Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

S omething had changed.

Archie knew straight away. Normally, Conleth was at his most annoying first thing in the morning, pestering the group about what they wanted to do and drawing up complicated plans. Today, however, he was weirdly quiet, like he had a math test later on and hadn’t studied. He didn’t even bring his flipchart to breakfast.

Paige was being weird, too. She was trying to act like it was just any other day, but Archie knew her too well to be fooled. Her smile was too big, and she was constantly jumping up to refill drinks or fetch more syrup. When she accidentally knocked elbows with Conleth on her way to the kitchen, they both jumped apart as if they’d gotten an electric shock.

The more Archie watched, the more his stomach twisted into a knot. Paige was making a big show of not looking at Conleth, which was normal, but he wasn’t stealing glances at her either, and that wasn’t.

Something had definitely changed.

The other kids knew something was up, too. Throughout the morning, Beth kept whispering to Estelle, though she stopped whenever Archie tried to hear what they were discussing. He caught a few glimpses of Rufus looking from Paige to Conleth, like he was trying to figure out what was going on too.

Archie had a sick feeling he knew exactly what was going on.

Paige had caught the mating fever. She had all the signs of it. Despite all her promises, it was only a matter of time before her brain turned to complete goo.

Which meant he had to act fast.

Stupid Conleth wasn’t the only one who could make plans. Archie spent all morning thinking, which meant during the campfire lunch cookout Buck pointedly asked him if he’d left his motherloving brain in bed, while Conleth frantically dashed around with buckets of water. By the time all the flames were out, he’d figured out exactly what he needed to do.

But he couldn’t do it alone.

The first afternoon activity was dodgeball. Normally this was one of Archie’s favorite things in the whole wide world, because stupid Conleth’s stupid pegasus sense only worked on living things, and even though he had speed powers, he didn’t have eyes in the back of his head. So far, Archie’s record was eighteen direct hits in a single game.

Today, however, he hung back as the other kids rushed onto the court to grab balls. As he’d hoped, he wasn’t the only one.

Archie watched, holding his breath, as stupid Conleth spoke to Hetta in low, persuasive tones, gesturing at the rest of the pack in encouragement. To his relief, this wasn’t going to be the day Hetta finally gave in and agreed to try a sport. With a stubborn shake of her head, she flounced off to sit on the grass outside the court.

“Archie, come on!” Paige called. “Everyone’s waiting for you.”

He made a big show of hunching over, wrapping his arms around his stomach as if he had a cramp. “I don’t feel so good. Maybe I ate too much at lunch.”

Beth—who, of course, was sucking up to the counselors by helping hand out balls, like a total teacher’s pet—narrowed her eyes at him. “You only had four hot dogs.”

“They smelled kind of weird.” He imagined disgusting things—broccoli pizza, and kissing girls—willing himself to turn green. “Can I sit out?”

“ Please let him sit out,” Ignatius muttered. “Then we might actually have a chance of not getting humiliatingly thrashed for once.”

That wasn’t fair—it wasn’t his fault that watching out for opportunities to deck Conleth made it hard to avoid balls coming his own way, and anyway, bear paws were great for a lot of things, but not catching—but it seemed to persuade Paige. “All right, Archie, you can rest for a bit. Do you want me to stay with you?”

He was so relieved, he almost forgot to keep looking sick, and had to hastily bug his eyes out like he might throw up at any second. “Nah, that’s okay. I’ll go sit with Hetta.”

He hurried off, aware of Beth’s hard stare on the back of his neck. As he left the court, he noticed her draw Estelle aside for an urgent, whispered conversation with a lot of glances his way.

Fortunately, Hetta had picked a spot where she’d be safe from any stray balls, which meant it was also out of range of even shifter hearing. She shot him a suspicious look as he plopped down next to her.

“If the counselors sent you over here to talk to me, you can save your breath.” Hetta folded her arms. “I’m not playing.”

“That’s not why I’m here.” He was careful to keep his back to the court, just in case Rufus was watching. He was pretty sure the griffin shifter could read lips. “I need your help.”

Hetta eyed him warily. “Why should I help you?”

“Because otherwise I’ll tell everyone your secret.” He lowered his voice. “You can shift, can’t you?”

He hadn’t been entirely sure, but Hetta went stark white. That made him feel kind of awful, because of course he wouldn’t really blab.

“It’s all right, I won’t tell anyone!” he blurted out, and then realized this somewhat ruined his bargaining position. “Look, I need your help, but I can help you, too. I know you’re scared someone will see your animal. That’s why you don’t do stuff, right? You’re worried you’re gonna shift.”

She bit her lip, then nodded.

“Well, stupid Conleth is bound to find out,” he informed her. “I reckon he’s already on to you. If you don’t want him coming up with some clever plan to trick you into shifting, you gotta get in so much trouble, you get kicked out of camp. Then you can go home, and your secret will be safe.”

She blinked a few times, like she’d never thought of that. “But how can I get in that much trouble?”

“That’s where I come in. When it comes to getting in trouble, I’m the number one world-class expert.” Not that he ever meant to get into trouble, but there was no need for Hetta to know that. “Just follow my lead, and all our problems will be solved. Yours and mine.”

She still looked kinda unsure, but her mouth firmed. “What’s your plan?”

His bear stirred uneasily in his mind, but Archie pushed it down. This was no time for second thoughts. He looked left and right, checking for eavesdroppers, then grinned at her.

“We,” he said, “are gonna do something awful .”