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Chapter 1: Winter Wonderland

"Don't you love all this snow!" George Fayne remarked as her friend Nancy Drew drove her blue Mustang beneath the stone arch that marked the entrance to Emerson College. "The campus looks like someone spread a fluffy white blanket over the whole place."

"You mean, a blinding white blanket." Nancy had been squinting into the bright afternoon sunlight all the way from River Heights. On the campus snow covered every roof and tree, and drifts reached as high as the first-floor windows of the brick and stone buildings. "It is beautiful, but I can hardly see a thing. Especially with the wind blowing all the new snow around."

"I love it!" George said. Her short brown curls danced around her face as she opened the passenger window and leaned out to catch a snowflake on her tongue. "Talk about perfect weather for the Big Chill Clues Challenge."

"I'll say." Nancy tossed her reddish blond hair over the shoulders of the blue cable-knit sweater she wore over her jeans. "It'll be great to see Ned. But I still can't believe I agreed to spend two days competing in an all-out, outdoor treasure hunt with sports nuts like Ned and you."

"You know you'll love it," George said. "Besides, we sports nuts need a clues maniac like you if we're going to win the Clues Challenge."

Ned Nickerson, Nancy's longtime boyfriend, was a student at Emerson. When he called to ask if she and George wanted to join the Clues Challenge team from his fraternity, they both had said yes right away.

"I know it'll be fun," Nancy agreed. "The three other sororities and frats competing are really athletic, and the clues are tough. You know it's a tradition to hide them in places that are practically impossible to get to."

"Didn't Ned say one of the clues last year was hidden at the bottom of an old well?" George asked as she rolled her window back up.

Nancy nodded. "Everyone had to cross-country ski five miles through the woods just to get there," she said, laughing. "Then they had to use climbing gear to get down to the clue. One guy actually got stuck and had to be rescued by Ned's team."

"Sounds like my kind of treasure hunt," George said, her brown eyes gleaming.

Nancy wasn't at all surprised to hear that. George was crazy about sports and the outdoors.

"It will be cool to actually compete in the challenge ourselves," Nancy admitted. "Usually Ned's whole frat wants to compete, but we were lucky that just about all of the guys were tied up this weekend."

"And that the Clues Challenge rules allow outsiders to compete," George added.

Nancy turned onto a side road that led to the west side of campus. Students were colorful splotches against the snow as they walked along paths that were still being shoveled. Up ahead was a cluster of colonial-style brick buildings. Even from a distance, Nancy spotted the green-and-white banner that bore the Greek letters of Ned's frat, Omega Chi Epsilon. As Nancy maneuvered around a snowplow and pulled up in front of the building, she saw snowballs flying and people darting in every direction.

"Snowball fight!" Nancy grabbed her red parka and got out, dodging a snowball that landed on the windshield with a splat.

"Think fast, Drew!" called a familiar voice.

Nancy turned to see Ned scoop a handful of snow from a heaping mountain piled in front of the frat. Ned's cheeks were bright red, and snow was matted in his brown hair and all over his green parka and jeans. He let the snowball fly, a huge grin on his face.

"Hey!" Nancy jumped to the left, and the snowball caught only her sleeve. "This means war!" she yelled back, yanking on her parka, then reaching for a handful of snow.

She barely had time to crunch the snow into a ball before Ned reached her and buried her in a snowy hug.

"I'm glad you could come," he said, burying his face in her hair.

Nancy leaned back to grin up at her boyfriend. "Me, too," she said.

She jumped as another snowball caught her in the middle of her back. A hailstorm of snow, shrieks, and laughter came at her and Ned from all corners of the Omega Chi Epsilon yard.

"Um, guys?" George said as two more snowballs were lobbed from a corner of the frat. "In case you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of a war zone."

"Truce!" Ned shouted. He pulled off his scarf and waved it like a flag.

Half a dozen guys and girls tumbled out from behind trees, cars, and snowdrifts. Nancy waved hello to Grant Dempsey, a guy with short brown hair and a round face. She and George knew him from previous trips to Emerson. Most of the other faces were unfamiliar.

"Nancy, George, this is C. J. Thompson," Ned said as a guy with tousled black hair and blue eyes came up. "He's an Omega pledge, and -- "

"C. J. Thompson?" George repeated, gaping at him. "The C. J. Thompson? The cross-country skier who broke the world record in the twelve thousand meters last year?"

C.J. gave an embarrassed laugh. "I guess you've heard of me," he said. Shaking the snow from his gloves, he held out his hand.

"C.J. is our secret weapon in this year's Clues Challenge," Ned went on. "I figure someone who's headed for the Olympics will definitely give the Omegas an edge in the Clues Challenge."

"You guys will need all the help you can get," said one of the girls. She was a few inches shorter than Nancy's five feet seven inches, with high cheekbones, black hair down to her shoulders, and the most infectious smile Nancy had ever seen. "We Kappas are going to pulverize you guys," she said.

Nancy detected a challenge in the girl's dark eyes. There was also a special sparkle when she looked at C.J.

"This is Dede Mallone, my girlfriend," C.J. said to Nancy and George.

Ah, thought Nancy. That explains the sparkle. The three girls with Dede introduced themselves as Krista, Rosie, and Denise. All four were members of the Kappa Rho sorority.

"Nice to meet you," Nancy said. "Let me guess. Kappa Rho is competing against the Omegas in the Clues Challenge?"

"You got it," Grant told her. "The four teams that always compete in the challenge are from Omega Chi Epsilon, Kappa Rho, Sigma Pi, and Delta Tau."

"Which means that for the next two days, you and I are enemies," Dede said, giving C.J. a playful punch on the arm.

"Speaking of the enemy..." Ned said under his breath.

He nodded toward a girl who was just passing on the freshly shoveled path. Long blond hair fell over the collar of her red parka. She held a notebook in one hand and a bundle of blue-and-white fabric in the other. The expression on her face was serious.

"That's Joy Swenson, the president of Delta Tau," Ned said. "The Deltas won the Clues Challenge last year."

"Hey, Joy! I hope you Deltas are ready to say goodbye to the banner," Grant shouted to her.

Joy paused on the path and called back, "You wish." She shook out the blue-and-white fabric in her arms; the words Clues Challenge Champs were spelled out in bold white letters on a blue background.

"Take a good look. This is as close to the banner as you're going to get," Joy said.

"What is that?" Nancy whispered to Ned.

"The banner is the final prize of the treasure hunt," he explained. "The winning team gets to keep the banner until next year's challenge."

"I'm taking the banner over to SportsMania now so Mr. Lorenzo can hide it along with the other clues," Joy said.

She whipped it back into a shapeless wad, which she balanced on top of her notebook.

"You've got your chemistry notes?" Dede said, gaping at Joy's notebook. "How can you even think about studying for a midterm with the Clues Challenge on?"

"As if I'd let anyone or anything stop me from winning," Joy said. "See you guys later."

George watched until Joy disappeared behind a snowdrift. "She sure seems confident," she commented.

"Joy is the kind of person who can be captain of the field hockey team, president of her sorority, and still ace every class she has," Grant said. "She's all business when it comes to the Clues Challenge."

"Who's Mr. Lorenzo?" Nancy asked.

"The owner of SportsMania, a sporting goods store," Ned told her.

"The company that used to sponsor the Clues Challenge went out of business, so Mr. Lorenzo agreed to take over," C.J. added. "He makes up the clues and judges the challenge."

"Sounds like someone we want on our good side," George commented, blowing warm air onto her hands.

C.J. laughed. "Unfortunately Mr. Lorenzo is totally impartial. But he's a nice guy. And his store is amazing."

"You and George can see for yourselves," Ned said. "Our team still has to register for the Clues Challenge. Now that you two are here, we can head over there. We'll make a stop on the way to drop off your stuff at Centennial."

"Isn't that the dorm where we stayed last time we were here?" George asked.

Ned nodded. "My friend Penny and her roommate are away this weekend. They said you can stay in their room."

"Great," said Nancy, heading for her car.

SportsMania was housed in a spacious two-story building halfway down the main street. It was about a hundred years old, but the windows on both floors displayed skis, running gear, and basketball, football, and hockey equipment that were state of the art.

"Wow." George stepped through the entrance behind Nancy, Ned, C.J., and Grant. Her eyes flew from rack to rack, taking in the displays that radiated out from a circular counter at the center of the store. An industrial-looking metal staircase rose to an open loft area where mannequins modeled sports clothes. "I think I want everything!"

"Man, oh, man. I like the sound of that!" a deep voice spoke up from beyond a half-open door at the back of the store. Then a man emerged, closing the door behind him.

The man was about forty-five years old, with tinted glasses and brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. As he came toward them, Nancy saw that he was half a head taller than she was. Beneath the long-sleeved polo shirt he wore, she detected the solid, muscular build of someone who worked out.

He strode over to them with a grin and reached out to shake C.J.'s hand. "How's it going, C.J.? We just got some new telemark skis in. Care to take a look?"

The guy was a natural salesman, thought Nancy. Outgoing and very slick.

"I'm not buying anything today, Mr. Lorenzo," C.J. said apologetically. "We're here to register for the Clues Challenge."

"Right, right." Mr. Lorenzo led the way to the circular counter and slipped behind it through a narrow opening on one side. The blue-and-white Clues Challenge banner lay in a heap on the counter, next to a computer.

"Okay," Mr. Lorenzo said. He pushed aside the banner and tapped on the keyboard. "I just need to enter each person's name...."

While he typed in the information, Nancy leaned across the counter and said, "George and I didn't bring cross-country skis. Ned said the equipment would be provided?"

"Absolutely," Mr. Lorenzo answered with an easy nod. "SportsMania furnishes all the equipment -- on loan, of course. Everything you need will be in the lobby of the Emerson Sports Complex."

George glanced over her shoulder at the cross-country skis. "That's really generous, Mr. Lorenzo," she said.

"It's good advertising for the store," Mr. Lorenzo said. "Besides, I'm always glad to support a good athletic cause. And I came up with some great clues, if I do say so myself." He looked up from his computer long enough to arch a warning eyebrow. "You kids are in for the challenge of a lifetime."

"Bring it on," Ned said, grinning. "We're ready."

Mr. Lorenzo let out a deep laugh. "That's the spirit," he said, still typing. "As soon as I'm done here, I'll fit you for equipment and -- "

He broke off and blinked in surprise at his computer screen. "Man, oh, man," he murmured.

"What is it?" Nancy asked. She leaned forward to get a look at the computer screen.

The entire middle of the screen was blocked out by a large black rectangle. Spirals of blue, green, yellow, and purple twisted around the perimeter. But what really got Nancy's attention were the words spelled out at the center of the rectangle:

YOU KNOW WHERE AND WHEN.

DON'T FORGET THE CLUES...

IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU.