Elira screamed and she slipped down the cliff. Her heartfelt heavier and her brain felt scattered as she grabbed onto a thick branch.

What was she thinking, going down a cliff like that? Was she insane? No. Now, she hated Camp Wolfhead. She hated not fitting in. Maybe she should just die.

"Elira!" a sharp voice said loudly. "What are you doing?"

She looked up to see a frantic-looking Liam, looking down at her, his eyes wide.

"I'm knitting, definitely not trying to save my life because I fell down a cliff," Elira snapped. "Oh, what else do you think?"

"How did you get down there?" Liam asked.

"Can you stop asking me and help me already?" Elira asked as she looked down below her. It seemed like an easy way to die.

"How idiotic was it of you to fall down a cliff, Elira," said Liam as he threw down a rope. "Did you come alone? Or did you get some other newsies with you to die?"

"No," Elira said as she grabbed the rope. "Alexis and Finley are here too."

"Good," grunted Liam as he pulled her up. "At least they aren't newbies, or else all of you would have died."

"What are you doing in the woods anyway, Liam?" shot Elira as she pushed herself up to the sweet ground. "Holy Ground."

"It's lunchtime, Elira, Luciana sent me to look for you, Alexis, and Finley. Who dragged you into this?" Liam asked. "Lemme guess. Fin?"

"Ding-ding-ding, give the man a prize," gasped Elira. "Let's go find them -"

At that moment, Alexis and Finley came into view, their faces red and scared.

"Elira!" gasped Alexis. "We heard you scream, and then we couldn't find you. Elira, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Elira said as she tried to smile.

"Liam, what the hell are you doing here?" Finley questioned, crossing her arms. "And don't say anything stupid."

"It's lunchtime, Luciana sent me to look for you guys. And then I can't wait to tell her that Elira was hanging off of a cliff," Liam said, smiling nastily.

"Remind me why I hate you," Finley said as she rolled her eyes. "Now, let's go, its lunchtime. If not, Cabin Three will steal the peanut butter cups."

"You actually like the peanut butter cups?" Liam asked, astonished, as they all walked toward the camp.

"Yes, I do," said Finley, offended. "Don't you?"

"Not really . . ."

"Well, that's your loss," muttered Finley.

"Okay, okay, you both break it up!" said Alexis as she sighed. "Here it is, Elira, here's your basket of gadgets."

Elira grabbed her basket of gadgets. They were all still there, but Elira felt like she was missing something.

"You all made enough mischief already," Liam said. "I mean, look - YOU'RE OUT OF BOUNDS!"

"We followed that gleam of light that saved us from the aliens," said Elira as she rolled her eyes. "I mean, if you -"

"Stop, stop, stop, stop talking!" Liam snapped. "You guys should be in the cafeteria, not looking out for a gleam of light that possibly saved us!"

They were now at the beginning of Camp Wolfhead. People were hurrying around, trying to get to the cafeteria.

"There you go, don't ever do that again," said Liam as they all walked toward the big open cafeteria. "Please don't, you'll land us all in detention."

"Yes, thank you very much, we'll take it from here," said Finley as they all walked into the cafe.

"There's Luciana! Yikes, is it only me or does she look a little . . . erm, angry?" Alexis whispered to the others.

"I think she's roaring mad," whispered Elira to the others.

"Whaddya both think?" Finley asked. "Of course she's mad, she's Luciana! She's our cabin leader and she wants us to succeed and be the best cabin in Camp Wolfhead."

All of them slipped into a seat on the bench. It was pin-drop silence. Everyone just sat, staring at one another, and eating their lunch. Elira put her box of gadgets on the floor.

"Here, we got this for you all," said Talia as she passed Finley, Elira, and Alexis a box of lunch. "These are what they all had."

Elira opened the box to see pasta. She put her fork in and started to eat.

"Where were you?" asked Luciana, her voice quivering, as if she was trying to keep the anger out of her voice. "Where were you all?"

"I and Elira went to get her gadgets," said Alexis as she ate her pasta.

"And you, Finley?" asked Luciana, her eyes extremely bloodshot. "What were you doing while they both were getting the gadgets?"

"I was with them," said Finley stiffly. "Right, Elira and Alexis?"

Alexis started to say something, but Elira said, "Yes, that's right. She was coming with us." Alexis's mouth dropped open and she mouthed, "WHAT?" to Elira. Elira just simply nodded and said, "Yes, she came."

"She did?" Vanessa asked. "When did you want to help someone out, Fin?"

"Shut up," grumbled Finley. Then she said louder, "Well, we're here, that's all that really matters, doesn't it?"

Luciana rolled her eyes. "I guess," she muttered as she poked her fork into her pasta. "So, Elira, how're your gadgets?"

"They're . . ." Elira thought for a moment. She didn't want to offend anyone (like Finley) or she feared they would do something. "They're quite different from ones I've seen in movies," Elira finished and she was happy to see that people were nodding instead of angry looks.

"Oh, there's a small creek down the road, did you show Elira yet, Alexis and Fin?" Talia said as she smiled at them both.

"Um, not yet," grumbled Alexis, as if she didn't like the creek.

"I can take you to the creek," perked up Talia. "I haven't visited it in a long time. Would you like to come with me, Elira?"

Elira looked around at the others. Vanessa's eyes were wide and she tried to keep them normal, but unfortunately, it didn't seem like that would happen; Luciana shook her head slightly, Victoria looked up at the roof and said, "Oh look, we have a roof," and Alexis let out a little cough. All the others were looking around as if they didn't want to be a part of the conversation.

Elira looked at Talia's face. She seemed excited as if she loved the creek. So, Elira said, "I would love to come with you, Talia. I love creeks too."

Alexis and Finley looked at each other and then at Elira, bewildered. It was as if they all didn't want Elira to go with Talia.

"Great!" said Talia, her face beaming. "Can we go after lunch?"

"Talia, don't you think -" Esmeree started. She looked at Cassandra expectantly as if she wanted Cassandra to finish the sentence.

Instead, Scarlett finished the sentence. "Um, Talia, I don't think you should go. Um -" she looked at Luciana - "I heard from Cabin Eight that there were mysterious things around the creek and that you shouldn't go unprepared for it."

Talia waited patiently for it to end. "But Cabin Eight speaks lies," she whispered. "It's not true what they damn say."

"Talia, I know you like the creek, but -" Iviana started.

"It's okay," said Talia a bit loudly. "I can go, okay?"

"Okay," said Luciana. Everyone turned their heads to look at her and Cassandra even whispered to her, "Wait, are you serious?" Luciana nodded and said, "Talia, I know this is important, and please take care of yourself when you're going to the creek, its really haunted."

"Alright," said Talia as she got up. "Are you coming, Elira?"

"Um yeah," said Elira as she got up and threw her pasta box in the trash can as she finished. "Where is it?"

"Around the corner," said Talia as they both left the cafeteria. She pointed past the front office.

"Past?" repeated Elira. "H-how will we get there?"

"There's a trail," said Talia happily. "You'll love it."

Love wasn't the right word to use. The trail was piled with dirt and stones and it was gloomy yet, Talia was jumping up and down in excitement.

"Isn't it wonderful, Elira?" she asked gleefully as she looked around. "And look, there it is!" She pointed at the small creek. She hurried to it, leaving Elira to catch up to her.

They both sat down on a big rock and listened to the light sound of the river. Elira didn't know how, but it seemed to calm her down a little. Talia sighed and looked at the creek. Small leaves were falling down from the trees and landing with a small splash on the creek.

Elira had never felt this feeling for a long time. "My dad used to take me to lakes," she whispered. "And creeks. We had a creek near my grandmother's house."

"That sounds pleasant," said Talia, smiling at her. "Are you excited to see your family again when you go from Camp?"

"Yeah. Well, most of my family anyway," Elira said as she fiddled with her hair to keep her tears from falling down her cheeks.

"What do you mean?" Talia asked, her head crooked to the side.

"My dad's . . ." Elira's voice trailed off. She took a deep breath in and then said, "My dad's dead. My stepdad's a bit rude - no, who am I kidding? He hates me!"

"I'm sorry," Talia whispered.

They both looked at the creek again.

"I wonder why they all said it was haunted," Talia muttered. "There's nothing creepy about it."

"Yeah," said Elira.

But it seemed that they had spoken too soon.

A loud eerie noise echoed through the trees and reached their ears. Elira and Talia jumped up. Elira's heart was pounding again, she seemed like she was going to have a panic attack.

"What was that?" whispered Elira to Talia, who was gasping a little from the left of her. "Talia? What was that noise?"

Talia's face clouded. "I don't know, Elira. Maybe it is . . ." Talia's voice trailed off, but Elira could hear her thoughts. It was haunted. The creek was haunted.

"Who's t-there?" called Elira, trying to sound brave. "Who's there? What do you want?" She reminded herself the same thing over and over again like a mantra, There is no such thing as ghosts. No such thing as ghosts.

The eerie noise erupted again. Elira's bravery went out the drain. Now she was thinking the same thing as Talia, should we run?

Talia looked like she was about to cry, but she said loudly, "Who are you? What do you want?"

Nothing.

"We should go," whispered Elira. "Come on." Elira's mind was racing as they both hurried down the path slowly.

And then, they both heard a big noise. Boom.