Prologue:

Hey, everyone. My name's Gracie. And these are all of my friends. I know. I have a lot. twelve to be exact.

And all of these girls are my crew. Wanna meet them? Okay, I'll introduce you to them!

This is me

This is:

Kylie

Maya

Lexi

Maddie

Ari

Kimberly

Tonya

Evie

Mae

Carly

Jada

Amelia

And together we're called:

The Mystery Sisters

Now, the reason why we're called "The Mystery Sisters" is because we solve mysteries. That's right. We solve mysteries. Tons of them.

We've solved so many I don't even know the number of how many. . . Okay, fine! We haven't solved a ton of mysteries, only one.

But you only need to solve one to know you'll solve a lot.

Do you want to hear the story of our first mystery? . . . Great! It all started on a Monday evening after school:

Chapter 1: Who, When, Where, and Why?

"Gracie," said Mrs Barnhardt. "Yes," I ask. "Would you care to join our class or would you rather continue to your doodles?"

All the kids in the classroom look at me. "I'll join the class," I say. Mrs Barnhardt gives a quick smile but then turns back to the board. 

"Pay attention," said Mrs Barnhardt. All the classroom turns back to the board.

• • • • • • • •

Class was finally over, and all the kids rushed out of Mrs Barnhardt's classroom. I, however, walked.

"Gracie! Gracie!" shouted Carly, squishing through all the kids in the hallway. "Hey, Carly. What's up?" I ask.

"Did you hear the news?" "News? What news?" "The news about the missing boy," answered Carly.

"What?" I say, confused, "Who? Who's the missing boy?" "Some kid named Rowan," responded Carly.

"Some people are saying that he was kidnapped!"

"Kidnapped!" I say. Carly nods vigorously. "Whoa! That's crazy!" I say in astonishment. "I know!" agreed Carly.

"Wait!" I say, "But who, when, where, and why would anyone want to kidnap some random kid?" "I don't know," answered Carly, "The person might have been drunk and wasn't thinking properly."

"Or," I say, "Maybe there was something the kid knew, that the kidnapper didn't, and that's why Rowan was kidnapped!"

"It's a theory," said Carly, "Anything is possible, I guess."

"Let's go tell the others," I say, grabbing

Carly by the arm and dragging her out of the school doors.

Chapter 2: Figuring Out the Why

"A missing boy!" exclaimed Jada. "Yeah, no one really knows what happened to him," I say, "But I think he was kidnapped!"

All the girls gasp.

"I hope he's alright," said Kimberly. "Me too," I say. "Who is this boy?" asks Mae eagerly. "His name is Rowan," answered Carly.

"Rowan," said Kylie surprised, "He's just a nerd. Why would someone want to kidnap a nerd?"

My face lit up when Kylie said he was a nerd. That could only mean one thing.

"I know why he was kidnapped!" I announce. "We don't actually know if he was kidnapped," interjected Lexi.

"Well, I think he was," I say, "And I know the reason why! Since he's a nerd, it means he's really smart, right?" All the girls nod.

I continue, "Which means he was kidnapped because he's so smart. The kidnapper might want him to make or hack something that will be of good use to him or her."

"That would make a lot of sense," said Tonya. "It kinda would," agreed Maddie. The rest of the girls nod in agreement.

I nod as well.

Just then, I had the most amazing idea of all time! "Guys!" I shout, "Why don't we try to find Rowan? We could do it. And I guarantee that we will succeed in finding him."

All the girls look at each other. "It's worth a shot," admitted Ari, "I'm in." "Me too," chimed in Evie.

The rest of the girls were in it too. "Then it's settled," I say, "We'll start first thing tomorrow. After school, of course."

Chapter 3: Figuring Out the Where?

"Hey, guys," I say, "Sorry I'm a little late. Mrs Barnhardt got on to me after class because I wasn't 'paying attention'."

The girls start to giggle. I did too. "Okay," said Kylie, "Let's get to business." I nod. "Do you guys have anything so far?" I ask. "No. Not yet," answered Kimberly.

"Okay," I say, "Well, we figured out why Rowan would be kidnapped, now all we need to figure out is the who, when, and where. We'll focus on the when and where first."

The girls nod.

"So, where would this most likely happen?" I ask. "Probably here at school," said Jada, "Because I don't think Rowan goes anywhere else but school."

"Yeah, Jada's probably right," I say. "Wait," said Lexi, "But why would the kidnapper kidnap him where a ton of witnesses would be?"

"That's a good question," agreed Maya.

"Because it's the perfect cover," interjected Evie, "No one would ever suspect someone being kidnapped where a ton of people are. Besides, it's not like anyone would pay attention to Rowan, anyway."

"That's very true," I say.

"Well, then," said Jada," we got the where."

Just then, someone's phone started buzzing. It was Carly's.

"Oh," Carly said, "My Mom just texted and said I have to come home. She needs some help with the house cleaning."

"Oh," I say, "Well, okay. See you tomorrow!" "See ya," said Carly running off.

"I should probably get going too," said Maddie, "My Mom might be wondering where I am."

"Okay, then," I say, "We'll just dismiss the meeting."

"Okay," said Maddie, "See you guys!" Maddie waves goodbye and walks off.

"Okay," I say, "Bye guys. Tomorrow after school we try and figure out the when. Kay?" "Okay," said everyone in unison.

Chapter 4: Getting Rowan's Address

Once Amelia finally came out of the school doors, I say, "Okay, now that everyone is here let's go to my house."

When we finally made it to my house, I fixed everyone a cup of lemonade and laid out some chocolate-covered strawberries.

"Alright," I say, "Now that everyone is here, let's try and figure out when Rowan was kidnapped. So it obviously had to be on a school day, so that helps us a little." Everyone nods. "So, I was talking to the principal today, and she said that when

people finally noticed that when he was gone that was Wednesday. So it was before Wednesday that he was kidnapped."

"Okay, this is a good start," said Mae, "We just need to do a little more investigating and then we'll figure out the exact date."

"Should we talk to Rowan's Mom?" asked Kimberly.

"We could do that," I say. "It would be the smart thing to do," said Tonya. "But we don't know where he lives?" said Ari.

"We can get his address from the principal," said Evie. "But what will be our excuse to get his address from her?" asks Lexi

"We could tell her that we want to comfort his Mom through this hard time that she's probably having," answered Maddie. "that could work," I say.

"Okay, let's go to the principal," Said Ari

• • • • • • • •

We went to Principal Kathy's house but she wasn't there. "Is she still at the school?" asks Amelia.

"She has to be because she's not here," I say. "I couldn't stand to be at the school at this time of day," said Maya.

"Me either," said Kylie.

Once we made it to Principal Kathy's office, we knocked on her door. "Come in," she said. All of us walk into her office.

"Hello, girls," she said, "What are you doing here?" "We've come here to get Rowan's address," I say. "What for," Principal Kathy asked.

"We came here to get his address because we want to comfort his Mom through this hard time that she's experiencing," I answer.

"That's very thoughtful of you girls," said Principal Kathy, "I don't see why I shouldn't give it to you."

Principal Kathy starts to go through a big book that was full of addresses and when she found Rowan's, she wrote the address down on a sticky note.

"There you go," she said handing the sticky note to me, "Please tell Mrs Travis I said hi." I nod. "Thank you, Principal Kathy," all of us girls say as we walk out of her office door.

Chapter 5: Figuring Out the When

"Alright," I say, "This is Mrs Travis' house." We all go up the steps to her door.

I knock. "Who is it?" "Umm, hello, my name is Gracie and we go to your son's school and we've come here to talk about him. Is that okay?"

Just then, a beautiful, tall, tan, brunette woman answered the door. "Are you Mrs Travis?" I ask.

"Yes," she says. "We've come to talk about your son. . . Rowan," I say, "Would it be okay if we do so?"

The woman nods her head. She then welcomes us into her home.

• • • • • • • •

We talked to Mrs Travis for a while having a good conversation, but I knew I had to ask, "I hate to ask this question, but do you know when Rowan went missing?"

"Well," said Mrs Travis, "The day he didn't come back home from school was Tuesday. But he did text me that day."

"What time?" I ask eagerly. "About 3:45 PM," answered Mrs Travis.

"That's when the school bus comes by to pick up the kids who live far away," said Amelia. "Maybe that was when he was taken," said Jada.

The girls all nod. "Excuse me," said Mrs Traivs, "Taken? What do you mean 'taken'?" "Well," I say, "We don't know for sure, but we think your son was kidnapped."

"Kidnapped!" exclaimed Mrs Travis, "My baby was kidnapped!" "We don't know for sure, Mrs Travis," I say, "But it might be a possibility that he was."

"Have you just come here to tell me that my son was kidnapped?" ASKED MRS TRAVIS.

"No, ma'am," I say, "We've come here to ask these questions so we can find him." "You're trying to find my boy," said Mrs Travis astonished.

"Yes," I say, "And we won't stop until we do." "Thank you, girls," said Mrs Travis, "This really means a lot. Oh, and please don't get the police involved."

"Why?" I ask. "I just-I just don't want them on the case," she answered. I nod.

Chapter 6: A Team Name

Once we left Mrs Travis' house we went straight back to mine. "So we now know the when. All we have left is the who," I say. "That's gonna be a tough one," admitted Evie, "Trying to figure out the 'who' isn't as easy as it looks like in the movies."

"Evie's right," I admit, "It will be tough. But I know we can do it!" "Wait!" screamed Amelia, "But we can't do it without a team name." "A team name," said Kylie.

"I feel like we should have one," admitted Amelia.

"I think so, too," I say. "It would be cool to have one," said Ari. "Then what should we call ourselves?" asked Kylie. "We could be 'The Super Solvers'," answered Mae.

Everyone shakes their heads. "Or how about 'The Mystery Fighters'," interjected Kimberly. So many team names were thought of but none of them fit.

And everyone knew it. Soon, we had thought of fifty team names but it didn't fit. "Maybe we weren't meant to have a team name," said Jada.

"No, we are," said Amelia, "We just haven't thought of the perfect one."

"We'll think of one," I say, "I know we will."

Chapter 7: The Security Cameras!

"We're stumped, again!" I say. "Gracie," said Tonya, "It's been two weeks and we still don't know who the 'who' is! Don't you think it's time to give up?"

"No!" I exclaim, "We told Mrs Travis that we weren't going to stop searching for Rowan until we found him. And I intend to keep my word."

"I know you did," said Tonya, "But we've been searching for too long. Let's just leave it to the police or something. They'll know what to do."

"But Mrs Travis said she didn't want the police to get involved," I say. "Yes, she did. But it seems like we have no other option," said Tonya.

"I'm not going back on my word," I say, "And that's final." Tonya sighs in frustration. A few moments later, Jada interjects and says, "Let's go back to the school. Maybe we can find some clues."

I nod. "Are you gonna come, Tonya?" I ask. "I have nothing better to do," responded Tonya.

• • • • • • • •

"I don't see anything that can help us find Rowan or who could've kidnapped him," said Mae.

"Just keep looking," said Jada, "There has to be something." I look up into the sky, knowing that we weren't going to find anything that could help us, but then something shiny caught my eye.

I look closer. It was a security camera. Just then, I had an idea of how we could figure out who the 'who' was.

"Guys!" I exclaim, "The security cameras!" "What about them?" asked Kimberly. "They were probably on the day Rowan was

kidnapped!" I shout.

All the girls look at one another. "Why didn't I think of that before?" asked Jada. "Let's go and see if we can find the tape," I say

• • • • • • • •

As we tip-toed across the hallway, Mae whispered, "Who knew you could pick a school door with a bobby pin."

Ari smiles proudly of her achievement. "The security room is at the end of the hallway," said Evie.

We now stood in front of the security door.

"Okay," I whisper, "Let's go in." When I opened the door Amelia said, "Whoa. that's a lot of screens.