“No, it’s my fault,” Finley said. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
“Don’t blame Finley,” Estelle chipped in. “I kinda tripped him. But only because Archie made me jump.”
“Graw,” protested the bear cub sitting next to her.
“Not that Archie did anything wrong either,” Beth said quickly. “I’m sure he just got a little overexcited when he saw me and Finley coming back with the trays.”
The bear blurred, and then Archie was back, tugging his T-shirt straight. “I couldn’t help shifting. That dessert smelled really good.”
Tiff gazed mournfully at the wreckage. “Yeah. It did.”
Repressing another sigh, Leonie looked at Shan. “Are you all right?”
Chocolate pudding dripped from the agent’s sunglasses. “Yes.”
Leonie shook her head, turning back to the kids. “I can’t believe you managed to dump both trays right on his head. You couldn’t have plastered him more thoroughly if you’d tried.”
Finley shifted from foot to foot. “We really are sorry. We’ll clean up all the mess.”
“That’s right.” Beth grabbed a napkin from the table. “If you give me your sunglasses, counselor Shan, I’ll wipe them for you.”
“Oh my gold.” Ignatius—who’d spent most of the day pointedly ignoring everyone—slumped further in his chair. “Are you idiots going to be like this all summer?”
Leonie hoped not. She was used to a certain level of camper-driven disasters, but this was reaching a new low. At this rate, poor Shan wasn’t going to survive to the end of the week.
“Sometimes accidents happen,” she said to the guilty campers. “But they shouldn’t keep happening. You need to be more careful, or someone could get hurt.”
“We are being careful!” Estelle protested. “We didn’tmeanto nail Shan with all those dodgeballs.”
“At least not in the family jewels,” Ignatius said under his breath.
Leonie folded her arms. “Just like you didn’t mean to trip him up while he was carrying the trunks to your cabin? Or send him flying during Capture the Flag?”
Archie had the wide-eyed innocence of a kitten on a Christmas card. “We didn’t see him.”
“Yes, because he’s so easy to miss,” Ignatius said. “Take my advice, Shan. Don’t stand near any compost heaps. Or cliffs.”
Leonie shook her head. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you kids. It isn’t like any of you to be this accident-prone.”
Tiff perked up. “Maybe it’s the ghost!”
Not this again.Leonie was beginning to regret putting Tiff in the group. She’d thought the girl would be a good match with Finley and Spencer, since her application form had listed ‘books and reading’ among her favorite hobbies. Unfortunately, her parents hadn’t specified what kind of books.
Beth stomped a foot, looking as exasperated as Leonie felt. “For the last time, Tiff, there’s no ghost!”
“That’s exactly what you’d say if you were under the control of one.” Tiff eyed her fellow campers speculatively. “Maybe you’reallpossessed by ghosts.”
Spencer scoffed. “There’s no such thing as ghosts.”
“You don’t know that for sure,” Tiff countered. “Just because you’ve never personally seen something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”
Spencer’s chin jutted out. “That doesn’t mean I have tobelieve in nonsense. Ghosts aren’t real. Neither is anything else supernatural.”
Finley cleared his throat. “Spencer, we’re shifters.”
“And we exist,” Spencer retorted. “Therefore, by definition, we’re part of the natural world. Some of the things we can do mightseemlike magic, but that’s only because we don’t understand the underlying principles yet.”
“Okay,” Archie said, sounding a little dubious. “But Finley turns into a giant flying shark.”
