Read Online 09 - Welcome to Camp Nightmare by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead) - Free Book Online Page B

own question. “Your group goes tomorrow.
Are you excited?” He lowered his eyes to mine.
    “I—I didn’t really know about it,” I confessed.
    “Lots of fun!” he exclaimed enthusiastically. “The river doesn’t look like
much up here. But it gets pretty exciting a few miles down. You’ll find yourself
in some good rapids.”
    He squeezed my shoulder briefly. “You’ll enjoy it,” he said, grinning.
“Everyone always enjoys the canoe trip.”
    “Great,” I said. I tried to sound a little excited, but my voice came out
flat and uncertain.
    Uncle Al gave me a wave with his clipboard and headed around toward the front
of the lodge, taking long strides. I stood watching him till he disappeared
around the corner of the building. Then I made my way down the hill to the bunk.
    I found Colin and Jay on the grass at the side of the cabin. Colin had his
shirt off and was sprawled on his back, his hands behind his head. Jay sat
cross-legged beside him, nervously pulling up long, slender strands of grass,
then tossing them down.
    “Come inside,” I told them, glancing around to make sure no one else could
hear.
    They followed me into the cabin. I closed the door.
    “What’s up?” Colin asked, dropping onto his bunk. He picked up his red
bandanna and twisted it in his hands.
    I told them about Dawn and Dori and what they had reported about the girls’
camp.
    Colin and Jay both reacted with shock.
    “They really swam over here and waited for you?” Jay asked.
    I nodded. “They think we have to get organized or escape or something,” I
said.
    “They could get in big trouble if they get caught,” Jay said thoughtfully.
    “We’re all in big trouble,” I told him. “We have to get out!”
    “Visitors Day is next week,” Colin muttered.
    “I’m going to write my parents right now,” I said, pulling out the case from
under my bunk where I kept my paper and pens. “I’m going to tell them I have to come home on Visitors Day.”
    “I guess I will, too,” Jay said, tapping his fingers nervously against the
bunk frame.
    “Me, too,” Colin agreed. “It’s just too… weird here!”
    I pulled out a couple of sheets of paper and sat down on the bed to write.
“Dawn and Dori were really scared,” I told them.
    “So am I,” Jay admitted.
    I started to write my letter. I wrote Dear Mom and Dad, HELP! then
stopped. I raised my eyes across the cabin to Jay and Colin. “Do you guys know
about the canoe trip tomorrow?” I asked.
    They stared back at me, their expressions surprised.
    “Whoa!” Colin declared. “A three-mile hike this afternoon, and a canoe trip
tomorrow?”
    It was my turn to be surprised. “Hike? What hike?”
    “Aren’t you coming on it?” Jay asked.
    “You know that really tall counselor? Frank? The one who wears the yellow
cap?” Colin asked. “He told Jay and me we’re going on a three-mile hike after
lunch.”
    “No one told me,” I replied, chewing on the end of my pen.
    “Maybe you’re not in the hike group,” Jay said.
    “You’d better ask Frank at lunch,” Colin suggested. “Maybe he couldn’t find
you. Maybe you’re supposed to come, too.”
    I groaned. “Who wants to go on a three-mile hike in this heat?”
    Colin and Jay both shrugged.
    “Frank said we’d really like it,” Colin told me, knotting and unknotting the
red bandanna.
    “I just want to get out of here,” I said, returning to my letter.
    I wrote quickly, intensely. I wanted to tell my parents all the frightening,
strange things that had happened. I wanted to make them see why I couldn’t stay
at Camp Nightmoon.
    I had written nearly a page and a half, and I was up to the part where Jay
and Roger went out to explore the Forbidden Bunk, when Larry burst in. “You guys
taking the day off?” he asked, his eyes going from one of us to the other. “You
on vacation or something?”
    “Just hanging out,” Jay replied.
    I folded up my letter and started to tuck it under my pillow. I didn’t want
Larry to see it. I realized I didn’t trust Larry at all. I had no