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fast.”
    “What’s up?” Bess asked. “If it’s about a care package, forget it. We’re not allowed to send junk food.”
    “Listen, Bess. This is serious,” Maggie said.
    Bess pulled the phone away from her ear as Maggie shouted. George and I traded puzzled looks.
    “Maggie, calm down and tell me what’s wrong,” Bess said.
    I could hear Maggie’s voice as she cried, “You’ve got to get me out of this horrible place, Bess. You’ve got to get me out now !”

 

PANIC AT CAMP ATHENA
    “M aggie, you’ve got to tell me what’s going on,” Bess pleaded. But Maggie refused to tell until we got to the camp.
    “Okay,” Bess finally said. “We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
    “Is there a full moon today?” George asked as we slipped into Bess’s car. “Too many weird things are happening.”
    I tried not to think about Ned as Bess drove away from the river. Instead I turned my thoughts to Maggie. Why had she sounded so frantic?
    “I thought Maggie liked camp,” I said.
    “She did,” Bess said, shrugging. “She liked being friends with Alice—she even liked the food.”
    We reached Camp Athena in record time. Maggie was standing at the gate, waiting for us. Once we parked, she ran to us in a panic.
    “Okay, Maggie, spill,” Bess said. “A week ago you worshipped this place.”
    “I did, and so did Alice, but it’s not the same anymore,” Maggie said, talking quickly. “Amy used to be nice, but she’s been acting totally weird lately.”
    “Weird how?” I asked.
    “She acts like she couldn’t care less about us,” Maggie said. “She hasn’t posted a schedule for two days. The cooks can’t get her to talk about menus or stock up on food, so we’ve been eating leftovers every day. The tofu is drying up and starting to turn green .”
    “That doesn’t sound like something Amy would do,” Bess said.
    Maggie continued, “She’s also been snapping at us—and the counselors. She doesn’t even care about the mean girls.”
    “Mean girls?” I asked.
    “Darcy, Lindsay, and Ava,” Maggie said, in almost a whisper. “They’re from Bunk Diana, and they sneak junk food into the camp, which they refuse to share.”
    “How do they get their hands on junk food?” I asked.
    “Hel- lo ? They sneak out of camp too,” Maggie said. “Either Amy doesn’t know or she just doesn’t care.”
    “Okay, so they’re sneaky,” Bess said. “What makes them mean?”
    “Just because they don’t share their candy bars?” George asked.
    “Are you kidding me?” said Maggie. “They came up with nicknames for everybody. Mine is Magpie. They write nasty things about other campers on the bunk walls, and a couple of nights ago they squirted shaving cream all around our beds and the floor.”
    Just then I remembered the three girls we’d seen outside of Safer’s Cheese Shop—the rude ones with the junk food.
    “By any chance, Maggie,” I said, “are Darcy, Lindsay, and Ava fans of the Casabian sisters?”
    “Totally,” Maggie said. “They style their hair like Mandy, Mallory, and Mia and wear the Casabian Sisters T-shirts practically every day.”
    I turned to Bess and George. “Those were the girls we saw at Safer’s today,” I said.
    “They must have snuck out of camp again,” George said.
    “You see?” Maggie said. She grabbed Bess’s arm. “Can you talk to Mom and get her to take me home?”
    “Home?” Bess said.
    “Maybe Alice can go home with me,” Maggie said eagerly. “Until her mom can take her back to California.”
    “Whoa, whoa, Maggie,” Bess cut in. “Why didn’t you call Mom in the first place?”
    “Because she never listens to me,” Maggie said sulkily. “She listens to you because you’re the older sister.”
    “Fine,” Bess said. “But I know what Mom’s going to say. She’s going to tell you to stay in camp for the next two weeks and tough it out.”
    “Even with Amy acting so weird?” Maggie asked.
    “We can talk to Amy,” I