The Madman of Black Bear Mountain Read Online Free PDF

keep an eye out for him while you’re here. Better scared and alive than oblivious and dinner.”
    With that, Max grabbed the rucksack at her feet and turned to leave.
    â€œSleep tight, kids,” she called over her shoulder without looking back. “I’ll be making camp right on the other side of that spruce grove. I’m in the middle of some field research that requires my observation all day and night, soI’m staying in the woods for a few days. If you need anything, just scream.”
    â€œJim,” Mandy said softly once Max had left. “I want to go home.”
    Melissa nodded vigorously. “Can we have Max radio for the plane to come back? Please?”
    Jim looked crestfallen. “Come on, guys, it was just a story. Getting to experience the pristine beauty of places like this is what our club is all about. Don’t you want the chance to really take advantage of it?”
    â€œI want to explore and all,” Melissa said, “but maybe we can just go back to the lodge and tag along with that ranger guy Steven and Casey know instead. That would be just as good, right?”
    â€œThere’s nothing to worry about, I promise,” Jim said, trying his best to sound confident. “It wasn’t very nice of her, but I think Max was just trying to scare you, that’s all. We’re not going to let a silly little ghost story ruin our whole trip, right, guys?”
    Jim looked at us expectantly. Randall was too busy being terrified and muttering to himself to voice an opinion. Me, I wasn’t sure what to think about the whole thing. Jim was probably right and it was likely just a story, but man, Max was one heck of a storyteller. My instinct was never to back down from a challenge, and that included not running away from an awesome camping adventure just because someone told us a creepy bedtime story. But that someone alsohappened to be a credible world-renowned scientist with, like, twenty-five degrees, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t totally freaked out.
    â€œWhat do you think, Frank?” Jim turned to my brother. “Help me reassure the Geccos there’s nothing to worry about.”
    â€œI . . .” Frank hesitated. “I don’t know.”
    Well, that sure didn’t help—now I really was worried. Frank was about to say something else, but then he looked over at the girls and seemed to think better of it.
    â€œListen, guys,” Jim said. “Organizing this trip was a lot of work, and I’m not going to let a flaky scientist with a bad sense of humor ruin it. Trust me, everyone will feel a lot better when the sun comes up in the morning. Now let’s all try to get some rest. We’ve had a long day. We’ll be laughing about this over my famous flapjack breakfast in the morning, you’ll see!”
    â€œJim’s right, guys, we’ll all be laughing at his cooking in the morning,” I joked to Mandy, hoping to lighten the mood—and hoping I was right!—as we went back to our tents.
    â€œThanks, Joe,” she said with a little smile. “I don’t know how much sleep I’ll be getting, though.”
    Back in our tent, Frank dropped a bomb on me.
    â€œI didn’t say anything before because I didn’t want to freak everyone else out even more, but I overheard something back at the lodge that I think you should hear too.”
    I sat there with my mouth open as he relayed the snippetof muffled argument he’d overheard about a crazy hermit in the woods and us being in danger.
    â€œYou’re usually the one trying to convince me monsters aren’t real!” I said.
    â€œThere’s probably a perfectly rational explanation,” he said wishfully. “I could barely make out what the person was whispering over all the noise from the plane. I could have misheard or they could have been talking about something else altogether, but after what