By Water

"Pey, can we talk for a minute?" Sean asked hopefully. He'd thrown his arm out to hold his older sister back. "I have some concerns."

"I'd love to, Sean, but we don't have time. I'm serious about the Hardaways having a schedule for us," Peyton replied. Then, noticing his troubled expression, she added, "Later tonight, we can catch up. We'll have free time after the reception."

Admitting defeat, a dejected Sean followed his sister outside and into an impromptu photoshoot. Surprisingly, the photographer turned out to be another familiar face with light-brown hair, brown eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses, and a tall, slim figure. Right on cue, that lanky-built college student nearly added to his klutzy legend as he tripped backing up. Fortunately, the root Barney stumbled on belonged to a nearby tree that he grabbed to maintain his balance.

"Barney's one of our staff members too?" Sean asked.

"Nope. Barney's the staff photographer," Peyton replied before chuckling. "The Hardaways are quite into self-promotion if you hadn't realized that yet. Now go join your team."

"Hold on, Sean! I want to get one of the Tarvers together," Barney Barrie said.

After several pictures of pairings and trios from The Magnifying Bees, the team stood still for multiple group shots. Eventually, Peyton shut down the shoot when their walkie-talkies crackled with news of another team's arrival.

"Gotta go," Barney said as his farewell.

Peyton retook charge, leading the six teens down another trail. This one had a slight downslope to it. After only a short distance, Shimmer Lake appeared in front of their eyes. Their blonde YSC staffer led them down to a small stretch of sand between two piers. The one on the left was shaped like the letter L, while the right pier went straight out.

"Is this the public beach?" Whitney questioned, her voice dripping with disdain.

"This small bit of sand? No, it's not. The public beach is east of here. This is Camp Wee Wicket's, uh, mini beach," Peyton described. "C'mon, this way."

The group started to follow her toward the L-shaped pier, where a pontoon boat sat docked. That is everyone but Wesley.

"Uh, I don't like water," Wesley stated before he hesitantly admitted. "I can't swim."

"For real?" Iona questioned.

"No big deal. You can wear a life jacket," Peyton responded. After Wes agreed, she continued leading them out onto the pier. "We volunteered your team for the boat tour. Trust me, you guys will be doing a lot of walking over the next week."

"We?" Whitney questioned.

"Son of a bitch! You fucking son of a bitch!" Iona screamed.

The rest of the team turned at the realization that a man had been hidden by the pontoon boat's sun shade.

"Mom's not going to like what you called her," Eoin O'Hara admonished, wagging his finger at his younger sister.

A good-looking guy with short, messy dark-brown hair and brown eyes, Eoin had been a soccer star in high school before a significant knee injury **** him to retire. His slim, athletic physique was on full display, with Eoin wearing only a pair of swim trunks. Whitney, Rory, and Daisy checked out the abundance of tight flesh, the reason for his popular status at Zurbrugg College as the go-to guy for a friends-with-benefit situation.

"Okay, hop on, everyone," Peyton ordered.

"Hey, Pey, I can't seem to get this rope undone. I think it's stuck. Care to help?" Eoin asked, leaning over the side of the boat.

"I guess," Peyton replied.

Then, she surprised all the teens by pulling her spaghetti-strap top over her head. Next went her small pair of tan shorts. Once finished, the model-like blonde wore only a light-blue bikini.

Sliding into the water, Peyton helped Eoin loosen the rope loop stuck on part of the old wooden dock. Finished, she moved to a small ladder to climb back onto the pier. Finally, Peyton descended onto the boat after scooping up her clothes.

"And we're off!" Eoin announced needlessly as the pontoon boat began to move.

"We're going out onto the lake? It would've been nice to have changed into my bikini," Whitney complained. "You only said to lose the cold weather clothing."

"Sorry, but we don't have time to swim right now. I meant it about the Hardaways having us on a tight schedule," Peyton responded.

"She's not lying. We're absolutely exhausted from the crash course training regimen," Eoin revealed, sitting at the boat's controls.

"Especially the staff that hasn't competed in a YSC before," Peyton added. She sat down across the aisle to Eoin's left and slightly forward.

The rest of the teens had scattered around the boat. Wesley sat on the back bench behind Eoin, where he gripped the top of the seat in front of him. Sean sat beside him, in the middle, with Daisy at the other end, behind Peyton. Whitney, Rory, and Iona sat on several seats at the front, rolling up their sleeves to get some sort of a tan.

"Oh! I almost forgot. If you have any questions about Camp Wee Wicket, ask Lolly," Peyton remembered.

"Lolly?" Sean inquired.

"Lolly Matcham. Her parents own Wee Wicket," Peyton explained. "She's assisting the YSC. Supersweet and very helpful."

"Knows her shit," Eoin added. "Cute too."

Heading directly east, it didn't take long to reach the public beach. Slowing down, Eoin made sure not to venture into shallow waters. Located on the southeastern shoreline of Shimmer Lake, it looked like any ordinary beach without lifeguard stands.

"They usually don't have many beachgoers this time of the year. However, that might change with this hot, humid weather," Peyton explained. "The forecast doesn't show a break anytime soon, either."

"The humidity is like a slap to the face," Eoin described.

"Then you should be used to it," his sister yelled from the bow.

"Apparently, it's the hottest spring on record here. Even the lake water is substantially warmer for this time of the year," Peyton relayed. "Normally, it would be too cool for swimming long."

"Look over there!" Daisy alerted.

Everyone turned to see a group around the same number as them trudging along the beach. They couldn't make out much in the distance, but all The Magnifying Bees assumed the same.

"Is that another team?" Whitney asked.

"Yes, it is, but don't worry about them until this evening," Peyton replied, motioning for Eoin to speed up.

Heading north a short distance, they saw where a boat launch sat before the forest began again. Then, they saw what appeared to be a few campers or RVs scattered amongst the trees.

"That's the Wicket Valley Campgrounds," Peyton announced. "It's supposedly packed during the summer. Lolly says it gets some tourists during the spring, but there might be more with the warm weather. Oh, there's also a public bathhouse located right past the boat launch. So keep that in mind."

"Unless you want to use leaves to wipe," Eoin cracked. "Alright, Shimmer Lake is shaped like a loose letter L. The lower portion is where most of the leisure shit happens. Now, we're going to head north to the upper segment. It will take a bit."

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Daisy mentioned that she had a few questions.

"From my understanding, the Young Sleuths Challenge will use local locations for the mysteries. Will the Rusty Buckle Lodge be among those? I understand that it's privately owned."

"What the hell is that?" Iona asked.

"Rusty what?" Whitney questioned.

Sean palmed his forehead while Wesley shook his. So much for their new teammates taking any initiative.

"Didn't you do any of the prep reading?" Rory questioned the two girls closest to her. She certainly had. Learning what roles she might need to play had consumed the last few weeks.

"Alright, let's calm down," Peyton began. "Yes, the Buckle family has agreed to allow their lodge to be used for the YSC. However, be respectful of their property."

"Yeah, they're kinda bigshots around here," Eoin commented. "The local rich family with ties stretching back well over a hundred years."

"So like my family at Wasp Lake," Whitney said.

"Well, yeah. They do have a sketchy reputation," Eoin remarked.

"So like the Wynwicks," Wesley said, referring to his friend's family and the Diamonds' historical rivals.

"That's the last time I want to hear that name, March," Whitney warned. "And don't even dare mention the Oleskys."

"Why would I do that? Olena's scary!" Wesley responded.

"Alright, let's not get into Honey Hollow family feuds," Peyton interrupted. "The Buckle family also owned the old mine up in the western mountains."

"Mistcreek," Daisy stated, earning more confused looks from Whitney and Iona.

"Nobody calls it that around here anymore," Eoin revealed. "It's either Creaky Town or just the ghost town. The place is creepy."

"It's creepy? Oh, man!" Wesley groaned.

"So you've been up there. Hmm," Sean sounded, deducing the likeliest reason why.

"Eoin!" Peyton scolded.

"What? C'mon, they must have suspected that one mystery would include the ghost town. It's practically guaranteed."

"Any other questions?" Peyton inquired, ignoring Eoin

"Yeah, how come Eoin lied to me about the incredible Caribbean spring break trip he planned?" Iona challenged. "I heard shit for the last few months about how jealous I would be. Way before Sean got his invitation."

"I would've told you eventually if Sean hadn't picked you," Eoin countered.

"Sure, asshole."

"Geez, I hope you aren't holding a grudge against your sister," Eoin said, looking over his shoulder at Sean. "Hey, is there a cooler back there?"

"Oh, I moved it. Want something?" Peyton asked.

Standing up, Peyton walked several steps before bending down to grab two bottles of water. Handing one to Eoin, she took off the cap of another and started to drink from it.

That's when Sean turned his head around after gazing over at the lake, and the pontoon boat lurched, nearly throwing Peyton off-balance. She managed to steady herself by taking several steps back. That left her only inches from Sean's face.

Or, to be more specific, that left Peyton's bikini-clad ass inches from her brother's face. Caught by surprise, Sean didn't know what to do. So, he stared at how the light-blue bikini bottoms bunched up between his sister's toned asscheeks.

"We also saw the cemetery on the way in, but are there other places we should know about?" Daisy asked, snapping Sean out of his trance. "Besides the abandoned ranch, of course."

"That's another place you can go to Lolly for information. Her ancestors founded it, and her dad still owns the property," Peyton revealed, turning around but missing Sean's head swinging to face Wesley.

"And we're entering the upper portion of Shimmer Lake," Eoin announced. "As you can see, this section's west side are sheer cliffs. We'll have more on that later."

Sean leaned forward to peer outside of the sun shade he sat under. He ended up almost kneeling on the deck to see the top of the mountain cliffs.

"Damn, that's a drop," Rory commented for everyone.

"Don't expect any part of the mysteries to be up there. So stay away, got that?" Peyton questioned, reminding Sean of their mom.

"Alright, look to the port side--shit, I mean, starboard side. Fuck it, look right," Eoin struggled. "On the right side, you'll see several fishing shacks along the shore. There are more behind them, and as you can see, the shoreline starts to rise. Once the terrain levels off a bit there are some one-room cabins. Nothing special. These are all pretty rustic buildings. Some have electricity, some don't."

"Expect to see fisherman occasionally. From what we've been told, most of the hunting seasons are well over. Rabbit and squirrel are finishing up with the mountain lion season over at the end of April," Peyton relayed.

"Mountain lions?!" Sean gasped, beating Wesley by a split second.

"One last location of note that's well west of those shacks and cabins is Serenity Grove. It's a curious grassy clearing deep in the forest. Locals say it's mysterious," Peyton described.

"They call it Séance Grove," Eoin interrupted. "It's eerily silent. There is a wide range of local lore and theories. Some say it's a haunted burial ground of an ancient tribe."

"Like Poltergeist!" Wesley squealed.

"Others say the grove was used by a witch coven for over a century."

"A witch coven? I can work with that," Rory stated, sitting up straighter with a beaming smile.

"More recently, it's been speculated that UFOs regularly land there. That's why so many people going missing in the valley," Eoin finished.

"They do?" Whitney questioned, shooting a glare at Sean.

However, a roaring sound that increased drew the teens' attention toward the boat's bow. Their gaze moved upward in awe at the sight that slowly drew closer. A continual stream of water flowed down the mountains toward Shimmer Lake, forming a magnificent waterfall.

"That's the Meltwater River coming down."

The group watched for several minutes, commenting about the grand waterfall. Whitney begrudgingly admitted that this waterfall was more impressive than the Daffodil Falls near Wasp Lake. However, she rightly pointed out that the smaller falls allowed people to swim in the pool of water under them. That wasn't the case here. It looked far more dangerous.

Turning the boat around, Eoin took over speaking.

"I mentioned the cliffs before and held off for a reason. About thirty or forty years ago, some nut thought it would be a great idea to operate a tour boat business on Shimmer Lake. I mean, sure, there are a few things to look at, like the waterfall. Oh, and Wicked Bay. It's a small cove at the southern end of the cliffs, where they meet the forest. There's a cool cavern you can swim in and caves behind it. However, there ain't much else. Well, somebody is always looking for sucker tourists to give them a couple of bucks. So this guy ran his tour of the lake for a few years. Eventually, he took risks by moving closer to the falls and the cliffs. And what do you think happened? A rockslide came tumbling down his boat. Now, it didn't sink immediately. The captain managed to get closer to the middle of the lake, allowing a few fishermen to race over and offload his passengers. But have no doubt, the idiot's boat sunk."

Eoin slowed the pontoon boat to a halt. Then, standing up, he walked over to the starboard side.

"Down there lies The Pioneer Prospector, a favorite diving spot for tourists."

Leaning over the side, Eoin waved for the others to come over and look. Only Peyton got to her feet initially. Then, Iona jumped up, dashed over, and shoved her brother over the side.

"That's for lying asshole!"

Now, that spurred mostly everyone else into getting up and rushing over to look at Eoin in the lake. Sean didn't. When Peyton turned to grab a life preserver, she stopped and narrowed her eyes. What the...Is Sean staring at my butt?