Chapter OneStart Your Summer!
"Welcome to Camp Crooked Lake!" Mrs. Clancy said with a big smile. "Are you ready for an awesome summer vacation?"
"Bring it on!" My twin sister, Ashley, and I cheered and clapped along with the other campers.
A few hours ago we were at home, packing our bags. Now here we were at the coolest summer camp ever.
"Look at how many activities there are for us to do!" Ashley said, reading from the brochure. "Canoeing, sailing..."
"I can't wait to go swimming!" I cut in. "I want to practice my backstroke, my butterfly -- "
"Your zigzag!" Ashley added.
Zigzag? I glanced over at the twisty lake behind the main lodge. "Wow! Check out all its curves. No wonder they named it Crooked Lake!"
"That's one mystery we won't need to, solve." Ashley grinned.
"Can you believe that Mr. and Mrs. Clancy have been running the camp for over twenty-five years?" Ashley asked.
"That makes" -- I pretended to count on my fingers -- "fifty thousand roasted marshmallows!"
"Campers, it's time to meet your counselors," Mrs. Clancy called out. "Each group will have their own senior and junior counselors staying in their cabins."
She gestured to four kids wearing bright yellow T-shirts with "Camp Crooked Lake" printed across the front. They all looked about sixteen years old.
"These are your senior counselors," Mrs. Clancy said. "Meet April, Sandi, Dave, and Mike."
The counselors smiled and waved to the group.
"The junior counselors are making sureeverything is ready for you back at the cabins," Mrs. Clancy went on. "You'll meet them a little later."
"Mrs. Clancy seems really nice!" I said to Ashley.
But then Mr. Clancy stepped forward and held up one hand. He had a huge frown on his face.
"Breaking the rules will get you into big trouble," Mr. Clancy barked. "No swimming or hiking alone, no boating without a life jacket, no loud music or running around after lights-out, no shouting ... "
"What a grouch!" I whispered. "You'd think this was the army -- not summer camp."
Ashley shrugged. "Maybe he's just superserious about the rules," she said.
That's Ashley for you. She never jumps to conclusions about people the way I do.
My sister and I look alike on the outside. We both have strawberry-blond hair and blue eyes. But on the inside we're very different. Ashley always thinks things through carefully. I like to trust my gut feelings. And MY gut told me that Mr. Clancy was grumpy about more than just rules!
"Okay, it's time to split up!" Mrs. Clancy said. "April, why don't you call your group first."
A girl with short blond hair stepped forward. "Mary-Kate, Ashley, Vicki, and; Kimberly, you're all in Blackbird Cabin!" she said. "Grab your stuff and join me up here."
Ashley and I dragged our sleeping bags and backpacks over to April. Two other girls did the same thing.
"Welcome!" April said. "The four of you will be rooming together for the next two weeks. I'll be your senior counselor. Why don't you all introduce yourselves?"
"I'm Kimberly." One of the girls smiled. She wore her brown hair in a ponytail and had braces on her teeth. "This is my first year at camp."
"I'm Ashley and this is my sister,Mary-Kate," Ashley said.
"We've been to a bunch of camps," I added, "but this seems like the coolest one yet!"
"I'm Vicki, a girl with curly red hair piped up. "And I'll bet I've been to more camps than you have!"
"That's cool," I said. But who was keeping score?
"Let's go to the cabin now," April suggested. "Joy, your junior counselor, is there, waiting for us. This is her first summer at Camp Crooked Lake, too."
"How many summers have you been here?" I asked.
"This is my fifth year," April replied "Every summer I have the greatest time. I'm sure you'll have a blast, too."
"What do we do first?" Kimberly asked as April led us down a trail. "Volleyball? Swim? Arts and crafts?"
"First you unpack," April told her. "There's a big cookout tonight. But before that we'll go down to the lake for the big canoe race!"
"A race?" Ashley asked excitedly.
April nodded. "Every summer the first year campers kick off the camp activities with a race to get Mr. Codsworth!"
"Mr. Codsworth?" I asked slowly. "Who's he?"
"Mr. Codsworth is a big inflatable fish tied to a branch next to the lake," April said. "The first canoe to reach Mr. Codsworth and bring him back to camp wins the first gold star for their cabin."
April explained how each time a cabin wins a challenge, the Clancys hang a gold star on the group's door. At the end of the summer the cabin with the most gold stars is named Cabin of the Year.
"Did you hear that?" Vicky gasped. She turned to Ashley, Kimberly, and me. "We can be the best cabin at Camp Crooked Lake!"
April shook her head. "I didn't say the best -- "
"I did!" Vicky interrupted. "I have the best clothes! The best sleepovers! The best toys and games onthe block! Why shouldn't I have the best cabin?"
"Wow! I thought. "Vicki is way competitive!
We were halfway down the trail when a group of boy campers caught up with us. April introduced us to their senior counselor. "This is Dave. He is in charge of Robin Cabin."
"Hi," Dave said with a smile.
A boy with a spiky haircut and a chipped tooth stepped forward. The name scrawled on his duffel bag was Dexter.
"Robins rule!" Dexter said.
Vicki stared straight into his eyes. "I don't think so," she said. ""Blackbirds, rule ... Robins drool!"
Dexter shook his head and ran back to his fiends. We continued along the trail to our cabin. On the way we passed Sparrow Cabin and Eagle Cabin. "I wonder how much farther it is to Blackbird Cabin, I thought.
"What are they talking about? I wondered. I slowed down so I could hear them.
"Did you tell the campers about the curse yet?" April asked.
"No way," Dave said. I don't want to scare them. They just got here."
Uh-oh.
Did I hear right?
Did April say a curse?
Hmmm. Maybe Ashley and I were going to have a case to solve at summer camp after all!
Mary-Kate and Ashley are off to a fun-filled camp where they'll enjoy all kinds of water sports. There's swimming, canoeing even paddle boating! But someone doesn't want the camp to stay open. Someone keeps sabotaging all the activities! Who could it be? This case is a slippery one, but Mary-Kate and Ashley are as ready as ever to take it on.