The same sentences ran through Danny’s head as he headed toward S.T.’s and Vlad’s office. ‘My parents were right. Ghosts do exist!’
Danny had already told Tommy and Sam to head back to their cabins, but not before Sam told him to take Steve and keep a lookout for anything suspicious. Danny agreed, as long as Sam and Tommy didn’t tell anyone about what had happened. “In other words, stay out of trouble!” he had said earlier.
Okay. So there were ghosts at Lake Eerie. As long as they didn’t come near Danny or his friends, he would be all right. Right? Right.
On the other hand, that ghost had come up behind Danny. It was so close to attacking him from behind until Tommy had saved him. A shiver ran down Danny’s spine. What if the ghost or one of its pals came back?
‘Stop it!’ Danny’s mind yelled at him. ‘After Jazz, you’re the oldest kid here! You have to be brave for your friends!’
But Danny had never been brave in his entire lifetime (besides the time when he and the babies had tricked Angelica with Danny’s gadgets). How could he start now?
Danny’s grip on the jetpack’s handle tightened. What he really didn’t get was why Steve was acting so weird when they found that jetpack in the woods earlier that day. ‘He did try to save me before Tommy took the picture.’ Danny thought. ‘But that still doesn’t explain why he snapped at Tommy like that.’
He took a quick glance at Steve on his right shoulder. The little owl’s head was moving back and forth like he was searching for a mouse or something. A mouse.
“Steve!” Danny suddenly cried.
Steve looked at him with his big, wide eyes. “Hoo?”
“I just remembered you haven’t had anything to eat yet. You must be hungry!”
“Hoooo!”
Danny paused for a moment. He also realized he didn’t have any food for Steve either. “Well, what do like to eat?”
Steve flew off of Danny’s shoulder and landed on the ground. He faced Danny and made a circle with his right wing.
Danny smiled. “Great idea, Steve! Let’s play a game of charades!”
Steve held up one wing.
“Okay. So it’s one word, and they’re round, right?”
“Hoooo!”
“Alright, then!”
Steve pointed up.
“The sky?” Danny asked, puzzled. “What about the sky?”
“Hoo!”
“The clouds?”
Steve shook his head.
“Rain?”
Steve hooted deeply.
“The sky itself? The sun? Blue?”
“Hoooo!” Steve cheered.
“Blue?” Danny asked. “It’s blue! But blue what?”
Steve looked to his right and found a small stick in the grass. He walked over to it, picked up one end of the stick with his beak, and dragged the stick toward Danny. Steve carefully started drawing something in the grass. Once Steve was done, Danny glanced at the picture. It was a bear.
Danny was confused. “Blue bears?” he asked, puzzled.
“Hoo.” said Steve. He picked up the stick again and put four letters next to the drawing of the bear:
ries
“Blue-bear-ries.” Danny mumbled to himself. “Bluebearies. Blueberries. BLUEBERRIES! Steve, you like to eat blueberries!”
“HOOOO!” Steve shouted.
“I figured out something!” Danny cried. “Sweet!” He smiled to himself. He felt like he accomplished something. Danny suddenly frowned. “The only problem is that I didn’t bring any blueberries with me.”
Steve looked disappointed. “Hoooo.”
“But don’t worry!” Danny said quickly, as Steve flew back onto his shoulder, “I’ll find you some blueberries no matter what!”
Steve hooted happily.
Danny smiled. “That’s the spirit! Now let’s get to S.T.’s and Vlad’s office!” He started walking. About five minutes later, Danny and Steve stood in front of the camp’s office.
It was a big, wide office, painted red, with a grayish colored roof. It also had wooden doors (like most of the cabins did), brass doorknobs, and little round windows. Not only the office had stood taller than the cabins, but it was also cleaner and had had more repairs than the cabins also.
“You may wanna stay out here Steve.” Danny said before entering. “It would look a little strange that a kid is carrying a live owl into a store with him.”
Steve frowned.
“Not that I’m trying to offend you or anything!” Danny added quickly. “It’s just that people would think it’s unusual. Anyway, I’ll explain later. Right now I need to return the microchip and the jetpack to their rightful owners!” He ran into the office.
The inside of the office was way different than the outside. It was cold, dark, and damp. Like most of the cabins, there was no electricity, except in the back corner of the office where a small light bulb was flickering on and off.
Danny quickly put the top of his shirt in front his nose. It smelled really musty, like one of Tommy’s dirty diapers, mixed with the stuff in the lake. ‘How can S.T. and Vlad stand staying at this cruddy camp?’ Danny wondered.
“Mr. Sohg?” he called through his shirt. “Vlad? It’s Danny, the boy who won the contest. I found some things of yours, and I’d like to return them!”
Silence.
“Well, I guess they’re out doing something important.” Danny said to himself. He walked toward the counter in the center of the office, stood on his tippy toes, and slid the jetpack and the microchip on top of the counter.
Danny was about to exit the creepy little store, when a small sign caught his eye:
Blueberries
25 cents
per lb.
Danny smiled, ran behind the counter, and grabbed a plastic bag. He took the scoop and got as many blueberries as he could until he reached about two pounds. Danny dug into his pocket, pulled out two quarters, and put them on the counter. He carried the almost full bag of blueberries and headed out the door.
Steve’s eyes widened even more when he saw the bag of blueberries. “Hoooo!”
“I told you I would find some blueberries!” Danny said happily. “Now, let’s get back to Tommy and Sam and see if we can figure out what those ghosts are up to!”
About ten to fifteen minutes later, Danny and Steve were back at the boys’ cabin. No more than two seconds later, Tommy burst through the door. “Danny!” he cried. “Did you return the jetpack and the chip thing yet?”
“Yeah, Danny! Did you?” Sam asked, with a fearful expression on her face. Danny glanced over to see Chuckie, Phil, and Lil standing nervously behind her.
“I thought I told you guys not to tell anyone about this!”
“Sorry Danny!” Tommy started. “Phil and Lil came, and they sawed the back of the picture and wanted to know what it was.”
“Yeah.” Sam said quietly. “Then Chuckie came, and they all kind of wore us down. They’re our friends, Danny! We had to tell them!”
Danny sighed deeply. “You didn’t tell anyone else about this, did you?”
“Don’t worry, Danny!” Phil said boldly. “We didn’t tell nobodys!”
“Promise?”
“Promless.”
“Good.” Danny looked at his friends. They still had nervous and awkward expressions on their faces. “C’mon you guys, cheer up! I’m sure those ghosts are long gone by now. We can celebrate! Let’s grab those juice boxes and some popcorn and have ourselves a good time!”
Before Danny could even take a step, Sam put her hand on his shoulder. “Danny, there’s kind of something we have to tell you.”
The babies glanced at one another. None of them said a word. Tommy was even silent.
“Well,” Danny said, impatiently, “what is it you guys want to tell me?”
Everyone was still quiet.
“Okay, then. Steve fly onto someone’s shoulder, and they’ll tell me!”
“Hoo?” Steve glanced at them all, nervously.
“Go ahead, Steve!” said Tommy. “Pick someone. We promless our feelings won’t gets hurted.”
Steve flew up in the air, looked around, and closed his eyes. He flew around in small circles and kept landing until he was sure what he landed on was a shoulder. Steve opened his eyes and softly hooted. He had landed on Chuckie’s shoulder.
Chuckie’s eyes darted around nervously. All eyes were on him now. ‘Why did Steve have to choose me?’ he thought. Chuckie’s eyes kept darting back and forth, like he couldn’t control them. Danny was getting even more impatient.
Finally, after another minute of silence, Chuckie closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and quickly said, “Danny, we thinks S.T. Sohg is taking Vlad captive.”
Rugphan
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