Lights Out! Read Online Free Page A

favorite color? Was this a good omen? The tower wasn’t that big, but it looked ominous, with its giant ladderlike steps and ropes and pulleys hanging off the sides.
    As they drove ahead, a thicket of tall trees and darkness descended upon the bus. They came to a stop near a sign that welcomed visitors to the camp. Half hidden in shadows, its message was chiseled in wood.
    JASPER WOODS WELCOMES YO
    The U was hardly readable.
    “Well, YO, it’s about time!” someone joked from the back of the bus. “We’re HERE!”
    Fiona giggled. Egg had said it.
    “This is fun,” Aimee squealed as they stood up. “Way better than being in school.”
    Madison looked around. She wasn’t sure yet if she liked this place.
    “DON’T PUSH!” Mrs. Goode said to some kids down in front. She waved her arms frantically in front of her like windshield wipers.
    As they disembarked, Madison and her friends clustered together near a tree. Camp staff carted bags up to the main lawn, where they would be retrieved later.
    A short, round woman wearing a whistle and a red T-shirt with the word TRUST on it called for everyone’s attention. Kids stopped chattering and looked in her direction. Everyone was handed a map of Jasper Woods. On the map, certain key places were listed and marked: Jasper Lodge, the main building; the cafeteria, otherwise known as the snack shack; a few cabins with tree names like Willow and Maple; the swimming cabana and docks on Jasper Lake; and other cabins. Madison saw a tower illustrated in the center of the map. The orange tower!
    Amid the chaos of students trying to find their backpacks, several teachers tried to lead students toward the sleeping cabins to get ready for the rest of the day’s activities.
    “You’ll find an agenda for the seventh-grade trip on your bunk,” the red-shirted woman yelled over the voices of the one hundred and three seventh graders who had made the trip. She said her name was Pam.
    “There’s something about this place…” Madison said aloud.
    “Huh?” Aimee asked. “What are you talking about?”
    “Maddie, are you being weird again?” Fiona said. “Look at the trees and lake. Everything is perfect.” Fiona spun around to catch a glimpse of Egg. The boys headed toward the Elm cabin on the other side of the woods.
    “I think I like this place,” Lindsay said. “Beats doing homework.”
    Madison shrugged. “It’s too rustic for me,” she said. “I miss my laptop already.”
    “Give me a break,” Aimee cracked.
    “We better get our bunks before all the good places are taken,” Fiona said.
    Lindsay led the way to Maple cabin, where they had been assigned bunks with at least fifteen other seventh-grade girls. Unfortunately, Ivy and the drones were assigned to the same cabin. They had gotten there before anyone else.
    Poison Ivy stood in the center of the room, hands on her hips. “You snooze, you lose,” she said to Madison and the other latecomers. “We have dibs on these beds.”
    Aimee rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe we have rats in the cabin!” she said. “Somebody call the exterminator.”
    “Like, you should talk,” Joan said.
    “Let’s unpack,” Fiona said, trying to make nice.
    Madison glanced around the cabin. The whole place smelled like a strange combination of mothballs, antiseptic, and burnt wood. Lindsay grabbed a single bed. Madison tossed her bag up onto an upper bunk, just to be a good sport. What was proper camp etiquette?
    Graffiti covered the cabin walls. Madison silently read different words and names carved and printed on the beams overhead.
    Daisy-n-Jake
    2 Good 2 Be 4 Gotten!!!!
    ICamp
    On top of each mattress, the girls found an agenda.
Seventh Grade,
    Far Hills Junior High AGENDA
    Thursday, April 24
    10:30 A.M .: Arrival
    11 A.M .: Settle into cabins
    12 P.M. : Box lunch
    1 P.M. : Tour of property
    3 P.M .: Talent show meeting
    5 P.M .: Announcements
    5:30 P.M. : Dinner
    7 P.M .: Singdown & campfire
    10 P.M .: Lights