The Make-A-Pet Mystery Read online

  A mystery that will have the

  Clue Crew hoppin’!

  River Heights has gone gaga over Make-a-Pets! Nancy and her friends are excited to make their own cuddly stuffed animals—and play the online game, Petopia, that goes along with Make-a-Pet.

  But right before they start game, Violet discovers her Make-a-Pet, Hoppity, is missing! As if that weren’t bad enough, it looks like the main suspect is Violet’s best friend, Sonia! Could Sonia really be the culprit? It’s up to Nancy and the Clue Crew to save the day—and a friendship!

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  ALADDIN • Simon & Schuster, New York

  A Ready-for-Chapters Book • Cover designed by

  Lisa Vega • Cover illustration copyright © 2012

  by Macky Pamintuan • Ages 6–9 • 0112

  The Missing Make-a-Pet!

  “Have you guys started playing Petopia yet?” George asked Nancy and Bess. “It’s so much fun!”

  Nancy nodded. “I know! I can’t wait to play again when I get home.”

  “I’m going to try to win the contest,” Bess said. “Itty Bitty needs a new backpack to carry all her kitty treats!”

  Just then, Violet came rushing up to Nancy and the girls. She looked upset.

  “Violet, what’s wrong?” Nancy asked her.

  “Everything!” Violet cried out. “Someone stole Hoppity!”

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ALADDIN

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  First Aladdin paperback edition January 2012

  Text copyright © 2012 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Illustrations copyright © 2012 by Macky Pamintuan

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  ALADDIN and related logo, NANCY DREW, and NANCY DREW AND THE CLUE CREW are

  registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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  Designed by Lisa Vega

  The text of this book was set in ITC Stone Informal.

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Library of Congress Control Number 2011939420

  ISBN 978-1-4169-9464-0

  ISBN 978-1-4424-4620-5 (eBook)

  CHAPTER ONE: MAKE-A-PET

  CHAPTER TWO: PETOPIA

  CHAPTER THREE: A BUNNY THIEF

  CHAPTER FOUR: THE MYSTERIOUS CLUE

  CHAPTER FIVE: OUT OF CONTROL

  CHAPTER SIX: A NEW SUSPECT

  CHAPTER SEVEN: THE HACKER RETURNS

  CHAPTER EIGHT: TWO APOLOGIES

  CHAPTER NINE: ONE MYSTERY SOLVED

  CHAPTER TEN: LOST . . . AND FOUND

  “I can’t wait to make my very own puppy,” Nancy Drew declared as she headed into the main entrance of the River Heights Mall. She pulled off her hat and mittens and stuffed them into her coat pockets.

  “And I can’t wait to make my very own kitty,” Bess Marvin piped up. She did a little twirl as she followed behind Nancy. “She’s going to be the most beautiful kitty in the world!”

  “Well, I can’t wait to make my very own tiger,” Bess’s cousin, George Fayne said. “I already have a name for him: Furrrocious!” She held up her hands on either side of her head, pretending to have big tiger ears.

  The three best friends were on their way to a new store at the mall called Make-a-Pet. They had been saving their allowance money for ages so they could each buy—actually, create—their very own Make-a-Pet.

  Hannah Gruen had come along with the girls. Hannah worked as a housekeeper for Nancy and her father, although to Nancy she was more like a mother than a housekeeper.

  “Hmm, maybe I should make one of these stuffed animals too. They sound like fun,” Hannah said, tucking her car keys into her purse.

  “It’s not a stuffed animal, Hannah. It’s a Make-a-Pet!” Nancy corrected her.

  Hannah laughed. “Oh! My mistake.”

  Inside the mall, Nancy paused to figure out where they were going. “Over there!” she said eagerly, pointing to a storefront on the other side of the fountain. The sign said make-a-pet in different-colored letters. Each letter had a different animal on top of it, including a hopping frog, a waddling duck, and a slithering snake. The snake made Nancy shiver a little.

  Bess grabbed Nancy’s and George’s hands and pulled them toward the store.

  “No running!” Hannah called after them. “Don’t worry, we have plenty of time to make pets before we get pizza!”

  Pizza! Normally, Nancy would have been superpsyched about going out for pizza. But right now she was so excited about their Make-a-Pet project that she could hardly think about food—or anything else.

  The inside of the Make-a-Pet store was even more fun and colorful than the sign out front. There were shelves full of puppies, kitties, and other animals dressed up in cool outfits. There were lots of tables, too, with kids making their own pets similar to the ones on the shelves. Nancy wasn’t sure where to start.

  “Are you here to make a pet?” a young woman asked the three girls in a friendly voice. She wore jeans and a red T-shirt with the Make-a-Pet logo. Her name tag read TABITHA.

  “Yes!” Nancy, George, and Bess said at the same time.

  “Do you all know what kind of pet you’d like to make?” Tabitha asked them.

  Nancy raised her hand. “A puppy!”

  “A kitty!” Bess said.

  “A bear!” George added.

  Tabitha grinned. “Sounds like you girls know what you want. Follow me!”

  While Hannah wandered around the store, Tabitha led Nancy, Bess, and George to the first workstation, which had a sign above it that said: step 1, pick your pet! There, they picked out a shell for their pets, which was the outside part with no stuffing inside. Nancy’s puppy was cute and brown, like her real puppy back home, Chocolat
e Chip. But without its stuffing, the puppy looked kind of flat, like a fuzzy sweater.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll get your pets fattened up right away,” Tabitha told them. She led them to the second workstation, which had a sign above it that read step 2, fill up your pet! Tabitha had to help them with this step, which involved hooking their pets’ shells up to a special machine. Within minutes Nancy’s puppy was a cuddly stuffed animal that she could squeeze and hug. She couldn’t believe it!

  At the third workstation—dress your pet!—Nancy and her friends ran into some girls they knew: Deirdre Shannon, Madison Foley, and Kendra Jackson, who were in their third-grade class at school.

  “Hey, it’s the Clueless Crew!” Deirdre exclaimed. “Are you working on a case? What’s it called? The Mystery of the Ugly Cat?” She pointed to Bess’s kitty and cracked up.

  Bess glared at Deirdre. “Ha-ha, very funny.”

  Nancy, Bess, and George had a club called the Clue Crew. The Clue Crew solved mysteries—everything from finding missing chicks to tracking down a valuable pet bug. Deirdre, Madison, and Kendra once started a club called the Klue Krew to compete with the Clue Crew, but it didn’t last very long.

  “Well, my Make-a-Pet is way cuter,” Deirdre bragged. She held up a lavender mouse. It was wearing a fancy purple dress covered with glittery rhinestones. “Isn’t her outfit awesome? It’s the most expensive one in the store!”

  George rolled her eyes and turned to Madison. “I like your turtle,” she said.

  “Thanks,” Madison said. Her turtle was dressed in an orange baseball jacket and cap.

  “And I like your pony, Kendra,” Nancy added.

  “Thank you,” Kendra said. Her pony was dressed in a red satin jacket and matching bow tie.

  Nancy, Bess, and George picked out outfits for their pets too. Nancy picked out a light blue sweater for her puppy. Bess picked out a ruffled pink dress for her kitty. And George picked out a black-and-white karate uniform for her bear.

  The three girls, along with Deirdre, Madison, and Kendra, moved on to the fourth and final workstation, which was the name your pet! station. There they all filled out their pet’s names and birth dates for their pets’ birth certificates.

  Nancy decided to call her puppy Mocha Chip, since it sounded kind of like Chocolate Chip. Bess named her kitty Itty Bitty. George stuck to Furrrocious for her bear.

  Deirdre chose Squeak Squeak for her mouse. Madison picked Myrtle the Turtle, and Kendra settled on Prancer for her pony.

  Bess filled out Itty Bitty’s birth certificate with a sparkly pink pen, dotting the two i’s with little hearts. “This is superfun!” she exclaimed.

  “This is superdumb!” someone muttered.

  Nancy glanced up from Mocha Chip’s birth certificate with a frown. Who was being so mean and cranky about Make-a-Pets?

  It was Catherine Spangler from school. Catherine was walking up to their workstation with a grumpy expression.

  “Hi, Catherine!” Nancy said, trying to sound friendly. “Are you here to make a pet too?”

  “No way,” Catherine said huffily. “I hate Make-a-Pets. They’re for babies.”

  “Babies?” Deirdre snapped. “I don’t think so.”

  “Well, they are,” Catherine insisted.

  Nancy noticed that Catherine was carrying a bunch of shopping bags. The bags were from several different stores, including L’il Tots and Babymagic and Toy Mania.

  “Wow, you bought a lot of stuff!” Madison remarked, pointing to the bags.

  “These aren’t mine, they’re my mom’s. She’s making me carry them around the mall because she has to push my baby brother around in his stupid stroller.” Catherine stopped and looked out at the mall. “Oh, there she is. I’ve gotta go. Bye!”

  “Bye!” Nancy and the other girls said.

  “That was random,” Kendra said after Catherine left.

  George shrugged. “I guess she really doesn’t like Make-a-Pets.”

  Bess kissed Itty Bitty on the nose. “That doesn’t make sense. Everyone likes Make-a-Pets!”

  Or not, Nancy thought.

  “You guys are late!” Deirdre said impatiently. “Come on, come on. Everyone’s down in the basement already!”

  Nancy walked through the front door, followed by Bess and George. It was Sunday afternoon, and Deirdre had invited them over for a playdate. Nancy had brought Mocha Chip along, and Bess and George had brought Itty Bitty and Furrrocious. Deirdre was holding her Make-a-Pet too. Today, Squeak Squeak was wearing a white dress with red polka dots.

  Downstairs, Madison and Kendra were hanging out in the huge, high-tech rec room. Catherine was also there, and so were two other girls from their school, Violet Keeler and Gaby Small. Madison was pretending to feed popcorn to Myrtle the Turtle, and Kendra was galloping Prancer across the sofa. Violet was sitting at a slick white computer punching keys, her Make-a-Pet bunny perched beside her. Gaby was hovering over Violet, her Make-a-Pet chick tucked under her arm. Catherine seemed to be the only one in the room without a Make-a-Pet.

  “Hi, Nancy, Bess, and George!” Violet called out. “I’m, uh, lodging on to the computer so we can register our Make-a-Pets!”

  “We’re logging on, dummy,” Gaby corrected her. “Have you guys registered your Make-a-Pets yet?” she asked Nancy, Bess, and George.

  The three girls glanced at one another, confused. “I didn’t know we were supposed to do that,” Nancy said.

  “Yeah, we’re all registering our Make-a-Pets,” Deirdre piped up. “They have this cool website.”

  “Booooring,” Catherine complained. She sat down on the sofa and began flipping through a magazine.

  “And once we register, we can play this awesome game called Petopia,” Gaby said, ignoring Catherine. She nudged Violet. “Here, you’re too slow. Let me do that!”

  “Whatever,” Violet grumbled, scooting over.

  Everyone gathered around Gaby as she began typing various commands. Nancy had no idea that Gaby was so good with computers. Within seconds the Make-a-Pet logo appeared, along with a colorful menu with lots of options. Gaby selected the icon that read “Register your pet!”

  “Okay, so we can take turns registering our pets,” she explained to everyone. “Don’t forget, you have to pick a password. Without a password, you won’t be able to sign in to your Make-a-Pet account.”

  The girls did as Gaby instructed, taking turns at the computer to register their Make-a-Pets. When it was Violet’s turn, she glanced up at the others. “I can’t decide which password I like better for Hoppity—Fluffybunny123 or Carrotcake456,” she mused out loud. “What do you guys think?”

  “Violet!” Gaby cried out. “Your password is private! You can’t tell anybody what it is!”

  “Oh!” Violet blushed. “Okay. Whatever.”

  After Violet and all the other girls had finished registering their Make-a-Pets, Gaby sat back down at the computer and showed everyone how to play the Petopia game. The goal of the game was to get as many points as possible by having adventures, finding treasure, and making friends and allies. The players had to overcome obstacles too, like fire-breathing monsters and raging blizzards.

  But before they could play, the girls had to create human avatars for themselves. Avatars traveled around the Petopia kingdom with their Make-a-Pets. Nancy picked an avatar who looked like her, with long, reddish-blond hair and blue eyes. She named her avatar Natasha because it sounded like a glamorous spy name.

  Once the other girls had picked out their avatars, Gaby demonstrated how each girl could make her avatar and pet travel around Petopia, using the arrows on the keyboard. She added that when the avatars and pets went anywhere in Petopia, they might leave clues to their trail, which could lead other players to track them down. Players could also switch pets, too, with other players in the game.

  Nancy was excited. Playing Petopia was going to be fun! She noticed that even cranky Catherine was staring intently at the images flashing across the screen.
<
br />   “Hey! We should all have a Petopia contest,” Gaby suggested.

  Deirdre’s eyes flashed. “What kind of a contest?”

  “Whoever has the highest points at the end of the week wins,” Gaby said.

  “What’s the prize?” Madison asked.

  Violet raised her hand. “I know, I know! The losers have to pay a dollar each so the winner can buy a new accessory for her Make-a-Pet. Like one of those cute little scarves.”

  All the girls nodded eagerly—all except for Catherine, who slumped down on the couch and started flipping through her magazine again.

  Deirdre petted Squeak Squeak. “Yay! You’re going to get a new scarf!”

  “No, Buttercup’s going to get a new scarf,” Gaby corrected her. She picked up her Make-a-Pet chick and kissed it on its beak. “I’m the best one at computers, so I’m definitely going to win.”

  “Win what?”

  Nancy turned around and saw Sonia Susi bounding down the stairs. Sonia, too, was in their class at River Heights Elementary School.

  “Win our Petopia contest,” Kendra explained. She told Sonia all about the Petopia game and the contest rules they had just agreed on.

  “That sounds cool,” Sonia said when Kendra had finished.

  “Yeah. If I win, I’m going to buy Hoppity this scarf I saw. It has a carrot design on it,” Violet said eagerly.

  Sonia gasped. “Violet! You’re a thief!” she burst out.

  Violet turned pale. “A thief? Sonia, what are you talking about?”

  Sonia pointed to Hoppity. “That. You stole my Make-a-Pet!”

  “That’s your bunny?” Nancy asked Sonia, surprised.

  “Yes! I mean, no! I mean, s-sort of!” Sonia stammered.

  Nancy frowned. This was getting confusing. “How can Hoppity ‘sort of’ be your bunny?”

  “Well, I don’t have a Make-a-Pet . . . yet,” Sonia explained. “I still need four more dollars, which I’m getting tonight, since it’s allowance night. My mom’s taking me to the mall after dinner to get my bunny.” She narrowed her eyes at Violet. “Violet knew that. And she knew that I was going to name my bunny Hoppity.”