Camp Fear Ghouls by R.L. Stine

guys on the track team, or what? You’re fast!”
    I glanced at Caroline. She stared back at me. Then she let out a giggle. Boy, did we feel silly!
    â€œWe got lost and I guess—well, we both freaked out,” I explained. “We’re not used to the woods.”
    â€œHey, don’t worry about it,” Trudy told us as she pounded a tent stake into the ground. “The Fear Street Woods do that to a lot of people. But you’ll get used to it.”
    â€œWe did.” Violet added, stirring up the campfire.
    I stood up and took a closer look around the clearing. Several of the girls were making S’mores—roasted marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate. Priscilla was strumming her guitar. Amy had gathered wildflowers from the woods.
    It all looked totally normal. Nothing creepy going on.
    Maybe the Camp Fear Girls were just an ordinaryscout troop. The missing house on Fear Street, the way the Camp Fear Girls ignored me when I asked about Pearl—maybe I had imagined all that.
    Violet handed me a S’more. “Caroline’s will be ready in a minute. Make yourselves comfortable,” she told us. “In a few minutes Amy is going to lead story time.”
    â€œOkay.” I nodded and bit into the S’more. Mmmm! It was perfect—warm and gooshy and chocolaty. I started to relax. Maybe the camp-out was going to be fun after all!
    I sat down by Caroline. She was checking out a nasty scrape she got on her knee.
    Amy was stacking kindling nearby. “Where’s Pearl?” I asked her. “I’d like Caroline to meet her.”
    Amy cocked her head and frowned. “Pearl? I don’t know anyone named Pearl.”
    Was she kidding? I tried a laugh. “Oh, come on,” I joked. “You know Pearl. Long brown braids. Purple sash.”
    Amy stared me straight in the eye. “There’s no one in this troop named Pearl,” she stated. She walked off to collect more kindling.
    Uh-oh. A knot formed in my chest.
    â€œPriscilla, where is Pearl?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.
    Priscilla glanced at the other girls, and then shrugged. “Who’s Pearl?”
    I stood up and pulled Caroline away from the fire.
    â€œListen,” I whispered. “This is very weird. I know there was a Pearl in this group. I met her!”
    â€œMaybe you got her name wrong,” Caroline said. “I mean, it happens sometimes.”
    â€œNo!” I insisted. “I didn’t. Something really strange is going on here. I—”
    â€œOh, stop it,” Caroline interrupted. “Look around. Everyone’s having a great time. Why can’t you just have fun? What is wrong with you?”
    Is something wrong with me? I wondered again. Am I going crazy?
    â€œCaroline—” I tried one more time.
    â€œStory time,” Priscilla called.
    â€œCome on, let’s go.” Caroline led me back to the fire. Amy perched on a rock behind her. Trudy sat beside me.
    Then Amy stood up. “One hundred years ago today, a troop of scouts went into the Fear Street Woods on a camping trip.”
    I knew this story. I heard it at my first meeting. I guessed they were repeating it now because Caroline was new to the group.
    â€œThe girls were going to be gone for only one night,” Amy went on. “But they disappeared into the woods . . . and never returned.”
    Hey. Wait a minute. Pearl was the one who told me the story at the first meeting. She had to exist. I couldn’t have imagined her!
    â€œRumor has it that the girls were turned intohideous monsters,” Amy continued in an eerie voice. “And they still roam Shadyside to this day. They have rotting skin and eyeballs that fall out of their sockets.” Amy seemed to really enjoy her gruesome description.
    As she spoke, I made out a shadowy figure with a hideous face tiptoeing up behind Caroline.
    Here comes the part where they scare