Free Goated by the Gods by Sheri Lyn

isn’t going to help,” Jared shot back as he pushed out the front door to meet the arriving buses.
    Zach and Quentin shared a sheepish smile before following their youngest brother. “Never knew he had the balls to say shit like that,” Quentin whispered.
    “He takes after Mom more than I realized,” Zach replied.
    ***
    Zach stopped before the lead bus and waited for the home’s director to descend.
    This was one of his favorite parts of running the camp - seeing these kids’ faces as they climbed off the bus with looks of distrust, apprehension, pain and anger and then seeing them leave a week later with smiles and sadness at it being over. Their lives sucked, but it was the least he and his brothers could do to give them a much needed escape from their everyday lives.
    A tall, strikingly good-looking woman climbed off the bus and approached Zach. “Hi, I’m Marguerite. I run the center and I just wanted to say thank you for letting us come here on such short notice. Like I said on the phone the other day, the camp we had originally contacted fell through and I was so afraid I would have to cancel. These kids have been looking forward to getting away.”
    Zach smiled as the woman rambled and repeated most of what she had already told him on the phone a couple weeks earlier. “It’s our pleasure. Let’s get your kids unloaded and we can get everyone settled in cabins.”
    “That would be wonderful, it’s been quite a day. One of our regular counselors had an emergency and couldn’t be here. I had to call another in from vacation to cover. We are all looking forward to this week, I can assure you.” Marguerite smiled and waved for the kids to disembark from the buses. “Kids, line up in two rows in front of your bus, we will get you all settled quickly into your cabins with a counselor and then the fun can begin.”
    The brothers smiled as the quiet of the camp was shattered with sounds of laughter, words and grunts as the kids jostled for position.
    “Hey, gang. My name is Zach, these are my brothers, Quentin and Jared. Welcome to Camp Kid. If you guys will give us five minutes, we can get you all settled in.
    “Don’t grumble, if you can wait patiently we will have a campfire tonight and we can roast marshmallows and stuff.” Zach smiled as the kids shifted anxiously from foot to foot as he spoke. “Sound like a deal?”
    A chorus of ‘Yeah’ and ‘Yes’ filled the air.
    “Marguerite, we can’t seem to find the list of how many campers you have nor who your counselors are. Without that, we weren’t able to split the kids up among the cabins,” Jared piped in as he shot a glare at Zach.
    “That’s quite all right. At the moment, I have five counselors and twenty-seven kids, including me. A sixth counselor is on his way, but since it was last minute he wasn’t able to make it to ride the bus with us.”
    Zach nodded, “Perfect. We can do the six cabins closest to the mess hall and the activities. Would you like to split the kids up?”
    “Sure, that would probably be easiest.” Marguerite smiled and called the remaining four counselors over. “Each of you are going to be in charge of five or six kids.”
    “You will all be given a cabin that is identified by color of the paint and the animal on the flag that flies from the top,” Jared added as Marguerite took a breath.
    Zach supplied a cabin name and waited as she assigned a counselor and a group of kids to it before giving the next name.
    “We have five kids left, but their counselor isn’t here yet,” Marguerite said as shit bit her lip in worry.
    “If they don’t mind, I can be their counselor till the real one arrives,” Jared said in a rush of excitement.
    “That would be lovely, thank you.” Marguerite called over the five kids and introduced them to Jared. “He is going to be your counselor until Mr. G arrives. You will be in the…” She paused and looked at Zach for the answer.
    “Oh, sorry. The Red Phoenix cabin,”