¸·¨¯¨·¸-|Unℓєaѕhєd Nιghtмarє ((A Døg AE))

((Chapter 2/Lies, Confusion and Veggie Burgers))

Frank Hardy:
After I had helped Bess over the fallen tree, we all went into the house and Nancy lead us into the secret passageway all the way to an old speakeasy. It was a beyond awesome discovery for Nancy to make. How does she do that anyway?
After Bess claimed that she saw one of the dogs in the paintings eyes move we all headed back upstairs.
Now Bess and George were rushing around unpacking all their stuff. (Did I mention that they do not travel light?)
“What are we having for dinner, Nancy?” Bess asks taking a seat at the table.
“Dinner?” Nancy asks nervously.
“Uhhh, yeah. You know…food that you eat in the evening?” Bess explains with a roll of her blue eyes.
“I’m afraid I didn’t really think that far…”
Bess gets up and opens the refrigerator which is empty.
“Nancy!” She exclaims. “What have you been living on for the past week? Thin air?!”
“No!” Nancy says defensively. “I brought a few energy bars with me and instant oatmeal.”
Bess’ mouth drops open. “That is not a balanced diet, honey. I mean real food.”
“Like Cheeseburgers!” Joe offers.
I roll my eyes.
“Wait!” George says suddenly. “I guess I forgot to let you know Nancy, I’m going vegan so I brought enough vegetarian meals for at least…3 to 4 days.”
“Oh George,” Bess says swatting her hand in the air. “Not those gross-”
“Veggie burgers!” George announces. “I can do the cooking tonight Nance. You just relax and take a break. You’ve done enough for all of us today.”
Nancy looks doubtful for a moment. “Okay.” She says at last. “Just, don’t burn the house down, Red Knott would have a fit.” She pauses for a moment. “And so would Sally McDonald. So be VERY careful.”
“Of course!” Says George quickly. “I mean, how hard could it be?”
I glance over at Joe who is sitting across the room. He does not look thrilled.
“Can’t we just do burgers?” He asks hopefully.
George crosses her arms and frowns. “Joe Hardy.” She says firmly. “Do you realize that an innocent animal had to die for you to have a burger?”
“Uhh…” Joe stammers.
“Exactly.” George replies smartly. “We’re having Veggie burgers. The humane way to eat.”
“Sounds…Great.” I say with a smile.

Nancy Drew:Things are going from bad to worse.
When I say worse I mean Worse.
I showed Bess, George, Frank and Joe around the Speakeasy, but I didn’t show them the tunnels or anything else. I…I just couldn’t let them see that…that I…Failed.
I feel really bad about…lying to my friends but I just…had to. It’s not really a lie It’s just a…uh…not telling them everything…but…Ok, it’s a lie.
I don’t know what to do.
I just hope that they don’t ask me about the mystery…Nancy? Come on! Where is your brain? Of course they are going to ask about the mystery! That is why they came up here after all isn’t it? To…help me solve the case.
But they cannot. There is nothing they can do. Nothing.
“It’s such a nice evening.” Bess says gazing out the cabin window, breaking me out of my thoughts. “I think I’ll go outside. Want to come Nance?”
“I’ll be there in one minute.” I tell her.
Bess leaves, Frank heads upstairs, Joe follows Bess outside and George fiddles with the dials on the stove.
“Nancy?” George calls. “How do you turn this thing on?”
“I don’t really know…umm…” I look at the old stove fearfully. “Maybe we should-” I am cut off by a piercing scream coming from outside.
George and I rush onto the porch to find Bess covering her eyes and pointing to the porch steps.
“What is wrong with you?!” George shouts.
Joe, who is standing on the dock, jogs over to see what is wrong.
“It’s…It’s….a caterpillar!” Bess shrieks. “Get it away from me!”
“I’ll take care of it.” Joe says getting ready to squish the bug.
“No!” George pushes Joe out of the way. “Don’t kill it! It’s just a harmless little bug!” She lets the yellow glow worm inch it’s way onto her finger.
She smirks. “Isn’t it beautiful?” She asks waving it in front of Bess’s face.
“Ahhhhh! Get that gross thing away from me!” She screams again as I clap my hands over my ears.
“Bess! Please stop scream-”
BANG!
The stove!
“George! Did you leave the burner on?!” I yell, running into the house.
“Uhh….I don’t think so…Wait, I think did!”
I enter the house to find…The oven door has fallen off. Thank goodness…
I walk quickly over to the oven and make sure all the burners are off.
“We are not using this stove.” I tell George who entered the house soon after me. “You’ll have to make a fire outside.”
“Ok, I can make a campfire.” George says after a moment.
“Sounds good. Maybe you could get Frank or Joe to help you with it.” I say. “I was going to go and get my Kayak off the roof of your car.”
“Okay Nance, don’t worry about a Thing!” She replies. “I’ve got everything under control.”
I sigh. “Okay.”
I head outside and Bess heads inside muttering something about bugs…
I hear Frank come downstairs and begin asking about the banging he heard.
I take the stairs two at a time, walk across the driveway and jump across the fallen tree.
I hadn’t seen Joe since the “bug episode” with Bess. He had probably went to explore the trails behind the house…
I un-strap my kayak and lower it gently to the ground.
The sun is creeping lower into the sky, beginning to cast it’s soft golden rays across the shimmering waters of Moon Lake.
I carry my kayak over to the dock and slide it into the water.
It’s too late to go for a ride tonight.
I sigh and sit down at the end of the dock.
Why did things have to turn out this way?
I rest my head in my hands and stare out over the water.
I have never met a mystery I couldn’t solve…until now.
If only I had been in the tunnels one moment earlier, if only I had thought more about what I was doing, if only…
I sigh again. “Nancy, why do you have to be so stupid sometimes…” I mutter to myself miserably. The more I think about the mystery the more angry I become at myself.
“Nancy?”
I quickly turn to see Joe standing on the dock behind me. He looks concerned.
“Joe!” I gasp. How long has he been standing there? “I…uh…I…” I have no idea what to say. I feel my face burning. I quickly tie my kayak up and get to my feet. “I…better go and see if George needs any help.”
I brush past him, but before I can get off the dock-
“Nancy wait,” I feel Joe’s hand close around mine.
I bite my lip and turn to face Joe.
“Are you okay?”
I pause for a moment avoiding his gaze.
“I…” I stop. Am I going to lie again or tell my friend what is really going on…? “I…I…I’m fine.”
Joe looks doubtful.
“Just a little stressed out from working on this case…” That is the truth…well some of it anyway.
“Ok,” Joe finally replies. “You just seem…” He pauses and looks me straight in the eye.
“Different.”
I look at the ground. “I’m fine. Really.”
“If you need to talk, I’m here for you.”
I force a smile and thank him before heading back to the house to make sure everything is going smoothly. I feel terrible. Joe is being such a good friend and…I lied to him. I’ve lied to all my friends, but how could I tell them the truth? ‘Oh yeah, guys? I failed and let the culprit escape right under my nose, case closed.’ Not a chance! I don’t want everyone to know that I failed.
As I approach the house I can see Bess on the porch…painting her nails. Okaaaay. George is by the side of the house setting up her tent and cooking her vegan burgers for tonight.
“Nancy?” George calls. “Could you bring me a plate for the burgers?”
“Uh, sure.” I head inside the house and begin rummaging through the cabinets in search of a plate for George.

***

Joe Hardy:
Something is up with Nancy.
When she took us down into the old speakeasy she seemed really…nervous, and then when I talked to her on the dock I knew something was definitely wrong. I think it has something to do with the mystery, but, I don’t know for sure. She just doesn’t seem herself.
“The Burgers are ready!” George calls as she heads up the porch steps and into the house.
Soon we are all seated around the kitchen table, in front of a plate of steaming…veggie burgers.
“These are amazing!” George says as she puts a veggie burger on each of our plates. “So nutritious!”
I cautiously take a small bite, I swallow hard then take a gulp of the all natural cherry vanilla water (Also George’s idea.)
How can anyone call that a burger? It has really weird vegetables that I can’t even identify in it. It tastes like old socks…or something really similar.
“How is everything?” George asks in a moment.
“It’s pretty good.” Frank says at last.
“Yes.” Nancy agrees, though she hasn’t eaten half of her burger.
“I can’t stand them George, sorry.” Bess pipes in. “The…salad was yummy though.”
“Did you like them Joe?” George looks at me.
“Uh…yeah. They were…great.” I say in a very unenthusiastic voice.
After dinner and clean up, I head outside with Frank.
The sun is disappearing into Moon Lake, casting slightly creepy looking shadows over the dense woods surrounding the house.
Bess and George had gone upstairs to unpack even more of their stuff and had dragged Nancy along with them.
“This place is pretty awesome” Frank comments, folding his hands behind his head.
“It sure is. A little creepy too, don’t you think? ”
“I guess, I mean with what Nancy’s told us over the phone about the ‘ghost dogs’ yeah. It’s just a tad creepy.” He says squinting into the bright red setting sun.
I sigh. “Have you noticed that Nancy hasn’t really talked about the case that much?” I ask my older brother. I wonder if I’m the only one who’s noticed…?
Frank thinks for a moment. “Hmm, I guess she has been a little quiet now that you mention it. Considering that normally when she’s on a case she’ll talk about it constantly.”
“Exactly.”
“But then she’s been busy with all of us coming here today.” Frank says again.
“Maybe.” I pause for a moment.
Suddenly A shrill scream tears through the quiet air around us.
“What the…” My voice trails off as my eyes dart back and forth searching for the source of the noise.
“This way,” Says Frank heading off in the direction of a grassy pathway to the left of the house.
I follow him and soon we end up at the base of a tree, with steps leading up.
Frank glances up and then looks at me.
“I think there’s someone up there.” He says quietly. “We should go, It’s getting dark.”
True. The sun had ducked behind the hills across the lake, but I mean, who cares? I’m not leaving until I find out what that noise was.
I start climbing up the ladder.
“Joe!”
I sigh. “Come on Frank, no need to be scared.”
“I’m not-”
“Then come on!”
Frank glares at me for a moment then begins climbing up the tree after me.
Soon I can see the glow of a lantern peeking over the platform above. Frank was right (A first) Someone’s up there.
I reach the top and pull myself onto the wooden surface.
I hear another one of those weird screeches and then a flapping noise.
“No!” I hear an enraged hoarse voice exclaim.
In a moment I am face to face with an angry camouflaged guy wearing narrow rimmed glasses framing his sharp, dark eyes. “What are you doing up here?” He yells in to my face.
“I, uh, was….just, um-” I have no idea what to say. Where’s Frank when I need him?
The man presses his lips into a thin line and glares at me before returning to his pair of binoculars. “That was a Tyto Alba, you fool!” He turns back to me. “What were you doing making all that noise?”
Thankfully Frank reaches the platform just in time.
“I’m sorry we bothered you, sir,” He says in his most innocent-little-boy scout voice. “We just heard this-”
“Screeching noise?” The man cuts in. “That was a Tyto Alba.”
“A Tyto-what?” I ask confused.
“A Tyto Alba…a Barn Owl of course! Until the two of you scared it away with all your…” He pauses to cringe “…Noise!”
“We’re sorry, sir,” Frank continues. “My younger brother was just concerned about the Barn Owls common vocalizations for some reason.” He hides a smirk.
I shoot him a side glare.
The birdwatcher sighs. “Whatever. It’s gone now.” He turns to Frank. “You don’t happen to be staying at Sally McDonald’s place do you?”
“Well, uh yes, but-” Frank begins, but is cut off.
“Before you get off on your annoying explanations let me tell you one thing, I am a birdwatcher, I come to Moon lake to watch birds not people. The less people the better. It’s already bad enough having Nancy Drew here, never mind her boyfriend too-”
“But I’m not-” Frank looks flustered. I smirk a little. Frank always gets blamed for everything. Better him than me.
“I don’t need the extra noise to frighten away these amazing creatures, so I suggest you take extra care when you and your friend-” He gestures towards me. “-are around my lookout. Understand?”
“Uh, Yes, but I don’t think you-”
“Good. Now I must ask you to please vacate this area while I call in more birds.”
“But…” Frank sighs, understanding that talking to this guy further is a lost cause. “Goodnight, sir.” He grabs my sleeve and practically drags me back down to the ground below.
“What a grouch.” I complain shaking Franks hand off me as we reach the path back to the cabin.
“Yeah.” Frank says. “He seems pretty serious about his hobby.”
I nod. “He didn’t even tell us his name.”
“We can find out from Nancy,” Frank replies. “He’s obviously met her before.”
I grin mischievously. “You mean your girlfriend?”
Frank rolls his eyes and whacks me on the side of my head.
I can’t help but laugh. Frank is so easy to tease.
By the time we make it back to the cabin it’s nearly black out.
Bess greets us at the door.
“Oh my gosh, guys!” She exclaims. “I have been so worried about you both!”
She gives me a hug.
“I almost fell out of a tree, thanks to Frank here.” I say elbowing my brother.
“Your fault Bro,” He replies. “I told you not to go up there.”
“Up where?” Nancy asks coming down the stairs.
“Up in some bird watcher dude’s tree fort.” I say sarcastically. “And, he thought Frank was your-Oww!” Frank elbows me before I can say anything else.
“Joe insisted we go and find out what that screeching noise we heard was and-”
“I did not insist!” I protest. “You lead the way.”
Frank rolls his eyes. “Anyway, It turns out it was a Tyto Alba,”
“Oh, please, Frank. Don’t use birdwatcher lingo.” I groan.
“It’s actually a scientific name Joe.” Frank says. “For; Barn Owl. So we met this guy on his platform in a tree, who was watching birds. He wasn’t what you’d call, pleasant, exactly, but he said he’d met you?”
Nancy nods. “Red Knot. Yeah I’ve seen him a couple of times.”
“What’s his problem?” I ask.
“Uh, nothing I guess.” Nancy tells me. “Like Frank said, he’s just not that friendly.”
Suddenly the front door opens and George walks in.
“Guys!” She exclaims. “I’ve been hearing this wicked creepy but cool howling noise outside!”
Bess’s crystal blue eyes become huge.
“Who wants to go see if we can find out what’s making them!?” George looks excited. The exact opposite of Bess.
“George are you INSANE?!” She squeals. “It’s probably wolves or something dangerous.”
George looks doubtful. “Wild animals will only attack when they feel threatened.” She says putting her hands on her hips.
“Uh, yeah and wouldn’t running through the woods at night looking for them, make them feel “Threatened”” Bess says, making air quotes.
“Guys, relax.” Nancy Says. “It’s just the dogs.”
“Wh-what dogs?” Bess says, her voice shaking slightly.
“The…“ghost” Dogs. Remember I told you about them over the phone.” Nancy says walking over to the window and peering out into the darkness.
“Oh.” Bess sighs. “Now I feel a whole lot better, It’s just the ghost dogs you told me about over the phone. No big deal right? Nancy! We need to get out of here!!!”
Bess, still standing next to me, causes me to go deaf for a moment.
“Bess, would you calm down! It’s no big deal. You love dogs, remember?” George reminds her cousin.
“Yeah, Maltese and Bichon Frise, not huge, haunted Rottweilers!” Bess shouts fearfully.
“Ughh. I’m going to bed.” George says finally, clearly irritated by Bess’s freak-out.
“No, wait!” Bess exclaims. “Nancy, do you think it’s safe for George to sleep…outside?”
Nancy bites her lip. “I think so, but, the dogs do act a little…crazed.”
The howls start echoing through the small cabin.
“You can sleep inside if you like George.” Nancy says after a moment. “I just don’t know if it’s safe enough to be outside tonight.”
George sighs. “Fine. Just for tonight though. For Bess’s sake only, because I think it would be totally awesome to camp out with ghost dogs.”
The eerie howling travels closer and closer, then suddenly-
I hear Bess’s ear piercing scream as the power flickers
…and the room goes black.

((Chapter 3/FlashLight Trouble))

George Fayne:
“Power outage!” I shout after Bess finally stops screaming. “Sweet!”
“It is not “Sweet” George!” I hear Bess sob from somewhere in the dark room. “It’s not even good, it’s…it’s horrible!”
“Bess Calm down.” Nancy assures her. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
“Everyone just stay put until we find some flash lights.” I hear Frank say.
You know what I can never understand? Why do people get soooooo freaked out over loosing power? I mean, come on! Good thing Bess didn’t live in the 1800’s because she wouldn’t last 5 minutes. I personally think Power outages rock! Everything is dark and scary looking. It looks especially cool during thunderstorms! When the lightning flashes and casts those eerie shadows across the walls then, a few seconds later that huuuuge rumble of thunder. Ahhh, bliss.
I blindly make my way towards what I think is the window. I take a few steps, my arm brazes something-or-someone.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Something touched me!”
“Bess! It’s me! Seriously…” I roll my eyes.
“Frank did you find a flash light?” I hear Nancy ask.
“Uhh, Not yet…”
“I don’t get it, why we just lost power.” I say to no one in particular as I check the radar weather map on my cell. “There’s no storm coming even close to here.”
“Are you sure?” I hear Joe ask from somewhere close by.
“I’m sure, sure.” I hold out the phone as Joe makes his way over to me.
“Hmm.” He mutters, confused after examining the screen. “I don’t know.”
“Y-y-you d-don’t think that s-someone could have, like, cut the power lines d-do you Nancy?” Comes Bess’s shaky voice from the sofa.
“I doubt it.” Nancy Says blankly. “I mean, what would be the point?”
“Well you are working on a case you know? Maybe someone, like, knows your catching on to them?” Bess replies.
“Uhh….no, I don’t think so.” Nancy replies opening and closing drawers and cabinets somewhere in the kitchen.
“Whaddya mean Nan?” I ask. “How do you know?”
“What? I mean, yeah, definitely. It could be that…” Nancy says hurriedly
Hmm…
“Found it!” Frank says as a beam of light burns into my eyes.
“Frrrraaaaaaaank! Please!” I shout, covering my eyes.
“Opps, sorry George.” Frank apologizes.
***

After sitting in the dark for nearly ten minutes trying to decide what to do I finally speak up, “Look, I say we just go outside and see what the problem is. End o’ story.”
“George don’t be so naïve!” Bess says in her ‘I’m so smart voice’. “Do you want to get eaten by the ghost dogs? Hmm?”
“Oh, Bess. Come on! Everyone knows that dogs don’t eat people.” I roll my eyes.
“I say two of us go out and see what’s going on.” I repeat.
“I’ll go!” Joe says jumping up from where he is sitting.
“No! Don’t leave me!” Bess whines grabbing Joe by the hand.
Joe sighs and I can imagine him rolling his eyes.
“Bess, you’ll be fine.” Nancy says. “Frank and I are here.”
Nancy and Frank finally convince Bess that Joe and I won’t be eaten alive, I snap on the flash light and pull on my black Sea Shepherd’s hoodie.
Soon Joe and I are outside walking around in the complete darkness.
The small beam from the flashlight darts back and forth through the tall pines.
Only a few glowing coals of the campfire I’d made remains in the fire pit by the porch.
“This way.” I whisper, turning towards the back of the house.
Suddenly I feel a hand on my shoulder.
I can’t help but jump a little.
“What?” I ask Joe, a little irritated.
‘Listen’ He whispers directing my attention to the pitch black woods.
I strain my ears, trying hard to catch a tidbit of what ever Joe had just heard.
A bullfrog groans from somewhere by the dock and an occasional screech owl trills from a treetop.
Then over the wild sounds I hear something else…
SNAP!
The sound of someone…
Snap, snap, thud, thud, thud, crunch, snap, snap, snap, thud
…Running through the woods!
I move forward, swinging the flashlight around helplessly.
No use. Whoever, or, whatever it was, is safely hidden by the darkness.
“What do you think that was?” I breathe.
“I don’t know…” Joe whispers back.
“Come on,” I say. “We need to get to where the power lines connect to the house.”
We continue making are way through the night until we reach the power box to find a wire that appears to be torn in half, sizzling in midair, a fallen tree laying close by.
“That tree must’ve fallen on the power lines.” I whisper.
“It sure looks that way.” Joe says softly. “And that thing is live, we’d better not get to close.”
I nod.
“Come on,” Joe says. “We should get back inside and tell the others about this.” He gestured towards the live dangling wire a few feet away from us.
I nod.
It’s so dark, I can barely see Joe standing next to me without a flashlight!
I snap it on and we start making our way to the porch.
Then the unthinkable happens…
The dim beam from the flashlight becomes dimmer, dimmer, gone!
“Uh-oh.” I mutter.
“What do you mean, ‘uh-oh’?”
“I mean the flashlight decided to die on us!” I explain smacking it against the palm of my hand. “Come. *Bang!* On. *Bang!* You. *Bang!* Stupid. *Bang!* Thing!!!” I continue hitting it against my open hand.
“George, seriously.” Joe sighs. “That’s not gonna make it work.”
“My Dad always hits machinery or battery operated things when they’re not working.” I tell him.
“And does that help, at all?”
“Uh, no…not usually. *Bang!* But it sure does make you feel better!” I laugh. “Take it.” I say slapping the flashlight into his hand.
“Maybe the batteries are loose.” He says jiggling something on the flash light.
“Uh, yeah, or maybe, they’re dead?” I roll my eyes.
I hear something hit the ground.
“What was that?”
“Opps, there go the batteries.”
“You dropped them?!”
“Sorry.” Joe says annoyed.
“Oooooooooooo” An eerie howl fills the air again.
“Yeah, did I mention we need to get back inside?” Joe asks sounding a little worried.
“Yes, you did.” I say glaring at (what I think is) Him. “And we would be inside if you hadn’t dropped the batteries!”
“Hey, you’re the one who broke it!”
“No I didn’t!” I shout. “It died on it’s own, and if it could have been fixed, you’ve ruined any chance of it.”
The howling grows closer, but I don’t notice.
“Ugggghh.” Joe groans. “Well we can’t do anything about it now!”
“Yes we have to!” I hiss. “It’s the only one in the house, Bess is going to freak again if we come back without it.”
I stoop down and begin running my hands over the ground feeling around for the batteries.
“You still have the rest of it right?
Silence.
“Right?”
“Uhh, well, I, uh, kinda dropped the thingie that you forget on top.”
“The actual light part?!” I exclaim. Figures, that’s what I get for handing it to Joe…
“Sorry, but I have the rest though.” Joe’s voice sounds distant. He must have moved further away from me in our search.
“Like that will do us any good.” I mumble.
I look up to see a weird greenish glow, coming from around the back of the house.
“What is that…?” I slowly get to my feet and creep over.
As I reach the corner my foot catches on something.
I gasp as I fall forward, my hands and knees meeting the hard earth with a thud.
I groan and brush myself off.
“George?” Joe calls from somewhere. “You ok?”
“Yeah, I’m-” I look up…and gasp.
I am face to face with two, large, green, glowing eyes.
I can feel the large creature’s warm breath on my face.
I feel as if I am glued in place as the ghost dog’s glowing eyes penetrate into mine and he lets out a low growl.
“I’m…not ok.” I manage to croak as the dog throws it’s head back and gives off an earsplitting howl.

Goodness, George. Forget the stupid flashlight, hold on to Joe, and get back to the house! But it's too late now, now Joe has to fight off the ghost dog. xD

This was great, Kate! Can't wait for chapter 4 and 5 -coughcoughcough- But I guess that the bad guy isn't gone, because the ghost dogs are still here! Intrestingggg.

Nancy Drew:
“Why aren’t they back yet?” Bess asks squeezing my hand harder. “Wh-what d-do you think h-happened?”
I sigh. “Relax,” I tell her. “Everything’s fine.”
To tell you the truth, I am a bit worried about them, It should have only taken two minutes to check around the cabin for anything out of order, but my friends have been gone for over 10 minutes. On top of it all, the howling dogs have been at it the entire time making Bess feel really relaxed. Not.
I don’t get it. The gold is gone, that dog pen I found in the secret room was empty and abandoned, and yet…the dogs are still out there running around? It just doesn’t make sense.
Suddenly the front door swings open.
A dark figure enters followed by a…dog with glowing eyes!?
Frank and I jump up from where we had been sitting with Bess.
The dog growls, It’s eyes glowing bright green.
Bess shrieks and hides behind Frank.
“It’s ok, boy-or- girl.” I here a familiar voice say.
“George!?” Frank and I both exclaim at once.
“What are you doing…with-” I stare at the animal.
“George, get it out of here!” Bess shrieks again.
“Guys! Chill.” George says. “It’s not a ghost. It’s a dog.”
Another figure enters the house.
“You brought it in the house? Seriously…” Joe mutters slamming the door shut.
“What did you expect me to do?” George retorts. “Leave it outside?”
“Uh, yeah.” Joe says blankly.
After I get over the shock, I realize what a great clue this could be. If the dog wasn’t…vicious, I would be able to examine it in the morning, maybe find out who it belongs to.
“Bess it’s fine.” I hear Frank sigh. “You don’t have to freak out.”
The dog whimpers and lays down on the floor beside George.
“Poor little darling.” George coos sitting down beside it.
It whimpers again.
“I think there’s something wrong with him.” George says softly.
“No, I think there’s something wrong with you!” Bess scoffs. “Bringing some stray haunted dog in here!”
“He’s not haunted! It’s just a dog Bess, He’s friendly…” I tune out of the two cousin’s argument and make my way over to Joe who is blocked in the doorway by the huge dog.
“Did you guys find out what happened to the power?”
Joe nods. “Tree fell. Took the power line with it. I didn’t get a really good look at it because…uh, we had a little incident with the flashlight.”
“Oh.” I say. “I see. Well, we can check it out in the morning” I yawn and glance at my watch. 10:00. PM!
No wonder I’m tired. I’m pretty used to going to bed early. When I’m home that is…
I finally convince George to share a room with Bess for tonight, I told her I’d sleep down here on the couch. I want to keep an eye on things. Mainly the new visitor…
***

I groan as I feel a warm, wet something being rubbed all over my face.
I open one eye. I am greeted by two green glowing eyes and a giant pink tongue lapping my face.
I groan and wipe my face with the sleeve of my fuzzy green pajamas.
I sit up on the couch and check my watch. 2:00AM. Great.
“Do you have any idea what time it is?” I ask the dog with a yawn.
He pants and puts his big paws up on the sofa.
“Noooo waaaay.” I sigh, nudging the dog away from me. “There’s not enough room for both of us buddy-Ooohhff!” I exclaim as the rottweiler leaps on top of me and continues lapping my face.
I can’t help but laugh a little, it really tickles!
I run my hand along the Dog’s neck. I feel a harness on the dog’s head, then my fingers come across a buckle.
I unsnap it and slide it off.
“So that’s were you get your emerald eyes.” I tell him, looking down at the two green plastic beads, glowing in my hand.
He lets out a little whine then turns around three times, lays on my feet and closes his eyes.
I smile, despite the slight pain in my feet from the hundred pounds of Dog laying on top of them.
I close my eyes and soon drift of to sleep…
***
I hear a bird singing outside my window.
It’s morning already?
I smile and rub the sleep out of my eyes even though they are still shut.
I can no longer feel my feet. I figure My little friend must have slept on them all night.
I open my eyes half way.
Two gorgeous chocolate brown eyes stare back into mine.
“Good morning.” I say, studying the young dogs beautiful face. I have to say, he’s totally cute, with a sleek black coat and brass colored muzzle and circular eye brows.
I notice a medium sized cut on his right, front paw.
George was right. She knows a lot about animals, I’m sure she’ll be able to help him.
He gives my face another long, wet lick.
“Ok, ok. I’m getting up.” I glance at my watch: 10:00AM!
“Oh, no! I over slept!” I hop out of bed and head upstairs to shower and get dressed. (Dog in tow.) I dry off and decide on a navy blue polo tee and white cargo shorts. I quickly pull my messy strawberry blonde hair into a loose braid.
I soon find that no one’s in the house except Bess who’s still sleeping.
After that, I head back down stairs and grab a banana from of the counter. (George had brought them.) I peel it and shove half of it in my mouth and give the rest to…
Hmm…
“What are we gonna call you?” I ask the dog as he gobbles up the fruit. “You must have a name already.”
He looks up at me with empty eyes.
I stroke his head and smile.
I head outside, leaving Eddie in the kitchen to enjoy his banana, plus, I have no idea how he’ll react to being outside again. He might just take off. We’ll have to make him a leash.
“Somebody slept late.” George says with a smile, stepping out of her tent and zipping it shut again.
I notice she’s wearing kaki shorts, an “Extinct is Forever” Tank top with a whale’s tail displayed on the front and a pair of brown, green and yellow Rocket-Dog sneakers.
“Don’t remind me.” I groan. “Where is everyone?”
“Frank and Joe went for a walk,” She gestures towards the trails in the woods. “Bess is still sleeping isn’t she?”
I nod.
“I’m here,” She continues. “And your there. And that’s where everyone is.” She grins.
I laugh. “Well thank you for pointing that out, Captain Obvious.” We both laugh.
George shares some of her whole grain breakfast flakes (Their actually pretty good!) with me and then I ask her to show me where the power line snapped.
“It’s really weird,” She explains as we head over. “That a tree would just happen to fall on the lines. It wasn’t the least bit windy last night!”
I nod. “Your right.” I agree.
We reach the back of the house.
“Woah,” I murmur. A medium sized tree, with branches still filled with leaves lays nearby the snapped line. “That tree wasn’t dead when It fell.” I observe. “Look at all it’s leaves.” I point to it’s large branches.
“It looks like it fell from over…” George walks back a few paces. “…Here.”
Sure enough, George finds a sappy tree stump close by.
“Hmm…” I think aloud. “If this tree fell on it’s own, it would have a jagged break not a smooth cut like this.” I point out, touching the smooth surface with the toe of my sneaker.
“That means…” My voice trails off.
George and I exchange worried looks.
We both reply at once “Someone cut it.”


Frank Hardy:
“Do you think Nancy will let me take her boat out?” Joe asks.
“Her Kayak?” I ask, bending down to observe a white, weathered sneaker embedded in the ground.
“Uh, no.” He replies. “The motor boat”
“Oh,” I say, standing back up again. “You mean Sally McDonalds’ outboard?”
“I don’t care who’s it is,” Joe groans. “I want to use it.”
Joe can be so annoying sometimes.
“Whatever,” I say. “you’ll have to ask Nancy about that.”
I continue walking down one of the paths before Joe starts with the whole ‘Nancy and Me’ mix-up with Red Knot, again.
“So, Frank? What do you think of that Dog?” Joe asks catching up.
I think for a moment. “I don’t know, It’s a little weird but, it might lead us to it’s owner or something.”
Joe laughs. “When I came down stairs this morning he was sleeping on top of Nancy.”
I laugh. “The dog has only been here one night and he already thinks he owns the place.”
“I know right?” Joe continues. “When George found him, he was howling and growling but then a few minutes later he was slobbering all over her!”
“I wonder where he came from?” I wonder aloud.
“I wondered that too.” Joe says, then he smirks. “Maybe you should ask your girlfriend about it.”
I groan. Joe is never going to let me live this down.
Joe keeps babbling on about it as we go, then I hear a bird-like screaming.
I stop, my eyes scanning the trees, then I spot a large bird perched on a high branch in a pine tree.
I clap my hand over my brother’s mouth. “Quiet! That’s a red-tailed hawk!” I hiss, pointing to the tree top.
I move closer to the tree and look up just in time to see it flap away.
“You scared it!” Joe scolds me mimicking Red Knott. He rolls his eyes. “Why don’t you go hang out with that bird watcher guy.”
“Maybe I will,” I tell him annoyed. “At least he doesn’t talk constantly, like someone I know…”
“I do not!”
“Do too.”
“Do not!”
“Hey Nancy said there’s some sort of graveyard back there,” I change the subject as I turn down another pathway. “Want to go check it out?”
“Definitely!” Joe says forgetting about badgering me. For now.
After getting lost three times, we finally make it to the old cemetery.
Joe wanders around looking at the ancient headstones, while I walk up to, what appears to be, the crypt of Mickey Malone.
We look around for a few more minutes before turning back.
When we reach the cabin we find Bess near the dock, staring at her light pink kayak in horror.
Her wavy blonde hair is pulled into a side ponytail with a large pink beaded hair tie to match her light pink shirt, Pink beaded necklace, baby blue jeans, and pink beaded flip-flops.
“George?” Bess asks, her eyes still fixed upon the kayak. “How do you expect me to get in this? There are bugs all over it.”
“So?” George calls back as she makes her way over with Nancy, carrying her kayak. “They won’t hurt you.”
Bess makes a face. “I think I’ll pass for today.”
George carefully slides the tan kayak into the water and ties it up by Nancy’s green, tie-dyed one.
Nancy checks her watch and looks up. “I have to make a trip to Em’s Emporiums, the store across the lake and then check with Ranger Ackers about the power line, I think he might be able to help with it. Does anyone else want to come?”
“Oh, I will Nan!” Bess says, sounding happy that she wouldn’t have to go boating with George. “I love shopping!”
Nancy laughs. “It’s not exactly a shopping spree, Bess.” She tells her. “We’re just picking up a few staples.”
“I enjoy shopping anywhere, anytime, for anything.” Bess giggles.
“Joe and I brought our Kayaks,” I say. “We could go with George while you both go to Em’s.” I offer.
“Sounds great.” George smiles.
Joe looks towards the house. “What’re we going to do with him?”
I look over to see the large rottweiler staring longingly out the window.
“Good question.” Nancy admits rubbing her chin. “Could you take a look at his paw George? He has a cut.”
“Sure.” George gets up and goes into the house for a few moments before returning with the dog on a makeshift leash of thin green and blue hiking rope.
She takes a bottle of antiseptic out of her backpack and washes his paw.
“All done sweetie.” She says kissing the dog’s face. “You’re such a sweet little boy.”
“He’s not that little.” Joe points out sarcastically. “In fact he’s not little at all. He’s Huge!”
“I wonder what his name is?” I think aloud.
“Good question.” Joe replies. “I know! Let’s try to guess it, there’s only about fifty thousand names to choose from, lets start with A…umm…aardvark.”
“Don’t be silly.” Bess rolls her eyes smiling. “Who’d name their dog Aardvark? How about Max?”
The dog doesn’t even look up.
“I guess not.” Nancy says. “Sam?”
The dog lays down and licks his lips.
“Yellow?” George offers.
“Goldie?” Bess pipes in.
“Goldie is a girl’s name.” Joe protests. “How about, Spike? Or… Hunter? … Chomper? Killer? Twister?”
“Ewwww…” Bess groans. “His name is definitely not any of those.”
Nancy looks thoughtful. “How about Mike? Or…Eddie?”
The dog’s ears perk up. He sits up and cocks his head.
“Eddie?” Nancy repeats. “Is that your name, boy?”
He barks once.
“I guess so.” I laugh. “Good job Nance.”
She strokes Eddie’s head. “Good boy, Eddie.”



Bess Marvin:
“Are you coming?” Nancy asks impatiently as she ties up the boat at the Park Ranger station.
I glance at the large gap of water separating me from the dock. “Uh, yeah, once I figure out how to get out of this boat!”
Nancy sighs. “Just hop out. No big deal.”
I roll my eyes. “Easy for you to say Nan.”
I take Nancy’s hand as I carefully step onto the dock. I feel something slide off of my foot.
“My flip-flop!” I gasp. I feel myself loosing balance and I begin falling backwards into Nancy.
“Bess!” Nancy Gasps, catching me. “Calm down.”
Nancy leans over the dock and fishes my shoe out of a cluster of weeds.
“Here.” She says holding it out to me.
“Ewwww…” I drawl picking a piece of algae off of it and tossing it into the water.
I reluctantly slide it back onto my foot, and follow Nancy into the Ranger station.
“Hello Ms. Drew.” A young man behind the counter greets her. He’s tall, with dark hair, warm chocolate eyes and wearing a ranger’s uniform. How cute!
“Hello Ranger Akers, How are you today?” Nancy asks politely.
“Doing well, and yourself?”
“Pretty good,” Nancy replies. “though, we had a little incident at the cabin the other night, you see the power lines…”
I tune out of Nancy’s long explanation of the whole creepy power outage last night.
I begin to wander around, pretending to be interested in the articles about deer mice and poison Ivy which hang on almost every spare surface.
I yawn and head over to a computer and browse through the selections of articles and pictures of Moon Lake. I become bored with that pretty fast so I move on to checking my email and YR page updates.
“Well,” I hear Ranger Ackers say. “I will give the power company a call and see what they can do.”
“Great!” Nancy exclaims.
I stretch, stand up and return to my place at the front desk, beside Nancy.
The park Ranger checks his watch. “I have a two hour lunch break, I can give them a ring then.”
“Thank you so much, Ranger Akers!” Nancy says happily. “I really appreciate it! I have some friends staying with me so It’ll be great to have to power back on.”
I clear my throat.
“Oh, this is my friend, Bess Marvin.” Nancy introduces me. “She’s staying at the cabin with me.”
He nods and shakes my hand. “Pleased to meet you Miss Marvin.” He smiles. “Since your new to Moon Lake, you may like to read up on the different plant and animal species that are native to this area,” He hands me a brochure with a deer mouse on the front. Oh, great…More deer mice! Like if I’d want to read MORE about them…
“Oh, sounds fascinating.” I say, my eyes beginning to droop with boredom.
“Yes, indeed, deer mice are cute animals but believe you me, you don’t want to go anywhere near those guys…” He continues talking about how utterly nasty the mice are and how to clean the places they’ve “Inhabited.”
I stifle a yawn.
“…And here is your very own junior Ranger pin,” He hands me a yellow and green button pin with a skunk in a ranger’s hat on the front. “I don’t get to hand these out very often.” He explains. Hmm…can’t imagine why, I think to myself.
I mentally roll my eyes.
“Aww, that’s so sweet of you.” I say with my brightest plastic smile.
He smiles back. “I’m glad to be able to offer you interesting information on this beautiful area, Ms. Marvin.”
“We should get going…” Nancy says, checking her watch. “Thanks again, Ranger Akers.”
I scoop up all the ‘informative’ papers Ranger Akers had given me.
“See ya.” I say with a smile.
“Goodbye.” He replies smiling.
Nancy and I head back to the dock.
“Oooh, Jeff Akers just loved you.” Nancy teases me after we’ve gotten into the boat.
I sigh modestly. “I can’t help it Nan, everybody loves me.” I smile.
Nancy laughs and shakes her head.
She starts up the motor and we zip over to Em’s store.
A bell above the door jingles as we enter.
The place is filled to the rafters with…stuff! Stuff of all kinds! Old bottle’s from the 1920’s sit quietly on untouched shelves along with pretty china dishes, camping supplies, food, live bait (Eww!) and even Koko Cringle Bars! I am definitely going to have to grab one of those before we leave! (Yum!)
“Well, hello there Nancy!” Comes a woman’s loud Sothern voice from the front counter. “What can I do for ya?”
“Hi, Emily!” Nancy greets her. “I just need to pick up a few staples. Running a bit low on food and such.” She takes my hand and pulls me over to the counter.
“Bess, this is Emily Griffon, Emily, this is my friend Bess.” Nancy smiles and heads over to the other side of the room to pick up the things we need, leaving me to chat with Em.
“Nice to meet you.” I smile shaking her hand.
“It’s nice to meet you to Bess,” Emily says smiling. “How do you like it here at Moon lake?”
“I love it” I tell her. “Most of it anyway, those howls last night were a little creepy.”
“You still hearing those phantom hounds?” Emily exclaims.
Nancy glances over her shoulder and nods. “Yeah, we still do.”
“Ain’t they the strangest thing?” Emily exclaims, her eyes wide. “It’s almost like they’re tryin’ to…” She pauses and looks at me.
“What?” I ask eagerly. “They’re trying to what?”
Emily sighs. “See,” she begins. “Those dogs belonged to Mickey Malone, the man who used to own the cabin your staying in, they were very loyal to him and they still are, even though their dead as doornails. They’re keeping intruders off Malone’s property. Happens every time someone moves in there. They haunt the cabin.”
My eyes grow wide and she leans in closer.
“There out to seek revenge!” She whispers hoarsely.
“Oh my gosh…Really?” I whisper.
“Yes, indeed it’s true, see-” Emily is cut off by Nancy tossing her items onto the counter.
“Ready to go Bess?” She sounds irritated as Emily begins to ring up our purchase, or should I say Nancy’s purchase since I conveniently didn’t bring my own money…
“Not yet,” I tell her. “Emily and I are still-” Nancy gives me a hard ‘we’re leaving’ glance. I sigh.
“Dog food?” Emily asks questioningly.
I glance towards the counter to find a medium sized bag of dog chow that Nancy had picked out.
“Uhh…yeah.” Nancy says nervously.
Emily shrugs and continues ringing up the items.
Nancy pays the bill and we say goodbye to Emily.
“Watch out for those ghost dogs!” She calls after us.
I nod and wave. Nancy sighs deeply and rolls her eyes.

“What’s with you?” I ask her as she lowers the grocery bags into the boat.
“Bess, why were you buying into all that?” She unties the boat and helps me in.
“Buying into what?” I ask. “I didn’t bring any money!”
“The whole “Oooh the cabin is haunted by ghost dogs” thing.” Nancy rolls her eyes again.
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Bess,” Nancy starts the motor boat. “The ghost dogs aren’t even real.”
“How do you know?!” I exclaim. “They could be!”
“Because we have one of them!” She shouts over the noisy motor. “Eddie? Remember? Rottweiler? Ringing any bells?”
I wave my hand in the air dismissively. “Oh, him.” I say. “He’s real but the others might be-”
“No, way.” Nancy says. “There were fake glowing eyes on Eddie’s harness when George found him. Someone is trying to scare us, but it’s not working…on me that is.” She glances towards me.
I sigh, and return to looking at the scenery.
Why is Nancy being so grumpy? Just because Eddie is a real dog doesn’t mean the rest are! I just don’t get it…Why would Emily have told me that if it wasn’t true?
Those howls in the night DO sound ghostly…
I am pulled out of my thoughts by a sickening moan from the boat.
The engine sputters and then…stops altogether.
“No!” Nancy shouts. “No, no, no!” She checks the motor, which, to me appears to be burnt out.
She tries to start the boat again.
It coughs a few times and then…silence.
Nancy closes the engine and begins banging her fists against it.
“This…is…beyond…bad!” She shouts once she finally stops to rest her forehead against the motor.
She is silent for a few moments.
I cough. “Um…Nan? We’re still going to be able to go back to the cabin… right?”
Nancy groans and hits the engine one more time. “No Bess, we can’t. We’re stuck out here! I should have checked the engine. Nuts.”
My mouth drops open.
It takes everything in me to keep from fainting.
We’re… stranded!

_________________________________________


GG: Ahhh, I'm so glad you liked it! Yes! *coughcoughcough* I am looking forward to posting chapter 5 too. Bahaha! Love you! *Hugz* Thanks for reading! God Blessss!

“How about, Spike?" - Threw that in for Kaitie and GG!

Nancy Drew:
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” Bess begins to hyperventilate.
I sigh. Why does Bess have to be the one with me when something like this happens? Ugghh!
“Bess, stop panicking!” I groan. “It’s not like we’re sinking or anything, we’ll get back to shore.” I tell her matter-of-factly, Then to myself I mutter: “Eventually…”
I open the motor once again. Small clouds of smoke stream out. It looks like it has overheated.
I try to start it again and more smoke pours out.
“Oh no!” Bess wails. “Now we’re catching on fire!”
“No, it’s not that,” I say putting a hand on her shoulder to calm her. “It’s just overheated. We’re going to have to let it cool down.”
“Oh.” Bess pauses, frowning. “Well how long is that gonna take?”
“Umm…awhile.” I say opening the engine again.
10 minutes slowly pass.
I check my watch. 12:30 PM.
I wonder if Frank, Joe and George are already back at the cabin? Or maybe they’re still kayaking. Knowing George, she’d probably want to go all the way around the lake, which could take them quite awhile.
Something splashes briefly out of the water making Bess jump.
“Forget ghost dogs, I think I just saw a lake monster!” She shrieks.
I can’t help but laugh a little. “It’s just a fish Bess.” I say.
“Are you sure?!” She asks, her bright blue eyes wide.
“Yeah.” I nod, smiling. “I’m totally sure.”
I try starting the engine again and shake my head in frustration when I find that the motor is still too hot to work.
We could be here for hours!

“Who’s that?” Bess asks.
“Huh?” I ask, not looking up.
“That boat…” She mutters. “I think it’s coming towards us!”
I glance up to see a small motor boat coming towards us at a fast rate of speed.
I squint into the light reflecting off of the water. I can barely make out some sort of writing on the side of the boat.
As it nears, Bess exclaims “Oh my gosh! It’s-”
“Who?!” I ask.
“It’s that Ranger Rick guy!” She shouts happily.
“Oh noooooooooo!” I groan, I can now make out the park logo on the side of the approaching boat.
The boat slows down and drifts to our side. Bess was right…it’s Ranger Akers.
“Hello there!” He calls. “I couldn’t help but notice that you seem to be having trouble with your boat. Perhaps I could be of service?”
“Uh, no thanks, we‘re fine.” I say at the exact same time Bess says “Oh thanks sooooo much Ranger Akers!”
I sigh and swallow my slight annoyance as Jeff tosses one end of a rope to Bess.
“Tie that to the front of the boat Ms. Marvin,” He instructs her. “I’m going to tow you both back to the McDonald’s establishment.”
I roll my eyes. Yeah, I know I should be happy that someone is willing to help us but…I don’t know. Something is just annoying about this whole experience.
“Ms. Drew,” Jeff calls over to me. “Before I headed out, I remembered to bring a copy of our boaters safety guide for you to look at.” He hands me down a small booklet with a skunk riding in a boat on the front.
He clears his throat and puts on his business face. “It will help you avoid getting into hazardous situations like this.” He nods at our boat.
I feel like a volcano ready to explode. “Uh-huh.” I manage to mutter at last. “Thanks…” I say turning to roll my eyes. I can see why so many people don’t like this guy!
The ride back to the cabin is long and annoying but soon we reach our dock.
George, Frank and Joe’s kayaks are still absent.
Ranger Akers ties up the boat and helps Bess climb out.
“Thank you sooooo much, Ranger Akers!” Bess tells him, smiling, as she steps onto the dock. “That was so heroic of you!”
I mentally gag.
“No problem, That’s my job.” He says proudly. “And please, call me Jeff.” He smiles at Bess and she giggles.
“Come on Bess!” I call, annoyed, as I head for the porch.
Jeff Akers says goodbye to Bess, gets into his boat and speeds off.
I kick a stone hard and watch it fly off into the woods.
Bess walks up to me. “Wasn’t that so sweet of Jeff?!” She squeals.
I can feel the steam starting to come out of my ears.
I turn to Bess. “Don’t talk to me, ok?” I tell her through clenched teeth.
“Woah!” She says, putting her hands up. “What’s up with you?”
I turn on my heels and storm into the house.
How can Bess be so naive?! Jeff Akers is so stuck up! I could have gotten us back to the house, the engine just needed to cool down.
Eddie trots up to me and begins licking my hand.
“Hey, boy.” I greet him stroking the top of his head.
He whimpers.
“Hey guys!” I hear Bess’s muffled voice call from outside.
I glance out the window to find that George, Frank and Joe have just returned.
Great. Now Bess is going to tell them about what’d happened, or should I say, about how “Ranger Akers rescued us!”
I am not about to stick around for that.
I quickly decide to head into the secret passage way by the rotten floor boards, with Eddie at my heels.
I am swallowed by the darkness in the blackened stairway leading down to the cellar/speakeasy.
I can hear Eddie panting and tromping down the stairs ahead of me.
I fumble around in my pack in search for my handy-dandy flashlight, then I remember that George and Joe hadn’t returned it since their little excursion last night.
I sigh and begin feeling my way along the wall.
I hear Eddie pawing at the door to the to the cellar.
“I’m coming, I’m coming.” I mutter reaching for the doorknob.
A small sliver of light dares to peek out from under the old, wooden door, casting a whitish glow across the floor.
I swing the door open, and let Eddie barrel through ahead of me. The last thing I need is to be trampled.
I hear the telltale squeaking of the deer mice who have probably moved back into the safe by now.
I open the door leading into the speakeasy.
Eddie wanders around the elaborate room knocking things over and climbing on the tables.
I wonder if any of the house will be left for Sally?
Shed, Burnt.
Boat, broken.
Power, gone.
Speakeasy, in the process of being torn apart!
What next?!
“Eddie! No!” I hiss, grabbing him by the collar that George had made him. “You can’t do that…come on.” I lead him (Rather, he leads me) through the secret door and into the lighted tunnels.
I let Eddie’s collar slide out of my hand. I’ve had enough of being dragged around by a dog, plus, there’s not much he can destroy down here…I hope.
I sigh, glancing around the tunnels.
This place is like…a memory from a nightmare long ago.
I run my hand along the dusty mosaic tiles of Iggy, Vitus, Xander and Lucy, clearing the dust away with my finger tips.
I reach the one of the Malone property.
I stare at it for a few moments before deciding to go in.
I gently push the correct glass pieces into place and the passage opens with a loud groan.
I step inside quietly, memories of the mystery flooding my mind.
These past few days have dragged on so slowly it feels as if months have gone by since I’ve last been here.
I make my way down the ladder and into the safe which once held bars of sparkling gold, at least I think it had. I guess I’ll never really know for sure.
Maybe the gold had been taken long ago, but then how could the word “Gotcha!” be spray painted on the wall like that? Did they even have spray paint back then? I’m sure that message was meant for me. Someone knew that I was looking for the gold. Someone wanted to ruin my chances of finding it. Well they succeeded in doing so.
I shake my head, defeated.
I almost wish I’d never even come to Moon lake. Then none of this would have happened.
I sit down slowly and lean my head back against the cold, hard wall.
Would I ever be able to go back to solving mysteries? Knowing that I had failed to solve this one?
I close my eyes and burry my face in my hands.
I feel a hot tear escape the corner of my eye and trail down my cheek.
“This is all my fault.” I whisper miserably.
“Nancy?” a soft, familiar voice breaks through the unearthly silence…

____________________________

GG: Sooo, as I wrote to you on HER, I split chapter 5 so that it wasn't soooo hard to correct it all so now the part I was telling you about it in chapter 6. >.> Lol! I did like the way this ended though. :)

< Aww!

Joe Hardy:

Finally I thought, as we had reached the dock exhausted.
Now, don’t get me wrong, doing stuff outside is absolutely my type of thing, but when George insisted we go around the entire lake….
I think you get the point.
Bess had met us at the dock, babbling on about Ranger Akers or something.
Frank and I tied up the kayaks while Bess continued talking and George emptied her kayak full of crumpled Clif Energy bar wrappers.
“So, like,” Bess continued. “Ranger Akers rescued us, and then he told me that I could call him Jeff.” She smiled.
“Oh, what an honor.” George said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
I stifled a laugh. “Uh, Bess? Where’s Nance?” I asked her.
“Oh, um…” She murmured looking around. “I have no clue where she went, sorry.” She then turned to my older brother. “Oh my gosh, Frank! I saw like, this monster in the lake!”
“Uh, Ok?” Frank asked bewildered.
I sighed and went off in search of Nancy.
I’d looked around outside then decided that she must be in the cabin.
I head inside to find that Eddie and Nancy were both missing, but I noticed that the secret passage to the cellar/speakeasy was ajar.
I made my way down the passage and found that the speakeasy was practically torn apart. Pictures had fallen off the walls, chairs had been tipped over and small objects that had been on the tables were scattered across the floor.
I had two guesses, either (A) Some major fight had taken place down here or, (B) Eddie had been down here with Nancy.
I’m hoping it’s answer B.
I found a new secret passage in the speakeasy, Nancy had never said anything about it!
It led through a system of lantern lit, twisted tunnels.
The tunnels have a dirt floor, so I soon found footprints. But, were they Nancy’s?
The footprints lead through a large iron door and into a room with this weird, ,well, thingie in it.
“Nance?” I call into the darkness. Eddie comes charging at me from the other side of the room nearly knocking me off my feet.
“You’re not Nancy!” I shook my head and push the dog out of my way.
I find a ladder leading down into the well, so I decided to go and check it out. I also figured that because Eddie was sticking around, Nancy had to be down there somewhere and as usual, I’m right.

I find myself in a large cellar-like room with cement walls and the word “Gotcha!” streaked across it in red spray paint at the far end. The room is empty except for a crumpled figure, seated on the ground appearing very small compared to the vast gray walls.
“Nancy?” I ask quietly.
She looks up startled.
“Joe!” She gasps. “What are you doing here?!”
Her face is pale and her eyes are slightly damp looking, like if she’d actually been crying. A rare occurrence for Nancy.
“I was looking for you.” I say taking a seat beside her.
“Oh.” She looks down, avoiding eye contact.
“Nancy…” I pause for a moment. I’d never seen her this upset. “When did you find this secret passageway?”
Nancy sighs. “Yesterday morning.”
“But, why didn’t you tell me?” I ask.
“Because I…I…”
Silence.
“Nancy?” I sigh. “What is going on?”
Nancy closes her eyes for a moment before opening them again and turns to look at me, her deep blue eyes missing their usual sparkle.
“You know, you’re a hard person to keep secrets from.” She manages a small, lopsided smile.
“I know.” I smile back.
She sighs again and leans her head back against the wall.
“Did something happen with the mystery?” I ask.
“There is no mystery Joe.” She says blankly, after a moment.
“What?” I turn to face her. “What are you talking about?”
“I mean I was this close-” She makes an inch with her fingers. “-To finding the gold Mickey Malone hid…in this room.”
I glance around. “There was….gold? Here?”
“Yup.” Nancy says weakly. “And it’s gone. It’s all my fault, really. The culprit escaped right under my nose.” She sighs again. “I totally failed.”
I bite my lip. So this is why Nancy had been acting so…different.
“It’s not your fault Nance.” I tell her gently.
“Your just saying that to make me feel better,” She sighs. “but, it is my fault.”
I can understand Nancy being upset about the case, I mean, Nancy dedicates so much of her time to solving mysteries.
“I’m sorry I lied to you Joe.” Nancy says quietly. “When I told you everything was fine… when it wasn’t.”
I put my arm around Nancy’s shoulders.
“It’s ok. I forgive you.” I tell her. “I understand what your going through with this case, but I can‘t help but think that there’s still an unsolved mystery here.”
Nancy turns to face me. “What do you mean?”
“Well, the ghost dogs must belong to someone.”
“True.” Nancy says. “Or they could have been abandoned.” She stands up and slowly walks over to the spray painted wall, studying it thoughtfully.
“But then that tree on the power lines…” She murmurs. “That was definitely not an accident.”
“Right.” I add. “And if the dogs were abandoned, we wouldn’t see them only at night. They’d be all over the place during the day.”
I stand up and brush myself off. “So even if you didn’t find the gold, you can still find out what’s going on with the dogs and such.”
Nancy shrugs. “I guess so.”
She still sounds depressed, but I mean who wouldn’t be? If I’d just let a few hundred pounds of pure gold slip out of my hands I’d be pretty disappointed too. I don’t plan on telling Nancy that though.
“I just can’t solve this case alone.” Nancy says glancing around the small room.
“Well duh! That’s why I’m here!” I say grinning.
Nancy smiles. “I know.”
I smile too.
“Joe?”
“Hmm?”
“You don’t have to tell anyone about this just yet do you?” Nancy asks, looking slightly uneasy.
“Anyone as in, Frank, Bess and George?”
“Uh, yeah.”
I sigh. “I’m sure they would understand…”
“I know.” Nancy agrees. “And I’ll tell them…but…”
“You just need a little time?” I offer.
Nancy nods.
“It’s ok,” I tell her. “I won’t say anything.”
“Thanks, Joe.” She says giving me a hug.
“No problem, Nance.”

We head back up the ladder and find Eddie is waiting for us at the top.
“Hey, boy” Nancy greets him, petting his head. “Were you waiting for me? Huh?”
In response the dog shakes his head, sending a spray of drool everywhere.
I groan and wipe my face off. “I take that as a ‘yes.’”


George Fayne:

“Uh…what exactly is that?” Bess asks in a frightened voice.
I roll my eyes. “Zucchini.” I tell her. “My Mom makes this all the time for me.” I smile fondly at the thought of the lovely vegan meals my darling Mommy makes for me.
Bess plops herself down into her pink, fuzzy, fold-up papasan chair she’d insisted on packing. It had taken up so much room in the car, so I’m glad to see her finally using it.
“Well,” She sighs. “It has to be better than those vegetable burgers you made us eat last night.”
I shoot her a glare.
“It’s the truth.” She insists.
“Well, to each their own.” I say turning my attention back to the long, marinated slices of Zucchini I’m grilling over the campfire.
It’s almost seven o’clock.
Nancy and Joe were inside getting the table ready and Frank was sulking around outside…somewhere.
The power company had finally come and taken the tree off of the lines, so we had our power back. Bess was pretty excited. Figures. Ha.
“Hey, these need to cook for awhile.” I tell Bess. “Want to go for a walk?”
“And get eaten by mosquitoes?!” She exclaims, waving away an imaginary bug. “No thank you.”
“Aw, come on!” I drawl taking her hand and yanking her out of the chair.
I decide to head over to the path that leads (according to Frank and Joe,) to that bird watcher’s platform. Nancy had said something about him being a member and photographer for some type of bird conservation group. I thought it would be interesting to see what species of Birds he’s found living here at Moon Lake.
As we enter the woods, we are enveloped in a grayish shadow. Bird’s songs fill the air, and streaks of light filter through the bright green treetops.
It is so peaceful and calm.
“I just got bit!” Bess declares, franticly smacking her arm. “This is all your fault George!”
“Riiiiiiiiiiight.” I sigh, rolling my eyes up into the clouds.
I spy a large tree with a ladder leading up.
“That must be the platform.” I tell Bess. “Come on!”
I jog over, and begin climbing to the top.
I can hear two voices, talking back and fourth rapidly from the top of the platform.
“George! I can’t go that fast with heels!” Bess whines.
I ignore her and continue climbing.
“Knock, knock!” I call out peeking my head over the top of the platform. “Can I come up?”
I find two people seated on wooden crates around a huge burlap bag of leaves and twigs.
A tallish guy wearing a camouflaged suit, glasses and staring at me with dark, beady eyes is seated on one of the crates nearest to the entrance. A woman with bright red hair, blue eyes and wearing jeans, a green sweater and a hunter green vest sits on another over turned crate next to him.
“What are you doing here!?” the guy yells with an ugly scowl.
“I’m George Fayne.” I tell him. “I’m staying with my friend Nancy at the Malone place and she told me you were a bird watcher, I love bird watching so I wanted to come and introduce myself…if that’s ok?”
The expression on his face softens, though the red haired woman still looks worried.
“Uh, well, sure, I guess you could come up.” He stammers at last. “A friend of the birds is a friend of mine. I‘m Red Knot, pleased to meet-”
“Geeeeeeeeeeeeeoooooooorrrrgggggeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?!! !!” Comes Bess’s ear splitting scream. “Wait up!”
The bird watcher covers his ears. “What…is…that…NOISE!?” He shouts practically shaking with anger.
“Oh, uh…that would be my-”
Bess throws herself onto the platform with a exhausted gasp. “Oh, my…gossssssssssshhhh.” She repeats a few times as she gasps for air.
“Cousin Bess.” I say with a nervous smile as I turn back to face the birdwatcher.
He presses his lips into a thin, angry line. “Cousin Bess is making to much Noise!” He yells again.
I glance over at Bess, who looks increasingly mad.
“Excuse me mister!” She exclaims pulling herself up. “Do you have any idea what I just went through? I had to climb up that stupid ladder thingie, barefoot! Yeah! And, on top of that I almost broke one of my high heels! So, now I finally make it to the top and then, what happens? I get yelled at! Nice!”
Silence.
Red looks as if he is about to explode.
I clear my throat. “So, uh, have you found anything interesting around Moon Lake?” I ask casually.
Red takes a deep breath and turns to me.
I wince, expecting him to start screaming again but…
“Yes, in fact I have.” He says pulling out a big, rather expensive, digital camera.
He pulls up a picture of a Large Red-Tailed Hawk and hands it to me.
“Woah.” I exclaim. “That is totally radical!!”
Red nods. “She’s a beauty alright.” He tells me. “We’ve been watching her for a few days now,” He nods towards the Red head. “We think she’s nesting right around here.”
“That would be amazing, if she was!” I say. Birds have always fascinated me.
He nods. “That it would.”
“I didn’t know you were into bird watching Em.” Bess pipes up turning to the woman, who’d been sitting quietly while Red and I were talking.
“Uh, well. Yeah. I have always been interested in those little feathered critters.” She says in a southern accent, chuckling nervously.
“Oh, that’s…cool.” Bess said in a bored tone.
Red shoots Em an annoyed glance.
“In fact, we’re going to be watching some owls tomorrow night,” Red tells me. “Would you and Cousin Bess care to join us?”
“Oh yes!” I say at the same time Bess says “No, we really couldn’t.”
I toss her an eye roll.
“What time?” I ask.
“After dark, around 10:00.” Em says.
“Ok,” I say. “I’ll be here.”
“Em and I are both members of PEPSOB,” Red explains. “It an Non Profit Organization preserving Birds, their habitats and the art of bird watching. If you’re interested in joining, I have information I can give you.”
“Awesome.” I say nodding. What could be cooler than bird watching at night!? Not much, I tell ya!
“What are you both doing with all those leaves and twigs?” Bess asks picking up a pointy leaf.
“We’re camouflaging the platform.” Red explains. “The birds will come closer if they don’t know we’re here.”
“Oh my gosh!” Bess exclaims suddenly, dropping the leaf she‘d been holding. “What kind of leaves are those?”
Uh oh….I think I know what’s up.
“Sumac.” Em replies confused.
Bess gasps. “I…I’m allergic to sumac! Oh noooooo!”
“Bess calm down!” I say.
Red rolls his eyes, obviously flustered at the extra ‘noise.’
Suddenly I remember the Zucchini!
“Ohhhh nooooo!” I groan. “I forgot about the food!”
I grab Bess by the hand and help her down the ladder.
“See ya!” I call over my shoulder.
Not only am I worried about the probably burning food, but also about Bess. She is really allergic to sumac! She usually breaks out if she touches the leaves…which she just had…and for some reason it drives her nose crazy! Must be the type of pollen or something….
“Bess are you ok?”
“I don’t know, George!” Bess exclaims. “My hand feels like it’s burning!”
“It’s ok, we’re here,” I say, trying to stay calm as I link my arm through hers. “It’s going to be ok, just don’t freak out, ok?”
I notice Bess is already on the verge of hyperventilating.
“Ouch, my hand! It’s like, burning!” Bess cries again.
“What’s going on?” Frank, who’d been working at his laptop up on the porch, rushes over to us.
“Bess is having an allergic reaction.” I explain quickly. “Can you help her inside? Nancy will know what to do.”
Frank nods and helps Bess up the porch steps and into the house while I run over to the campfire and try to salvage the burning veggies.
I manage to save almost all of them….
Ok, two of them. The rest are pretty much charcoal.
Oh well, maybe the chipmunks will eat them. I think tossing the burnt ones onto the ground.
I wonder if Nancy has any instant oatmeal left…

*******





Nancy Drew:

“Bess, please don’t cry? Please?” I beg. We’d just finished a dinner of Zucchini instant oatmeal and clif bars. Yum, yum. Bess hadn’t eaten anything. She’d run upstairs and taken a shower in an attempt to wash away any sumac pollen that could be on her.
Ever since I’ve known Bess she’s been allergic to that stuff.
One Thanksgiving, when we were ten, George, Bess and I had played hide and seek in the Marvin’s yard. Bess had stumbled into a sumac plant and gotten the worse rash I’d ever seen.
Now, despite her current efforts to get rid of the pollen, with her shower. the rash had quickly spread up her arm.
“I can’t help it Nancy,” Bess sobs, sounding as if she’s talking through her nose. “It burns!”
I smooth some ointment George had given me over Bess’s rash.
She winces.
“Does that hurt.”
“Mhmm.” She nods painfully.
“There, all done.” I say a moment later, twisting the cap back on the tube of gel. “Do you want something to eat? You must be half starved by now.” I say getting up off the couch and padding over to the refrigerator.
“Not really.” Bess sighs. “I think I’ll just take a little rest, if that’s ok?”
“Of course.” I say quietly.
I give Eddie a couple handfuls of Dog Chow in a small bowl.
He whines and begins munching away happily.
He’d been sleeping peacefully in the kitchen ever since we’d come up upstairs from the speakeasy.
I’d brought Bess down a few pillows and a soft floral quilt from our bedroom, after she’d told me she didn’t want to go to bed early because it made her feel like she was sick or something.
“I’ll be outside if you need anything.” I whisper.
“Ok.” Bess mumbles.
She coughs a few times, curls up on the couch under the quilt and closes her eyes.
I sigh and slip out the front door.
Frank, George and Joe had gone outside when Bess went into panic mode, which I’m grateful for, with Bess, the less people the better.
As I step out onto the porch, I’m greeted by the glowing blue light of Frank’s laptop.
Frank had been sitting on the porch steps for the past hour typing away at something.
“Hey Nance.” He says looking up from his work. “How’s Bess doing?”
I shrug and sit down beside him. “Ok, I guess. I mean, at least she isn’t hyperventilating anymore.”
“That’s a good sign.” Frank says. “How exactly does she react to that sumac stuff?”
“She usually gets a rash, stuffy nose, sore throat, that type of deal.” I explain. “Something in the pollen freaks her out.”
“Oh, I see.” Frank says as he saves a word document.
“Whatcha working on?” I ask.
“Ugh, some silly report ATAC supposedly ‘needed right away’” He sighs. “Just about our past missions and stuff.” He closes the laptop and sets it aside.
We both sit in silence for a few moments, watching as the sunset fades and stars begin to make their first appearances of the night.
“It’s so beautiful here.” I breath.
“Mmm.” Frank nods in agreement.
I can hear George and Joe faintly talking over by the campfire and the crickets singing soothingly in the background.
“I love looking at the stars.” Frank says after a moment. “God shows me something new every night when I look up there.”
I smile. “God is awesome.” I say looking up over treetops at the glimmering lights. I turn to Frank. “I never knew you were interested in astronomy,”
He smiles. “Yeah, well, It’s kind of a little hobby of mine.”
He points out over the lake. “See that group of stars over there? That’s Cygnus.”
I squint at the darkening sky for a moment. “Oh, I see it! It looks like a swan.”
“Right.” Frank nods. “And over there…”
“Oh, I know this one, umm….” I think hard for a moment. “Orion, right?”
“Yes,” Frank says smiling. “Good job. Oh, look. Out over the water, there’s the big dipper.”
“Wow,” I whisper looking out at the black silky sky. “That…is...awesome.”
We sit in silence staring up at the sky again.
I feel so small compared to the big, big universe above me, but in a good way, not an inferior way.
“Thank you so much for showing me, Frank. I had no Idea you knew that much about stars.” I tell him.
“It’s my pleasure, Nance.” He says. “It’s nice to have someone to share it with,” Then he laughs softly. “I mean Joe has kind of a one track mind so, when I go all astronomer on him, he gets kind of bored.”
I laugh.
“Nancy?” Comes Georges voice. “Frank? Are you guys coming?”
“We’ll be right there.” I call as Frank and I stand up and make are way over to the campfire.

***

“Ugghh.” I groan, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes as I tiptoe down the steps.
It’s 12:00 AM I’d just awoken from a really freaky dream. I’d gone for a walk in the park with Togo, and I had turned into a goldfish! Togo was about to eat me when, I woke up with a start.
It’s really hot and stuffy in the house so, I decided to go down stairs and open a window for Bess, who had been sleeping since dinner. I figured she must be really tired from getting so emotional.
**Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek**
I freeze on the stair landing. Did I just step on a creaky old floor board, or had I just heard something downstairs? I think for a moment. What could have made that noise?
The window in the living room makes that same creaky noise when It’s being opened.
Ever since I’ve arrived at the cabin, I’ve hated the fact that the windows don’t have locks on them.
Shoot, and I still don’t have my flashlight. Now what am I gonna do?!
**Creeeeeeeeeeek** **Thud**
I don’t dare to breath.
As my mind begins racing wildly I hear Eddie growl softly from in the kitchen.
I haven’t heard Eddie growl since we found him. Something’s definitely wrong.
My heart is suddenly griped with fear. What if someone’s trying to break into the house?
Eddie growls again. Louder this time.
Suddenly I hear a soft swishing noise followed by
… Bess’s piercing scream.

_______________________________________________