S A F E H A V E N : Summer

CHAPTER III

Cameron's hand shot up, snagging the newspaper while her other hand clutched a cup of coffee. "Morning, Skoni!" she called to the mailman. "How's the route been so far?"

"Ah, y'know, can't complain," Skoni replied with a grin. "Didn't get hosed down today, so I'm in good spirits!"

Cameron laughed, knowing that he was referring to how she used to react when he came by her house. "No need to worry about that anymore, buddy. Those days are long behind me!" she declared, turning to head back to her house. "GAH!" she shrieked, leaping backward and throwing both her coffee and the newspaper into the air.

"Good morning, Miss Cameron," Zechariah greeted the school counselor as Skoni howled in pain due to being showered with scalding hot coffee.

"Zech! Don't scare me like that!" Cameron cried, grabbing her chest with a hand. "I almost had a heart attack!"

"My apologies. That was... unintentional." Zechariah flicked an ear and began to walk down the sidewalk. "Do you have a moment?" he inquired.

"Uh... I guess." Cameron fell in step with the massive cheetah, a confused frown on her face. "What's going on?"

"There's an issue at Z.P.A.," Zechariah responded, glancing down at her. "Several objects are going missing from faculty offices, and we are launching a collective effort to track down the culprit."

"And by we, you mean..."

"People who've been stolen from, yes," Zechariah confirmed before Cameron could finish. "And unfortunately, you have just been added to that list."

"What? Someone stole something from my office?" Cameron exclaimed, shocked.

"Indeed. And the item stolen was of great value and importance not just to your décor, but to the school as a whole," Zechariah explained, narrowing his eyes at the glistening dome of Zoo Phoenix Academy, which shone in the distance.

Cameron squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her temples. "Please don't tell me it was the—"

"Angel statuette," Zechariah finished in a grim tone.

Cameron let out a loud groan, covering her face with her hands. "Isn't that worth, like, a gazillion dollars?"

"Approximately," Zechariah confirmed wryly. "Come; we're convening in the lounge," he added, gesturing to his back with his tail. "We'll talk more there."

Cameron climbed on top of him as he crouched down, then clutched his fur as he sprinted toward the school. "Would it hurt for you to slow down just a tad?" she shouted, the wind stinging her eyes.

"Time is—" Zechariah screeched to a halt, having reached the school, and cleared his throat before lowering his voice. "Time is of the essence, Miss Cameron," he told her, crouching low so that she could dismount. "I am loath to waste any."

"'Loath'. That's a new one." Cameron entered the mostly-empty building, which was currently only occupied by the facilitators working during the summer and students trapped in summer school.

Zechariah led Cameron to the teacher's lounge, where several other familiar faces—Principal Winston, Fabian, Carrie, Jackie, Alanzo, Salvia, Keiko, Perci, and Malcom—were gathered.

Principal Winston burbled a greeting to Cameron, his saliva dribbling into his teacup.

"Hi, Winston," Cameron replied, waving. "Hey, everyone else," she added with a giggle.

The others all greeted her in their own ways while Zechariah sat on his haunches between Winston and Salvia. "Alright, let's get down to business," he said brusquely. "We have a thief on our hands, and we need to find out who it is. So let's start with what we know." He turned to Fabian and nodded. "Fabian?"