It's the first dinnertime of the long summer at Camp Cedarcrest.
All around you, the dining hall echoes with laughter, shouts, and the sound of silverware clattering on plates. The food is a little dubious—you're not sure what kind of meat is in the sauce that goes with the spaghetti, the lemonade is puckeringly sour, and the only other kind of drink is a fire-engine-red fruit punch that everyone calls "bug juice"—but somehow, everyone is happy.
It looked a bit iffy at the beginning when Sydney tried to start a round of ghost stories—"My mom says that if you go out in the forest at night, you'll see the White Lady"—but Justine quickly shut that down, saying that ghost stories were for after dark only. And then Dylan started in with some knock-knock jokes, so the worst danger turned out to be uncontrollable giggles.
Maybe Pearl is right, and you've got this.
Some of the other counselors seem to think so, too, because they're getting up and walking around, catching up with their friends as well. A lot of the counselors were campers here themselves; they've known each other for almost as long as you and Alison have, and you can tell that their friendships are really tight.
Which is why you're a little surprised to see Samira walking toward you. You got along okay with her at orientation, but you're not really close.
"Hey, Pika Shimon Capela?" Samira gives her campers one last quick backward glance to make sure that they're not getting too out of hand, then looks up to focus her full attention on you. When she does, you can see the worry in her dark eyes. "Can I talk to you for a minute? I'd really like your help with something. You know, like…a case?"
Okay, she's got your attention.
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