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2
“What do you mean you think you’re going tofail?” Paige, Ellie’s best friend, asked with a shriek after swallowing her coffee. Her brows furrowed as if she didn’t believe a word of what Ellie was saying. With how loud Paige was, Ellie was surprised that the other customers in the coffee shop didn’t look their way, but they went along with their conversations without interruption.
“I just have a bad feeling about this assignment, is all.” Ellie picked at the rim of her paper coffee cup. The fear of failure would not leave her alone, keeping her up at night for so long that she finally texted Paige to ask if they could meet for coffee. Her friend knew the right things to say to ease Ellie’s mind.
“If you keep that up, your coffee will leak out. No one wants that,” Paige joked, pulling Ellie’s fingers away from the seam of the cup after more pieces of the container fell to the tabletop like fresh snow. “Do you want to talk more about it?”
“I just…” Ellie sighed, sitting back in her chair in the café. She didn’t know where to begin. There were her fears about her shifter animal’s reaction to water in addition to the worries about Brett’s performance. “I just don’t know how we can be successful with our assignment.”
“Why do you think that?” Paige’s voice was soft. It was her therapy voice. Ellie could always notice the adjustment in her friend when she went into “work mode.”
“At first, I was so excited.” The words tumbled out of Ellie’s mouth. “The few memories of my human life that were most vivid were of camping and being outdoors. But this is a rafting trip, and my cat is losing her shit!”
Paige giggled. “What’s wrong? You don’t want a wet pussy?”
“I’m serious!” Ellie spat out, playfully slapping her friend on the shoulder. “This is nothing to joke about.” She pursed her lips out in a pout, sighing heavily. The situation felt like the end of the world to her, and she couldn’t explain why. Sure, the assignment was important, and failure was not an option, but it wasn’t like the Academy instructors would just leave them out there if they didn’t check back in time, right?
“Okay… Okay…” Paige bit her lip in an attempt to keep her laughter in. She closed her eyes and exhaled through tight lips. When her eyes fluttered back open, she asked, “So, there’s the rafting aspect, but that’s not all. What else is bothering you?”
Paige had the uncanny ability to sniff out fear like a hound dog. Besides, she knew that when it came to Ellie, it took a lot to get her so worked up, and in that case, there were usually a ton of anxious thoughts running through her mind at once. It didn’t happen often, but in Ellie’s case, when it rained, it poured.
Ellie took a deep breath before admitting, “My partner is a sloth.”
“So?”
“So, he’s slow and sleepy and completely ill-equipped to survive in the wilderness himself, let alone save me if my cat freaks out at the river!”
“Really?” Paige asked with a smirk. “I’m a tiger. Do you see me pouncing on and eating random people?”
“No…”
“You, being a new shifter, might have some issues controlling your cat instinct sometimes, but natural shifters can generally manage their animal side. Just because your partner is a sloth doesn’t mean that he will be slow. Does he walk slowly in human form?”
“No,” Ellie said, processing Paige’s words. “You mean, it’s not normal that I sometimes want to dig a hole outside to pee in instead of using the washroom?” She admitted her most embarrassing secret to Paige, fearing that one day the urge would be too strong.
“Good thing you’re camping. Isn’t that what you’ll have to do?” Paige quipped with a smirk.
Ellie couldn’t help but giggle. “I am beingserious! My point is that what if he has some urges that hecan’tcontrol? And what if those impulses ruin my final grade for the course? Or my fears of water create a…”
“Acat-astrophe?” Paige interrupted. She bit her lip, trying to keep her laughter in, but it bubbled up regardless. Her shoulders bounced as it spurted from her lips in waves.
Ellie cocked her head to the side. “I am glad you are finding this so amusing.” She watched the steam swirl out of the lid of her coffee before deciding to take a sip. Its warmth was comforting. Ellie assumed there must be a happy human memory attached to the drink, but she was never able to access it. As annoying as that was, she was just glad for the content feeling that accompanied slurping the bitter brew.
“Ellie,” Paige said in a warm, sincere tone. “It will be okay. You have to repeat that to yourself because if you go into this assignment only thinking of all the wrong that can happen, you might create a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Paige was right. If Ellie focused on what could go wrong, she would be setting herself up for failure. She would have to try to ignore the stress of being near the water. Besides, Ellie knew her way around a campsite pretty well. She was knowledgeable about what in the wild she could eat, what plants were useful, and which ones were poisonous, among other things. That was what this assignment was about. Putting those skills to use.
The edges of Ellie’s lips curved up into a grin. Her earlier anxiety melted away with her return of confidence. “Thank you.” The tension eased almost immediately. She could do this. And it could be a lot of fun.
“What else is your partner like?” Paige asked, interrupting Ellie’s thoughts. “Aside from being a sloth?”
Ellie rubbed at her chin. In class, she had only focused on Brett’s faults as a woodsman. She forgot about who he really was. “Well…” Ellie started, searching for what she knew about him outside of that class. “He always smiles or says hello to me.” It wasn’t much, but it was a start.
“So… he’s not a dick,” Paige summed up with a toothy grin. “That’s good in a partner. You could be paired up with someone who drives you crazy.”
Ellie nodded as she giggled. “Good point! At least my partner is sweet and thoughtful. Not great in the woods, from what I gather, but it sounds like he hasn’t had the chance to try yet. Like, he hasneverbeen camping.”
“Really?” Paige drummed her fingers on the table. “So… there’s really no evidence to show that he won’t be a good partner.”
