The next weekend my friends and I climbed aboard a big luxury bus.
We were headed for our mountain getaway with Mr. Chen.
Bunch came too, of course.
But he had to travel in his dog cage.
We found seats on the bus.
All around us, lots of people were talking and laughing.
I guess we weren't the only ones excited about a mountain getaway!
Caswell was sitting next to Molly.
He had his huge teddy bear backpack with him.
"Are we there yet?" he asked her.
"Caswell, the bus hasn't even left yet,"
said Molly, laughing at her little brother.
"So how could we be there already?"
The bus finally pulled out of the station a few minutes later.
I smiled to myself and patted my backpack.
Besides my clothes, the backpack contained my secret invention.
From inside his dog cage, Bunch kept sniffing the air.
He could probably smell the hamster pellets I had used for my invention.
Bunch loves hamster pellets.
He was even drooling!
Mr. Chen had brought a big suitcase that held his magic tricks.
When he wasn't working at the supermarket, Mr. Chen sometimes performed magic shows.
Once I'd seen him make a frog leap out of his shirt sleeve.
The audience had loved that trick.
Molly had noticed the suitcase too.
"Mr. Chen, can we see your magic things?" she asked.
"Sure," said Mr. Chen with a smile.
"I'm working on some new tricks.
I'm going to practice them at Shadow Lake Lodge."
He took his suitcase down from the overhead rack.
He showed us some of the things inside:
gold coins, playing cards, and a magic wand.
"Are we there yet?" Caswell kept asking.
Molly covered her face with her hands.
But Josh smiled patiently.
"Not yet, Caswell," he said.
"But we're going into a cool tunnel now!"
"This tunnel goes under a river," I added.
Caswell peered nervously through the window.
"I hope the river doesn't fall on our heads," he said.
"Don't worry, Caswell," said Mr. Chen.
"This tunnel is strong.
It will keep the river out."
When we came out of the tunnel, we were not in the city anymore.
We were on a busy highway.
In the distance I could see hills with colorful fall trees.
An hour later the bus was climbing a steep mountain road.
It led up to Shadow Lake Lodge.
"Oh my gosh!" Jenny gasped.
"This is where we're staying?" said Josh.
"Caswell, guess what," Molly whispered. "We're finally here."
I was staring at the building in amazement too.
I decided that Shadow Lake Lodge wasn't really a hotel.
It was a fairy-tale castle sitting on a mountain.
Flags flew from its towers.
Hills rippled below.
A blue lake glittered in the sunlight.
"I can't wait to see our room!" said Molly.
"Maybe it will have gold curtains."
"And diamond tables," said Jenny.
Molly giggled. "We'll be like princesses!"
"Maybe we'll be invited to a fancy ball tonight," said Jenny.
Josh gave me a look.
The look meant, "Ugh! Girls."
I knew just how he felt.
I didn't care about gold curtains or diamond tables either.
And I definitely didn't care about fancy balls.
"I want to hike up to that lookout tower," I said.
I pointed to a tall stone tower at the very top of the mountain.
"Me too!" cried Josh.
I had never climbed a mountain before.
I patted my backpack again, really glad that I had brought along my latest invention.
Looking up at the steep mountain, I had a feeling that we were going to need my invention.