Wolf Camp (Bear Naked 2)

Chapter 9, Part 1

Amanda sat in the shade of the lodge and doodled on the edge of her notepad. She was working on a list of what to bring on next week's canoe camping trip. She knew the challenge was for her benefit, something she could do without the ability to transform. What was more, the pack looked up to her. They all agreed with Brianna, she was more knowledgeable about wood lore and camping than any of them. They trusted her in this. She was determined not to let them down.

This week, the days were long. They were training mostly in wolf form, cramming in exercises they wouldn't be able to do next week. That meant Amanda was left alone for long stretches.

She heard the buzzing that indicated an incoming call on the lodge's one landline but thought nothing of it until she heard Terry, an older wolf who worked as groundskeeper, calling her name. "Phone," he said, once he had her attention.

She rose and made for the small entrance way at the front of the lodge, where the phone was located. An old-fashioned phone with the rotary dials hung from the wall. The earpiece had been sat on a desk beneath it. Amanda scooped it up. "Hello, Amanda, here," she said.

"Amanda!" Jay's voice greeted her on the other end. "How's my bestie?"

She felt herself smile. "Jay, it's great to hear from you, finally. How have you been?"

"Good. I've been really good," he said. "Been traveling, catching some sun, having some fun, the usual."

She laughed. She had the image of him traveling up and down river ways in otter form. Hardly "the usual" by anyone else's standard.

"So how is the Rum- thinga?" she asked.

"Rumspringa," he corrected. "Good. We have seen most of the relatives in the upper peninsula and throughout Wisconsin. And wolf camp?"

"Hard," she admitted, "but I am glad I came." She told him about what had transpired at the last couple of councils and things they had learned.

"A whole tribe of those creeps, yikes!" Jay said when she told him about the Sons of Garm.

Then she told him about the upcoming camping trip.

"The Boundary Waters?" Jay said. "Sounds super exciting. I've never made it up that far. Boundary Waters is huge. What part?"

"Way up by the border," she said. "And I mean way up. We are putting it at Moose River Portage and head pretty much due north."

"I don't know that much about that area," Jay said. There was a noise on the other end and then Courtney's voice. "Read the route off to me, I know the Boundary Waters pretty well."

Amanda dug for her guide. "We put in at Moose River and take it up to Nina Moose Lake, on to Agnes Lake and all the way up to Boulder Bay at the border with Canada. Then back the same route."

"Agnes Lake," Courtney repeated. "Gotcha."

"Have you been there?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah, Ramshead lake isn't far off your route. I have some relatives up there," Courtney said.

"People don't live in the Boundary Waters," Amanda said. "There's no development allowed."

"I know," Courtney said.

Amanda paused and let that sink in. Otters lived closer to the old ways, or so Uncle Darren insisted. But did they really go to the point of living deep in the woods in otter form? She shrugged, unsure.

Jay was back, and they talked for a while longer. He broke off the conversation shortly afterwards, stating he didn't want to run up the long-distance bill on the family they were staying with. "What day did you say you were leaving again?" he asked.

"This Friday," she told him.

She had no sooner put the receiver down then she saw the first wolf streak into the camp. She rushed out, eager to tell her pack she had heard from their otter friends.