Tess Tyler had a secret.
She had spent much of the past two days grumbling about having to clean bathrooms and cabins. After all, that’s what everyone expected. But the truth was, she could have easily avoided it all. Her mother had arranged for a limo to come to camp and pick her up after the Parents Concert, but Tess canceled it.
Even though she tried to act as if she was above it all, Tess loved being at Camp Rock. She would much rather hang out with the other five and clean up the camp than go home and sit around her big, empty house while her mother was on the road touring.
Even though she wasn’t always good at showing it, these were the best friends she had. She only wished her other cabinmates, Ella Pador and Peggy Dupree, had been able to stay on, too.
She was also thrilled with the musical mysteries, although she wasn’t having any luck solving hers, either. She was sitting in the camp library staring at the contents of her envelope—a poem and an iPod.
She slipped on the headphones and pressed PLAY. There were nine songs on the playlist and each was by a harmonica player named Eivets Rednow. She actually liked the music, but had never heard of anyone named Eivets.
To make things more confusing, on the back of the player there was a note that said, Stressed Reward.
“I’m stressed all right,” she said. “So where’s my reward?”
She read the poem, but that wasn’t much help either.
If you want to find that Motown sound
You’ve got to turn the beat around.
Add only notes that are choice
And sing them with Aretha’s voice.
She figured that “Aretha” had to have something to do with Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul. But there was nothing in the poem that helped her. She listened to the Eivets Rednow songs, hoping that something would click and put her on the right track.
Sitting across from Tess was Mitchie. She wasn’t doing any better. Mitchie had read and reread her clue at least twenty times. Each time she hoped she’d notice something that she had missed before. But the clue just continued to baffle her. Like the others, her envelope contained a poem.
The secret of the new-wave sound
Is out there waiting to be found.
Follow the groups, ’cause it’s a fact
This clue has no solo act.
When she got frustrated trying to figure that out, she moved to the other sheet of paper that was in her envelope. It was even harder to understand than the poem.
To Mitchie, it looked like a page from a baby-name book. Except for a few scattered words in bold, all it had was a long list of names:
Phil, Tony, Mike BY Jack, Eric, Ginger AND Anthony, John, Michael, Chad. Belinda, Jane, Charlotte, Kathy, Gina, OUT Jim, John, Ray, Robby. Neal, Ross, Jonathan, Steve, TO Renaldo, Abdul, Lawrence, Levi NEAR Don, Glenn, Don, Bernie, Randy, Timothy, Joe, NEST. WHERE Phillip, Larry, Johnny, Ralph, Al, Maurice, Verdine, Andrew MEET. LOOK UNDER James, Tommy, Todd, Lawrence, Ricky, Dennis.
At first, she wondered if maybe the names corresponded to campers and what cabins they were in. There had been two boys named Anthony and Michael who were in the same cabin. And there had also been a Jane, a Kathy, and a Charlotte. But they had all been in different cabins.
When she couldn’t make that work, she tried to make a sentence out of the words that weren’t names. That didn’t work either. So she just sat there thinking and thinking, trying to crack the code.
She looked at Tess, and the two of them shook their heads.
Like Tess and Mitchie, Shane was frustrated and confused. But, unlike them, he was also getting hot and tired. That’s because he was digging holes in the ground.
He had taken Brown’s map and the shovel from his porch and followed his clue out to the edge of the camp. He read it again to make sure he had it right.
You need to Let It Be
If you want to stay on track.
Take the Long and Winding Road,
Then Dig It and Get Back.
He thought he had done everything the clue said. There was only one long and winding road at the camp. It was a trail that ran right from Brown’s cabin and headed out around the lake.
Shane had followed the path to where it ended. That’s when he started digging. He figured that if he could “dig it,” he’d find the treasure and then “get back” to the camp for the show.
At least, that’s what he thought at first. After digging seven holes and working up quite a sweat, he was wondering if maybe he had it all wrong. He was just about to start on hole number eight when he heard a clanging. It was Mrs. Torres ringing everybody in for lunch.
“Saved by the bell,” he said with a tired sigh. He picked up the shovel and started the long walk back to the center of camp. Along the way he kept a lookout for any signs or hints but saw none.
Shane was the last one to make it back to the mess hall and when he saw the other campers’ faces, he knew in an instant that none of them had been successful in finding their artifacts either. There was a general sense of frustration around the table. This was despite the fact that Mrs. Torres had made one of her most popular meals—spicy chicken quesadillas with pico de gallo and guacamole.
“I think I have tried these keys in half the locks in the entire camp,” Lorraine moaned. “And not one even came close to opening.”
“I’ve looked through more clothing today than I have in my entire life. Nothing helped,” Colby said, taking a bite of his lunch. “Although this quesadilla is delicious.”
“Did anyone come even close to figuring out what they were supposed to be looking for?” Caitlyn asked.
They all shook their heads.
“Not at all,” Mitchie said sadly. “I can’t even figure out how to read my clue.”
“Maybe it’s all a big prank,” Tess offered. “Maybe there is no real way to solve the mysteries. Maybe it’s Brown’s way of putting one over on us on the very last day.”
“It’s not a prank,” a voice said.
They turned and saw Brown walking toward them. “I warned you that it would be hard,” he said, smiling. “But don’t you see— that’s what will make it great when you solve the clues.”
Lorraine laughed. “If we solve them.”
“You will,” he said. “I have faith in you. Remember what I told you about the Beach Boys and how they got their sound. Be like the Beach Boys.”
He took a tortilla chip and dipped it in the guacamole. “Delicious,” he said. “I will miss you all. But I will especially miss Connie’s amazing guacamole dip.” He dipped another chip, took a bite, and smiled.
“Good luck, everyone! Remember, be like the Beach Boys.” He took one more chip and left.
Once he was gone, Colby turned to the others. “Now I’m even more confused. What did he tell us about the Beach Boys that’s a clue?”
“You’ve got me,” Caitlyn said.
Mitchie thought back over the conversation. “It’s how the Beach Boys got their sound. What did he tell us about that?”
“It was the harmony,” Shane said. “How the five of them came together to make one sound.”
“You’re right,” Tess responded. “That’s what he said. But how does that relate to us? Are we supposed to sing together?”
“Maybe we’re supposed to solve the puzzles . . . together,” Colby said, his eyes growing wide as the thought struck him. “Work as a team.”
Mitchie nodded. “I think you may be right. Maybe that will help us.”
“Right,” Caitlyn said. “Like if we split all the keys up, we can try more locks faster.”
“It’s worth a try,” Shane said. “Let’s see them.”
Lorraine took her pillowcase full of keys and dumped the contents onto the table.
“Man, you weren’t kidding,” Shane said. “There must be about a hundred of them.”
Something about that number caught Mitchie’s attention. “Wait a second,” she said, struggling to figure out what was tickling her brain. “What about the poem that went with them?”
Lorraine pulled a folded piece of paper out of her pocket. She opened it up and read to them, “A Glam-Rock Costume for Lorraine, by Brown Cesario.”
“Queen and ELTON knew how to dress
When they wanted to impress.
And you can, too, if you please—
Just solve the riddle of these KEYS.”
She set the paper down on the table and the group looked at it. “Notice how ELTON and KEYS are written in all capital letters,” Lorraine said.
“Elton John?” Caitlyn guessed.
“It’s gotta be,” Lorraine said, shrugging.
Suddenly, Mitchie smiled. That was it! “Count the keys! Everyone count keys!”
They each grabbed some of the keys and started counting. When they were done they added them all up.
“Eighty-eight keys,” Mitchie said.
Lorraine shook her head, realization dawning. “Just like a piano. There are eighty-eight keys on a piano, and there are eighty-eight keys in that pillowcase. They aren’t to open a lock. They represent a piano!”
The campers didn’t waste any time. They made a mad dash outside and downstairs to the B-Note. The camp’s snack bar and hangout was conveniently located right below the mess hall. In the corner of the room was an upright piano. When they got there they found a piece of sheet music.
Lorraine rushed over and looked at it. “It’s an Elton John song!”
Now they were all getting excited.
“Play it,” Tess said.
Lorraine recognized it right away. She loved Elton John and played the song perfectly. Except, for some reason, one note kept coming out wrong.
“You’re missing a note there,” Tess said.
“No, I’m not,” Lorraine said, smiling. “Something’s blocking it.”
Lorraine stood up, opened the top of the piano, and looked inside.
“What is it?” Mitchie asked.
“A pair of sunglasses,” Lorraine said as she pulled a pair of incredibly outlandish sunglasses out of a case.
“They’re not just any sunglasses,” Brown said. He had slipped into the room unseen while they were all focusing on the piano. “Elton John wore those sunglasses while he was on tour back before you were born. Try them on.”
“Really?” Lorraine said.
“Really,” he replied.
Lorraine slipped the glasses on. “How do they look?”
“Incredible,” Mitchie said. “Like they were made for you.”
“Elton wore lots of ridiculous outfits and sunglasses and costumes. Do you know why?” Brown asked.
“I read about it in one of your magazines,” Lorraine said. “Unlike guitar players who got to dance around the stage, Elton was always stuck behind his piano. He wanted to make sure he stood out and that people remembered him. So he wore those outfits.”
“Excellent,” Brown said with a smile. “And tonight, when you’re playing piano, you’re going to be wearing the same glasses and you’re going to stand out, too.”
The others all shared a look. Now that they had some success, they were ready to tackle the rest of the mysteries—together.