Chapter 8 #2
“Woman, I just told you that this place is a veritable magical menagerie. Believe me, my threshold for crazy is depressingly high.”
“Well, the moment I touched that essay, something about it just called to me. It felt like I was meant to find it.” Honey bit her lip. “Like it was… fate.”
She’d expected Buck to snort derisively at this. Instead, to her surprise, he flinched. Some brief flicker of emotion passed across his face, too fast for her to identify.
“Fate,” he said under his breath. He made it sound like a curse word. “Of motherloving course. So you asked the kid about it?”
“I couldn’t. We mark papers blind, to avoid bias, so I didn’t have their name.
But they’d mentioned the name of the camp, and that it was in Montana.
So I tried to Google it. When nothing came up, that just made me more intrigued.
It took some digging, but I finally found a Camp Thunderbird in the Montana state records of registered children’s camps.
Barely any details, but it had the director’s name and phone number listed.
So I called him. Said that I’d heard about the place from a past camper, and I was interested in applying to be a counselor. ”
“And Zephyr must have assumed that meant you were a shifter.” Buck shook his head.
“Well, that explains how you found out about this place. But not how you got in. For the love of sweet little apples, did nothing in the interview process tip you off? I don’t care how rude it is, someone must have asked you about your animal. My nephew’s not a complete idiot.”
“There was a question in the application form about my ‘inner animal.’” Honey made air quotes with her fingers. “I just thought it was, you know, a way of getting me to describe myself. You know, metaphorical.”
“Metaphorical,” Buck repeated. He looked like he was in physical pain. “And you answered this metaphorical question so enthusiastically that you fooled actual shifters into thinking you were one of them. What did you tell Zeph you were?”
“A wolf,” Honey said, and winced as his eyebrows shot up.
“I know it sounds stupid, but they’ve always been special to me.
When I was a little girl, I used to imagine that there was this big magic wolf that no one else could see, who was my best friend.
Whenever I felt lonely or sad, I’d talk to him, and pretend that he talked back.
And at night, he’d stand guard over me in my dreams… ”
Buck’s eyebrows were in danger of ascending past his hairline. Honey cleared her throat, abruptly self-conscious.
“Look, I just really like wolves, okay?” she said, a touch defensively.
“There’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve always loved animals.
That’s one of the things that attracted me to this camp.
When Zephyr talked about helping kids get in touch with their inner animals, I thought he just meant getting them to express their true selves without fear.
It never crossed my mind that this might be a camp for actual shapeshifters! ”
As she said the words, the reality of it finally sank in. Wonder filled her, displacing shock.
Dragons were real. Shapeshifters were real. She’d seen it with her own eyes. The man standing before her right now could transform into a majestic, beautiful creature straight out of her wildest fantasies. All the things that she’d secretly yearned for—they were all real.
“Actual shapeshifters,” she repeated, more softly. She could feel the broad, amazed smile spreading across her face. “They really exist. This is a camp for real live shapeshifters.”
“Yes, it is,” Buck said grimly. “And you are not supposed to be here.”
Her warm, glowing awe popped like a soap bubble. She didn’t belong here. She wasn’t even supposed to know about this wonderful hidden world, let alone step into it. She was an imposter.
Honey swallowed hard, wondering just how much of a disaster this might be for her personally. “I swear I won’t tell anyone about any of this. Not even my own family.”
“That’s not the problem.” Buck started to pace, at least as much as the limited space allowed.
The coiled tension in his body reminded her of the winged wolf; that same sense of taut, crackling energy barely held in check.
“No need to look so worried, woman. If you went to Zephyr now and explained everything, he wouldn’t lock you in a cabin or swallow you whole.
He’d have to kick you out, mind, because regular folk aren’t allowed here.
But he’d trust you to keep your mouth shut. ”
Honey’s heart sank. Of course she would have to leave. Go back to her bleak, empty apartment. Try to find some other way to fill the long, lonely weeks of summer vacation. Tell her kids they’d been right after all; that she’d been foolish to want an adventure.
At least now I know that magic is real, she told herself, trying to find comfort in that. Even if I can never see it again, I’ll always know there’s wonder in the world. Just not for me.
She set the half-drunk bottle down on the bedside table, getting up. “I understand. It’s okay. I’ll go pack my things.”
“Oh, no you don’t.” Buck barred her way, jaw set in a tight line. “You can’t leave.”
“But you just told me that Zephyr would understand. That he wouldn’t try to imprison me out of fear that I might blab about the camp.”
“No, I said that he’d have to kick you out.
” Buck spread his arms, as though ready to tackle her if she made a break for freedom.
“That’s the whole problem. He can’t have a human camp counselor.
But he also can’t afford to lose a counselor.
He had to drag me in at the last minute, remember?
If he sends you home, he won’t have enough counselors.
Estelle, Beth, Rufus, Finley—they’d all have to go too. ”
In all the excitement, she’d forgotten about that. Now she remembered their earlier conversation, and how Buck had practically begged her to promise that she wouldn’t walk out.
“But this is different,” she said. “An emergency. Surely he won’t disappoint the children by sending them away. Can’t he bend the rules a little?”
“Absolutely not,” Buck said with utter certainty. “I know my nephew. Zeph won’t do anything that puts either kids or the camp at risk. If he has to send some campers home, he will. Even though it’ll break his heart.”
“But the poor kids!” Guilt stabbed through her. “It isn’t fair, they shouldn’t be punished for my mistake. Oh, this is all my fault. I should never have applied in the first place. Buck, there has to be something I can do to fix this mess!”
“Yes,” Buck said, unexpectedly. He had the expression of a man who signing his own death warrant. “Actually, there is.”