Chapter 32
I t felt odd to take the pack out on her own.
Deciding it was better to avoid trying to navigate the mountain trails without Buck’s expert guidance, Honey took them for a walk along the lake.
For a while, the kids were happy to run around, poking at plants and bringing her interesting rocks to admire.
Nature could only hold their attention for so long, though. Eventually, of course, the inevitable question arose.
“Hey, Honey?” Archie tugged at her arm. “Since Buck isn’t here, can we shift?”
“I don’t see why not.” Honey smiled down at him. “But make sure you put your clothes somewhere safe this time, okay? I didn’t bring any spare pants.”
“Yeah!” Archie cheered. He waved at the others. “Guys! Honey said yes!”
Rufus was already shimmering into his griffin form.
Beth shifted to a pegasus, prancing around him.
She flicked her tail in his face, like teasing a kitten with a bit of string.
Rufus pounced, and Beth jumped into the air, soaring away.
The griffin hesitated, then followed more clumsily, struggling to get aloft.
Honey remembered what the girls had said last night, that it wasn’t healthy for shifters to stay in one shape too long. It wasn’t something that Buck had mentioned, but it made sense. Now, as she watched Beth and Rufus chase each other through the sky, something else belatedly occurred to her.
“Finley,” she said. “Are you okay at camp?”
He looked at her in surprise. “Yes, of course I am. Why?”
“It’s just, you’re a shark, and we’re a long way from any ocean.” She could have kicked herself from not spotting this earlier. “You aren’t able to shift here.”
Finley hesitated. “Well…”
“Oh, don’t worry about him,” Estelle said airily. “He can shift just fine.”
Honey glanced at the lake. “So you’re a freshwater shark?”
Finley fidgeted. “Not exactly.”
“Wait, you can shift on land?” Archie interrupted, looking up. “I thought you’d just, like, flop around and die.”
Finley was starting to look a little hunted. “No, but—”
“Then shift now!” Archie scrambled to his feet, one sock still on. He poked Finley in the shoulder with one finger. “I wanna see a real live shark!”
“Me too,” Flora agreed. “I have so many questions. Do you really have skin like sandpaper? Can you smell a drop of blood from miles and miles away? How big are you?”
Finley shot Estelle a look that was rather less friendly than normal. “Thanks, Estelle.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Stop being a wuss, Finley. I don’t know why you’re so weird about this. You shift all the time back in Atlantis.”
“That’s different,” Finley said. “Everyone there already knows what I am. I don’t want people here to…”
“To what, Finley?” Honey said gently, when he didn’t continue.
Finley looked at his feet. “To treat me any differently.”
“I wouldn’t be scared of you,” Archie reassured him. “Sharks are cool.”
“Yeah, we’re your friends, silly.” Flora demonstrated this by punching Finley in the shoulder, in a way that was probably meant to be affectionate but still made him stagger. “We know you aren’t going to eat anyone.”
“It’s not that.” Finley bit his lip. “It’s just… things are complicated, back home. Because of my animal, and—and my family. Everyone thinks I’m special.”
“You are special,” Estelle said matter-of-factly.
“Sometimes I wish I wasn’t.” The moment the words left his mouth, Finley looked stricken, like he’d just confessed to some terrible crime. “I didn’t mean that! Don’t tell my mom and dad.”
“Of course we won’t,” Estelle said. She took his hand, squeezing it. “What happens at camp, stays at camp, right?”
“You can say whatever you want here, Finley,” Honey said. “Even things you can’t say back home. It must be hard, having to live up to everyone’s expectations.”
“It’s not that I’d rather be someone else,” Finley said.
“I’m proud of my animal, and my mom and dad.
And I’m grateful that I was born with this power, because it means that one day I’ll be able to help people, and make the world a better place.
But sometimes I think it would have been easier if I’d just been a sea dragon like my dad, or a great white shark like my mom. ”
“It’s tough, being different,” Claire said, somewhat to Honey’s surprise. She was so shy, she rarely spoke up in a group. “Even when everyone tells you it’s a good kind of different.”
“ You understand,” Finley said to her, and got a nod in response. He looked round at the rest of them. “It’s one of the reasons I wanted to come to camp. Most people here don’t know who I am. I can be a normal kid here, like everyone else.”
“You take that back,” Flora said indignantly. “I’ve never been normal.”
“I don’t think anyone here is normal,” Estelle said. “Not even the grown-ups. Uh, I mean that in a good way, Honey.”
“I agree.” Honey smiled. “And I think that’s what makes this camp so special.”
Finley’s hand twisted together in indecision. “It’s not that I want to hide my shift form at camp. I just don’t want it to change anything.”
“You big doofus.” Flora punched him again, harder. “To us, you’re always going to be the weird geek who knows loads of cool facts and can’t toast a marshmallow without burning it to a sad black crisp. Nothing’s ever going to change that.”
“Yeah.” Archie bumped his shoulder against Finley’s. “Who cares what you turn into, or who your parents are?”
“Pretty much every sea shifter,” Finley muttered, but he was looking less apprehensive now. “You all promise not to treat me any differently?”
Claire solemnly held out her right hand. “Pinky promise.”
They all hooked fingers together, even Honey.
“Okay,” Finley said when they were done. He stepped back. “I’ll show you. But you’re going to have to give me some space.”
“He’s not kidding,” Estelle said, grinning. She grabbed Flora's and Honey’s hands, dragging them further away. “Stand back here, and try not to freak out. Okay, Finley, show them.”
Finley took a deep breath, drawing himself up. His shape shimmered, shifting.
“Holy cow !” Flora yelped.
Honey barely managed to bite back her own, much less family-friendly exclamation. Even after everything she’d seen at camp, nothing had prepared her for this.
Finley was enormous. She’d sat through enough enthusiastic (if frequently incoherent) student presentations on favorite animals to know that the average great white shark was around ten to twelve feet long, with a few rare males reaching twenty feet.
Finley, not yet full grown, would have dwarfed even the biggest great white. If he’d opened those massive jaws to their full extent, he probably could have swallowed one whole.
He was heavier set than a great white too, his hulking, torpedo-shaped body thick with muscle. His eyes were still the same bright turquoise, sharp and intelligent. No normal shark ever had a gaze like that, or a hide that gleamed in the sunlight like black pearl.
But none of those things were what made Honey’s jaw drop, or Claire breathe a soft, heartfelt, “ Wow .”
The giant shark hovered six feet off the ground, his tail flicking gently from side to side as though working to maintain his position in some invisible current. His gills fluttered, breathing air as easily as if it was water.
Flora squatted to peer underneath Finley, as though looking for some hidden support. “How are you doing that?”
“Oh, Finley kinda takes the ocean with him wherever he goes,” Estelle said casually. “On account of being, y’know, Prince of Atlantis, heir to the Pearl Throne, Emperor-in-Waiting, and all that stuff.”
“Emperor?” Honey said faintly.
“Well, he won’t be that for ages, because his grandma is the Pearl Empress now, and she’s old, but not, like real old.
And then Finley’s dad is next in line to take over.
” Estelle shrugged. “But eventually, yeah, Finley is supposed to rule over the sea shifters. It’s kinda silly, if you ask me.
I mean, he’s Finley . Can you picture him sitting on a giant underwater throne in a fancy hat? ”
Honey was having a hard time with that mental picture. “Wait. Buck told me that Moira is a princess of Atlantis. If Finley’s a prince… are they related?”
Estelle nodded. “Moira’s his aunt. Part of the royal family. Though she’s his dad’s younger sister, so Finley technically outranks her. Ragvald’s here to bodyguard both of them. Finley asked them both to keep it quiet, since he didn’t want anyone to know who he really is.”
Claire was still staring at Finley, round-eyed. “I thought you said your parents were firefighters.”
The shark’s jaw worked, showing teeth the size of Honey’s hand. A moment later, Finley shifted back to human form, his face pinched with worry.
“I wasn’t lying,” he said. “They really are firefighters with the Thunder Mountain Hotshots, at least some of the time. My dad’s next in line for the throne, but he works on the crew every year with my mom. He says it makes a nice break from the day job.”
“Maybe the pressure of being in the public eye gets to him too,” Honey suggested. “It sounds like he needs to get away to a place where he can just be himself.”
Finley’s forehead furrowed. “I guess the hotshot crew is kind of his version of summer camp. Huh. I never thought of it like that.”
“I think he might understand your feelings better than you think,” Honey said. “Maybe you should talk to him about it sometime.”
“Maybe I will.” Finley turned to the other kids, looking worried. “This doesn’t change anything, right? Remember, you all promised you wouldn’t treat me any differently.”
“You didn’t have to make us pinky promise on that ,” Flora said. “You’re our friend. That’s all that matters. Right, guys?”
Claire nodded, but Archie didn’t say anything. He was still standing frozen, staring at Finley. Honey didn’t think he’d even breathed yet.
Estelle kicked the side of his foot. “ Archie. ”
Archie’s throat worked. “You’re a… giant flying magic shark?”
“Um.” Finley’s apprehensive expression deepened. “Yes.”