163 The Clues Challenge Read online

  and down to keep warm. Even in the dim light Nancy

  recognized a lot of faces from the night before. Like

  her and George, they all wore sleek warm-up gear and

  sweaters under their parkas. Only a few die-hard

  spectators, bundled up from head to toe, had braved

  the cold and the early hour to be there.

  “Nancy! George!” Ned's voice rang out.

  Nancy turned to see her boyfriend's tall silhouette

  walking up the snowy, tree-lined path with a thermos

  and insulated cups. Grant and C.J. were with him. All

  three guys wore bright yellow caps that glowed in the

  darkness.

  “Omega Chi Epsilon!” Nancy said, reading the

  Greek symbols printed on the hats in neon green.

  “They're perfect.”

  “Tea and team hats.” George grinned as C.J. pulled

  two more hats from his pocket and handed them to her

  and Nancy. “Okay. Now I'm psyched.”

  They were just digging into their muffins when

  Randy hustled up with his camera. “How about a team

  photo?” he asked. “Guys in back, girls in front.”

  C.J. had started toward Dede's team, which was

  doing stretches next to the tower, but Randy pulled

  him back. As Randy motioned for C.J. to take his place

  between Ned and Grant, Nancy noticed the team from

  Sigma Pi heading toward the tower.

  Nancy didn't miss the way Dennis's eyes flitted be-

  tween C.J. and Dede. Rolling his eyes at C.J., Dennis

  muttered loud enough for them all to hear, “We'll see

  who's the top jock around here after the competition.”

  “There's Mr. Lorenzo now,” Ned said.

  Mel Lorenzo was just walking up the tree-lined path

  to the bell tower, Nancy saw. His round face was

  almost completely obscured by his tinted glasses, knit

  cap, and thick scarf. His heavy ski jacket made his large

  frame look even bulkier than usual.

  “Let's talk to him,” Nancy said.

  They caught up to him outside the arched stone

  doorway to the tower. “Ready for the challenge?” Mr.

  Lorenzo asked them.

  “Ready, willing, and able,” Ned assured him. “But

  before we start . . .”

  He and Nancy told him about the muscle relaxant

  they had found on their dessert. As he listened, Mr.

  Lorenzo's expression grew more and more sober.

  “This is a serious accusation.” Mr. Lorenzo shook his

  head and gazed at them over the tops of his tinted

  glasses. “Man, oh, man. You say no one saw the person

  who . . . um, the person who . . . did it?”

  Suddenly the store owner seemed distracted. His

  eyes were focused on something behind Nancy. When

  she turned, she saw Randy headed their way with his

  notebook open and ready.

  “C.J. just told me about a possible sabotage inci-

  dent,” Randy said, tapping his pen against the page.

  “And what's this about threats to hand over clues? Care

  to comment, Mr. Lorenzo?”

  “No,” Mr. Lorenzo practically growled at the re-

  porter, then walked away from him.

  “Mr. Lorenzo,” Nancy said, hustling after him with

  Ned. “We think whoever put those pills on our dessert

  could be the same person who sent you that computer

  threat.”

  “I already told you, that was nothing,” Mr. Lorenzo

  insisted. His eyes kept jumping to Randy, who hovered

  nearby.

  “We saw Joy talking to you last night. You seemed

  uncomfortable, and then suddenly you left,” Ned said.

  “Did she say something that made you leave?”

  Mr. Lorenzo held up a hand and shook his head. “I

  had to meet Jimmy, an employee. He hid the clues for

  me,” he explained. “Joy was just making small talk.”

  He turned to Nancy and Ned with an understanding

  smile. “I'll keep my eyes open for trouble,” he assured

  them. “But I'm afraid I can't suspend anyone from the

  challenge without much more solid evidence.”

  Nancy saw the doubt in his eyes. Mr. Lorenzo

  clearly thought she and Ned were blowing the whole

  thing out of proportion.

  “Okay, everyone.” Mr. Lorenzo pulled a whistle

  from his pocket and blew it. “To the starting line!”

  Excited murmurs rose from all four teams. “This is

  it!” George said as she, Grant, and C.J. joined Nancy

  and Ned.

  They had already agreed that C.J. would run for the

  first clue for their team. He took his place at the

  entrance, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet. Joy,

  Dennis, and Dede's sorority sister Krista lined up next

  to him.

  “On your marks!” Mr. Lorenzo called. “Get set . . .”

  He blew the whistle, and all four runners sprinted

  through the bell tower doorway. Shouts and cheers

  erupted from the crowd.

  “Yes!” Nancy jumped up and down as C.J. took the

  lead on the stairs. “Go, C.J.! Go!”

  The runners' pounding footsteps mixed with cries of

  encouragement from their teammates and spectators.

  The outer wall of the tower was dotted with small,

  diamond-shaped windows that rose in the same curve

  as the stone stairs inside. Nancy followed the flashes of

  movement as the runners sprinted higher and higher.

  “They're almost at the top!” George said, squinting

  upward at the tower. “But I can't see which runner is—

  —”

  “Aiieeeeee!”

  An earsplitting cry rang out from the top of the bell

  tower. The anguish—and pain—in the voice made

  Nancy shiver from head to toe.

  “Oh, no,” she said breathily. “Someone's hurt!”

  5. A Cry for Help

  “We've got to help!” Nancy cried. After shoving her tea

  into Ned's hands, she raced for the bell tower and

  pounded up the stone stairs two at a time.

  Her heart thumped as she sprinted higher and

  higher. Surely she had to be near the top. As she raced

  past a window, she caught a diamond-shaped glimpse

  of branches and snow far below. And then . . .

  “C.J.!” Nancy said as she stopped short.

  He was doubled over on the stairs with the others

  around him, clutching his left ankle. “Owww,” he

  groaned. “I think I sprained it.”

  “All of a sudden he slipped going up,” Krista ex-

  plained. “We plowed right into him.”

  “It happened so fast,” Dennis added. “We were

  lucky we didn't all fall.”

  Nancy crouched down in front of C.J. “We have to

  get you downstairs—” She was interrupted as someone

  shoved her from behind. “Hey!”

  Randy pushed past her with his camera, snapping

  photos. The blinding flashes made Nancy instinctively

  move up the stairs.

  “C.J.!” Dede appeared below them on the stairs.

  Her face was red, and her eyes were wide. “You're

  hurt!”

  She tried to get close to her boyfriend, but Randy

  blocked her way.

  “Can't you get out of the way?” Nancy said. “Dede

  needs to— Whoa!”
As she had moved up a step,

  Nancy's foot slipped out from under her, and she

  landed on her knees.

  “Ow!” She winced, then did a double-take as she felt

  the surface of the step with her hand.

  “It's slippery!” she said, rubbing her fingers to-

  gether. “Someone rubbed this step with soap!”

  “No way.” C.J. whipped his head around—then

  scowled when Nancy showed him the soap marks on

  the step. “So someone tripped me up on purpose!”

  Randy turned his camera toward the step. “Talk

  about great material,” he said under his breath.

  “Unless he's faking for publicity,” Dennis muttered.

  “C.J. would never do that!” Dede said hotly. She

  shot a furious look at Dennis. “How do we know it

  wasn't you? You'd do anything to get C.J. out of the

  competition.”

  Good point, Nancy thought and turned toward

  Dennis. At least, she tried to, but with everyone clus-

  tered around, she could barely wiggle.

  “We need to get Randy to the infirmary!” she

  shouted above the din of everyone speaking at once.

  “He has to—”

  “I've got it!” came a voice from farther up the tower.

  Nancy turned around in time to see Joy trot down

  the stone stairs. She was clutching a slip of paper in her

  right hand.

  “The first clue!” she crowed, holding up the paper.

  Joy shoved past Nancy and everyone else who had

  pushed up the stairs. “See you at the finish!”

  Krista and Dennis looked at each other, then, care-

  fully avoiding the soapy steps, sprinted to the top.

  “The others can help me down,” C.J. told Nancy.

  “Go get our clue!”

  Nancy didn't have to be told twice. But as she ran up

  the curving tower stairs after Krista and Dennis, a

  troubling thought nagged at her.

  How had Joy avoided the soapy step? How had she

  known to?

  “I'm all taped up and ready to go,” C.J. announced

  half an hour later.

  Using a cane, he limped into the infirmary waiting

  room, his left ankle wrapped in an Ace bandage.

  Nancy looked up from the slip of paper that rested

  on the battered coffee table in the waiting room. She,

  George, Ned, and Grant had been going over their first

  clue while Randy observed from a chair.

  “How is your ankle?” Ned asked.

  C.J. shrugged. “It's a minor strain, nothing serious.

  This stuff is just a precaution, to keep from aggravating

  the injury,” he said, pointing at the cane and bandage.

  “I have to steer clear of strenuous activity today, but if

  it feels okay, I'll be back in action tomorrow.”

  “Great,” Randy said, raking his white-blond hair off

  his forehead. “That means we'll have time for some in-

  depth questions today.”

  “Speaking of questions . . .” Ned picked up the clue

  from the table and handed it to C.J. “Take a look at

  this.”

  As C.J. read the clue, Nancy glanced at it over his

  shoulder. Not that she needed to. She already knew it

  by heart:

  Shake it up at the start!

  Leave sculdiggery behind

  Lunge past frozen waters

  Run alongside the wet wanderer

  Bypass broken-down barriers

  Escape the bony clutches

  Navigate the trail to the ring of rocks

  Advance to the foundation of victory

  Overturn the rising sun

  Invite success!

  “Looks like directions,” C.J. said, sitting.

  “Frozen waters must be the lake,” Ned agreed. “But

  the rest of it. . .” He shook his head.

  Grant opened up his backpack and pulled out a

  sheet of glossy paper. “Here's a map of the campus,” he

  said, spreading it out on the table.

  The lake was a blue oval at the center. A vast

  wooded section spread out to the west of it. Nancy

  followed a squiggly blue stream that threaded through

  the woods to the lake.

  “Do you think that could be the wet wanderer'?”

  she wondered out loud.

  “Could be,” George said. “But it runs for miles. We

  need to figure out the rest of the clue first.”

  Nancy's eyes jumped to the top of the clue. “ Shake

  it up at the start,' “ she murmured.

  “The start of what?” C.J. asked.

  “I wonder . . .” Reaching into her own backpack,

  Nancy took out a pen and a small notebook. “What if

  he means the start of each line of the clue,” she said.

  “The first letter from each line . . .”

  She wrote down S L L R B E N A O I. “Okay. What

  if we scramble the letters?”

  “You think that's what Mr. Lorenzo means by Shake

  it up'?” Ned asked.

  “Maybe. It can't hurt to try,” Nancy said. She was

  already spelling different words. “Bells . . . beans . . .

  sail . . . rose . . . barn . . .”

  “Wait a sec. There is a barn. The old Sanderford

  place!” Grant jabbed a finger at the map, nearly

  sending it flying off the table.

  “That's right,” Ned said. “The whole campus used to

  be part of the farm. Woods have grown back over the

  part of the land where the house and barn used to be.

  I've never seen them, but from what I've heard, they're

  wrecks now.”

  Nancy circled the B, A, R, and N. “That leaves S, L,

  L, E, O, and I,” she said. “What did you say the

  farmer's name was?”

  “Sanderford,” Grant said. “Ollie Sanderford.”

  “That's it!” Nancy crowed. “If you take the first let-

  ter from each line and rearrange them, they spell

  Ollie's Barn!”

  C.J.'s eyes lit up. He leaned on his cane to gaze at

  the map. “Excellent! But . . . the house and barn aren't

  marked on here,” he said.

  “That's where the directions come in.” Nancy's

  whole body tingled as she took the paper from C.J.

  “We know the barn is somewhere in the woods. I say

  we ski to the wooded side of the lake and see if we can

  figure out the rest of the clue.”

  “I'll have to sit out this part of the challenge,” C.J.

  said. “Randy and I will meet you at the headquarters

  later, okay?”

  Ned jumped to his feet and grabbed his parka and

  yellow team hat. “Mr. Lorenzo said he's got all the

  equipment in the atrium of the Sports Complex,” he

  said. “Let's go.”

  The Sports Complex consisted of three modern,

  cubelike buildings that had been constructed at angles

  to the old brick gymnasium. Nestled between the

  buildings was a triangular, glassed-in atrium carpeted

  with AstroTurf.

  “Ah!” Mr. Lorenzo glanced up from a table just in-

  side the door to the atrium. He smiled as Ned sorted

  through the cross-country skis and poles stacked

  against the outer wall of the old gym, along with ropes,

  pins, harnesses, and climbing shoes. Everything was

  divided into four sections, one for each team. “I see the

  Om
ega team has solved the first clue. Good work.

  You're the second team out.”

  “Second?” George frowned at the blank spot be-

  neath the Delta Tau sign. “Joy's team is ahead of us,

  huh?”

  “Looks like the Sigmas and the Kappas are still

  puzzling over the clue,” Nancy said, nodding to where

  the two groups sat hunched at tables on opposite sides

  of the fountain. Both teams watched as Nancy and the

  others put on their ski boots and grabbed skis and

  poles.

  “Come on!” Grant urged, pushing back outside

  through the glass doors.

  He, George, Ned, and Nancy stepped into their skis.

  As they took off, they heard a loud whoop from inside

  the atrium.

  “It's the Kappas,” said George, glancing back over

  her shoulder.

  Nancy felt a jolt of adrenaline as Dede and her

  teammates burst through the atrium doors with their

  skis. “Go!” Nancy urged.

  She plunged her pole into the snow and skied for-

  ward. Beyond the parking lot, a corner of the snow-

  covered lake was visible. It was rimmed on one side by

  a thick woods of evergreens, maples, and oaks that

  stretched all the way to the horizon.

  “This way,” Ned called. He took the lead on a path

  that angled toward the woods.

  “Hmm,” Nancy said as her eyes fell on two buildings

  that had come into sight. To their left was a

  greenhouse, dominated by steamed-up windows and

  flashes of greenery. Just beyond it, to their right, the

  boathouse was nestled into the trees at the lake's edge.

  “Hey, George!” Nancy called as she poled and

  glided forward. “Isn't sculling a way of rowing a boat?”

  she asked. “And isn't digging one of the main things

  that happens in a greenhouse?”

  George looked back and forth between the two

  buildings. “Sculdiggery. It's perfect!” She whooped as

  they skied past both buildings. “We just left sculdiggery

  behind, guys! What's next?”

  Nancy recalled the next part of the clue. “We have

  to ski past frozen waters—that must be the lake,” she

  said. “Then we should follow the shore until we come

  to the stream.”

  “The wet wanderer,” Ned called back to them. “It'll

  take a while to get there.”

  As Nancy skied, she tilted her face up to catch the

  sun's rays. The wind whipped at her cheeks, but she

  was moving with such energy that she didn't feel the

  cold. She felt completely invigorated.