Chapter ONE Questions at Camp Kookaburra Paisley Atoms blew the hair out of her face with a huff She aimed her arrow at the red target taped to a hay bale thirty feet away Her muscles strained as she kept the tension in the bow She closed one eye to zero in on the target She could see Ben Striker’s arrow quivering just a few inches from the bull’s eye It was her last day at Camp Kookaburra and there was no way she was ending this awesome week by losing to her best friend One two three she whispered under her breath 6
Just before she loosed the arrow a shriek erupted from the direction of the cabins Paisley flinched and the arrow flew wide missing the target completely and nearly striking the archery instructor Captain Mike The arrow feathers tickled his cheek as the arrow whizzed past his head Whoa he yelled Hooray Ben cried from behind her The twins Sumi and Suki groaned in support No fair Sumi said There was interference Suki said Everything counts in horseshoes and hand grenades Ben said pumping his fist Fortunately for Paisley you are playing archery not those other things Sumi said over the shrieking noise Someone must be dying Arjun cried He was overly dramatic about everything If ever there was a human Chicken Little it was him Paisley covered her ears I’m sure no one is dying But it does sound awful How do we make it stop Go see what’s up will you Captain Mike asked 7
He smiled his white teeth flashing against his tanned face Sumi and Suki sighed and fluttered their eyelashes Paisley rolled her eyes She grabbed their arms and pulled them away from Captain Mike The friends raced toward the cabins Whitney-Raelynn Sinclair was outside Cabin 3 whirling around stomping her feet and wailing at the top of her lungs She alternated between rubbing fiercely at her bare arms and slapping at her legs Her normally pin-straight glossy blond hair was knotted and tangled in a golden cloud around her head Get them off Get them off Get what off Sumi asked The bugs Whitney-Raelynn shrieked That’s when Paisley saw the tiny red bumps all over Whitney-Raelynn’s arms and legs What were you doing in the cabin she asked Nothing Whitney-Raelynn calmed down enough to stand still and glare at Paisley Paisley noticed something else So that dark stuff around your mouth is not chocolate from a candy bar Her cheeks reddened So what if it is I can’t possibly 8
survive eating that disgusting camp food of beans in a can or whatever it’s called I need sustenance So I’m going to hazard a guess that you’ve been sneaking candy bars in your bed since you got here Paisley said The evidence suggests that hypothesis is correct Ben said 9
