Free The First Adventure by Gordon Korman

remember thinking it looked like it had been chewed by some kind of animal. That couldn’t have had anything to do with a dog, could it?”
    â€œI was thinking more of a Nile crocodile,” Griffin joked. “Or maybe a velociraptor.”
    Marty laughed. But, Griffin reflected, there was nothing funny about the conversation. It wasn’t his first clue that Luthor was no longer safe at Ebony Lake. But it was the one that put things over the top.
    â€œThe good news is Cyrus and Marty don’t believe Darren,” he told Savannah at an emergency meeting behind the wash station while the other campers were at lunch. “The bad news is they don’t really believe
us
, either. At least, they’re suspicious that there’s something going on behind their backs.”
    â€œMy counselor hasn’t taken her eyes of me since we got back,” Savannah reported mournfully. “It’s like the whole camp is on high alert for anything out of the ordinary.”
    â€œThe next time the counselors hear barking, it won’t be
‘oh, hey, what’s that?’
” Griffin agreed. “They’ll turn the world upside down until somebody stumbles on Luthor.”
    â€œOr they’ll follow
us
sneaking out to see him, which is just as bad,” Savannah added.
    Griffin’s expression was grave. “It’s not just the counselors I’m worried about. Malachi told Swindle we were hiding the dog, so Swindle knows Luthor’s location. He can’t stay here anymore.”
    Savannah was appalled. “He
has
to stay here! Where else can he go?”
    â€œI think I might know a place,” said The Man With The Plan.

    From: Griffin
    To: Melissa
    Urgent. Operation compromised. Need to move package. Can you and Logan keep at Camp Ta-da! till heat’s off . . . ?
    M elissa stared at the small screen of her phone in disbelief. Was he talking about
Luthor
? What else could the “package” possibly be?
    Melissa was afraid of Luthor. Scared to death, actually. She accepted Savannah’s word that the Doberman was sweet and loving at his core. But since Savannah was the only person who could reach Luthor’s core, that wasn’t much use to anyone else.
    â€œHow’s this?”
    Logan stood on the edge of the stage in Camp Ta-da!’s performance center, his face illuminated by a single brilliant spotlight. For the past hour, he had been adjusting the beam a millimeter or two this way and that, and demanding her opinion.
    â€œFine,” she told him. “It was fine an hour ago, too. To be honest, Logan, I can’t really tell the difference.”
    He glared at her. “I have what is known in the theatre as a ‘needle nose.’ If the lighting isn’t exactly perfect, it looks wrong. Whole careers have crashed and burned because some stage manager made an actor’s nose look too big, or too small, or too bulbous, or too needly —”
    â€œI get it.” It wasn’t like shy Melissa to interrupt, but the text from Camp Ebony Lake was weighing heavily on her mind. “Listen, we just got an emergency message from Griffin and Savannah. They want to know if we can hide Luthor here for a while.”
    Logan did a double take. “Are you crazy? That dog’s a lethal weapon! And besides, how are we supposed to get him here all the way from Ebony Lake?”
    She shrugged. “It’s only twenty-five miles. If anyone can make it happen, Griffin can. They wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”
    â€œIt doesn’t matter,” Logan shot back. “Ta-da! is a drama camp. Maybe your parents only sent you here to bring you out of your shell, but acting is my life’s work. No way can I put my career on a back burner to baby-sit some mutt.”
    Melissa tuned him out. She was not at all sure she could handle Savannah’s giant Doberman, much less conceal him in a crowded theatre camp. But one