"Look!" Maggie cried. "Do you think that's the van?"
Henry looked up from tying his shoelace.
His cousin, Maggie, was jumping up and down and pointing down the street.
"William said that his parents were sending a blue van to pick us up," Henry said.
"That must be the one."
Cole grabbed his backpack off the sidewalk.
"I can't wait to get to the beach!" he exclaimed.
"Me neither," Henry agreed.
Their new friend, William, had invited the three of them to spend the weekend at his family's beach house.
It was on an island located about an hour's drive from Belltown, where they all lived.
The van stopped at the curb. A young woman was driving.
"Are you Henry, Maggie, and Cole?" she asked in a friendly voice.
"That's them!" someone called out from the back of the van.
"Get in here, you guys!"
A second later the side door slid open.
"Hi, Nathan," Henry said to the kid inside.
Nathan lived nearby and was one of the friendliest and happiest kids Henry knew.
He was going to William's vacation house too.
"This is going to be great!" Cole said as he climbed into the van.
Maggie climbed in after him. "Yeah," she agreed.
"But I wish I didn't have to close the lemonade stand for the whole weekend."
Cole made a face. "Are you kidding?" he said.
"I'd much rather spend the weekend at the beach than pouring lemonade."
"Me too," Maggie said.
"But I could make a lot of money selling lemonade this weekend.
And I'm saving up right now.
My barn is having a horse show at the end of the summer, and it costs a lot to compete in the show."
"You should have plenty of money for that," Cole said.
"Our detective business has been booming lately.
We solved the mystery of the missing baseball glove for Tiny last week."
Henry nodded. "And we helped Mr. Metz find his relatives' addresses so he could plan a family reunion.
He paid us double our usual fee for that, remember?"
"I guess you're right."
Maggie stared out the window, still thinking about the lemonade stand as the van pulled away.
"Anyway, we'll be back on Monday.
I hope everybody in Belltown is still thirsty when we get back."
Cole shrugged and then turned to Nathan and Henry.
"Do you think we'll get to go surfing at William's beach house?" he wondered.
"I don't know," Nathan said. "I talked to William on the phone yesterday.
But I didn't get to ask him many questions about this weekend.
He sounded kind of weird."
"He sounded weird?" Henry said. "What do you mean?"
"He was quieter than usual." Nathan looked worried.
"I hope he's not getting sick."
"Was he coughing and sneezing on the phone?" asked Cole.
"No. But my sister Nora has a really bad cold right now," Nathan said.
"I guess that's what made me think of it."
"Let's talk about all the fun stuff we're going to do at the beach!" Maggie said, changing the subject.
"Yeah," Cole agreed. "Like swimming and bodysurfing . . ."
"Maybe we can do pirate things," Nathan suggested. "Pirates are cool!"
"I want to build a sand castle," Maggie said. "And look for seashells."
Henry grinned. "I can't wait to do all that stuff!"
"Here we are," the van driver said an hour later.
Henry looked out the window. They were approaching a large, fancy house.
It sat near a sandy beach and was bigger than Henry's house and Maggie's house put together.
In the distance Henry could see a long row of tall, rocky cliffs.
"Wow, this place is great!" Maggie exclaimed.
"We're going to have so much fun."
"Look, there's William." Nathan pointed.
A kid was standing in front of the house.
A girl around his age was beside him.
As soon as the driver stopped the van, Henry and the others jumped out.
"Hi, William," Henry said. "Thanks for inviting us!"
"You're welcome," William said. He pointed to the girl.
"This is Anna. She lives here in Sea Cove."
"You live at the beach all year long? Cool!" said Cole. "I'm Cole."
"And I'm Henry," Henry said. "That's my cousin, Maggie, and that's Nathan."
"Nice to meet you," Anna said. "Is this your first time coming to—"
Suddenly a figure, waving a long, gleaming sword, leaped from behind a shrub.
"Aargh!" he growled.