Hide and Shriek

Hide and Shriek is the fourteenth book in the Summer Camp Secrets series.

UK blurb
Have you heard the dark secret of Shadow Lake?

''Legend has it that in the creepy woods near Camp Lakeview, a madman lies in wait for unwary campers. And every six years, when the fog rises from Shadow Lake, he emerges from his broken-down shack to seek revenge for the arm he lost while trying to end a camper's life.''

This is year number six.

Are you afraid? Don't be. The legend of Shadow Lake is just a spooky story told for fun around the Lakeview campfires. At least that's what the girls of bunk 5A think...until the fog starts rolling in...and Chelsea vanishes.

U.S. blurb
Have you seen Cropsy?

He's a madman hermit who lives in the broken-down shack just outside Camp Lakeview grounds. Every six years, he emerges to seek revenge for the arm he lost while trying to end a camper's life.

This is year number six.

Are you afraid? Don't be. The legend of Cropsy is just a spooky story told for fun.

At least that's what the girls of 5A think. ..

. . . until Chelsea vanishes.

Plot
Riding on the bus to Camp Lakeview, Natalie writes a letter to Grace. Tori is about to share a story about Cropsy but is interrupted by Pete. Alex, Jenna, Candace and Brynn are waiting for them in the camp parking lot. They arrive and greet each other, thrilled at sharing the same bunk since the previous year's split. Chelsea appears and walks off after the girls make snide comments about her. A boy, Jeremiah, plans to get CIT Clarissa to notice him.

On the way to the bunk, the girls misinterpret Valerie's screams after she freaks out over a spider. At the camp cookout, the girls meet Priya and Jordan who arrived late. Jordan mocks Tori's story of Cropsy. Later that night, bunk 5A's counsellor Belle takes the girls on a hike through the woods, but turns back when it rains. Inside the bunk, the girls get into an argument with Gaby and Belle orders them to be nice.

Dr. Steve and Tashya, the fifth division head, announce the girls will be going on an overnight camp-out so they can bond. They arrive in a clearing in the woods, Chelsea helping with unloading while the others put up tents. She begins to feel left out during swimming and chores. Tori shares her story of Cropsy: a crazed inmate who escaped from an asylum and led a boy away from his own camp-out, leading to each cutting the other's arm off. Jenna snaps at Chelsea, who storms off. While Belle goes to find her, Clarissa and the girls talk what really happened. After some time waiting, Clarissa, Natalie and Jenna go to find Belle and Chelsea.

Meanwhile, Gaby and Valerie find extra flashlights and the notes for a scavenger hunt. They and Tori leave to find the others, only to fall down a slope, climb back up and are chased by something. Brynn, Priya, Alex, Alyssa and Candace are scared away from their campsite and board a boat on the lake, someone standing on the bank behind them. Clarissa, Natalie and Jenna become lost, so decide to sit and wait, then they hear Belle. The person on the bank reveals them self to be a boy and tries to call out to the girls on the boat. He and Alex take the second boat and he reveals his name as Jeremiah Wheatly. He also reveals him and his friend were planning to scare the girls for fun. He explains the part of the lake they're on leads to a waterfall, Dead Man's Falls, risking drowning and potential death.

The girls' boat takes on water. In the woods, Natalie, Jenna and Clarissa are found by Belle, Dan and his dog, Monster. Jenna mistakes Monster for Cropsy. Dan admits that him and Jeremiah scared them all as a prank. Belle tries to call State Troopers before they all hike to the campsite. Brynn and Alyssa steady their boat with Candace and Priya bailing water. Alex and Jeremiah manage to find them but Alex loses her flashlight. Tori, Gaby and Valerie find a deserted truck and drive away.

After returning to the campsite, Dan explains him and Jeremiah had planned to hide behind a rock and make noise. They each had a boat - one with a hole in - and were going to repair them, but they find them missing. They go back through the woods to Dan's truck but find it gone. Belle goes back to the lake with Jenna and Natalie while Clarissa and Dan seek help. Chelsea finds herself in an abandoned fun house. At the lake, Alex and Jeremiah rescue the girls after their boat capsizes. When they reach the shoreline, Jeremiah tells them a second story: a man named Elias Croppersly built a theme park which received negative attention. Two brothers, Randy and Chris, sneaked into the park. Croppersly, angry at them, cut off Randy's head and tried to do the same to Chris, but Randy's headless body saved Chris and got Croppersly's arm cut off instead.

Belle, Natalie and Jenna follow the fun house music and hear Chelsea screaming, who goes backwards down a slide. She tries to defend herself as Cropsy nears. The trio smash their way into the Chamber of Horrors and Belle apprehends Cropsy, whose real name is Jamieson Cropwell. Jeremiah, Alex and the girls also make their way through. The State Troopers arrive to help Tori, Gaby and Valerie. Cropwell explains the park fell in disarray after his wife died and losing his arm in an accident. He opened the park so he could clean before buyers came to purchase.

5A reunite safe and sound, with Alex and Chelsea receiving treatment. Brynn asks Jordan if she can be his date to the camp social and he accepts, and Chelsea and Priya agree on Spence being "neutral territory". The book ends with Natalie writing another letter to Grace summarizing the events of the camp-out.

Characters
In order of appearance:
 * Natalie Goode
 * Tori Ann
 * Alyssa
 * Pete
 * Alex Kim
 * Jenna Bloom
 * Brynn Collins
 * Candace
 * Chelsea
 * Valerie Williams
 * Gaby Parsons
 * Belle Hogan
 * Clarissa
 * Jeremiah Wheatly
 * Dan Magnusen
 * David Carson
 * Jordan
 * Priya Shah
 * Spence
 * Dr. Steve
 * Tashya
 * Bob
 * Monster
 * Cropsy/Jamieson Cropwell
 * Female State Trooper
 * Urgent care doctor