Cool morning sunshine passed through Anima Nipissing’s treetops like the rays of a baffled lighthouse. They started on the lake, moved to the campsite, and eventually reached the gang’s tents.
Fred and Daphne usually shared a tent, but Fred’s hormones raged like fire since he turned eighteen. Therefore, he brought his own tent on the canoeing trip—a green, cone-shaped one that was the perfect size for him—to give Daphne and Velma more space.
The sun’s rays passed through the tent and landed on Freddie’s face. His nose twitched, and he sneezed. He quickly sat in his sleeping bag and yawned, stretching his muscular arms over him. He wore a white tank top and sleep shorts.
Freddie rubbed his eyes and brushed his hair with his fingertips. He opened them and examined his home away from home. His dry bag rested in one corner of his tent, his sleeping bag sack in the other, and a water bottle was beside him, along with his black iPod Nano that he had fallen asleep listening to. Luckily, Fred brought a portable charger because he couldn’t sleep without Simple Plan playing.
Still half-asleep, he changed into his clothes and slipped his sneakers on. Fred then approached the tent’s front but froze when he saw clumps of black dots—mosquitoes—clinging to the fly like hungry vampires.
“What the—?” Fred inquired, now wide awake. He slapped the fly, knocking a few mosquitoes off, but they quickly landed back on it. “Welcome to my life,” he mumbled, glancing back at his iPod.
Fred hastily opened his tent and crawled out, re-zipping it. A few mosquitoes pierced his cheek. Fred smacked them and headed for the picnic table to begin prepping for breakfast.
The others woke soon after him and ran out of their tents to escape the mosquitoes.
“Like, Fred,” Shaggy complained, “you could’ve warned us about the mosquitoes.”
“Not to worry, gang,” Fred said, picking up Shaggy and Scooby’s headlamps on the table. “I brought Deet and bug nets. They’ll keep us safe. Anyway”—he approached Shaggy and Scooby and offered them their headlamps—“good morning. You two forgot these on the table last night.”
“Like, huh?” Shaggy said, shivering. “No, Freddie, Scooby and I dropped them in the forest last night.”
“Wait, you did?” Now, Freddie appeared alarmed. “Then who returned them?”
Velma tapped her chin. “Hm, if I could guess, maybe that boy.”
“Jeepers.” Daphne reached for her lips. “We may have a new fan stalking us, guys.”
Velma lifted her finger. “Or, he may be asking us for help. Come on, gang, let’s eat breakfast and begin canoeing. We need to look for clues, starting with that construction site.”
There she went again—engulfed in the mystery when she said they were too old for them. Fred would never understand girls.
After a quick breakfast of oatmeal and dried fruit, the gang traversed back through the woods to the parking area, where the Mystery Machine and canoes waited. Daphne and Freddie shared an olive-green Old Town canoe, and Shaggy, Scooby, and Velma a three-seater cut from smooth wood. Everyone clipped on their life vests and crawled into their canoes.
A pike poked its head out of the lake and sprayed water into Scooby’s face.
He yelled and curled into a ball in the canoe’s center.
“Oh, Scooby,” Velma said, blowing away mosquitoes, “it’s just a fish.”
“Oh.” Scooby sighed and sat back in his seat, giggling.
Fred handed each friend a bug net. “Here’s a bug net for you, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and”—he set a hat on Scooby’s head and pulled a string, dropping a bug net over his face—“one for you, Scooby.”
It was now Shaggy’s turn to chuckle. “Only Scooby-Doo would wear a hat with a bug net.” He sprayed himself with Deet, and his cheeks puffed out. “Peehew!” Shaggy gripped his nose.
“I know it smells, Shaggy,” Fred explained, “but it’ll keep the bugs away.”
“No wonder.” Shaggy gagged. “And maybe the Ghost of Ontario, too.”
“Yeah,” Scooby said, clutching his own nose. “Rhost of Ontario.”
“Oh.” Fred appeared slightly alarmed. “I didn’t think of it like that.” They had to find the ghost, though—they just had to—and that boy. Therefore, Fred was the only one who didn’t cover himself in Deet.
Once ready, the gang pushed off the dock and began their journey on Lake Anima Nipissing. They remained side-by-side as they left the shallows and entered the deep end. It wasn’t long until they floated before their campsite in a seemingly empty lake filled with scattered islands and more trees. The bugs died on the water, so they removed their bug nets.
Freddie checked Stan’s map and said, “Okay, gang, according to this, the construction site should be almost directly across from our campsite.”
“Like, all the way over there?” Shaggy gestured at the lake’s other end. “I don’t think my poor arms can do it without something to eat.”
“We just had breakfast, Shaggy,” Velma stated.
“Sure, but you know Scooby and me,” Shaggy protested.
Velma sighed and opened her dry bag, handing him a fresh bag of dried fruit and nuts.
“So, Daphne,” Freddie said as they headed for the construction site. “See any good movies lately?” He blushed at seeing her snapping pictures with her phone.
“Oh, darn,” she said. “Low battery. Do you have a portable charger, Fred?”
Fred’s face dropped, but he reached into his dry bag and removed his portable phone charger, handing it to Daphne. When would his friends look past modern technology and admire the serenity of nature?
A gust of wind passed over the lake, and something screeched overhead in the blue sky.
The gang looked up, and their eyes widened at seeing an eagle circling them.
“Like, zoinks!” Shaggy shouted. “It’s the ghost eagle!”
The eagle dropped from the sky and dove for the group as if on cue. Sure enough, her large and muscular form spoiled her identity. She landed on the edge of Scooby, Shaggy, and Velma’s canoe and whistled.
Fred and Daphne paddled closer to their friends, and their eyes sparkled. “Wow.”
“She recognizes us,” Daphne concluded.
The eagle glanced at each friend and hopped off the canoe, hovering before them.
“I can’t believe she flew back here,” Fred stated. Then again, Stan mentioned that the “ghost” eagle had flown back and forth between the park and outside it since the construction began.
“Hm.” Velma examined the eagle, who flew in a few circles. “I think she wants us to follow her.”
“Follow her?” Shaggy reached back and embraced Scooby. “Like, to where?”
“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Fred declared. “Follow that eagle, gang.” He smelled that the Ghost of Ontario was just around the corner.
The eagle escorted them to a small island halfway across the lake. It was merely a clump of trees, rocks, and a cliff with a surrounding beach.
The gang passed through a line of stones to reach it. They dismounted their canoes and lugged them onto the beach. Immediately, mosquitoes surrounded them again, so they lowered their bug nets.
The eagle rested on a log, her long wings folded. Scooby sniffed her, so she slid down it.
“What a fascinating animal,” Velma admitted. “She shows no fear around humans.”
“But why are we here?” Fred countered.
“Like, guys, look.” Shaggy knelt and picked up a torch behind the log, standing. He faced his friends. “It looks like our mid-morning snack came in handy, Scoob,” he tittered before becoming serious. “It’s a clue. This is Ihaan’s torch, gang.”
“His torch?” Daphne took it and stood at the tip of the triangle, Fred and Velma at the bottom points. “Who still uses torches nowadays?”
“Only someone who lives here,” Velma guessed.
The eagle nodded and lifted off the log. She led the gang up the cliff and into the woods.
They tripped over roots and logs but caught themselves.
“Are we sure this eagle isn’t trying to trap us at the ghost’s order?” Skeptical, Daphne raised a brow.
“I don’t think so,” Velma said. “Besides, Daphne, didn’t you say there are no such things as ghosts?”
“I did say that,” Daphne mumbled, slouching slightly. “But I’m not sure if we should trust random eagles.”
The eagle stopped at the other end of the island on another cliff edge. Something like fear flashed through her golden eyes, and she almost seemed to whimper.
The gang joined her, and Freddie asked, “What is it, Eagle?” He slapped bugs off his arms and reached for the Deet in his pocket.
Shaggy, hugging Scooby, gulped. “Like, I think I know what it is. Look.”
The gang studied the beach with him. They flinched when they saw a medium-sized figure lying on his belly on the sand beside a canoe. His scraggly, brown hair covered his left eye, and he didn’t move when the eagle whistled again.
“Like, like,” Shaggy said, pointing at him, “it’s Ihaan.”
Another zephyr passed through the island’s treetops.
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