The terrifying mystery of a lost girl and her mother's ghost haunt Alma and her friends at horseback riding camp.

When Alma discovers a date etched into the side of her bunkbed one night at riding camp, Lexi, daughter of the camp owners, shares the chilling story of the family who had been on the farm before hers--the mysterious disappearance and death of the young girl who had lived there, and the tragic spiral of the girl's mother, as she went crazy trying to find the daughter she loved. The date in Alma's bunkbed? It was the dead girl's birthday.

It is Alma's birthday too.

Alma and her best friend Adriana are transfixed by Lexi's story, almost as much as Adriana seems to be transfixed by Lexi's fancy riding clothes and perfect skin--oh, and kissing boys. Alma doesn't understand why Adriana suddenly wants to talk about kissing boys more than she wants to talk about horses. Alma would much rather talk, and think, about horses. Especially the sensitive, complicated, beautiful Blue, who Alma has been given to ride at camp.

When Alma also finds her birthday carved into a tree, a real fear begins to take over. Is the dead girl's ghost haunting her? Is the dead mother stalking her? Or is Lexi just playing a cruel joke, doing whatever she can to come between Alma and her best friend Adriana?

The Girl in the Cave is a gripping middle-grade novel about coming of age, friendship, horses, and betrayal--and it all starts with the date 2010-9-10.