“Moni? Want to explain?” Lynx motions to the counselor before us, but I don’t get a chance to answer.
“You’re at Camp Tanglefoot, and this is your trial, Moni. Everyone knows your addiction, but do they know what happens when you go without? Have they seen the monster yet? Are you willing to face your fear within a few hours to escape Despair?” She cackles as the area before us goes black.
“Ahh!” Screaming, I reach out blindly to grab a hand, finding Knox’s in the dark.
“I got you, Moni.”
“Is that a bonfire over there?” Lynx asks, and Knox turns me around to see familiar cabins and a fire in the distance.
“What did she mean about the monster?” Lynx’s voice falls away as I drift toward the dining hall, dropping Knox’s hand in the process.
As I slowly weave between the other cabins, my skin starts to itch as if tiny harbingers are crawling under my bark. As I dig into my arm, I notice my bark changing colors between red, yellow, and dark gray.
What is going on?
My tongue is heavy and thick in my mouth, and I realize I’m thirsty. Camp Tanglefoot might as well be called Cramp Straggle Soot with all its rules and regulations. Matthew sent JP and me to camp this year since Levi was spending his summer in Hell with Lilith. It’s not unusual for twenty-year-olds to attend before they go off to prep school. And of course I wanted to make him happy, but I almost threw a fit when we got here, being separated into boys and girls only to be put with a group of self-righteous shifters. JP was assigned on the other side of the lake, and we only saw each other when we had “group” activities. This place was hell.
Finding the dining hall unlocked and empty, I quickly and silently start to rummage through the cupboards.
“What are you doing?” Knox asks, coming up behind me.
“You’re here with me?” My eyes go wide as I see him and Lynx staring at me. I can’t think straight because I’m adrenalizing.
“Yeah. What is this place?” Lynx asks as he opens a cupboard, peeking inside, and Knox looks out the window.
“Umm…” I start, but my voice cracks. “It’s my first and last summer camp.”
“Why was it your last, and what are you looking for?” Lynx hops on the counter and starts kicking his long legs.
I blow out a frustrated breath and pull on my short tail as I look between my two friends. “I need coffee. And it was my last because they had me banned,” I tell them as I return to looking into the cupboards with a flourish. “Help me find coffee!” I call out in panic. My hands start shaking so hard that they turn into a blur as I zip around the room.
“Moni, I don’t even see a coffee machine. I don’t think they have coffee here. Don’t you have any coffee in your S.I.N. box?” Lynx unhelpfully points out.
“Moni, what monster was she talking about?” Knox’s stern voice pulls me back slightly from the cabinets, and I look at him in horror before shaking my head in refusal.
Zipping around the room, I dodge in and out of the rest of the cabinets before my body shakes uncontrollably, and I catch sight of myself in one of the moonlit windows.
My eyes are glowing a dark maroon color, and my rapidly changing bark slowly begins transitioning to black.I need coffee! Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee!
I tear through the last cabinets, ripping off the doors and shredding through the bags on the shelves. Disappointment flashes within me before uncontrollable anger at not finding my coffee takes over. Coffee becomes the only thing I can focus on.Coffee!The delicious aroma that this evil place has refused to give me. I even told the counselors I needed my coffee, and they just laughed and said no oneneededit.
My joints pop, and my bark snaps as my muscles and limbs elongate to accommodate a new larger size. Thorns pop out of my tail as it finally grows long again and thrashes back and forth before I hear something crash behind me.
“Fuck. Watch out, Lynx. The fridge is plugged in and shooting sparks of electricity,” Knox warns.
The green vines in my hair whip around dangerously like Medusa with those crazy worms coming out of her hair. They were worms, right? But instead of green vines filled with worms, mine are pitch-black vines with blood-red thorns. My fingernails lengthen to sickly yellow claws, and the areas between my bark now have thick barbs protruding out, protecting any weakened areas.
“Coffee!” I hiss, turning and glaring at the two shifters in front of me. As they stare, I pull out my wings, and with a whoosh, something crashes through the window next to me. Gone are my small, soft, and delicate wings, and in their place are razor-sharp metallic switchblades.
“Holy shit! Moni’s turned into the Incredible Hulk but the demon version,” Lynx shouts with wide eyes.
“I think we’re in trouble,” Knox whispers.
Turning away from them, I fly through the room and into the pantry, tearing across the room and looking through the walk-in freezer, just in case they have some in there. The click of the freezer door momentarily has me stuttering. I turn and seeKnox’s green eyes falter through the small window with remorse from locking me inside, but I’m not worried.
I turn my back to him and throw the boxes of meat away from the corner of the freezer, kicking the wall twice before an opening breaks free. I peer over my shoulder to give him a smirk before shrinking and disappearing through the hole.
Immediately, once I’m free, I enlarge to my new height and head to the only place I can get the substance of life. The counselors who have hidden the meaning of life from me and the sole reason I get up and breathe in the morning. The glowing light of the campfire beckons me like coffee raises the dead. I lunge forward toward one of the counselors roasting something on a twig, and someone screams, knocking them out of the way as I shoot past. I barely miss rolling into the fire and turn back, snarling. “Coffee!”
