Summer Camp - 11. Guests

Another week and a new batch of kids and teachers, arriving for what promised to be a sun soaked week on camp activities. It was June, it was hot, and Paddy stood with Troy, arms folded, watching the kids get off the bus. Noah and Sean were getting the bags, and Paddy had a spare set of group names from the lead teacher and was reading through. It was a big group, ninety kids in all with fourteen of their own members of staff. They had arrived in good time, and Paddy had a group of boys on the timetable for the assault course first thing, it would be a nice way to welcome them into the idea of being outdoors.

The kids were nearly all filed off the bus and waiting for luggage and instruction when something snagged in Paddy’s brain.

“Ye smell tha pet?” He asked, scanning the children who were coming off the big coach.

“Smells like dinner.” Troy’s eyes were narrowed slits of ice blue in the sunlight, “There’s a shifter in there.”

“Teacher?” Paddy was still trying to identify the scent, which felt sort of small and shivery, “It cannae be one o’ tha kids. Thay’re much tae young.”

“Speak for yourself. I was twelve when I got my fur.”

“Serious?” Paddy knuckled his arm, “I was fifteen.” He scented the air again. The scent was pale, like mist, and sort of blue tinted with worry and sweet like fresh spring grass and alfalfa. “There.”

Both young men looked to where the last kid in line was stepping off the coach and onto the grass of the River Road field. He looked like he smelt, sort of thin, a bit hunched over, but he’d probably be taller for his age if he’d stood up properly. Mousy brown hair and jumpy eyes, his gaze never settled anywhere. Paddy stilled Troy’s growl with a short tug on the rope that bound them.

“Be nice pet.”

“He smells like prey.”

It was Paddy’s turn to growl.

“Ye leave ‘im tae me ye ken? He looks like a rabbit in headlights.”

“Oh yeah,” Troy shook his head and stepped back, “He’s a bunny for sure.”

Nic stood with the school’s lead teacher, a middle aged man with a slight paunch and the excitement of the outdoors in his eyes. He obviously knew Nic, and had been running the camp trip for a while, because they joked like old friends.

“And how are the new lot then?”

“They’re a nice bunch of kids, I’ll give them that.” He scanned the list. “A couple of mouthy fools and a few shy ones, but hopefully it’ll sort itself out.”

“Oi Sir!” an apparently ‘mouthy’ kid with blond curly hair pointed, “You can’t say that about us!”

“Your mum says I can say whatever I like to you on camp.” The teacher laughed. “And she said to throw you in the lake if you complained too much.”

Nic helped them to separate off the kids, and Paddy was please when Noah handed him a kitt bag and he read off the name:

“Gregg Uje!”

A pair of amber eyes under brown brows met his and Paddy smiled. The kid smelt like a shifter brand new in his fur, full of fear and confusion. Paddy made to lob the bag at him and the boy flinched. One of his peers thwacked him on the arm.

“Don’t throw anything to Gregg sir. He’ll only miss.”

“Oi!” Paddy growled at the kid who had spoken. He had always hated the subtle injustice of bullying, but his anger flashed at the human boy picking on another shifter, even if he was a different species.

Gregg stared at Paddy, made a soft squeak, and turned on his heel and ran like a bullet into the forest.

“Hey! Where are you going?” Called a teacher ineffectively, but Gregg wasn’t listening at all. Paddy sighed and shook his head.

“I’ll git him.” He waited for the beginning of Nic’s nod before jogging off.

Uje wasn’t hard to find. He scent mixed with the acridness of fear left a trail clear as a satellite navigation map in the forest. Paddy simply followed the path until it ended in a big patch of ferns, the green leaves taking advantage of an opening in the canopy.

“Come on out nae laddie. I aten’t goin’ tae hurt ye.”

“You’re not going to eat me?” The voice was small but surprisingly defiant.

“Nae laddie. I’m a pescatarian bear. I dae nae eat little rabbits.”

“I’m not a rabbit.” The boy stood, shooting from the grass, glaring at Paddy. “I’m a hare, actually.”

“Oh aye, my mistake.” The big Scot grinned.

“I thought I smelt a cat. You’re a bear?” The boy looked confused, like he was expecting Paddy to look like a lumberjack instead of being dressed in khaki shorts and a Six Trees staff polo shirt.

“Tha be Troy. My mate works on site tae, he’s a lynx.”

“And is he going to eat me?”

“I promise he will nae try tae eat ye lad. Now let’s git back tae the others. Yer friends will be missing ye.”

“What friends?” Gregg began to extract himself from the ferns, brushing down his rather neatly pressed jeans, “I didn’t even want to come on camp.”

Paddy frowned at him.

“I nae meet a shifter who didnae liek tha outdoors and nature.”

“Oh I like being outside!” Gregg’s honey coloured eyes lit up for a moment. “It’s lovely being in the grass. But I’m not good at sports and I’m not strong. Everyone makes fun of me.”

Paddy patted the boys shoulder gently. It was no wonder the kid got picked on, he acted so small. But now, standing straight as they started walking back towards the campsite, Paddy could see the strong lines that would one day make up a powerful man. He’d always be slim, athletic, but he was a hare, the fastest thing on four feet. He just didn’t realise it.

“Stick wi me pet.” Paddy grinned, “I’ll teach ye how tae run rings around this lot.” They were back in the field, the members of Gregg’s tent group, all boys, waiting by the coach for their missing member. The kid who’d thrown the bag and curly haired mouthy one were amongst them.

“Oh here he is!”

“You had to make a massive fuss over everything didn’t you Gregg?” The blond boy went to push him and Paddy simply held the side of his collar. He stopped with the tug.

“Hey!”

“Thar’ll be none o’ tha nastiness in my camp lads. Git yer bags and come along wi me.” Paddy checked the list in his pocket. Luck of all things, this was the same group he would be taking for the assault course later. “We need tae git yer all kitted up and tired before dinner time.”

There was the usual welcome to camp, rules and regs speech, partly given by Nic, and partly given by the lead teacher who was affectionately called Ralph by his students. Throughout the whole thing, Paddy and Troy sat and watched their newest arrival. Gregg was an easy target for his peers. He sat hunched up, right on the end of the long bench, looking small and vulnerable. Paddy could feel his mate’s senses intent on the boy, scenting the quick pulse of prey. Paddy knocked his shoulder.

“Nae hunting.”

“Huh?”

“He’s scared as ‘tis. Any huntin’ is goin’ tae freak him right out.” Paddy flicked his gaze back to the boys on the benches, who were making no secret of their general disappointment in their teammate. “He’s nae grown in tae his fur yet. Nae prop’ly. He needs time an guidance.”

Troy took the class lists off Paddy and sighed.

“I’ve got his group for scrambling tomorrow afternoon. I can’t see it going well.”

“He’s mostly wi me ‘til then pet. We’ll manage.”

The talk finished up, and Paddy went to go and stand with his group.

“Aye then, group three? So who a’ we got then?”

“I’m Matthew.” This was from another blond haired lad who stood and greeted Paddy with the calm confidence of children everywhere who were treated like adults by their parents, “You are?”

“Patrick McZhang, but e’eryone calls me Paddy. Ye will tae.”

It became very clear Matthew, who after a second inspection of the list showed up to be Mr Ralph’s son, was the leader of the little group, and was a lot less gobby than the curly haired blond, Tom, who had first appeared to be ring leader and the rather non-descript kid who had hit him. As they walked to the assault course, which was one of the few activities which only required helmets and therefore they could bypass the hassle of fitting harnesses, Paddy checked over his list and discovered who the rest of his team were. Apart from Matthew, Tom and the pushy kid Conner, there was Rory, who was loud but nice, a pair of quiet but slightly thuggish seeming sheep, Harry and Gus who simply followed Tom’s every move like they were joined at the hip, and another slightly cocky red-faced boy called Riley. Last in line and trailing at the back was Gregg, carrying his helmet and looking unhappy.

Paddy felt a little tug at his heart string, stopped, letting the group draw ahead of him, and felt Troy’s concern. Not for him really, but a general feeling of worry. The niggle was at the back of Paddy’s mind too: three shifters, and one scared half out of his wits and picked on by his friends, something was bound to go wrong. He took up the pace beside Gregg and tried to appear non-threatening.

“Yer ready fer tha assault course lad?”

“Can’t I sit it out?” Gregg’s brow was furrowed. “They’re only going to laugh at me.”

“How long hae ye ha’ yer fur laddie?”

“Two moons?” Gregg scratched the back of his neck distractedly, “It’s so cool you get to be a bear. I wish I took after my mum instead.”

“Ye wish ye were human?” Paddy was shocked. “How can ye?”

“Because I wouldn’t be like my dad!” Gregg hissed, kicking a stone away with his tennis shoe, “He was scared and weak, and ran away because he couldn’t cope and I’m just like him.”

Paddy sighed and shook his head.

“Ye ever si’n yerself when yer change liek? Nae? Then I’m guessing yer daen’t know how beautiful yer are. Yer be tha fastest thing on land laddie. Good sleek fur and sharp feet. Ye’d beat thi’ lot hands down.”

“You don’t know, you only met me today. They know I’m rubbish at all this stuff.”

“Aye, yer right thar.” Paddy shook his head and rolled his shoulders. Getting through to this kid wasn’t as easy as he’d thought it’d be, given all they had in common, “But wha I do ken is tha the only person stoppin’ ye from bein’ great is yerself. Come on bucko.”

No one, regardless of how much cajoling they needed, ever got left behind or sat out on one of Paddy’s activities, and he was damned if Gregg was going to be the first one. But the kid made nothing easy on himself, and it grated against all of Paddy’s instincts for the boy not to put up a fight when other kids put him down and not to take advantage of all his superior powers and senses. Every obstacle, the other boys were ahead, and the fun outgoing part of his personality wanted to be with them, to go along with everything make the challenges harder and harder as they shouted each other along the course. There was a lot of jostling for what was seen as top position, with Matthew, keen at sports and good at everything, making it look easy, while both Tom and Conner were not above dirty tricks, hauling each other down to scramble past, tripping friends who tried to overtake them. Gregg plodded behind.

“He’s not even trying Paddy!” Conner, who had Gregg on his ‘team’ made no pretence at distancing himself from Gregg, “He’s gonna make us lose.”

“You’d lose anyway.” Tom spat from the other team, “‘Cause you all are wimps.”

“Leave Gregg be guys.” Matthew rolled his eyes, like this was all old, well worn out ground for all of them, “I’m sure he’s doing his best.”

As the two teams began to quick step their way through the maze of flat tyre in front of the easiest of the three climbing walls, this one a series of stepped logs on a giant upturned V pattern, Paddy folded his arms and stood next to Gregg.

“Ye best? I’ve seen salmon wi more tenacity then ye hae.” Gregg said nothing, “They daen’t all hate ye, Matthew lieks ye well enough. Why nae show off?”

Tom chose that moment to trip Conner on his way to the climbing wall, sending him sprawling in the dry leaves and slight mud.

“Because if I’m as good as them, they’ll punish me for that to.”

“I’ll see it tha thay will nae Gregg.”

“Out here maybe. But no one gonna defend me from them while I sleep or stop them from stealing all my clothes while I’m in the showers. This way, they don’t try to make my life totally miserable.”

Exasperated, Paddy sighed and walked away.

*

“He’s so fuckin’ stubborn.” The big Scot stood in cabin four looking for his now only remaining hoodie, growling to himself.

“Who’s that babe?” Troy’s voice behind him, the scent of his mate in the room and the soft feeling in the cord that bound his heart which let him know his mate was near and thinking of him, made Paddy’s shoulders go suddenly slack. Troy kneaded his shoulder with one hand as he sat on the bed. “You’re all tense and worrying about something. The new kid giving you grief is he?”

“He does nae understand tha he is special!” Paddy growled. “Seems ‘is Da run out on him and ‘is Mam, an Gregg thinks tha ‘cause he’s a shifter, he’ll be just as weak.”

Troy snarled.

“A shifter abandoned his son? His mum’s not from a shifter family too is she?”

“I d’nae think so pet.” Paddy found himself leaning hard into his mate, taking strength from the connection. It was the way he felt around his family, sitting on the big woven rug in front of the fire at his grandparents’ house as a young cub, his Granddad telling him stories of the wild, his grandmother’s strong hugs and her lilting voice singing him lullaby’s.

The bond between a shifter and the men in his family was special, and none more than the link between father and son. It was a million times more than the usual human issues between a dad and his kid, because regardless of how wonderful his mother was, Paddy knew she could never have told him and shown him the things his father had when he’d grown into his fur. Even though his mother was from a shifter family and had seen it all before, those first few months, Paddy had relied on his father and his grandfather as they taught him to be the person he really was. Paddy had no idea how an ordinary human woman had coped with a son who was suddenly, inexplicably, controlled by his instincts in a way which had been less obvious before his first change. Gregg had no role models, no one to teach him, and had probably never met another hare, let alone a shifter-hare, in his whole life.

Of course the boy had no idea of the things he could do.

Troy snapped and snarled, full of impotent anger and Paddy remembered in a hot rush how he had lost his father. To either of them, the thought a shifter would be willing leave his son was alien, but to Troy, it was monstrous.

“Fucking cowardly son of bitch!” Paddy could nearly see Troy’s lynx ears flattened against his skull, the fur which would be bristling with rage, “What kind of utter and complete shit leaves his son alone in the world?”

“Calm doon babe,” Paddy reached out, grabbed Troy and wrapped the shaking man in his arms. The lynx vibrated for a moment before taking a deep breath and relaxing back into him, “Thar is nae a thing we can do about it now. We hae tae help him somehow though.”

“What do we do?” Troy snuggled into his neck as he spoke, lips warm and soft on Paddy’s skin. The bear hugged his mate tightly. They were lucky, and he personally was luckier than most. He had his mate, a family who loved him, relative safety and freedom back home; Gregg had no one, and he was scared. Four days wasn’t very long, but it was going to have to be enough.

“Run.”

“Huh?”

“He’s gonna be tha fastest thin’ it this forest babe. Let’s show him how it’s done.”

*

There was an hour or so between breakfast and the first morning activity for students to get properly dressed, have showers and do their teeth and generally muck about. Paddy very quickly explained his plan to Noah, and the Canadian instantly agreed to cover his duties and sort out all of the gear for the first group in the tree top course. It was the same group, so Paddy didn’t worry about having to try and remember any new names.

Gregg was the only one sitting outside his tent, looked hunched up and worried. He was sitting on a pile of his stuff, sleeping bag and everything, and he looked like he was trying to guard it.

“I didnae ken ye were a guard dog tae.”

“Go away.” Gregg drew his arms tight around his knees.

Oh Great Spirits, give me patience. Paddy nudged the toe of his boot at the pile of Gregg’s stuff and the boy shuddered.

“Wha happened?”

“Go ‘way.”

“Gregg…”

“Tom and Conner threw all of my stuff out of the tent last night when I went to brush my teeth.” Gregg snivelled. “I got back in but I had to keep a hold of everything all night to stop them.”

“An’ wha exactly are ye planning on doin’ now?”

“I’m going to make Mr. Ralph call my mum and get her to come collect me.”

Paddy sighed, hands on hips.

“Ye think tha’ll solve anythin’ lad?”

“Well-”

“Ye’ll be tha kid wi ran away. Just liek ye Da.”

Gregg was on his feet in an instant, his slim young body full of tension like a coiled spring. There was spark in his honey-toffee eyes and Paddy knew this was a battle he could win, because now he had an opponent.

“Take that back.”

“Make me.” Paddy grinned, narrowing his eyes. He was over a foot taller than the young hare and probably weighed three times what he did, but it wasn’t stopping Gregg at all, “I’ll race ye.”

Gregg stopped, at war to leave his things behind. But the desire for stuff lost to the instinct to defend his blood, even if he didn’t like his father very much. Paddy had never met a shifter who wouldn’t fight for their honour.

They slipped out to the forest and the natural paths made by rabbits, deer, foxes and badgers, and now overrun with the mixed scent trails of Paddy and Troy.

“You run out here a lot?”

“Aye.” Paddy patted the boy’s shoulder. “Tha we do. He’s a damn quick beast is Troy, but I’m gonna bet yer faster.”

“Really?” Gregg seemed less sure of what he was doing now they were alone in the woods, and the hot anger faded.

“Aye. Come on.” Paddy started jogging, his senses unreeling into the forest, following the route map of scents and textures which his bear-brain knew well. Gregg followed him quickly, drew alongside and Paddy saw he was running well, unconsciously picking the good ground, balancing his weight as he picked up speed. Paddy knocked him with an elbow and sped up.

He felt the burning spark of energy, Gregg’s push of desire to prove himself, to find more power and more speed from somewhere, anywhere. Paddy didn’t slow down, because it would have reduced the impact when Gregg came speeding past him. The boy ran like the hare he was, all leg, his whole body leaving the ground for seconds at a time. Paddy had to speed up, but even then he couldn’t keep up with Gregg as the young boy sprang away through the forest.

Gregg was almost out of sight before he realised what he’d done, and turned to find Paddy jogging smoothly along the path towards him.

“Did you see me?”

“Aye lad. I reckon ye’ll dae alrigh’ thar.”

“I still think I could give you a run for your money.” Paddy found Troy instantly, his mate half way up a big oak tree, hanging out on a branch like a lazy panther.

“Babe.”

Gregg shivered instantly, and Troy grinned in a salacious manner. Paddy snorted, wrapped both hands around the line in his heart and tugged. His mate was sent sprawling out of the tree. He landed on his feet, but it was not graceful.

“Dammit Patrick!”

“Dae nae threaten tha kid Troy. We both ken yer aten’t goin’ tae hunt him.”

Troy scowled. Paddy gestured to the scars on his arm and grinned.

“Payback’s a bitch aten’t it?