Free Fear Stalks Grizzly Hill by Joan Lowery Nixon

1

    S EAN QUINN PEERED OUT of the car at the dense tangle of trees and bushes that lined the road, half-hoping to see a bear. He shivered as he wondered what would happen if a bear spotted him instead. His parents’ friends had recently moved to a house on Grizzly Hill, and Sean was beginning to think that it wasn’t such a good idea that he and Brian were about to spend the weekend with them.
    Sean turned to Mr. and Mrs. Nash’s son and asked, “Alan, have you ever seen any grizzly bears in the woods?”
    Alan looked puzzled. “There aren’t any grizzly bears around here.”
    “Then why’d they name this place Grizzly Hill?”
    Mrs. Nash turned from the front seat and smiled. “Long, long ago—more than one hundred years ago—a giant grizzly was supposed to have lived in a den in the area.”
    “Was there really a den?”
    “Yes. And it’s still there. Alan knows where it is. You boys can crawl in and explore the cave if you’d like.”
    Sean’s heart gave a jump. “Is the giant bear still around?” he whispered.
    “Bears don’t live to be that old,” Brian told him.
    “But there could be other bears,” Sean insisted.
    Mrs. Nash explained, “Sean, the developer of this subdivision called it Grizzly Hill because he liked the name. Trust me. There are no bears around here.”
    Mr. Nash turned off the highway onto a road that wound up a steep hill. The forest on either side looked dark and scary. At the moment Sean wished that his parents hadn’t both gone out of town on business at the same time.
    Bri had complained about Mom hiring Mrs. Peabody to take care of them. “We’re too old for sitters,” he’d insisted, “and it would be a lot of fun to stay with the Nashes in their new home. Alan said they find all sorts of animal tracks around their house. I can bring plaster of paris and make casts for my science project. Please, Mom? Sean and I want to stay with the Nashes.”
    Sean wished now that he’d told Mom he wanted Mrs. Peabody. He’d rather deal with her than with a bear.
    The road swept up to a wide clearing in the forest. Facing the circular road were five large, beautiful homes.
    “Wow!” Sean said.
    “Cool!” Brian said.
    “So far, these are the only houses that have been built in Grizzly Hill,” Mr. Nash told them.
    He began to point out a spot off to the left where another road would soon be constructed, with more houses and neighbors, but Sean didn’t listen. As he climbed from the car he was aware of the forest pressing in around them, and he didn’t like it at all.
    The Nash house was in the center, with two houses on each side. There were no neighbors in sight, although Brian saw a curtain move in a window of the tall colonial house on the far right.
    Apparently Alan did, too, because he nudged Brian and said, “Mr. and Mrs. Webber live there. Mrs. Webber always wants to see what’s going on.” He waved, and the curtain quickly dropped.
    Mr. and Mrs. Nash led them into their home. “You two are in the guest bedroom upstairs, and you can put your knapsacks there. Alan will show you the way,” Mr. Nash said.
    But Mrs. Nash put a hand on Alan’s arm to stop him. “Wait. The boys haven’t met Lucy,” she said.
    The girl who came into the entry hall was tall and slender with dark brown hair. “Lucy’s sixteen,” Alan had told them and made a face. “Big sisters are so bossy.”
    Lucy smiled when Mrs. Nash introduced Brian and Sean, but as soon as her parents had walked back to the kitchen, Lucy scowled. “There are a few rules around here you’d better learn right away,” she said. “You can’t use the phone when I need to use it, you can’t run around making noise, and anybody who dares to set foot in my room is in big trouble. Got it?”
    “Who’d want to be in your dumb old room anyway?” Alan asked.
    “Just don’t give me any trouble, or you’ll be sorry,” Lucy said. Before any of them could answer she ran upstairs.
    “Big sisters!” Alan said,