Estelle’s mouth had dropped open. “What kind of shifterareyou?”
“Estelle!” Beth kicked the side of her foot. “You can’t ask someone that!”
“No, it’s okay, I don’t mind.” Nancy drew herself up with clear pride. “My animal is thegreatest of all time.”
There was a pause.
“You know, the G-O-A-T?” Nancy surveyed all the blank faces. “Oh come on guys, I worked on that pun for weeks.”
“Oh!” Finley’s face cleared in sudden understanding. “You’re a goat?”
“A mountain goat!” Nancy said proudly. “Though we’re not really goats. But we are really great at climbing stuff! I can jump four times my height straight up, from a standing start!”
“You weren’t shifted, though,” Estelle pointed out.
“Yeah!” Nancy beamed down at her. “Since I’m taller in my human form, I can jump even higher! Neat, isn’t it?”
“Nancy, honey?” Paige called, trying to sound calm. “I don’t think it’s very safe for you to be on the roof. Could you come back down, please?”
“Ah.” Nancy’s grin faded. “About that. See, I’m really good at going up. Down… not so much.”
Leonie picked that moment to stroll over. The head counselor looked as smug as a cat that had not only got the cream, but rustled an entire dairy herd.
“Is there a problem here?” she asked sweetly.
“You’ve given me a camper who leaps fifteen feet into the air when startled,” Conleth said in perfectly level tones. “And also, one who unpredictably turns into a bear.”
Leonie surveyed the scene. “Why yes, Conleth. So I did. As you know, I carefully match the campers to the counselors. Believe me, I took great care with this particular group.”
Hetta, who’d taken cover behind Rufus, burst into tears.
“I hate camp!” she wailed. “I want to go hooooome!”
Leonie patted Conleth’s cheek. “I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful summer.”
CHAPTER 13
Conleth had started the day with a long list of goals:
Win over Archie
Figure out how to help him get better control over his bear
Discover why Paige is so worried about his shifting
