Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25

P aige looked between Estelle and Beth in consternation. “ You put the skunk under my bed?”

“I’m sorry, ma’am.” Beth twisted her hands together. “But please, don’t blame Estelle. The skunk was my idea.”

“ I wanted to stick a wolverine in your room,” Estelle chipped in, sounding considerably less repentant. “But Beth made me put it back.”

“I take full responsibility, ma’am.” Beth drew herself up as though preparing to face a firing squad. “I expect my mom will be able to pick me up within the hour. I’ll go pack my things.”

Paige held up her hands as Beth started to get up from the lakeside bench. “I’m not going to expel you, Beth. I know you must have had good intentions. I’m just trying to understand what you were thinking.”

“I was just trying to help Uncle Conleth, ma’am.” Beth said, as though this should have been obvious. “He’s been trying so hard to impress you, but everyone could see it wasn’t working. Especially after toga honk. I had to do something. ”

“We were trying to give him a chance to be heroic,” Estelle explained. “We sent him after you, so that he could swoop in to save the day. Only we were kind of expecting him to grab you, not the skunk.”

“I didn’t mean for anyone to get sprayed, ma’am.” Beth gave Estelle a rather pointed look. “The skunk was supposed to be asleep when you found it.”

“It’s not my fault Paige didn’t go to the cabin earlier!” Estelle protested. “My power doesn’t last all that long, okay?”

So that’s how they’d managed to sneak the creature into the dorm. “And Hetta wasn’t involved in any of this? Or Archie?”

“No, ma’am,” Beth confirmed. “Nobody else knew. Not even Finley or Rufus.”

“Beth only told me her plan because she needed my power.” Estelle shrugged. “I don’t know what Hetta was doing in your room.”

Paige was still puzzling over that one herself. “She wasn’t there when you put the skunk under my bed?”

Beth shook her head. “I would have sensed her, ma’am. She was lingering near the cabin when we left after hiding the skunk, but I didn’t think much of it at the time. I wasn’t keeping track of her movements, so I don’t know exactly when she went into your room.”

Paige supposed she’d just have to ask Hetta herself. “It seems you weren’t the only ones with a secret plan. I know you were just trying to help Conleth, girls. But I need your solemn word that you won’t do anything like this again.”

“We will,” Estelle said promptly. She held up her right hand, smallest finger outstretched. “Pinky promise. Right, Beth?”

“I…” Rather than looking relieved that she wasn’t in trouble, Beth’s face crumpled into even more misery. “I can’t.”

“Are you crazy?” Estelle hissed at her friend. She shot Paige a bright, fake smile. “She’s just really upset and not thinking straight. Of course she promises she won’t do anything stupid in the future. Or right now.”

“I won’t make a promise I can’t keep,” Beth said stubbornly. “Not when Uncle Conleth still needs my help.”

“Pretty sure Conleth isn’t too pleased with our help right now,” Estelle muttered.

Paige regarded Beth thoughtfully. “Estelle, could you give us some privacy? I’d like to talk to Beth alone.”

Estelle was only too happy to escape. Paige waited until she was out of earshot before turning back to Beth. “I know you want to help your uncle, Beth. But he’d rather you didn’t.”

Beth flinched. “I really didn’t mean for him to get sprayed, ma’am.”

“That’s not what I meant. Even if your plan had worked perfectly, Conleth still wouldn’t have wanted you to get involved. He just wants you to have fun at camp with your friends this summer. And so do I.”

“Everyone keeps telling me I’m just a kid, and I shouldn’t worry about things,” Beth said in frustration. “But just because I’m young doesn’t mean I can’t help the people I care about. You have family, ma’am. Wouldn’t you do anything for them?”

She thought of her mom, and Archie. And then, unexpectedly, Conleth.

“Yes,” she admitted. “I would. And maybe that’s not always a good thing. Perhaps we both need to be reminded to think of ourselves sometimes, too.”

“You can’t expect me to just sit back and do nothing, ma’am.” Beth fixed her with that heartbreakingly earnest expression. “You’re true mates. I know he would be good for you, and you’d be good for him, too. I wish I could find a way to make you see him as he really is, rather than the way he tries to appear. If you did, I’m sure you’d like him.”

Paige hesitated. Maybe this was a mistake, but Beth’s loyalty to her family was just as unshakeable as her own. There was only one way to save Conleth from any further attempts to ‘help.’

She leaned in closer to Beth. “Can you keep a secret?”

Beth looked a little puzzled, but nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

Paige hoped she would. If this got back to Archie…

“You don’t have to do anything to make me like him,” she whispered in Beth’s ear. “I already do.”

Beth was not a good actress. When Paige sent her off to find the rest of the pack, the girl was practically skipping an inch above the ground. No one would be able to mistake her smile for anything other than pure joy.

“Well, so much for keeping it a secret,” Paige muttered to herself.

Still, at least Beth might be able to relax and enjoy camp a bit more now. And it wasn’t like Conleth didn’t already know she liked him.

Which just left Archie.

Maybe Conleth’s right, and I should just tell Archie the truth.

She had no idea how to approach that conversation. Better to start with an easier one.

Hetta was huddled on her bunk, arms around her knees. As Paige entered, the girl lifted her head, revealing a tear-streaked face.

“I’m not sorry,” Hetta said fiercely, followed by a wet, miserable sniff. “Go ahead and send me home. See if I care. I didn’t even want to come to camp in the first place.”

“I know.” Paige sat next to her on the bunk. “And I also know you didn’t put the skunk under my bed. Beth and Estelle confessed everything.”

Hetta sagged like a punctured balloon, defiance leaking out of her. “So that’s what they were doing in the cabin. I had to wait ages for them to leave.”

“I owe you an apology. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you when you told me you hadn’t put the skunk under my bed.”

Hetta looked down. “You thought it was me.”

“Well, you were in my room. But I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”

“No, I mean…” Hetta picked at a loose thread on her blanket. “You thought I was the skunk.”

“Oh.” Paige leaned back on her hands, carefully not looking at the girl. “Yes. I did.”

Hetta’s voice was the barest whisper. “Does everyone know I can shift?”

“No, sweetheart. Rufus suspects, but I’m sure he hasn’t told anyone. Conleth is the only other person who knows. He’s the one who told me. I wouldn’t have had a clue, otherwise.”

Hetta twisted the blanket between her fingers. “Archie figured it out as well. He found my scent-trail heading into the woods. I’ve been sneaking out of the cabin at night, sometimes. It’s too hard to control my animal in the day if I don’t.”

Paige made a mental note to have a stern talk with her brother about blackmail. “I’ll make sure Archie keeps your secret, if that’s what you want. But I think you should tell the other kids.”

“No!” Hetta’s response was as vehement as it was instant. “Nobody else can know. You have to promise not to tell anyone!”

“I won’t. I promise. But this is a big thing for you to hide, Hetta. You haven’t even told your dad you can shift, have you?”

“I can’t.” Hetta sniffed again, tears welling up in her eyes. “He—he’d b-be—so, so…disappointed!”

The final word dissolved into a wail. Hetta burst into racking sobs, burying her face in her knees again.

“Oh, sweetheart.” Paige put her arms around the girl, hugging her tight. “Is your animal not the same as his?”

Hetta nodded miserably. “H-he’s a really powerful alpha. He’s always been so proud of me, saying that one day I’d be even stronger than he is. And instead I’m wr-wrong.”

“Whatever your animal is, it’s not wrong,” Paige said firmly. “You’re just the way you’re meant to be.”

“No, I’m not! You don’t understand. I’m supposed to carry on our family legacy. It’s really important to my dad.”

“I’m sure you’re important to him, too,” Paige said. “Listen, I understand if you’re not ready to tell him the truth. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be yourself at camp. The other campers won’t care about your family legacy. And unless you invite them to visit you back home, your dad’s not going to meet them.”

Hetta wiped her nose on the back of her hand. “But it’s already hard to control my animal. If I get used to shifting, I might slip up in front of my dad.”

“Maybe it’s hard to control your animal because you’re so worried about keeping it bottled up all the time.” With a final pat, Paige released Hetta. “That’s why you’ve been holding back from a lot of the activities, isn’t it? You’re worried that you’ll shift by accident if you get scared or startled.”

Hetta flushed, dropping her eyes. “I hate that the other kids think I’m a coward. My dad would be so ashamed of me.”

“But you want to join in, right?” At Hetta’s confirming nod, Paige went on, “When you start to shift, can you hold it back at all?”

“Sometimes,” Hetta said dubiously. “But not for more than a few seconds.”

“That should be more than enough time. You saw for yourself how fast Conleth can move. If you yelled for help, he could whisk you away in an instant.”

Hetta blinked. “You mean, if I felt myself start to shift, Conleth could get me out of sight?”

“Exactly. Even if you couldn’t stop yourself, no one would see your animal.”

Hetta thought this over. “But Conleth would see.”

“Not if you told him not to look. I bet he could drop you off and be back with the group before anyone else even noticed he was gone.” Paige touched Hetta’s hand. “Just think about it, okay?”

“Okay.” Hetta hesitated. “Does this mean I’m not in trouble for breaking into your room?”

“I’ll overlook it this one time. I know Archie pressured you into it. What did he want you to do, anyway?”

“Oh.” Hetta flushed guiltily. “He wanted your phone. Boys aren’t allowed in the girls’ dorm, and there are always counselors and campers hanging around. That’s why he needed me to get it.”

“My phone?” Paige frowned. “Why?”

“I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me. He said it was better that way, since then he could take most of the blame. Though I thought that was weird, since the whole point was for us to both get kicked out of camp. I don’t see how he could be in any more trouble than that.”

“Never underestimate Archie’s ability to get into trouble,” Paige said dryly. “Well, at least there was no harm done. Whatever he was planning doesn’t matter now, seeing that you were interrupted before you could take my phone.”

Hetta froze.

Paige abruptly had a very, very bad feeling. “Hetta? What is it?”

“I thought you knew,” Hetta whispered, face now drained of all color. “I wasn’t sneaking into your room to take your phone. I was putting it back.”

Paige’s stomach lurched. Without a word, she scrambled up. Hetta trailed behind as she sprinted for her room.

Her phone was still on the nightstand where she—or rather, Hetta—had left it. Paige snatched it up, swiping through the call record.

“Archie,” she whispered, staring at the most recent number. “What have you done?”

Outside, an alarm began to ring.