Page 88 of Tiger Queen

“Everyone wants a good story,” David said simply. “And you? You’re like a hotter, nicer, female version of Joe Exotic.”

“I’m literally nothing like him! I’m a vet, not the owner. And I care about the animals more than making money…”

“There’s more,” Anthony said.

I groaned. “Do I want to hear it?”

He pulled up his laptop and logged into GoFundMe. “Going viral has had an effect on our funding page. Do you remember what we were at the last time you checked?”

“Just over two grand, I think?”

Anthony turned the laptop screen to face me.

I almost died of shock at the number on the screen.

“Two hundred grand!” I shouted.

“Two hundred and eighteen thousand,” Anthony said proudly. “And rising fast.” He hit the F5 key to refresh the page. When it came back up, the number was three thousand higher.

“We were the tenth-highest trend on Twitter earlier today,” David said. “Everyone wants to help now. We went from being the bad guys to being the poor underdogs overnight.”

I put a hand on the wall to steady myself. I was feeling lightheaded.

“I think I need some of that food now,” I said.

Anthony rushed off to the kitchen to make me an omelet. David’s phone rang and he went to the other room to talk. I pulled out my own phone to look at Facebook and Twitter, but my lock screen was full of notifications. I had forty-nine texts from my mom, Ashley, and various friends and professors from Florida State. I also had six missed calls. I pulled up the texts from Ashley.

Ashley: Tiger Queen?!?!

Ashley: Girl, you’re famous now!

Ashley: Did you seriously perform surgery on a Bengal tiger all by yourself? I’m super jealous. Call me as soon as you can so I can hear all about it!

Ashley: TIGER QUEEN! I can’t get over that name, lol

There was a new noise outside. I peeked out the window at the reporters, who were now surrounding someone new.

Mary Beth.

I groaned. I was afraid of what she would tell them, so I opened the window to hear.

“…one of the most dedicated zoo vets I’ve ever met,” Mary Beth was saying. “I mean, she’s the only zoo vet I’ve ever met, if I’m being, like, totally honest. I worked at a dog kennel, but the lady who ran the place wasn’t really an expert. She just liked dogs. What was I saying? Oh, yeah. Rachel is amazing. She works twelve or thirteen hour days to keep these animals healthy. It’s so much better than the way it was under Crazy Carl. Granted, I didn’t work here while he was in charge, but from the videos I’ve seen…”

I blinked in surprise. It was strange suddenly becoming a viral hero to everyone, but hearing Mary Beth sing my praises really hit home.

She spoke to the reporters for a few more seconds, then came running up the porch and through the front door.

“Whew. That was exciting!” she said with a huge smile. “I’ve never talked to reporters before! How are you doing? Get some sleep finally?”

I threw my arms around her and hugged her tight. “I owe you an apology, Mary Beth.”

“You apologized early this morning! I guess you probably don’t remember that since you were exhausted. It was crazy. I’m still running on adrenaline too, and I missed the whole thing. But yeah, you already apologized.”

“I feel like my apology wasn’t adequate,” I replied. “The way I treated you…”

She giggled and shrugged. “That’s the thing—you were totally right! Someone was sabotaging the zoo from the inside! It sucks that you thought it was me, but I can see why you were so paranoid. I’m just glad the animals are all safe.”

David returned from the other room quietly. He was still holding his cell phone at his side, and he had a dazed expression on his face.

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