The Sign in the Smoke (Nancy Drew Diaries #12)(11)

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!”

I wondered what Bella had in mind—some kind of nightlong version of Truth or Dare? I hated Truth or Dare. But the group was already walking over to the path to the lake, like they were just assuming we would follow.

I turned to ask Maya what she thought, but she suddenly jumped in front of me, her pj pants replaced by sweatpants. She was pulling on a pair of flip-flops. “Come on, Nancy!” she said, her face full of excitement. “We don’t want them to leave without us!”

I hesitated for a moment. This was clearly against the camp rules—and we needed our sleep! But then, I reminded myself, wasn’t this what camp was really about? Not just sports and crafts and whatever—but really getting to know your campmates?