, I’m a scientist,” he said. “And yes, sometimes I get a bit grumpy, but no, I’m not mad.”
Wuf! Wuf! Wuf!
Fang shoved his body through the thicket and ran to his master. The professor checked him over.
“Are you okay, boy?” he asked. “That was a good boy for chasing the wolf.”
“Wolf?” said Sydney.
“I was almost attacked by a wolf. Fang saved me.” Biscuit squirmed in Alexis’s arms. “And how did Fang get out of the cave?” she asked the professor. “The door to the secret room is locked.”
“Secret room!” said Professor Cantrell. “Have you girls been inside my laboratory? You didn’t touch anything, did you?” He was getting irritated now. “How did you get in, and how do you know my dog’s name?”
“We’ve been watching you,” said Sydney. “And you can’t do anything to us, because right now you’re being filmed—live.”
“What!” the professor exclaimed, looking around for a camera. “Young ladies, we need to talk.” He invited the girls to sit down on the log near the campfire ring. “Tell me what you know,” he said.
