Grace is out picking berries when she spies a small lizard struggling in the hot spring pool. Taking pity on the creature, she fishes it out of the water before it boils to death. The lizard nips Grace’s finger with its sharp, tiny teeth, so she names it Needles. Grace realizes that the small lizard is too helpless to survive in the wild, so she goes back to her cabin to find a shoebox to keep him in.

In the process, she is seen by a teen campmate named Brooklynne Feldman, who usually keeps to herself, so nobody knows her well. Surprisingly, Brooklynne takes an interest in helping the lizard too. Pets are forbidden at the Oasis, so Brooklynne suggests that Needles should be hidden in one of the maintenance sheds at the back of the camp. Since Brooklynne rarely participates in group activities, she wanders around and knows all about the hidden parts of the property.

Inside the shed, the two girls find an empty metal paint tray and fill it with water. Needles immediately crawls inside and makes himself at home. The girls don’t know what to feed the small reptile but decide to sneak a selection of

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