Fair Warning

By Patty Slack

With their exciting summer in Alaska nearly hafway over, Shelby and Cole are ready to relax and fun at the fair. But when puppies start to disappear, the kids are on the case.

The fair is so filled with interesting and eccentric people, Shelby and Cole have a hard time narrowing down their list of suspects. They are race once again, this t

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clay Inkpot Press
• Release date: Jul 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9781945135118

Book preview

Chapter 1

Last Call. Meet you at the phone booth.

Shelby scrunched up her face at the text on her phone. Phone booth? Out the window of Grumpa’s jeep, she saw nothing but a gray stripe of highway and endless wilderness. Where in the world were they supposed to find a phone booth?

What’s so funny? her brother Cole asked from the back seat. He was ten and he hated to be left out of anything.

Shelby held up her phone. Mom and Dad said they’d meet us at the phone booth.

What’s a phone booth?

Now it was Grumpa’s turn to laugh. You kids and your devices. Used to be if you wanted to make a call, you had to wait until you got home, or find a public phone to use.

What’s so weird about that? Cole said. That’s my life. If I want to call someone, I have to borrow Shelby’s phone.

Only because you’re too young, Shelby said. Back when she was ten, she didn’t have her own phone either. But now that she was twelve, well, it was one of her most important tools. A phone booth is like what Superman used to change in. Or what Doctor Who uses to get around.

Oh, Cole said and sat all the way back.

Grumpa shook his head. Did they say what mile the phone booth is at?

Nuh-uh. Do you think we’ll see it when we’re close? They’d only been away from Dad a few days, but they hadn’t seen Mom in over a week and Shelby had so much to tell her—about catching a thief on the Chilkoot Trail, and then about running The Great Yukon Scavenger Hunt. And the sled dogs. Oh, how she loved those dogs!

Shelby craned her neck, looking for a phone booth, though she couldn’t really imagine one out here, not between the silty river on one side of the road and the steep hill on the other.

And then she saw it, where the flatlands between road and river widened. Over there! she shouted, pointing out the window.

Grumpa slowed the jeep and pulled off the road onto a gravel drive.

Shelby yanked on the door handle and jumped from the car as soon as it stopped. She ran for the phone booth, not because she saw Mom and Dad—which she didn’t—but because she saw someone else racing on his bike to make a call before her. Only, he wasn’t moving. And he had no skin. He’d been on that bike so long, all that was left was his skeleton in sweats and rubber boots.

Someone had died here, and she was going to find out who. And when. And how.

From behind her, she heard Cole yell, There’s another one!

She turned at the sound of his voice and, following his finger, found an old go-cart whose driver was also a skeleton.

What is this place? she whispered, turning around to take in the rest of the creepy scene. Instinctively, she patted her pockets. As usual, they were loaded with all the tools she would need to solve this mystery. First thing was to get a close look at the skeleton she spotted near the phone booth.

She shuddered at the sight of a bony hand coming out of the flower bed.

Hey! Cole yelled. Here come Mom and Dad!

Shelby lifted her gaze long enough to watch Mom and Dad turn the corner on their bicycles and stop near the jeep.

Cole launched himself at Dad, nearly knocking him over in his enthusiasm.

Whoa there, Sport, Dad said, laughing. Let me get off my bike first.

Shelby glanced from the skeletons to her parents and back again. Reluctantly, she left the bones. She’d get back to them soon. She took a few steps, then stood and waited for Mom to get off her bike. Then, she flung herself at Mom, wrapping her arms around her waist.

I’m glad to see you, too, Shell, Mom said, smoothing Shelby’s hair with her palm. She laughed. Busy week for you I hear.

Shelby backed out of Mom’s hug. Oh. My goodness.

Dad waved his hand to get everyone together at a picnic table.

Shelby looked back at the skeleton, which hadn’t moved a muscle. She slid in next to Dad.

Details, please, Dad said.

Shelby and Cole tripped over themselves to be the first to tell about the race and how one of the fastest teams had cheated.

While they were talking, Dad took Shelby’s phone from the table and slid it across to Mom, who picked it up. Shelby watched her fiddle with it.

Grumpa sat back and listened to them, a grin as wide as a kayak across his face. They did good, he finally said when they stopped talking long enough to breathe.

Shelby pushed back from the table, ready to check out the skeletons again, but Mom stopped her.

I’ve got something I need you kids to do for me. She handed Shelby’s phone back.

Shelby swiped through the screens. Like what? There was a new app on the last page, green with white shapes in it.

Mom slid a piece of paper across the table to her. It had some numbers on it.

Like, hunt some stuff down for me. Use the app to see if you can find your way to the boat.

Shelby almost corrected her to say back to the boat, then realized she hadn’t been on the Sea Otter since it was docked in Skagway. By now, it would be in Haines. She looked at her phone. It sounded interesting, but—What about those guys? she said, pointing to the skeletons.

Dad threw back his head and laughed, a great, loud, embarrassing belly laugh that echoed off the hills. Mom cracked a smile, which was something.

What? Shelby looked across the table to the skeleton in the phone booth. What’d I miss?

Dad shook his head, still chuckling. Those skeletons aren’t real. The real mystery here is inside your phone.

Shelby looked at the screen. A mystery in her phone? They’re not real?

Dad shook his head. Just decorations.

Cole shrugged. Weird.

Shelby looked one more time. Not real? So . . . ?

Grumpa nodded. So, it’s just the three of us for a little longer. You cowboys ready?

Shelby looked at the phone booth one more time.

There’s a prize at the end of the quest, Mom said.

Cole and Shelby both perked up at that. What kind of prize?

A good one, but only if you get there first.

Chapter 2

Well? Cole put his hands on his hips. What are we waiting for?"

Shelby looked at her parents, at Grumpa, then back at the skeleton in the phone booth. She hated to leave a perfectly good mystery unsolved. Just give me a minute, she said.

Take all the time you need, Dad said. But if we beat you to the boat, you might not get the prize. He clipped his biking shoe into his pedal and nodded at Mom. Together, they leaned into the pedals of their bikes, circled the parking lot, and rode off in the direction they’d come from.

Shelby didn’t know what to do.

Clock is ticking, Grumpa said. I’ll be in the jeep whenever you two are ready to go.

Shelby started toward the phone booth. She couldn’t just walk away.

Cole yelled after her, Clock is ticking!

How long do we have? she yelled over her shoulder to Grumpa. Not that it mattered. With a mystery, you never knew how long it was going to take.

Two, three hours? They’ve got a pretty long ride.

She quickened her pace and looked at the skeleton on the bike. She stared at its eyes. Wait. Eyes? Skeletons don’t have eyes. This was just a mask. No mystery here after all.

She trotted to the jeep. Come on, guys! What’s taking you so long? She climbed into the passenger seat. We’ve got a race to win!

Just so you know, Shelby said to Cole as she buckled her seatbelt. "This is not our next adventure."

What do you mean?

"I mean, if the whole goal is to get to the boat, that’s not a real adventure. It’s just a way for Mom and Dad to get us back to the boat. Know what I mean?"

She thought she saw a twitch of a smile on Grumpa’s face, but by the time she looked at him, he was straight-faced as ever.

Where to, Navigator? He looked at her as he put his hand on the gear shift, ready to go where she led him.

It was a good question. She had no idea where they were supposed to go first.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

The text was just a bunch of numbers and symbols. The only letters were an N and a W.

Let me see, Cole insisted, pushing his way forward for a better view of the screen. It’s just a bunch of numbers.

Coordinates, Shelby said knowingly. The N is for North and the W is for West. It tells us exactly where to go, but how are we supposed to get there? I have no idea where we are right now."

Look at your compass. Duh.

Of course.