Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 Lydia reacted first. She gasped and turned to run. "Stop!" Abbi whispered harshly. "Don't run!" The adults noticed the stricken faces of the friends. Arthur slowly looked back and spotted their feline guest. "Oh. Oh my. Steph, are you getting this?" "On it, Boss." Steph raised the camera immediately, aiming it at the cougar. Abbi couldn't look away from the large cat. It was both beautiful and scary. The animal wasn't very tall. But it was long, and its

tail looked powerful! Its fur was the same tawny-brown color as the tuft she had found near the fake claw marks. And its gaze as it looked around was sharp. Abbi felt as if the cougar was sizing all of them up. From the corner of her eye, Abbi saw Lydia tense as if about to run. Poor Lydia was so scared! Abbi reached out and grabbed her friend's arm. "You can't run! Cats like to chase. It might think you're prey!"

"Then what do we do?" Lydia cried. "Arthur," Abbi whispered urgently. "Cougars don't like to eat humans, right?" "What?" He was still distracted by the surprising animal in front of them, but he nodded. "Ah, yes. Attacks on humans are very rare. Unless the animal feels cornered or threatened." Daniel swallowed hard. "Cornered like by a bunch of people staring at it?" Even the Wild Whereabouts crew seemed stunned. They really hadn't expected to find any cougars here! The whole thing had been a sham, from the paw prints to the inhuman screams through the megaphone. The megaphone! Abbi had an idea. "Daniel, yell into the megaphone!" Her friend snapped his head toward her. "Do what?"

The cougar startled at Daniel's raised voice. It was nervous! Arthur must have noticed the same thing because he said, "She's right, Daniel. We have to scare it away!" After a moment, Daniel nodded once and took a deep breath. He brought the megaphone to his mouth and screamed as loudly as he could. Abbi joined in, too, and Lydia followed her lead. Soon all six of them were shouting— Daniel's voice the loudest, thanks to the megaphone! The cougar's eyes darted around at them in confusion and fear, and it took off running into the woods. They all breathed a sigh of relief. Lydia sat down and steadied herself with one hand on the ground. "I take back what I said about stakeouts being boring," she said. "I like boring." Suddenly Arthur started laughing. "I can't believe it! There really was a cougar in these

woods. We actually found one!" Daniel walked over to Amy and passed her the megaphone. "Does this mean the show will be saved?" he asked. Arthur put a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "I don't know, little nature expert. But you three —and that wonderful cougar—have reminded me that staying on the air isn't what's most important. Finding these animals and bringing attention to the dangers they face: that's why

we do this work. Thank you for reminding me of that." The host of Wild Whereabouts turned to his crew. "I want to say I'm sorry to both of you, too. I should never have put either of you in this position." Amy smiled warmly, while Steph just clapped a hand on his back.