Notebook for Fantastical Observations (11 page)

My cover of a book about me:

Unusual objects I have found:

“They are master shape-shifters — clever, sly, and cruel. Strong, too, unfortunately.”

FROM
B
OOK
5: W
RATH OF
M
ULGARATH

OGRES

I’m not a scaredy-cat or a yellow chicken or any of those other things people call me. You would have screamed too.

So, I was going for my Order of the Arrow badge. To get it, you have to wear a stick around your neck, not talk, and sleep out under the stars without a pillow or blanket or any kind of comfort. It’s supposed to test your bravery.

But it’s not like you’re totally alone or anything. The scoutmaster puts up his tent and huddles in his cushy sleeping bag nearby. There’s usually a bunch of us going for the Order at the same time, so even though it feels like you’re alone outside, there’s probably another kid not too far away from you.

So anyway, I brushed together a bunch of leaves and twigs and whatever. Then I kind of climbed into it, shoving the stuff over me so
just my head was visible. My plan was to combine camouflage and insulation. You know how if you get stuck out in the snow, you should build an igloo, because it is actually warmer? I thought that this would work the same way.

After I was settled, I had to try not to think about the weird scratchy feeling of all that stuff on top of me. It made me wonder what kind of worms or bugs could be crawling over my skin. I was concentrating so hard on that, I almost didn’t see the bear.

I bet you think that that’s when I screamed. Well, I didn’t.

Actually, I held completely, totally still. I think that’s why he didn’t notice me. He was a big bear with dull, brownish fur and a nose that gleamed wetly in the moonlight. He stood up on his hind legs and sniffed the air. For a terrible moment, I thought he was going to smell me. He thudded back onto all four paws, however, and walked a few more paces. But
then he did something surprising—he changed.

Horns sprouted from his brow, his body thinned, and for a single moment, I thought I saw his eyes become slitted and gold like a cat’s. Then its legs got much longer, the bear claws morphing into black hooves. In one more blink of my eyes, I was looking at a stag. I must have made some small sound, because the deer-thing turned its liquid eyes toward me.

That’s when I screamed. You would have too. If I hadn’t shrieked my head off, it wouldn’t have run away and the scoutmaster wouldn’t have checked on all of us. If it wasn’t for me, the rest of the Order of the Arrow candidates could have been picked off, one by one. I think I should have gotten the biggest badge of all.

—Steven R.

ANALYSIS: Ogres are shape-changers, so it is sometimes difficult to tell when you have seen one. In this case, however, it was the shape-changing that gave the ogre away for what it was.

—H. B. & T. D.

This creature can morph into something completely different: