Henry pushed his way through the hedge as quietly as he could.
Nora was halfway across the backyard by now.
"Shh!" he warned the others.
"Don't make too much noise, or she'll know we're here.
And try to stay hidden!"
He realized that it wasn't going to be easy to follow Nora without being spotted.
They would have to be very careful.
Luckily, there were plenty of tall shrubs in the backyard.
Henry rushed out and ducked behind the closest one.
A second later Cole joined him behind the shrub.
Maggie and Nathan were right behind him.
"Where's she going?" Cole whispered in Henry's ear.
Henry peeked at Nora. She hadn't heard or seen them yet.
But she sure didn't look as if she were sleepwalking.
She stopped every few steps to look around.
"I can't tell for sure, but it looks like she's heading toward the woods at the back of the yard," Henry whispered back.
"Come on, let's try to get closer. We don't want to lose sight of her if she goes into the woods."
They all dashed across the yard to another shrub.
When they were safely hidden behind it, Henry peeked out again.
Nora had stopped and turned around. She had a suspicious look on her face.
Henry yanked his head back behind the shrub.
Whew! Nora hadn't spotted him.
He put a finger to his lips to warn the others to be quiet.
They waited silently for a few seconds. Then Maggie peeked out.
Her eyes widened. "Hey," she said, sounding excited.
"It looks like she might be heading for Nathan's tree house!"
Henry winced. In her excitement Maggie had forgotten to whisper.
And her voice was always pretty loud.
A second later he heard the sound of running feet.
When he jumped out from behind the shrub, he saw Nora running away.
"She heard us," he called to his friends. "Come on, let's catch her!"
"Nora!" Nathan yelled as they all started running. "Stop!"
But Nora didn't stop. That was no surprise, at least to Henry.
As far as he could tell, Nora hardly ever did anything anyone told her to do!
Nora was a pretty fast runner for a little kid.
She raced across the yard and disappeared through the hedge.
"She's in the neighbors' yard," Maggie said. "Hurry!"
Henry ran as fast as he could toward the hedge.
It was too thick to see anything on the other side.
But he kept his eyes on the spot where Nora had pushed through.
Cole was the fastest of all of them, so he got there first.
"Ahh!" he yelled as he pushed through the hedge.
"Hey, where'd she go?" he called from the other side.
Henry pushed through the hedge too.
He looked around and saw Cole standing there.
A second later Maggie and Nathan appeared.
But there was no sign of Nora.
"Uh-oh," Cole said. "Do you think she's hiding?"
Nathan was out of breath after all the running, so it took him a second to answer.
"Probably," he said. "She likes to hide.
Once she hid in the basement and my parents couldn't find her for over an hour."
Henry looked around the neighbors' yard.
It was smaller than Nathan and Nora's yard, but there were plenty of places to hide.
There was a large vegetable garden with lots of big tomato plants, a patch of corn, and teepees covered with bean vines.
The rest of the yard had shrubs and flowers, a birdbath, and a sculpture of a dog.
At the back of the yard was the same forest that ran behind all the houses on the block.
"Let's spread out and search for her," Henry decided.
"Nathan, you go that way and search the neighbors' flower beds.
Maggie, check the front yard and the other side of the house.
Cole, make sure she's not hiding out in the woods.
I'll check the vegetable garden."
"Okay," Nathan said, and the others nodded. Then they split up.
Henry hurried over to the vegetable garden.
He peeked behind every tomato plant and bean teepee.
He looked into the corn patch. He even checked under the wheelbarrow.
But there was no sign of Nora.
By the time he finished searching, his friends were coming back.
"I didn't see her," Maggie reported.
"Me neither," Cole said. "What about you, Nathan?"
"Nope," Nathan said. "Did you find anything, Henry?"
Henry shook his head and sighed. "It looks like Nora got away from us."