7

“Come on, guys!” said Isla, putting her arms around Gracie and Buzz. “We’re the Animal Adventure Club, remember? What do our club rules say about problems?”

Buzz sniffed and wiped a drop of rain from the end of his nose. “‘We will deal with problems calmly…’”

“‘…and come up with a sensible plan,’” finished Gracie, grinning. “You’re right, Isla, we can do this!”

Standing together in the pouring rain, Gracie, Buzz and Isla nodded and gave each other a small, wet fist bump.

“So,” said Isla, “I’ve got an idea. Gracie, what would you do if you were tracking an animal?”

“First I would look for signs,” Gracie began.

“What sort of signs?” asked Buzz.

“Well, the obvious ones, like footprints or tracks. But other things too, like animal fur or feathers caught on fences, or chew marks.”

“OK, that’s a good start. What else?” said Isla as they continued walking.

“I suppose I would try to think like that animal,” Gracie said. “So I’d try to guess what the animal might do and where it might go.”

“Right,” said Buzz. “So we need to think like Lexi. Where might she have gone after she left us?”

“Remember, she was heading out of Craggy Woods, but not on the main path,” said Isla. “She might have come up and over the old Roman fort remains.”

“And if she did that, then she’d have gone down the hill towards the Boggy Burn,” Gracie continued.

“And then she would have ended up in Barleycorn Forest!” finished Buzz. “Why don’t we try heading down the hill towards the burn and see if we can find any clues. Then we’ll know if we’re on the right lines.” They all nodded in agreement.

Feeling more focussed, Isla, Buzz and Gracie moved away from the path around the loch towards the Boggy Burn. It was very soft and sticky underfoot. The rain was pelting on their hoods now and they carefully scanned the ground as they walked.

Although Isla was worried about Lexi, she couldn’t help thinking about the injured fawn. She remembered it curled up in the leaves, frightened. Like Lexi, the fawn might be cold and all alone. We must keep an eye out for it, she thought, while we’re looking for Lexi. It could easily have wandered over to this part of the reserve.

“Aha!” shouted Buzz, snapping Isla out of her thoughts. He pointed to something shiny on the ground. They quickly gathered round as Buzz picked up the object. “It’s a sweetie wrapper!” He reached into his pocket to pull out one of the sweetie wrappers he’d picked up earlier. “It’s the same. It’s Lexi’s all right!”

“Good,” said Isla. “We’re on her trail.”

“Yup,” said Gracie. “And what’s this?” She reached down and began heaving at something sparkly stuck in the boggy ground. With a loud sucking noise, she pulled it out of the mud. “Lexi’s trainer! I recognise the sparkles even under all that mud!”

“Oh no,” said Isla. “Poor Lexi only has one shoe!”

Gracie peered closely at the ground and said, “Look at this!” There was a clear set of tracks: a shoe print followed by a bare foot. “She went this way.”

The Animal Adventure Club set off quickly, following the footprint trail until they were on the edge of Barleycorn Forest. Someone had left the gate wide open. They looked at each other.

“We’re definitely on the right path,” said Gracie.

Barleycorn Forest was on the other side of the reserve from Craggy Woods, and much larger. The trees stood closer together, which made it feel very dark and a little scary. The footprints led them up towards one of the nature trails that wound through the forest, but then they stopped.

“Hmm,” said Gracie. “There are no more footprints now because the path is gravel.”

“She’s going to have a sore foot from walking on these stones,” said Buzz. “They’re pretty sharp.”

“Which way now? Should we split up into two search parties?” asked Isla, with a touch of doubt in her voice. “She could have turned left or right down the path. In two groups, we can cover both directions.”

“But then one of us would be left alone,” said Gracie.

“Maybe we should call Lisa,” said Buzz, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “Uh oh, there’s no signal in this part of the forest.”

Isla pulled down her hood and scratched her head, letting the rain soak her hair. The sky was grey and dull, and the wind howled through the trees. She was nervous and could tell from Buzz’s frown and Gracie’s clenched fists that they felt the same. None of them were sure what to do.

But suddenly, from deep in the middle of Barleycorn Forest, came a long wail.

“What was that?” exclaimed Isla.

“It came from over there!” cried Gracie. She pointed to the right. Without saying another word, the Animal Adventure Club set off, running into the depths of the forest.