Chapter 12 #2
“Bit of a last minute reshuffle,” Buck continued. “Turns out Ignatius will be joining our pack.”
It was hard to judge whether Buck or Ignatius looked more unhappy about this.
“Hi, Ignatius,” Honey said, deciding to ignore the boy’s clear lack of enthusiasm. “I’m Honey, your other counselor this year.”
Ignatius looked her up and down. His expression spoke volumes, if there was a whole nine-part thesaurus dedicated to synonyms for ‘contempt.’
Archie broke the awkward silence. “What kind of name is Ignoramus?”
“Ig- na -tius,” Ignatius said again, pronouncing each syllable with icy precision.
“Yeah, no,” Flora informed him. “That’s not gonna work. Can we call you Iggy?”
The look Ignatius turned on the girl could have frozen a campfire. “No.”
“If Ignatius prefer us to use his full name, then that’s what we’ll all do,” Honey said. “It’s nice to meet you, Ignatius. Take a seat. We were just playing a game to get to know each other.”
Ignatius didn’t move. “Dragons do not play games. ”
“If they don’t sit down either, then I hope you brought good shoes,” Buck said. He hooked a chair away from the table with his foot. “You heard your counselor. Park your ass, kid.”
Archie sniggered. “Buck said ass .”
“I have a rich and varied vocabulary,” Buck said, still holding eye contact with Ignatius.
“Consider it part of the many educational opportunities available to you at camp. You’ve made your point, Ignatius.
We get it, you don’t want to be here. Believe me, the feeling is mutual. Suck it up and sit down.”
Ignatius bristled. “You can’t talk to me like that. My uncle—”
“Isn’t here,” Buck interrupted brutally. “And I am. Third and final chance. Sit. Down.”
Ignatius hesitated, then sank into a chair. He scowled at the tabletop, refusing to look at anyone.
Honey was dying to ask Buck what was up with Ignatius, but she couldn’t in front of the other kids.
“Let’s get back to the game,” she said. “Claire, would you like to go next?”
Claire shrank back as though Honey had asked her to stand up and give a rousing solo of the national anthem. “Um… that’s okay. Rufus can have the next turn.”
“Yeah!” Flora exclaimed. “Rufus, you go next. You literally haven’t said a word yet.”
Rufus shot Honey a silent appeal for help, as she mentally kicked herself. She’d intended to explain this to the kids quietly, one on one, but there hadn’t been an opportunity in all the confusion.
“Rufus prefers not to use his voice to talk,” she said, trying to make it sound as ordinary as a preference for chocolate ice cream over vanilla.
“He can hear and understand you just fine, though, so you can talk to him. You’ll just need to pay a little more attention to figure out what he’s saying back. ”
“Why can’t he talk?” Archie asked. “Did his tongue get ripped out in an accident? Is it gross? Can I see it?”
“There’s nothing wrong with Rufus!” Estelle bristled at the bear shifter. “And don’t talk about him like he isn’t here.”
Rufus glanced at Finley. The other boy nodded, turning to the other campers.
“Rufus says he wants to talk, but a lot of the time the words won’t come out,” he said.
“But he can communicate telepathically, at least with other mythic shifters like myself. Archie and Flora, he can’t reach your minds, because your animals are too different to his.
But you should be able to hear him, Ignatius, since you’re a dragon. ”
Ignatius treated both Finley and Rufus to a freezing stare. “Why would I want to talk to any of you?”
“Hey,” Buck said sharply. “That’s enough.”
Ignatius’s lip curled, but he subsided.
“Can you talk to Rufus, Honey?” Flora asked.
“Not like Finley and the others, I’m afraid,” Honey replied. “I hope you’ll be patient with me, Rufus.”
“So if you’re not a mythic shifter, what kind are you, then?” Archie said.
“Archie!” Beth yelped. “You can’t ask someone that!”
“Why not?” Archie looked genuinely baffled. “It’s not like it’s a secret. Honey’s our counselor, we’re gonna have to see her shift form sometime.”
They’d anticipated this question. Buck had coached her on how to answer. Honey still felt like Archie had just handed her an unexpected halibut.
“Er…” She cleared her throat. “Actually, you won’t. It’s a safety thing, you see. If I was in wolf form, I wouldn’t be able to talk to you all. I have to supervise you as a human.”
It wasn’t quite a lie, but she still stumbled over it. Most of the kids didn’t seem to notice, but Rufus flashed her a quick, puzzled glance. She did her best to look unconcerned, praying that the kids would drop the topic.
Beth frowned. “That’s not in the camp rulebook. I know it off by heart.”
Estelle looked crestfallen. “But how are you going to help us with our shifting, if you don’t shift yourself?”
“So you’re a wolf?” Flora said with interest. “What kind? Gray? Timber? Dire wolf?”
“Er…” Honey broke into a sweat, acutely aware of Rufus’s eyes on her.
“Let’s get back to this game,” Buck growled. “What are we playing, Beth?”
“Two Truths and a Lie,” Beth said. “You have to—”
“Thanks, Beth, I can take it from there.” Buck folded his arms, sweeping the campers with a piercing glare. “My turn. I once punched a giant snake demon in the face, I’ve been on fire more times than I can remember, and I keep a cage in my basement for pesky kids who ask too many questions.”
Dead silence.
“I don’t think any of those are lies,” Flora whispered to the other campers.
“I’m guessing… the first one,” Archie said, though he sounded uncertain. “But only because of the demon part.”
“No, that one’s definitely true,” Beth said. “My mom and dad were there.”
“Mine too,” Finley confirmed.
“We’ve heard that story a lot ,” Estelle sighed.
Rufus held up three fingers.
“And we have a winner,” Buck said. “Rufus is right. I don’t have a basement.”
“Honey, Buck.” Leonie came up to their table. “Could I have a word? Sorry, kids, I promise to return your counselors in a minute.”
Honey wasn’t too sure it was a good idea to leave this smoldering powder keg unattended for ten seconds, let alone a whole minute, but Buck was already pushing back his chair. She had no option but to follow.
The head counselor led them outside. Zephyr and Moira were already there, conversing in low, tight voices.
“I’m sorry I didn’t discover this earlier,” Moira was saying as Buck and Honey joined them. “It never occurred to me to ask.”
“It’s a good thing you did, or this would have been a real disaster,” Zephyr replied. “Ah, Honey, there you are. I take it you’ve met our latest arrival. How’s Ignatius getting on with the rest of the pack?”
“Not great,” Honey admitted. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, just the usual last minute panic,” Zephyr said wryly. He raked a hand through his long black hair. “We’d planned to put Ignatius in Moira’s pack, but it turns out that’s not going to work.”
“It’s Ragvald,” Moira explained. “I knew his people had clashed with other types of dragon in the past, but I thought it was ancient history. But it turns out Ragvald’s clan has some kind of personal feud with the Golden family.”
“Is that going to cause a problem?” Leonie asked, looking worried. She flipped through papers on her clipboard. “Even if I rewrite the whole schedule, I can’t keep Buck and Honey’s pack entirely away from yours.”
“No need,” Moira reassured her. “Ragvald’s people have a strict code of honor, and children are sacred to them. He may have a blood-feud with the Goldens, but he’ll treat Ignatius like any other camper.”
“I doubt Lord Golden would have been so gracious about the situation.” Zephyr blew out his breath. “Honey, I hate to dump this on you—”
“Then don’t,” Buck interrupted sharply. “Damn it, Zeph, the kid wants to be here even less than I do. Tell his motherloving uncle this is a lost cause and send the boy home.”
“You know I can’t do that.” Zephyr turned to Honey. “I appreciate this will be more of a challenge than you might have been expecting, but do you think you can handle it?”
“Of course,” Honey said, wondering why Buck looked like he was chewing on a live power line.
She didn’t dare ask who Ignatius’s uncle might be, in case this was the shifter equivalent of not knowing the current president.
“Ignatius may not be enthusiastic about camp now, but I’m sure we can win him round. ”
“We’ve yet to have a camper who didn’t fall in love with this place in the end,” Leonie agreed. She checked her watch, then her clipboard. “Zephyr, you’re behind schedule. You should be halfway through your introductory speech by now.”
“Right.” Zephyr tugged his shirt straight, then adjusted his badge. “Time to go be motivational. Let’s all do our best to ensure Ignatius has a good summer. We can’t afford to have him carrying complaints back to his uncle.”
He went back into the hall, Moira and Leonie at his heels. Honey caught Buck’s elbow, stopping him as he moved to follow.
“Who’s Ignatius’s uncle?” she whispered.
“An ass,” Buck replied, under the sound of Zephyr welcoming everyone to camp. “You remember I told you this place is for shifters only?”
“Believe me, I’m not likely to forget.”
Buck’s mouth tightened. “I didn’t tell you why.”