The Sign in the Smoke (Nancy Drew Diaries Book 12) (5 page)

Bella cleared her throat. “I think we all know how,” she said in a low voice.

All eyes turned to her.

“Oh, come on, Bella,” Taylor chided. She’d started feeling better after lunch and had been in training with us since then. “Not that old story again. We know that’s something you just made up to scare us.”

Bella scowled. “No, that’s not what you know. That’s what you
decided
to make yourselves feel better.”

George tilted her head. “So it’s just a coincidence?” she asked. “You told us this scary legend about the camp and then planned this awesome prank to freak us all out on the first night? I doubt it.”

Bella glared at George and then turned to look at Maddie. “Maddie’s heard it too,” she pointed out. “Didn’t you, Mad? You said that last night. You heard the story about the drowning too.”

Maddie brought a forkful of carrots to her mouth and chewed deliberately, looking down at her tray. “I heard
something
happened here,” she corrected.

“Something involving a drowning,” Bella prodded.

“Something involving a camper,” Maddie said, nodding. “And . . . the lake.”

Everyone was silent for a minute. I felt Bella’s eyes on me and looked up.

“Maybe what you saw in the lake,” Bella said, standing up, “wasn’t alive at all.”

With that, she picked up her tray and stalked off.

THE NEXT MORNING THE CITS
began arriving at nine a.m., just after breakfast. As soon as the first car pulled up and the first grinning face emerged into the sunlight, the mood at the camp changed. We’d all been tense the night before, arguing about what had happened at the lake, whether I could be believed in the first place, what the figure could have been. By the time we went to sleep, long after lights-out, Taylor and Maddie seemed close to siding with Bella and believing that something supernatural was going on at the camp. George, unsurprisingly, flat-out refused to believe this, and Bess, Charla, Sam, and I were skeptics too. Still, I couldn’t deny a little flutter of fear that went through me every time I remembered that shadow in the water.

It looked human. But how
could
it be?

You would think after solving so many cases in which “ghosts” ended up being, well, “not ghosts,” I wouldn’t believe in them.

But sometimes it’s hard not to.

We all settled on a bench in front of the camp office to wait for our CITs. The first to arrive was assigned to Bess, and her name was Janie. She had a small, heart-shaped face and dark hair cut close to her jawline. She was smiley and enthusiastic about being at camp, but when it came time for her mom to leave, she was super reluctant to give up her smartphone.

“Oh man,” she murmured. “I knew this was coming. . . . It’s just . . . I’ve never been away from technology for a whole week!”

George smiled. “I know how you feel.”

“I have a blog,” Janie went on, “where I talk about new technological innovations and review some games and programs. I put up a post saying there’d be no updates for a week . . . but it’s going to feel really weird!”

George poked Bess and whispered, “I like this girl. Want to trade?”

Bess shoved her away. “Mini-George is
mine
,” she hissed. “You haven’t even met yours yet.”

Bess took Mini-George—
Janie
—over to the cabin Deborah assigned them to, Maple Shade Cabin, then moved her own things there from Pine Cabin. When the campers arrived tomorrow, they’d be presiding over a bunkful of eight-year-olds.

Next to arrive was Frankie, Maddie’s curly-brown-haired CIT, and then Susie, who had silky dark hair and a serious expression. She was assigned to Bella.

“I hope I get someone good,” George whispered to me as we continued to wait. “I liked that Janie.”

“Remember what Mrs. Collins said in kindergarten, George,” I said. “You get what you get and you don’t get upset. I’m sure we’ll both get
great
CITs. And I’m personally going to need mine! I’ve never been alone in a room with six kids before.”

“Hear, hear,” George agreed, as a classic Mustang convertible pulled up.

The girl who climbed out of the passenger seat looked like she could have walked out of a movie from the 1960s. She wore a floral scarf knotted around her hair and big, round sunglasses. Once she’d taken out her duffel bag and placed it on the ground, she smiled and pulled off the scarf, revealing a cascade of wavy blond hair. “I’m Maya?” she asked. “Maya Beaumont? I’m going to be a CIT? I’m so excited! I came to this camp when I was teeny tiny!”

Deborah walked up and introduced herself, then looked at her clipboard. Just then a silver SUV pulled up, and out climbed a preppily dressed redhead with cool blue eyes. A single silver barrette held back her bangs, and she carried a Moleskine notebook, which looked well-loved.

“Excuse me,” she said, as a middle-aged woman climbed out of the driver’s side and popped the trunk. “I’m Marcie Polk? I’m supposed to be a CIT here.”

George looked at me with raised eyebrows. But before I could respond, Maya the blonde came running over and threw her arms around me.

“I’m
so, so, so
excited!” she said. “Is your name Nancy? My name’s Maya. I’m going to be your CIT and we’re going to be in the Juniper Cabin with a bunkful of ten-year-olds! Isn’t that
perfect
? Couldn’t you just
die
? We’re going to have so much fun! Have I mentioned I came to this camp when I was little?”

I smiled and introduced myself to Maya, saying that yes, that sounded pretty great, and that I was sure we were going to have a lot of fun. “I’m sure I’ll need your help,” I added. “I’ve never been a counselor before—I’ve never even been to camp! So you can show me the ropes.”

Maya nodded eagerly. “Sure thing!”

As Maya grabbed her bag and explained which cabin was Juniper Cabin, at least as Deborah had explained it to her, George glanced at me and winked. “Have fun with Mini-Bess,” she whispered.

At that moment Marcie walked up and opened her notebook. “Are you George?” she asked. “I’m Marcie. I’m going to be your CIT. Deborah says we’ll be staying in Pine Cabin with the seven-year-olds?”

George looked a little panicked. “Hoo, boy,” she said. “The youngest campers. That will be a challenge. I’m going to need your help, kid.”

Marcie just nodded, seeming to take that in stride. She began flipping through her notebook. “I talked to my old Brownie troop leader to get some tips on dealing with kids of different ages,” she said. “Do you want to go over what she said about seven-year-olds?”

As George raised her eyebrows, Maya turned around and whistled. “Wow, you’re organized!” she said. When Marcie looked at her in surprise, Maya smiled and held out her hand. “I’m Maya. Sorry. I should introduce myself. I’m
so
excited to be here! I’m sure we’re going to be great friends! Anyway, do you always carry that notebook?”

Marcie hesitated for just a moment before smiling. “Yeah, I do. I guess I’m really curious about people. I like to talk to them and then write down what they tell me. It’s just this habit I have.”

George bugged out her eyes and looked at me.

“Mini-Nancy,” I whispered. “A complete set.”

George shook her head as though she couldn’t believe it. “All right, Min—I mean, Marcie.” She smiled. “I’m sure we’ll have more time to get to know one another at lunch. For now, though, we should probably get our stuff into Pine Cabin and start cleaning it up! Only”—she looked at her watch—“twenty-three hours until the campers arrive.”

Marcie nodded. “That’s plenty of time,” she said. “I mean, if we’re organized and stay focused.”

Maya clapped her hands. “Only twenty-three hours, guys! I can’t
wait 
! This is going to be the best week ever!” She held up one hand, palm side out.

After a moment, Marcie slapped her five. “Best week ever,” she agreed with a shy smile.

George and I followed suit. “Best week ever,” I said, feeling 100 percent better than I had before the CITs had arrived.

After we spent about an hour cleaning Juniper Cabin and getting it ready for the campers to arrive, the rest of the day was taken up by training, training, and more training, with breaks for lunch and dinner. We learned special Camp Cedarbark games like capture the flag and Shark Pit, we learned how to do trust falls, and we learned how to safely cook food over an open fire (useful for the end-of-camp campout!). We learned about fostering sportsmanship, stopping bullies, encouraging campers to resolve their own disagreements, and identifying problems a camper might have that would be too big for us to handle and should be referred to Deborah or Miles.

By the time we got back to Juniper Cabin after a long, jubilant campfire, Maya and I were ready to drop.

Maya yawned as she came out of the bathroom in her pj’s. “I can’t wait for the campers to get here,” she said, “but I also wouldn’t mind about fifteen hours to sleep before they do! I’m beat.”

I smiled. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, Maya,” I said, smoothing my own pj’s and fluffing my pillow. (I’d selected the bottom bunk this time, after my desperate pee dreams the night before.) “You were an
amazing
help today. Thank you so much. I’m really glad you’re here.”

Maya’s face lit up in her now-familiar contagious smile. “Thanks, Nancy. I’m glad I was assigned to your bunk. This is going to be great!”

We turned off the lights and climbed into our sleeping bags. I think I was basically asleep before my head hit the pillow. But not for long. It couldn’t have been more than ten or fifteen minutes before I was awoken by a light tap, tap, tapping.

At first a woodpecker appeared in my dream about a football game . . . which made no sense, and I guess was just my brain’s last-ditch attempt to keep me from waking up. But eventually my eyes cracked open and I groaned.

“What is that?” I asked out loud.

Maya was stirring in her bunk above me too. “It won’t stop! It sounds like it’s coming from the window.”

I turned. On the wall behind our heads was a small, screened window. Normally it would be open, but we’d closed it before going to bed because the night air was a little chilly.

It took a moment to make out the shape in the dark, but when I did, I gasped: a fist was knocking on our window!

“Who’s there?” I demanded.

A pale face appeared in the window. Maya and I both gasped, but as the shock faded, the features started to look familiar. . . .

“Bella!” I cried.

“Shhhh, do you want to get caught?!” Bella glared at me. “Open the door, Nancy! We’re all sneaking down to the lake!”

“Who’s ‘we’?” I asked, but Bella’s face had already disappeared, and I heard footsteps pattering around to the door of the cabin. From the sound of it, Bella had already recruited quite a few other counselors.

I looked up at Maya, who was peeking over the side of her bunk. “They’re sneaking down to the lake?” she whispered. “That sounds like fun.”

“I thought you were tired,” I whispered back.

She scrunched up her face. “I
am
,” she said, “but I don’t want to miss anything.”

I sighed. Maya’s words captured my feelings perfectly. I was really not in the mood to sneak around in the woods with Bella, of all people. But what if they all started having fun without me?

I scooched out of my sleeping bag and swung my legs to the floor. A loud tapping sound was already coming from the cabin door. “Hurry up!” a voice hissed.

I stumbled over to the door and swung it open. Nine faces greeted me: Charla, Maddie, Frankie, Bella, Susie . . . and George, Marcie, Bess, and Janie!

“George? Bess?” I asked, looking at them in surprise. “You’re part of this?”

Bess looked sheepish, and George replied, “I know. I just didn’t want to miss—I mean, make Marcie miss anything.”

Marcie nodded solemnly, patting the notebook she’d slid into her waistband.

Maya walked up behind me. Bella looked us up and down.

“Get some shorts on,” she hissed. “We’re all going down to the lake to get to know one another!”