* * *
“Hey, everyone,” Sofia begins. “Welcome to our Jack & Jill Bachelorette Party Shindig Extravaganza—okay, I don’t have a cute name for it.”
A few guests laugh, mostly her bridesmaids.
“First of all, I want to thank you all so much for joining me. I know it’s going to be a tiring but also a super fun day. Okay, Daniel—it’s all you.”
“Thanks, babe! Morning, friends! So, the first activity on today’s schedule is paddleboarding. We’ll be grabbing our boards and paddles and launching from the beachy part of the lake where the Adirondack chairs are.”
He points across the camp, making me wonder why they’d set up the boards over here if we would have to carry them so far.
“After a few hours of paddleboarding and relaxing on the lake, I’ll rally everyone up, and we’ll move on to river tubing. I’ll give more instructions when we reach that point, so don’t fret. After that, we’ll finish the night with a campfire and s’mores! Sound good?”
Everyone cheers.
“Sorry, I can’t hear you. This is Sofia and Luciano’s wedding. We just got cashmere scarves in our wedding-favor bags this morning. Can I get a little bit more energy?”
The men start whooping loudly, pumping their fists in the air like a pack of wild wolves. The girls scream at the top of their lungs withwoosandahhs.
“That’s more like it! Follow me!”
As we are about to head out with the group, Valentina nudges me in the ribs.
“What?”
“Did you forget already? We need to find the next clue.”
“Oh! You’re right. I can’t believe I forgot. I guess I’m just so excited about today. The real camping experience I’ve been looking forward to all week. All right, let’s look for the next clue.”
I rush over to my bag and pull out the journal, placing it on one of the picnic tables.
Silvana sneers. “Are you two coming?”
“Yeah, Silv. A little later. Just go on ahead,” Valentina replies blandly.
Silvana scoffs and keeps walking. I can’t help but feel smug.
I flip through the pages slowly until I feel something strange on my finger. I immediately pull my hand out and step away from the book.
“What happened?”
“There’s something in there,” I whisper in horror. “It touched me. It was hairy.”
“What?” Valentina chuckles.
“Check for me, please?” I beg, feeling completely freaked out.
“Seriously?” She laughs. “All right, fine.”
She reaches through the pages until she finds the page with the furry creature inside. She turns to the page. There’s a lock of hair taped to one of the pages.
She smirks. “I found the monster.”
“Shut up,” I whine. “It felt weird.”
I step closer to inspect it further. There’s writing above it in Spanish.
“First haircut, 2001,” I read.
