Dear George,

So much for my Wisconsin ski vacation! I arrived here at Wickford Castle last night, just before a blizzard swept in! The mountains completely shut down and the surrounding roads are closed. I think I'm one of the few guests that made it here at all. The place is huge and old - - and slightly creepy under the circumstances. You should hear this wind!

What's more, the owner, Christi Lane, my fathers friend, is away on business. I tried to ask the caretaker, Dexter Egan, how to contact her, but he said he didn't know. Doesn't that seem odd? I couldn't help feeling like there was something he wasn't telling me.

All this makes me a little nervous, but I'm determined to enjoy myself. After all, this is a vacation, right? I have big plans to explore the castle. That Ezra Wickford, the original owner, must'uve been quite a character to have built such a extraordinary place. It's full of strange dead-end corridors, for one thing, and I noticed that one of the towers is totally different than the other ones.

Of course, I'll have to save some time to meet Jauques Brunais, the French ski instructor. Tell Bess she'll be the first to know if he's half as gorgeous in person as he is on his website.

So George, I guess things never go quite according to plan! But at least this time the culprit is just a snowstorm.

Talk to you soon!
Love, Nancy