LEGO Friends: Mystery in the Whispering Woods (Chapter Book #3) Read online

  Mystery in the

  Whispering Woods

  SCHOLASTIC INC.

  Written by Cathy Hapka

  Illustrated by Min Sung Ku

  Mystery in the

  Whispering Woods

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  Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012

  eISBN 978-0-545-76603-6

  LEGO, the LEGO logo and the Brick and Knob configurations are trademarks of the

  LEGO Group. ©2013 The LEGO Group. Produced by Scholastic Inc. under license

  from the LEGO Group.

  Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/

  or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  First printing, September 2013

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1: Mystery Assignment . . . . . . .1

  Chapter 2: The Whispering Woods . . . . . 9

  Chapter 3: Camping Surprises . . . . . . . . 17

  Chapter 4: A Spooky Legend . . . . . . . . .22

  Chapter 5: Thumps in the Night . . . . . . 27

  Chapter 6: Olivia’s New Plan . . . . . . . . .33

  Chapter 7: A Close Call . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

  Chapter 8: Catching a Ghost . . . . . . . 47

  Chapter 9: Heading Home . . . . . . . . . .54

  Chapter 1:

  Mystery

  Assignment

  1

  Andrea rushed into the classroom.“Am I late?”

  she exclaimed.

  Her four best friends, Stephanie, Mia, Olivia, and

  Emma, were gathered around a lab table.

  “Don’t worry. Ms. Russell isn’t even here yet,”

  Stephanie said. “That means you’re not late.”

  “No, it doesn’t.” Olivia checked the clock. “Class

  was supposed to start two and a half minutes ago.”

  Mia rolled her eyes. “You’re so scientific, Olivia,”

  she teased.

  Olivia smiled. “Well, we are in science class.”

  2

  The five friends laughed. It was a crisp fall day at

  Heartlake High. Outside, the autumn leaves were

  just beginning to change colors. And this school

  year, the friends were all in the same science class

  together. That made everything more fun, because

  for one thing, they could work in teams on their

  projects. For another thing, it meant Olivia could

  help them with their homework!

  3

  As they were still chatting, their teacher, Ms.

  Russell, hurried in. “I’m here, I’m here!” she

  announced. “Take your seats, please.”

  “Ms. Russell looks excited,” Emma whispered to

  Andrea. “I hope that doesn’t mean we’re having a

  pop quiz today.”

  “I know, right?” Andrea whispered back. “Ms.

  Russell loves pop quizzes!”

  As they were talking, the teacher scribbled big

  block letters on the whiteboard.

  “MYSTERY,”Andrea read out loud.

  “That’s right, Andrea,” Ms. Russell said.“Today

  we’re going to talk about mysteries.”

  “Wait a second,” the girls’ friend Jacob called out.

  “I thought this was science class, not English class!”

  Everyone laughed, including Ms. Russell.“I’m

  not talking about the kinds of mysteries that get

  solved by Sherlock Holmes,” she explained. “I’m

  talking about the mysteries of nature.”

  Some of the students exchanged confused looks.

  4

  “Can anyone tell me how scientists in the old

  days figured out what we know about nature today?”

  Ms. Russell asked.

  Olivia raised her hand. “They did experiments?”

  she guessed.

  “That’s part of it.” Ms. Russell nodded.“But how

  did they know what to experiment on?”

  After a moment, the teacher continued. “Think

  of it this way. When we see a rainbow in the sky,

  what causes it?”

  5

  Stephanie raised her hand. “Light passing

  through the water in the air,” she answered.

  “That’s right,” Ms. Russell said.“And we know

  that because we read about it in our textbook earlier

  this week. But how did scientists first discover what

  caused a rainbow? How did they decide rainbows

  weren’t caused by,say, magic?”

  “Oh, I get it!” Andrea piped up. “Until scientists

  studied what caused a rainbow, it was a mystery.

  Something they couldn’t explain.”

  “Exactly.” Ms. Russell smiled. “Scientists saw

  something in nature they didn’t understand, and

  they observed it. For your next group project, I

  want you to become scientists. Find something in the

  natural world that’s a mystery to you. Study it, record

  your findings, and try to explain it through science.”

  “But couldn’t we just look up the answers on the

  Internet?” Stephanie asked.

  “You could,”Ms. Russell replied. “But for this

  project, I’d like you to act like scientists did before

  6

  they had the Internet. Once you’ve observed your

  mystery, then you can research it online to see if

  your results are correct. Here’s a handout with some

  guidelines to help you get started.”

  As Ms. Russell passed out the papers, Stephanie

  leaned across the table. “We’re going to work

  together, right?” she asked her friends.

  “Definitely!” Andrea replied.

  7

  “I still don’t understand what kind of mystery

  we’re supposed to find,” Emma said. “What do you

  think, Olivia?”

  But Olivia didn’t answer. She was staring out

  the classroom window thoughtfully. Suddenly, she

  snapped her fingers. “I’ve got it!” she exclaimed.

  “It’s fall, right? Why don’t we observe the way leaves

  change from green to autumn colors?”

  “That sounds interesting,” Emma said. “I know

  they change colors when it gets colder. But I’ve never

  really thought about why.”

  Stephanie nodded. “We could go to the park over

  the weekend and look for evidence.”

  Olivia smiled. “I’ve got an even better idea. I’ll ask

  my parents if we can use their camper this weekend.

  We could camp out in the Whispering Woods—

  there are lots of autumn leaves there!”

  “Fabulous!” Andrea exclaimed.

  “Do you think they’
ll let us use the camper?”

  Mia asked.

  8

  “Why not?” Stephanie shrugged. “We’ve gone

  camping lots of times before. Great idea, Olivia!

  You’re a genius!”

  “Thanks.” Olivia traded a high five with each

  of her friends. “This is going to be the best science

  project ever!”

  Chapter 2:

  The Whispering

  Woods

  9

  Friday afternoon, the autumn sun shone brightly

  over Heartlake City. Mia looked around the yard as

  she hurried toward the garden shed.

  “We’ve picked the perfect project,” she told her

  dog, Charlie.

  Charlie barked, and then pounced on a pine

  cone. He picked it up in his mouth.

  “Don’t eat that!” Mia warned.

  She opened the shed and grabbed her family’s

  battery-powered lantern. Then she crossed it off the

  checklist Olivia had given her of what to pack.

  10

  As Mia headed inside, Charlie eagerly followed

  her. The little dog ran over to the kitchen counter

  and started barking at a cooler sitting there. It was

  stuffed with hot dogs, apples, and snacks for the

  weekend.

  “That’s not for you.” Mia shook her head. “That’s

  people food.”

  “Almost ready to go, sweetie?” Mia’s mom called

  from the hallway.

  “Almost.” Mia stuck a package of hot-dog buns in

  the cooler and snapped it shut. “I just need to finish

  packing my clothes.”

  “You’d better hurry.” Her mom checked her

  watch. “Olivia’s parents will be here any minute to

  pick you up.”

  Mia raced upstairs with Charlie at her heels. Her

  duffel bag lay open on her bed. The puppy leaped up

  and sniffed at it.

  “Oh, Charlie.” Mia giggled. “Those are people

  clothes, and they’re still not for you.”

  11

  A horn honked outside. Mia dashed over to the

  window. Olivia’s gleaming pink and green family

  camper was parked at the curb.

  “Time to go!” Mia said excitedly.

  When Mia ran up to the camper, Olivia jumped

  down from the front seat. “Let me help you put your

  things in the trailer,” she said.

  “Thanks!” Mia grinned.

  12

  Behind them, Olivia’s mom waved from her car.

  She was going to follow the camper to the woods,

  and then drive back with Olivia’s father once the

  girls were settled.

  As they stowed Mia’s things, Olivia suddenly

  looked down. “Hey, Charlie! Do you want to come

  with us?”

  Mia turned and saw that Charlie had followed

  her outside. He eagerly wagged his tail.

  “Charlie’s not allowed to come.” Mia laughed.

  “He’d eat all the mysteries of nature!” She led

  Charlie back into the house and shut the door.

  “Everyone ready?” Olivia asked as Mia came back

  to the camper.

  “You bet,” all the friends said together. “It’s time

  to hit the road!”

  “Wait!” Mia’s mom suddenly rushed out of the

  house, the front door banging open behind her.She

  was holding Mia’s cooler.“You girls almost forgot to

  take the food with you!”

  13

  “Oops,”Mia said.“That would have been bad.

  Thanks, Mom!”

  As Mia strapped herself in, her mom stowed the

  cooler in the back trailer. Then she waved good-bye

  and headed back to the house.

  “Now is everyone ready?” Olivia asked with a

  bright grin. “Whispering Woods, here we come!”

  14

  Soon the camper was rumbling along an unpaved

  road deep in the forest.

  “Let’s go over the plan one more time,” Olivia

  said to her friends. “After we set up camp, we’ll start

  collecting leaf samples.”

  Stephanie nodded. “We’ll want to get leaves from

  lots of different kinds of trees.”

  “And we’ll record the temperature in the woods

  and how much daylight there is,”Emma added.

  “Those are the two things that change from summer

  to fall.”

  “When we get home on Sunday, we can research

  what we found on the Internet,” Mia said.“Ms.

  Russell said that’s okay as long as we observe and

  come up with a hypothesis ourselves.”

  Olivia nodded. “I also brought something else to

  help us.”

  “What is it?” Andrea asked. “Is it one of your

  scientific inventions?”

  15

  “Maybe.” Olivia winked. “But it’s a surprise—

  you’ll have to wait and see when we get there.”

  As the girls rode along, they passed a few other

  families setting up tents in the woods. Finally, their

  camper pulled up to a big, flat clearing. A fire pit

  was in the center, and a large picnic table stood to

  one side.

  16

  “This is great!” Stephanie exclaimed, hopping

  down to the ground. “We’ll have plenty of space to

  work on our science project here.”

  “The ranger said we reserved the very last

  campsite,” Olivia explained. “His office is right down

  the road if we need to use the phone. But otherwise,

  we’ll have this whole area to ourselves.”

  The friends quickly unpacked and waved good-

  bye to Olivia’s parents. Her dad beeped the horn

  as they pulled away in her mom’s car. Then Olivia

  turned to the others. There was an excited gleam in

  her eye.

  “Okay,”she said. “Is everyone ready to see my

  surprise?”

  Chapter 3:

  Camping

  Surprises

  17

  Olivia hurried around to the back of the camper

  and opened the trailer. She dug something out and

  held it up. “Ta-da!”

  “What is it?” Mia asked. “It looks like a camera

  with a big extra part on it.”

  “It is. This camera has a timer,” Olivia explained.

  “I can set it to take a picture every few seconds, every

  few minutes, or however often I want.”

  “Cool ! Take my picture now.”Emma struck a

  pose. “I worked hard on my camping outfit.”

  Stephanie laughed. “It’s supposed to be for

  18

  photographing our mystery of nature, not your

  fashion sense.”

  “Well, the way some people dress is a complete

  mystery to me.” Emma waved her hand.

  Olivia looked proudly at her invention. “I was

  thinking we could set up my camera to focus on

  some leaves,”she said. “It will be sort of like a time-

  lapse film.”

  19

  “Neat!” Stephanie exclaimed. “Let’s go find a

  good spot to set it up.”

  “Shouldn’t we get our camp ready first?” Emma

  glanced to the fire pit. “I’m hungry.”

  “Here.” Mia grabbed her cooler from the trailer

  and pulled out a bag of apples. “We can snack on

  these while
we’re setting up our project.”

  Mia placed the bag on the picnic table and

  each of the friends grabbed a piece of fruit. They

  munched as they scouted the nearby woods for the

  best spot to photograph the autumn leaves. Once the

  camera was ready, they returned to the camper.

  “Hey,who knocked over the apples?”Emma asked.

  The girls looked over to where she was pointing.

  Several apples were scattered across the table and

  onto the ground.

  Mia giggled. “That looks like something Bella

  would do when she’s looking for food.”

  “It was probably a squirrel,” Olivia said. “Come

  on, let’s start the campfire for dinner.”

  20

  “Oof!” Andrea collapsed dramatically onto her

  sleeping bag. “I’m so full I couldn’t eat another bite!”

  Night had fallen over the Whispering Woods.

  The friends had just finished a tasty meal of hot dogs

  cooked over the fire.

  Emma licked mustard off her fingers. “That was

  delicious. Now what should we do?”

  Stephanie rubbed her hands together and

  grinned. “How about some ghost stories?”

  21

  “Ghost stories?” Emma sounded curious.

  “I know one!” Andrea leaned forward.“It’s called

  The Tale of the Phantom Horse

  . I remembered it

  when Mia mentioned Bella earlier.”

  “You did?” Emma gulped. “Why?”

  “Because.” Andrea said in a hushed voice. “This

  ghost story might be

  true

  !”

  22

  Emma wrapped both arms around herself and

  shivered. “Horses aren’t scary.”

  “Real horses aren’t,”Andrea agreed.“But this is a

  ghost

  horse. Long ago, when Heartlake City was first

  founded, the mayor had a beloved horse.”Andrea

  suddenly stopped talking and looked around at each

  of her friends.

  “Well?” Emma said breathlessly.

  “Yeah, why’d you stop talking?” Stephanie asked.