Andi Unstoppable (7 page)

“Andi, I don't know . . .”

“Just do it, okay?”

“Okay.” He nodded and disappeared inside his tent.

CASE FILE NO. 8

I grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste
from my tent and walked to the washhouse. At least our campsite had running water and a real bathroom.

I started to push in the bathroom door but stopped when I heard voices.

“Paige, come on, it's just a story. It's not true,” I heard Susan say.

“How do we know?” Paige replied. “What if the ghost comes and haunts us? Her house is just yards from where we're sleeping.”

“You're being ridiculous.”

“You won't think that if you're attacked by a ghost.”

Susan started to laugh uncontrollably.

“Hey,” Paige said. “It's not funny.”

“Oh, come on, it's a little funny.”

Paige giggled. “Maybe.”

“Let's go to the tent. It'll be safer to be in the tent than out in the open when the ghost comes. Bwahaha!”

Paige snorted a laugh.

I jumped back from the door and ducked around the side of the washhouse. When I could no longer hear the girls' laughter, I went inside to brush my teeth. By the time I returned to the tent, Ava was already in her sleeping bag. She lay on her side and pretended to be asleep. That was fine with me.

I crawled into my own sleeping bag and tried to stay awake. It was almost nine o'clock and pitch black outside except for the glow of the dying fire. I could hear the low murmur of some of the birders who were still up. I only had to stay awake for three hours. I yawned.

I jerked awake. Did I oversleep? Did I miss my meeting with Colin? I ducked deeper into my sleeping bag to find my flashlight and my watch. It said eleven fifty. Phew. I didn't sleep too late.

Ava's breathing was deeper than it had been when I crawled into the tent. She was really asleep now, but I had better check to be sure. “Ava?” I whispered. Nothing. Outside, the chatter around the campfire had stopped. I sat up in my sleeping bag. As quietly as possible, I slipped out of the bag and crawled to the front of the tent. I tugged on the zipper. With every pull, it made a screeching sound, and I winced. I glanced back at Ava. She didn't move.

Finally, the opening in the tent was big enough for me to slip through. I tossed my shoes out of the opening. Outside the tent, I gripped my flashlight in my hand, but I didn't switch it on. The firepit held glowing embers, but the birders were asleep. Colin's tent was on the other side of Claudette's. I would have to be extra careful when walking by his aunt. I suspected that Claudette was a light sleeper. Her ears were always perked to hear a bird.

I slipped on my shoes and crept around the back of Claudette's tent. Colin wasn't out in front of it. “Colin,” I whispered.

I didn't hear anything.

I tapped on the side of his tent. “Colin?” I tapped the side of the tent a second time.

“What? What?” Colin flailed inside his tent.

“Shh. It's Andi!” I hissed, looking around the campground to see if the noise woke anyone up. Nothing moved except inside Colin's tent.

A few seconds later, Colin crawled out of his tent. He wasn't wearing shoes, and his glasses sat crookedly on his nose. He stood up and fixed his glasses then reached into the tent for his shoes.

“Let's go,” I whispered. Colin ducked back into his tent one more time and came out with his flashlight. “You haven't told me what's going on.”

“I'll tell you when we're in the woods. We might be overheard here. Don't turn on your flashlight until I say so.”

Colin followed me without question into the trees. For a second, I felt disoriented. In the dark, the
trail looked so much different than it had during the daylight.

Colin pulled on the sleeve of my sweatshirt. “Where are we going? Can you tell me now?”

“Remember where we saw the scarlet tanager?” I asked as I started down the path.

In the dark, I saw Colin's head move in a nod. “Sure.”

“Do you know the way back there? I want to show you something.”

“Can I turn on my flashlight? I won't be able to get back there if I can't see where I'm going.”

“Okay, I think we're far enough away from camp now.”

He flicked on his flashlight and aimed the beam onto the path. “This is the way. Can you tell me why we're going back there in the middle of the night?”

“While you and Claudette were looking at the scarlet tanager, Ava and I found the Shalleys' cemetery and the graves of the five Shalley boys killed during the Civil War.”

“You and Ava did something together? Voluntarily?”

“Well, I found it, and Ava insisted that we check it out.”

Colin stopped in the middle of the path and shone the flashlight just below my chin. “Why didn't you tell me about it then?”

I held up my hand. “Bergita was in a hurry to get back to camp. I didn't get a chance. Can you lower your light?”

Colin lowered his flashlight but not before I saw the look of hurt cross his face. “We saw the tanager right up here.”

I turned on my flashlight and was about to point the beam into the woods where I knew the graveyard would be, but movement and a glint of floating light stopped me. Someone else was in the woods. I grabbed Colin's flashlight from his hand and turned it off.

“Wha — ”

I covered his mouth with my hand.

Colin pulled my hand away from his mouth. “What's going on?” he whispered. “I wish you'd stop doing that.”

I pointed into the trees where the light was. Colin and I inched over in that direction. I placed a finger to my lips. He nodded. We crept half bent over, so that no part of us showed over the thick bushes. Through the dark branches, I saw a white form float through the trees on the other side of the cemetery beyond the ravine.

“Holy smokes,” Colin yelped.

The form moved on and disappeared deep into the woods. I wished I had thought to bring my binoculars. I didn't think I would need them at night.

Colin and I sat together crouched for a few minutes holding each other's hands. I gripped his hands so tightly I was surprised they didn't break. Finally, I let go and straightened up.

Colin grabbed my arm and breathed. “Did you see that?”

I knew what he meant, but I was reluctant to
answer. I felt like if I answered that would make what I saw real, and I
really
didn't want that to be the case.

“Let's go back to the campground,” Colin whispered.

“We have to at least look at the graves. We came all this way.” I straightened my shoulders.

Colin sighed.

I turned on my flashlight and pushed through the brush to the cemetery. I shone my light on the graves. In addition to the disturbed dirt on Matthew's grave, there were similar large patches on Harold's and Luke's graves. Only William's and Randall's remained undisturbed now.

“Do you think the ghost is digging up the graves?” Colin asked.

“I — I don't know.” I shivered. “Maybe it wasn't a ghost. I mean, they aren't supposed to be real.”

“Then what was it?”

“I don't know. Fog? Reflection of the moon on the trees?”

“Yeah, right. You and I both know it had the shape of a person.”

“Bigfoot,” I offered.

“In a white robe?” He gripped his flashlight and shone it into the deep woods. “Let's go back.”

I ran my flashlight back and forth on the ground. “Wait, look at that.” My light reflected off something shimmering on a branch.

I went over to it. There was a small piece of gauzy white fabric about two inches long with glitter on
it. The glitter came off in my hand and stuck to my fingers.

“I bet it's from the ghost,” Colin said.

“Why would a ghost need glitter to make it sparkle?” I asked.

“Let's go back and talk about this at camp.”

I nodded and followed him back to the trail.

We were on the edge of camp when a figure stepped into our path. Both Colin and I squealed and dropped our flashlights.

“Geez, relax,” Ava said.

I scooped up our flashlights and handed Colin his. I shone my light in Ava's eyes.

“Hey!” she protested.

I lowered my flashlight. “Keep your voice down. Do you want to wake up the entire camp?”

“What are you two doing outside the tents in the middle of the night?” she asked.

“None of your business,” I said.

“It's my business if it costs me an ‘A' on this bird project. I decided to be in this group because I thought it was the best way to ace the assignment. I did you a favor by joining you.”

“You act like we wanted you in the group,” I said. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wanted to shove them back in.

“Oh, I know you didn't want me in the group. You made that very clear in Mr. McCone's classroom.”

Colin jumped in between us. “Andi wanted to show me the graveyard that you saw earlier today.”

Ava arched an eyebrow. “You believe in the ghost story?”

Colin opened his mouth, and I stepped squarely on his foot. There was no way I was letting him tell Ava about whatever we just saw in the woods.

Ava put her hand on her hip. “Did you see the ghost?”

He pulled his foot away but didn't answer. I think he got the hint.

When we didn't answer, Ava said, “Maybe the ghost of Dominika Shalley didn't feel like talking.”

“Maybe,” I agreed.

Ava moved the flashlight back and forth over us and examined both of our faces as if looking for any clue as to whether we were lying. “I'm going back to bed. Claudette's going to wake up in a few hours and I want more sleep. It's not easy with Andi snoring.”

“I don't snore,” I said.

She grinned. “How do you know?”

“My sister would have told me by now.”

“Maybe she just doesn't want to hurt your feelings.” She gave me a fake sweet smile.

“You don't know my sister,” I said.

“Let's all go back to our tents,” Colin said. “Tomorrow is going to be a long day, and we have a lot to think about.” He gave me a meaningful look that I knew Ava didn't miss. She didn't miss most things.

Minutes later, I crawled back into my sleeping bag, but sleep didn't come. I kept wondering about what Colin and I had seen in the woods. It couldn't be a
ghost. Ghosts didn't have to bedazzle their clothing to make it shine. If it wasn't a ghost, what or who was it?

I forced myself to think about something else or I would never be able to sleep. My thoughts turned to Ava, which wasn't any better. I know I hadn't tried to make her feel welcome in our group, and I was sorry for that. Throughout the dark night, I alternated between the guilt I deserved and the fear of something I didn't know if I believed.

CASE FILE NO. 9

Thump
,
thump
,
thump
. Something smacked at
the side of our tent. I sat bolt upright, but since I was burrowed so far into my sleeping bag, I fell over on top of Ava.

“Ahh!” she cried into her pillow. “Get off me!” She shoved me away, and I rolled to the other side of the tent and bounced off the nylon siding.

“What are you girls doing in there?” Claudette wanted to know. “It's five thirty. It's time to get up and hit the trails. I let you sleep in long enough.”

“She let us sleep in?” Ava groaned. “What planet is she from?”

“I heard that,” Claudette said from the other side of the tent.

I wriggled out of my sleeping bag and crawled to
the door of the tent. It was still dark. There was just the slightest hint of the sky lightening in the east. Sunrise wouldn't be for another hour and a half. Memories of what Colin and I saw came rushing back to me. It couldn't have been a real ghost. Ghosts didn't exist.

Colin stood beside his tent with his pack strapped to his back and his binoculars hanging from his neck. He appeared wide awake and ready to hit the trail like he had slept eight hours straight. I touched the top of my pink hair. It stood up in all directions.

“Move,” Ava said from behind me.

I crawled away from the entrance of our tent and stood.

Claudette and Colin weren't the only ones up. All the birders were out of their tents and preparing for the search for the Kirtland's warbler.

Mr. McCone told us in science class on Friday that the Kirtland's warbler spent the winter in the Bahamas and the summer in Michigan. The bird crossed Ohio to travel back and forth between the two places, but since the bird was endangered, it was rarely spotted during migration. Seeing the Kirtland's this weekend would be a big deal for any birder, and if Colin, Ava, or I saw it, it would be twenty extra credit points. I started to get excited that we might actually succeed today. And at the same time, I tried to push the ghost sighting to the back of my mind.

Gregory stood a few feet away from his tent sipping coffee. He had an amused expression on his face while he watched the campers scramble to get ready.

“What are you smiling at?” Claudette asked.

“There's all this fuss about seeing the Kirtland's.” His smile grew. “When I've already seen it.”

“You're lying,” Claudette accused.

He picked up a large camera with the longest lens I had ever seen from a camp table by his tent. “I have the proof right here.”

A crowd of birders swarmed around him. Gregory turned on the camera and showed them the photo.

“Oh my,” someone cried. “It
is
a Kirtland's. I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it myself.”

“I can't believe it,” one of the triplets said. “Do you think it is still there? Where exactly did you see it?”

“And when?” another triplet, maybe Jim, asked.