# 5 Amber Oak and the Secret of Camp Mystery
by Ceara Comeau
Chapter 1
“Amber Genevieve Oak! Will you calm down?” exclaimed her older brother Chris.
“Ohh! I can’t help it, Chris! I’m just so excited! I finally get to be a counselor at the best camp in the world! Camp Mystery!” exclaimed Amber bouncing up and down in the car.
Chris laughed at her and replied, “So you’re not worried that you’ll have to solve an actual mystery?”
“Of course not! I’m on vacation plus mysteries will just have to wait. I’m gonna help future detectives,” she replied with a sure tone.
“You’re not afraid that a mystery might sneak up on you?” he questioned.
“No, that’s never happened before,” she replied defensively.
“Wanna bet? Remember what you told me about your last case the Skeleton’s Secret? That caught you off guard.”
“Well this time it’ll be different. I mean what could possibly go wrong?” she responded.
“Here we are. You got everything?” asked Chris.
Amber nodded as she grabbed her pillow, suitcase and sleeping bag.
“Just be careful, okay, sis?” said Chris in a concerned voice.
Amber smiled and nodded yes.
As she watched her brother drive off she started to wonder about what he said. Would another case sneak up on her or would this be just a vacation? She brushed the feeling off and walked up to her cabin. Once there she went inside and met her co-counselor.
“Hi! My name is Rheba. You are?” “I’m Amber Oak, nice to meet you,” replied Amber with a smile.
“Wow! I’m so excited to finally be a counselor here,” said Rheba.
“Agreed,” said Amber.
Amber set up her stuff and glanced out the window at the smallest log cabin she’s ever seen.
“Hey Rheba, who’s staying in that cabin over there?”
“Well actually that cabin belonged to the notorious murder/mystery writer. Silvia Forest. She lived there just before she was killed,” replied Rheba.
“She was killed?” questioned Amber in shock.
“Yeah, nobody knows why she was killed. I suspect it was just an accident. Well it’s a mystery that won’t and can’t be solved,” replied Rheba.
Amber wasn’t’ so sure about that, after all she has solved mysteries that seemed like they couldn’t be solved. Amber forced herself back to reality and just in time too. A camper came in. After an hour eight more girls were in the cabin.
“Hi girls! It’s nice to meet you all. My name is Rheba and this is Amber and we’ll be your counselors for the next three weeks! Here at Camp Mystery there will be little hunts to go on and little cases to solve. Amber will hand out the little cases you will be using to solve your mysteries. Now we’re gonna head down to the dining hall and we’ll have lunch!”
The rest of the day went by very quickly. There were games, swimming, rest time, and finally dinner came.
“Phew, this day went by quick!” exclaimed Amber with exhaustion. Rheba agreed.
After dinner they had another game. This was a mini hunt. The kids really enjoyed running around in the woods. The game ended unfortunately all too soon. Then bedtime came.
Everyone was exhausted, including the counselors.
“Okay girls, now, tomorrow is gonna be a big day so get some sleep and we’ll see ya in the morning! Good-night!” said Rheba.
Amber took a shower and put on her pj’s. She felt a comforting relief when she slid under the warm covers of her bed and soon fell asleep.
A loud sound awoke Amber from a deep sleep.
“What in the world could that be? Raccoons? Squirrels?” she wondered to herself as she slipped out of bed.
She heard the noise again. It sounded like something was moving around in Silvia Forest’s cabin. “I don’t thing anyone’s supposed to be in there!” she thought, as she tiptoed out the door so as to not wake the kids or Rheba.
Amber went over to the window of the lodge and saw a light flicker off the white walls. She peered into the window and saw a person digging through some papers in a big desk. Suddenly a twig snapped from under Amber’s foot. The person stopped what he was doing and looked up. Amber ducked just in time for the person went over to her window and looked out. Apparently the person got the hint that someone might be on his trail so he dashed out the door leaving behind on the ground a piece of paper. Amber went over to the paper and it said, “Find Silvia’s Journal!”
Amber took the note and walked back to her cabin.
Chapter 2
The next morning Rheba was awoken by Amber shaking her.
“What’s wrong, Amber?” asked Rheba slowly getting up.
“You won’t believe what happened to me last night!” she replied with a gleam in her eye.
“Well, tell me what happened?” said Rheba getting up.
Amber related her whole tale to Rheba who seemed quiet.
“Are you sure you didn’t just dream it?” asked Rheba who seemed really skeptical now.
“No! I didn’t dream it. Someone either at this camp or somewhere near is up to something and I’m gonna find out what!” said Amber with a hint of determination in her voice.
“Well, just be careful Amber, whoever this is might be really dangerous,” said Rheba.
“Hey Rheba, how would you like to help me solve this mystery?” suggested Amber.
“I don’t know about this, Amber,” said Rheba.
“Oh come on it’ll be fun. Please?!” begged Amber. Rheba finally agreed and she and Amber started making plans for snooping.
“What would be a good place to start out?” asked Rheba.
“I don’t know yet, but let’s keep our eyes and ears open for
clues,” replied Amber. “All right let’s go to breakfast,” said Rheba.
Amber gathered all the girls together and they all went to the dining hall, but Rheba lingered behind to clean up the cabin a bit. As soon as she was done she went out and started walking toward the dining hall building, but something caught her eye. It was one of the staff members. His name was Tyler Forest. He was tall for his age, which was seventeen, and he always wore dark sunglasses. It always gave him a mysterious look. Unfortunately Tyler wasn’t looking where he was going and ran into Rheba, dropping the blankets he was carrying.
“Watch where you’re going!” he said angrily.
“Excuse me?!” questioned Rheba.
Before Rheba could say another word Tyler charged off toward the cabins keeping an eye on Silvia’s home.
“Hey, Rheba, we’re over here!” shouted Amber.
At this point Rheba was red in the face. “Boy, you look mad! What happened?” asked Amber.
“I’ll tell you later,” replied Rheba through gritted teeth.
Amber understood and went on eating her breakfast.
Later on, while the kids were playing tennis Amber got a chance to talk to Rheba.
“So Rheba, what happened?” asked Amber. Rheba told Amber everything and when she was done she said, “That guy was sooo rude! I can’t believe they made him a staff member.”
“Maybe he just put on an act, but right now we need to keep close tabs on him,” said Amber.
It was around noontime and Amber and Rheba were on their way to lunch and they saw one of their counselor friends Travis Haden. He was also tall and he wore glasses.
“Hey, girls, how’s it going?” he called.
The two girls debated on whether to tell Travis what had happened the night before, after all Travis could be a suspect, as well as anyone. They eventually decided to tell him, because he seemed like a nice guy.
“Hey, Travis, we need to talk to you!” exclaimed Amber.
“Shoot,” he replied.
The girls yet again related their story and afterward he replied, “I have heard of your sleuthing abilities, Amber, yet again who hasn’t, but don’t you think it was just a dream?”
“Amber was a bit disappointed and replied, “No. I mean if this was a dream then how did I get the paper?”
“Let me see it,” said Travis now becoming interested.
After looking Travis said, “Wow, I guess you were right! All right, I’m in. Tell me what you want me to do.”
“Yes! Okay, we now need to follow our suspect without being seen,” said Amber.
“Who’s the lead suspect again?” questioned Travis.
“Tyler!” exclaimed Amber and Rheba in union.
“Maybe we should split up, like me and Travis will follow Tyler around tomorrow (without him suspecting anything) and Rheba will watch the girls so none of the staff will be suspicious. We will be able to alternate so that way we can watch him basically all the time. So first Rheba will watch the girls and Travis and I will follow Tyler. Then Rheba will take my place and so on.”
The other two agreed and Amber and Travis headed off to investigate.
Chapter 3
“So where’s the staff cabin?” asked Amber.
“Right over there in the woods,” Travis replied.
The two snuck over to the cabin and hid within the trees and waited for the arrival of their suspect.
“Are you sure he’s here today?” asked Travis.
“I’m pretty sure he’s…” Amber stopped in mid-sentence for Tyler just appeared around the corner with something in his hand.
“What is that he’s holding?” Whispered Travis.
“It looks like an old journal,” replied Amber.
They could hear Tyler talking to himself. As he got closer they heard him say, “Yes, I’ve got it! Now just to find Silvia’s journal!”
“We should go tell Rheba!” said Travis a little bit above a whisper.
Amber agreed and they ran back to the girl’s cabin.
They finally found Rheba taking a walk with the girls along the trail.
“Rheba!!” yelled Amber.
“Did you find anything?” Rheba asked with a hint of excitement.
“Yes, we did, but the mystery got a bit more confusing,” said Travis.
“Oh great!” said Rheba.
“Okay, girls, why don’t you go play soccer with the other kids,” said Amber.
The eight girls ran off to play and all three teens sat down on the side of the hill and discussed what happened.
“So he’s looking for Silvia’s journal? Doesn’t sound harmful,” said Rheba. “But don’t you think it sounds kind of weird that he’s sneaking around in the middle of the night just to find her journal? Why is he so desperate?” said Travis. No one said anything for a while.
“Then you know what we should do right? We need to get Silvia’s journal and if at all possible that journal or book he has,” said Amber.
“Amber, are you crazy? If we take his copy we’re stealing!” exclaimed Rheba.
“Not if we return it! I want to find out what he wants with those journals!” replied Amber with determination.
“You don’t give up easily, do you?” asked Travis laughing.
Amber shook her head no. “So when and where are we going to start snooping?” questioned Rheba.
“I want to try in Silvia’s cabin, since he was in there before, looking around,” said Amber.
“Name the time and I’ll be there,” said Travis.
“All right, how about tonight at around, say 11:00? That way the kids will be asleep,” replied Amber.
“Okay that’ll be good. My kids should be asleep too, and if they needed anything my co-counselor will be there,” said Travis.
The teens agreed to the plan and they set off to their cabins.
It was 11:00 p.m. and Rheba and Amber were out by Silvia’s cabin waiting for Travis. Suddenly he came up running towards them with a look of exhaustion.
“Hey, girls!” he said.
“Hi! Ready to search?” asked Rheba.
“You guys have the key?” questioned Travis.
Amber nodded and took the key out (which she borrowed from the office) and unlocked the door and opened it.
All three stepped inside and were astonished of how old and beautiful it was. After all, the entire cabin was over a hundred years old. There was a large desk over to the left of them right next to the window. Right in front of them was a large fireplace. To the left side of the fireplace was a little kitchenette, and to the right of the fireplace was a bedroom and bathroom.
“Wow, this place is awesome!” exclaimed Rheba.
The others agreed.
“I want this whole place covered! The bedroom, bathroom, her desk, and near the fireplace,” ordered Amber.
“Why the fireplace?” questioned Travis.
“You never know, what if there was a secret compartment that she put her journal in to keep it safe?” suggested Amber.
All three split up and searched the house. Amber went to the bedroom, Travis searched the kitchenette and Rheba searched the desk. After a few moments a scream was heard.
To find out what happened, click on the link below to purchase or
download the book "Amber Oak Mysteries - Volume 1
Copyright © 2008 Ceara Comeau
