“Right,” agreed Ned. “Plenty of them.” He grinned at Bess in the rearview mirror. “Black bears and cougars and mountain lions and rattlesnakes.”

With a little moan, Bess shut her eyes tight and hunched down in the seat.

“You know, I’m really getting worried about how late we are,” George said, glancing at her watch. “It’s after eight o’clock, and we’re scheduled to leave at nine. You don’t suppose they’d start the trip without us, do you?”

“I don’t think they’d leave without their grand-prize winner,” Nancy consoled her. “They wouldn’t dare. After all, you are the reason for this trip.” She hesitated. If George were the reason for the trip, why had Nancy received the mysterious phone call?

“Anyway, I’m just as glad things got screwed up with the rental car and that we didn’t have to drive this road last night,” Ned said. “With all these twists and turns, it’s dangerous enough in broad daylight. I don’t think we-”

“Ned!” Nancy yelled. “Stop!”

Just a few yards ahead of the front bumper, the road vanished into thin air.

Bess gasped.

Ned jammed his foot on the pedal, making the brakes squeal. “Oh, no!” George screamed. “We’re going over!”

Chapter Three

The rental car screeched around in a circle before skidding erratically to a halt. The four friends sat for a moment in stunned silence, once again staring at the sheer emptiness ahead. The road was completely gone, carried down the cliff and into the ravine by a massive rockslide.

“Ned!” Nancy exclaimed, her horror mixed with limp relief. “If you hadn’t stopped when you did…”

“We’re just lucky it was daylight,” Ned said soberly.

Shuddering, Nancy peered down into the ravine where the slide had loosened enormous boulders and huge gray slabs of asphalt. “We would have been killed if we’d dropped down there!” She looked around. “Is everybody okay?”