“This is good,” said Benny. “I was hungry.” He finished the last bite of his sandwich and looked over the picnic spread out on the flat rock by the lake.
The Aldens and Nicole were hiking around the lake again, looking for clues. The Aldens hadn’t told anyone about the footprints except Nicole. They were still waiting for Dr. Lin to get back to her cabin. Nicole had told them that Dr. Lin often went away for overnight camping trips while she was doing research. “She always tells Nora,” Nicole explained. “That’s so if she gets lost, they’ll know to go look for her.”
“That’s good,” said Benny.
When they had run into Drew earlier, Benny had immediately told him of their plans to hike around the lake. “So if we get lost,” he explained, “you’ll know where to look.”
Drew had nodded. “Good for you. You’re already learning important lessons in wilderness safety,” he said. “I’ll tell Nora, too.” He paused. “It is beautiful here,” he said, almost to himself. Then he said, “Stop by the lodge before you go on your hike. I might have a surprise for you.”
The surprise had been a picnic lunch that Drew had made especially for them.
Benny now picked up another peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “Drew is a great cook,” he said happily.
“This is good,” agreed Jessie. She was eating a sandwich stacked high with tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese, and a delicious pasta salad. “It was nice of him to make lunch for us. He even remembered Watch.”
Hearing his name, Watch wagged his tail and kept on chewing on the giant dog biscuit that Drew had packed into the lunch in a brown paper bag that said FOR WATCH.
“I didn’t like Drew at first,” said Violet. “But now I think he’s not so bad. It’s hard to get used to a new place and new people. Maybe he’s just shy.” Violet could understand that. She was a little shy herself sometimes.
They ate in silence for a while. Then Nicole glanced out over the water. “Look,” she said. “Someone has taken one of the canoes out on the lake.”
Henry picked up the binoculars and peered through them. “It looks like your brother,” he told Nicole.
“Jason? I don’t believe it!” Nicole said.
Henry handed her the binoculars. Nicole peered through them and said in a surprised voice, “It is Jason. That’s the first time this whole summer he has taken the canoe out. Maybe he’s starting to like it here after — oh, no!”
“What?” asked Henry.
“His boat just turned over. We have to help him!” gasped Nicole.
She jumped up and began to run back along the trail toward a spot closer to the canoe. She was still holding the binoculars.
The Aldens jumped up, too. Looking out over the lake, they could see the bright green bottom of the canoe upended on the water.
Jessie squinted. “I think I see Carl.”
“Come on,” said Henry, “let’s go help.”
The Aldens ran after Nicole. Just as they caught up with her, they saw Carl and Jason wading out of the lake near the trail. Wildman stood on the shore, half in and half out of the water. He was barking.
“Jason, Jason, are you all right?” Nicole cried.
“Of course I’m all right,” said Jason. He sounded angry. “I had a life jacket on and I can swim.”
Carl growled, “Yes, but if you’d been hit on the head when you fell out of the canoe, it could have been worse for you.”
Jason reached the shore and pulled his arm free from Carl. “I don’t need your help,” he said crossly.
Nicole said, “Jason, Carl helped you. He didn’t know whether or not you were hurt. He went in the water after you. He saved your life. He’s a hero!”
Carl’s deeply tanned cheeks reddened. “None of that, now,” he said. “I’m no hero. I did what anyone would have done if they saw someone fall out of a canoe.”
“I didn’t fall out of my canoe!” Jason almost shouted.
“Then what happened?” Jessie asked.
“Someone grabbed my paddle and pulled me out. And turned the canoe over!” Jason said. He held up the paddle angrily. “It happened too quickly for me to see who did it.”
Everyone froze.
Then Violet said in a soft voice, “Jason, what happened to your paddle?”
Jason looked at the paddle for the first time. His eyes widened. He let go of the paddle, and it would have fallen except that Henry caught it.
The tip of the paddle looked as if someone — or something — had taken a huge bite out of it.
“Lucy!” gasped Nicole. “Lucy bit your paddle. Lucy turned your canoe over.”
Carl stood as still as a statue. Now he seemed pale beneath his ruddy tan. “It’s not possible,” he whispered.
Jason recovered his wits. “You’re right. It’s not.” He glared at Nicole. “Is this your idea of a joke?”
“A joke?” Nicole’s voice rose. “A joke?” she repeated. “I would never do something like that.”
“Besides, how could she?” Henry said reasonably. “She was with us.”
“Maybe you’re all in it together! Maybe you would do anything to prove that some phony monster is real,” said Jason.
“We didn’t turn you over! We were having a picnic,” said Benny.
“Besides, none of us is wet,” Jessie pointed out. “Even if one of us was able to swim out to your canoe and turn you over, we would be wet now.”
“And we saw a footprint, too,” cried Benny. “Of Lucy’s. On the beach. She’s real. It wasn’t us who grabbed your paddle. It was Lucy.”
Jason looked from one of them to the other. Then he said, “Somebody did this to me. And it wasn’t the monster. In fact, the only monsters I see around here are you little kids.”
With that, he turned and walked away. His sneakers made squishing sounds as he walked.
Carl still hadn’t moved. His gaze was fixed on the paddle that Henry held. Then he began to shake his head slowly.
“Are you okay?” Jessie asked him.
Carl looked up. He seemed surprised, as if he hadn’t expected to see them.
“Are you cold? We have a blanket with us. I could go get it for you,” Violet volunteered.
“No, thank you,” said Carl.
“You were right about the lake monster, Carl,” said Henry.
“Yes, Lucy is real,” said Benny. “No matter what Jason says. We had a footprint already. And now we have this paddle to prove it.”
Carl gave Benny an odd look. Then, without speaking another word, he disappeared into the woods, with Wildman right behind him.
As they walked back to the lodge to return the napkins and blanket and thermoses from the picnic, they met Nora coming out of the storage building.
She frowned when she saw the Aldens and Nicole. “Jason told me what happened,” she said. “Is this some kind of joke you kids are playing?”
“No,” said Henry.
“There is no monster,” said Nora. “I practically grew up on this lake. I know it. I would have known if there was anything like a monster in it. There isn’t.”
“Then what took a bite out of this?” asked Jessie, holding up the paddle.
“It got caught on a rock. Or a branch under the water,” said Nora.
“Or bitten by a lake monster,” said Nicole.
“Oh, my goodness! What happened to the paddle?” asked a woman’s voice. It was the young woman who had checked into the lodge the day before.
“Nothing,” said Nora. “Someone turned a canoe over in the lake. I’m about to paddle out and tow it home.”
The man with the woman peered at the paddle. “It looks as if those are teeth marks,” he said.
“They might be,” said Benny. “They might have been made by the lake monster.”
“Lake monster? What lake monster?” cried the woman, looking very alarmed.
At that moment Dr. Lin came hiking into the clearing in front of the lodge. “There you are,” she said to the Aldens and Nicole. She held up the note Jessie had written. “What is all this about finding footprints left by the monster of Lake Lucille?”
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