Oh shit. Conleth couldn’t use his power in his current exhausted state, yet time seemed to slow anyway.No, please, notnow-!
Archie was clearlytryingto stop himself. But, as Conleth knew only too well, sometimes willpower wasn’t enough.
In a silent explosion of fur, Archie turned into a bear.
“Caller wouldn’t give their name,” the oblivious sheriff was saying. “Wanted to stay anonymous, in case they got in trouble for contacting us. But they said you weren’t taking the bear seriously.”
Conleth snapped his attention back to the sheriff, willing the man not to turn around. “Believe me, I take bears extremely seriously.”
The sheriff made a note. “And you haven’t seen any signs of one?”
With heroic effort, Conleth kept his gaze from drifting past the man’s left shoulder. “If there was a bear around, I’m confident I would notice.”
Paige’s face had gone stark white. She tugged at her brother’s fur, but he seemed paralyzed. Even if she could get him moving,he was barely fifteen feet behind the sheriff. The slightest scuff of paws could attract the man’s attention.
“But let’s not discuss this out here!” Conleth yelped. He back-pedaled frantically, waving his hands in a desperate attempt to keep the sheriff distracted. “Please, follow me. Can I offer you some coffee? Juice? A cheese plate, perhaps?”
To his relief, the sheriff followed him into the central square. “No thanks. Let’s keep this brief.”
“Nottoobrief, surely,” Conleth said, trying not to watch Paige attempt to drag Archie behind the storeroom. “I’m sure you must have many questions. I’d be delighted to answer them in full detail. Perhaps you’d like to step into my office?”
The sheriff coughed as the breeze treated him to another waft of Conleth’s current unholy cologne. “Rather stay outside, if it’s all the same to you. So you’re claiming this was a prank call?”
“Yes!” Conleth exclaimed as Paige finally managed to get Archie out of view. At the sheriff’s stare, he hastily reassembled his relieved grin into an expression of solemn concern. “Ah, that is, yes. Rest assured, I will be looking into the matter, and I can promise it won’t happen again. Now, I’m sure you’re a busy man who wants to be on his way. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention. I won’t keep you any further.”
The sheriff gave him another long, assessing stare. Conleth realized he was shifting his weight from foot to foot, one hand tapping against his thigh. In terms of appearing like a trustworthy individual with nothing to hide, this was less than ideal.
“Think I need to ask you a few more questions,” the sheriff said slowly. “You sure you haven’t noticed any signs of unusual animal activity around here?”
“Recently?” Conleth made a show of pretending to think. “No, nothing out of the ordinary.”
The sheriff’s eyes narrowed. “Thought you said you got sprayed by a skunk.”
“Ah. Yes. But don’t worry, it’s long gone. I took personal responsibility for returning it to its natural environment. At speed.”
“No other problems with animals getting into the camp?”
“None whatsoever.” Conleth made a sweeping, probably overenthusiastic gesture, indicating the surroundings. “As you can see, no animals here.”
His pegasus kicked him in the brain. His attention skittered away from the sheriff, belatedly registering what else was in the vicinity. He yanked his hand back to his side.
Too late. The sheriff had already looked up.
There was a long, fraught pause.
“That is to say,” Conleth corrected himself. “Nounexpectedanimals.”
“Meeeeeeeh,” Nancy agreed, helpfully.
“Why,” the sheriff said levelly, “is there a goat on the roof of that building?”
“I expect it was the camp bell. Loud noises tend to startle her.” Conleth kicked his smile up another notch. “Don’t worry, she’s perfectly safe up there. Does this all the time.”
Nancy bleated again, nodding her head.
The sheriff contemplated Nancy. “Why is the goat wearing a t-shirt?”
“She’s the…camp mascot. Very popular with the other campers.” Conleth hastily corrected himself. “I mean, the campers.”
