The Secret at Solaire Read Online Free PDF Page B

spa,” Max Harper declared. “Let’s eat lunch.” Nancy remembered Max as the man who had gone into town for dinner the night before.
    The group sat down on the beach and began opening up their bags.
    â€œPeanut butter, rice cakes, veggies and dip, and more high-energy drink,” Max grumbled. “I should have eaten the sun block.”
    â€œIt would probably be perfectly healthy,” Bess said thoughtfully. “All the Solaire products are made from pure, natural ingredients.”
    Everyone settled down to their lunches.Nancy talked for a while with the Harpers and an advertising executive from Connecticut named Richard Levine. But all the while, she was trying to find an opportunity to talk to Kim. Kim was busy giving the others as much information as she could about the wilderness area, though Nancy was sure that the young woman seemed a bit jittery. What was it that Kim wanted to tell her, and why was she being so secretive?
    Finally, Kim stood up and took a small camera from her pack. “You’ll have to bear with me. I’m an amateur photographer,” she told the group. “Let me see if I can get some shots of all of you together.” She took a few pictures of the group and asked Bess to take one of her and Nancy. Then Kim began to photograph the nearby rock formations.
    Directly across the creek from where they sat, large white quartz rocks edged the chasm. “I want to get some shots over there,” Kim explained. “I’ll be back in two minutes.”
    This may be my only chance to talk to her alone, Nancy thought. She stood up and followed Kim, crossing the water as the nature expert had by making her way across some low rocks.
    â€œWait up!” Nancy called out when she was halfway across. She balanced herself against the trunk of one of the cottonwood trees that grew out of the water.
    â€œStay there for a minute,” Kim called back. She had climbed partway up one of the huge rocks on the other side of the chasm. “You look great against that tree. Let me get your picture.”
    Nancy grinned and posed while Kim took several photographs. Nancy was about to walk the rest of the way across the creek when she suddenly heard something that sounded like a very loud roar.
    That’s crazy, Nancy thought. There isn’t anything in the desert that roars. She turned to glance upstream, and every muscle in her body froze in horror.
    A solid wall of water, taller than Nancy herself, was pouring through the narrow chasm walls, rushing straight toward her!

5
Rescue!
    George’s hoarse shout broke through Nancy’s terror. “Climb,” George screamed. “The tree! Climb it!”
    Nancy’s reflexes took over. She didn’t stop to think about how to get up the tree. She just climbed as fast and hard as she could, pulling herself up into the cottonwood branches.
    If she’d been one second slower, it would have been too late. The huge wall of water roared down the chasm. Beneath her, Nancy felt the trunk of the tree shaking as the powerful torrent swept past. She held on more tightly, gripping the tree with all her strength.
    â€œNancy!” She glanced down at the beach, where just a few minutes ago they’d all eaten lunch. The beach was gone, covered by swirling green water. Even some of the larger boulders were submerged. Nancy felt her heartbegin to hammer painfully. What had happened to her friends?
    â€œNance!” It was George’s voice again, though farther away. Nancy sighed with relief as she saw the group from Solaire standing a good ways above the beach. Somehow, they’d all made it to higher ground. But their expressions were panicked as they watched the foaming water pour through the chasm. “Don’t move!” George cried. “We’ll get help!”
    â€œGreat!” Melina exclaimed angrily. “We’re stuck miles from nowhere without our guide! She probably had the keys