Megan's Island

Megan's Island

From critically acclaimed author Willo Davis Roberts comes an Edgar Award–winning classic mystery about a twelve-year-old girl on the run with her family. Pack up and leave? Tonight? When Megan has just one week of school left before summer vacation? Something doesn’t seem right. Megan is used to moving. After all, she’s moved a dozen times in her twelve years. But this time, something is different. They’re leaving in the middle of the night, and Megan doesn’t even have a chance to say good-bye to her best friend. What’s worse, Megan can tell her mother is frightened. It’s almost as if they’re running away from something. But from what? Willo Davis Roberts wrote many mystery and suspense novels for children during her long and illustrious career, including The Girl with the Silver Eyes , The View from the Cherry Tree , Twisted Summer , Megan’s Island , Baby-Sitting Is a Dangerous Job , Hostage , Scared Stiff , The Kidnappers , and Caught! Three of her children’s books won Edgar Awards, while others received great reviews and other accolades, including the Sunshine State Young Reader’s Award, the California Young Reader’s Medal, and the Georgia Children’s Book Award. Megan’s Island Chapter One There was one week of school left on the day the peculiar things began to happen. At first Megan didn’t realize there was anything wrong. She was thinking about the terrific summer that stretched ahead of her, most of it to be spent with her best friend, Annie. They’d made all kinds of plans. “We’ll go to the pool every day, and skating at the rink,” Annie had mused. “And sit in the backyard and talk,” Megan added. “And eat apples and peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches.” Annie loved peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. “And when Mom takes her vacation in July, maybe your folks will let you go with us to the lake where Grandpa Davis is staying until his foot heals so he can go back to work.” Annie had sighed in delight. “It sounds fantastic,” she murmured. “There’s a lovely private beach,” Karen Collier had told the girls, “and you can fish with my dad, or lie around doing nothing—whatever you like—for two whole weeks.” Neither Megan nor her brother, Sandy, had ever been swimming anywhere outside of a pool, except for once when they’d had a picnic on the shore of Lake Michigan. The lake where Grandpa had the cottage wasn’t nearly as big as Lake Michigan, but that meant the water would be warmer. And unlike many of the lakes in northern Minnesota, this one had a sandy beach instead of a mucky bottom, so it would be almost as nice as the big lake. The whole idea made Megan happy just to think about it. Megan and Annie had discussed it in a whisper in school that day. Both were hoping their parents would buy them new swimsuits before July. And Mr. Boldt had said, “Vacation’s not for another week, girls. Let’s keep our minds on reviewing math for another day or two, all right?” Annie had blushed, but Megan knew Mr. Boldt wasn’t really annoyed with them. He was looking forward to vacation, too. He’d already told them he was spending his summer on Prince Edward Island, up in Canada, and he’d promised to bring back pictures of the red cliffs and beaches, and of the house where Anne in Anne of Green Gables had lived. (Well, really it was the author of the book who had lived there, but Mr. Boldt said it was almost the same thing.) Annie had always gone to Fairview School, and she took it for granted. Megan, however, had been there just this year, in the sixth grade. Before that, her family had moved quite a bit. Her mother said it was hard for a woman alone to find a job that paid enough to let her support two kids. Once in a while, Megan thought about how nice it would be to have two parents—maybe even a mother who could stay home instead of having to go to work every day—so that money wouldn’t be such a problem. She knew that if Grandpa Davis hadn’t sent a check every month or two, making ends meet would have been much more difficult for the Collier family. Her mother’s salary just about covered the rent and the grocery bill, with almost never anything left over. “Megan! Come set the table, please!” her mother called that evening. “Coming,” Megan responded, reluctantly closing her book and sliding off the bed. Her mind was still on the story, the adventures of a girl and her father in the wilderness. She wondered if she would have had adventures of that land, too, if her father hadn’t died when she was a baby. Well, when Sandy was a baby, really, she amended. Megan herself had been three when it happened, though she didn’t remember it. Annie’s dad didn’t take her camping, but he sometimes gave her the money to treat Megan to a movie or an afternoon of skating. Megan was sure her own dad had been like Annie’s, friendly and generous. She sighed, walking into the kitchen and opening the cupboard to get out the dishes. “Mom, did Daddy like camping and things like that?” she asked. For a