Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

A rchie was in trouble.

In fact, he was in the deepest trouble of his whole life. Which was really saying something, considering the time he’d had to write a report on a scientific experiment for homework, and had decided to see what happened if you crumpled up a whole roll of aluminum foil and put it in the microwave (the answer was, you got a lot of fire trucks, and also grounded for a month).

First, Paige had dragged him out of the storeroom and yelled at him. She only stopped because stupid Conleth took two steps and fell flat on his face, which normally Archie would have enjoyed, yet somehow didn’t seem funny right then. Then there had been a whole lot of sudden activity, with Leonie ringing the bell and everyone coming out of hiding and Ragvald carrying Conleth off to the infirmary and Paige marching Archie away.

Since then, he’d been grounded. He was allowed out of the cabin for meals, which should have been a good thing, except that by dinnertime word had got out about what he’d done, so he sat there with an empty seat on each side while all around the other kids stared and whispered to each other behind their hands.

It was even worse at bedtime. The other boys got changed into their pajamas in strained silence, avoiding looking in his direction. No one wanted anything to do with a kid who’d nearly revealed the camp’s secret.

Archie was pretty sure that no one in the entire world, in all of history, had ever managed to get into so much trouble.

Even his bear was upset with him. Normally he could rely on it to be the one calm, quiet place in his head, but now his animal was agitated and confused. It didn’t understand why he’d deliberately broken the most important camp rule. This was a good place, filled with good smells. They could run and sniff and climb. There were grubs to dig up and friends to wrestle. Why would he want to leave?

He didn’t want to leave Camp Thunderbird. The thought of never coming to camp again gave him a hollow, awful feeling in his stomach. Next summer, he wouldn’t be playing shift-tag with Rufus or exchanging dares with Estelle. He wouldn’t get to wheedle Ignatius into a wrestling match or catch cool bugs so Finley could tell him their scientific names. Weirdly, he was even going to miss Beth.

But you had to put family first. No matter what.

If he got expelled, then Paige would have to come home, too. She wasn’t a shifter, so once she was away from stupid Conleth, she’d recover from the mating fever. Everything would go back to normal.

His bear didn’t understand this either. It was right for older litters to leave the den. A mature female like their sister should have long since established her own territory. Now she had found a mate of her own. Not a bear, true, but still a good match for her. They would make strong cubs together. There would be more bears. This was good. This was the way things should be. Why was he trying to interfere?

Sometimes his bear just didn’t get it.

It was nearly a whole day before Paige came back to see him. By that point, he was so bored, he was actually looking forward to getting yelled at some more. But it seemed they were way past that point.

“Come on,” his sister said. Her mouth was a tight, flat line. “The director wants to see you.”

His guts squirmed like bugs under a log. “Is he gonna throw me out of camp?”

“I don’t know, Archie.” Paige led the way out of the cabin. “He said he needed time to think about it. But I don’t see how he can let you stay. It would set a terrible example for the other kids.”

His feet felt way heavier than normal as he trailed after her. “Does that mean you’ll come home too?”

“I’ll have to.” Paige added, a little too quickly, “Mom has to work, and you can’t stay at home alone. Someone has to look after you for the rest of the summer.”

That was good, considering it had been the point of his whole plan. Yet, for some reason, it didn’t make him feel any better.

He wanted to play it cool, because an alpha shouldn’t care about getting in trouble, but his voice came out small and scared. “I didn’t mean to put the camp in danger, Paige. I thought the sheriff would ask a few questions and then go away again. I don’t know why I shifted. It just kind of happened.”

“It always does, with you.” Paige stopped, turning to face him. “Why, Archie? Do you really hate Conleth that much?”

Yes, he wanted to say, except he didn’t. Not really. Hate was pure and clean and simple. He hated broccoli and algebra and greedy companies who cut down rainforests. It wasn’t at all the right word for the big hairy knot of feelings in his chest.

And anyway, it didn’t matter how he felt about Conleth. He could have been the greatest guy in the whole world, goofy and funny and always up for stealing popsicles out of the camp freezer, and it wouldn’t have made one bit of difference. Archie would still have had to keep him away from Paige.

But he couldn’t tell his sister the real reason he had to stop her from falling to the mating fever. He scuffed his sneakers against the ground, not saying anything.

Paige let out a deep sigh. Then, to his surprise, she pulled him into a hug.

“You know I’ll do anything for you, right?” she murmured into his hair.

Confused, but grateful she didn’t seem to be mad at him any more, he hugged her back. “And for Mom, too?”

“And for Mom.” Paige released him, blinking hard. “Come on. The director’s waiting for you in the office.”

Director Zephyr was indeed waiting in the office. He wasn’t alone, though. Stupid Conleth was there too, leaning against a wall with his arms folded. He must have finally managed to scrub off the skunk stink because he smelled mostly like himself again. His hair was still carrot orange, though. At least that was one good thing.

“Thank you, Paige,” the director said, inclining his head at her. “I think it’s best if we speak with Archie alone.”

Paige gave Archie’s shoulder one final squeeze before leaving. He wasn’t sure if it had been meant as a gesture of comfort, or don’t-you-dare-screw-this-up .

Director Zephyr folded his hands on his desk. Archie had only seen him from a distance before, making announcements or welcoming kids to camp. He’d always seemed nice enough, but also kind of boring. Archie had never been able to figure out why all the grown-ups treated him with such respect.

Now he knew.

“Archie.” Zephyr didn’t sound mad, or even annoyed, yet Archie felt his bear curl up into a small, still ball. “You are aware that our number one rule here is that every camper must be careful to keep non-shifters from discovering our secret.”

He had known that, of course, thanks to Paige making him spend so long studying the camp rulebook. That’s what had given him the idea for his plan. He’d had to do something so bad, it would be unforgivable.

He just hadn’t meant it to work this well.

He realized Zephyr seemed to be waiting for some kind of response. Had the director asked him a question? He tried to remember, but it was like being in class when he could have sworn he’d been paying attention, right up until the moment the teacher called his name.

His bear’s instinct was to cringe and try to appease the powerful adult male, but that would defeat the whole point. Archie swallowed hard, gathering all his courage. He could do this. He was an alpha, and a real alpha protected his family. No matter what.

“I’m not sorry.” He balled his hands into fists, willing the tears to suck back into his eyeballs. “And I know exactly what I did and why it was wrong, and I don’t care. So you might as well save your breath and expel me now.”

“That would normally be the consequences of such an action.” Zephyr glanced briefly at Conleth. “However, in your case, I have been persuaded to make an exception.”

Now he really felt like a stupid little kid. Why hadn’t he spotted the obvious giant hole in his plan?

Of course stupid Conleth wouldn’t want Paige to leave. And stupid Conleth could talk his way around anything. He always knew the right thing to say. His plans never went wrong. He’d probably never made a single mistake in his entire life.

Stupid, perfect Conleth.

“I don’t want you to make an exception!” he spat out past the lump in his throat. “If you don’t kick me out, I’ll—I’ll do something even worse. You have to send me home!”

Zephyr and stupid Conleth exchanged one of those irritating looks that grown-ups sometimes did, where they seemed to be having a whole silent conversation over the top of your head. As if something had been decided, Zephyr nodded. Without another word, he got up and left, closing the office door behind him.

Which left Archie, his bear, and stupid Conleth.

If this had been a movie, this would have been the part where stupid Conleth let out an evil laugh— Mwahahahaha! —and launched into a monologue about how no one could stop him now. Then Archie could have said something cool and cutting, like “You can take my desserts, but you’ll never take my sister!”, and then Conleth would have…well, probably not thrown him into a pit of snakes (sadly), but at least grounded him for a whole week.

Instead, stupid Conleth looked at him for a long moment, fingers tapping. Then he pushed himself away from the wall.

“Come on,” was all he said.

Archie trailed after him, now a little more hopeful. Maybe stupid Conleth planned to lure him out of camp and abandon him in the middle of the wilderness (from which, naturally, Archie would escape with his awesome bear powers, and get back just in the nick of time to yell “OBJECTION!” right at the dramatic part of the wedding).

Unfortunately, this soon proved not to be the case. Whatever evil scheme his nemesis had in mind, it apparently involved…basketball?

Stupid Conleth sent the ball winging perfectly through the hoop from halfway across the court. In a blur of speed, he caught the basketball before it could hit the ground. “Here. Your turn.”

“Wha-?” Archie started, but the ball was always bouncing toward him. He just about managed to catch it before it smacked into his chest.

He wanted to ask what the heck was going on, but stupid Conleth raised his eyebrows in a challenging sort of way . Since there was no way he was gonna let that one slide, Archie focused on the hoop. He dribbled the ball a few times, then took a shot.

The ball boinged off the rim, rebounding back. Stupid Conleth intercepted it with an effortless catch.

“One-zero to me,” he said. He spun the ball on his finger, then sent it neatly back through the hoop. “Two-zero. You can get it this time.”

Giving him a glare, Archie dashed after the ball. He tried another shot, but missed entirely. Stupid Conleth caught it in midair, spun, and scored another perfect basket.

Archie folded his arms, letting the ball bounce past him. “You could at least pretend to be giving me a chance.”

“Yes, but then you’d know I was holding back,” his nemesis said calmly. “Are you going to get the ball, or would you rather concede defeat?”

Shoot. Now he was stuck on this basketball court for the rest of his life.

Archie was eight points down before he finally managed to get the ball through the hoop. The surge of victory was short-lived, as stupid Conleth’s next shot bounced off the backboard. Archie glared at him.

The counselor held up his hands. “I genuinely missed that one. I’ll swear it in front of Rufus, if you like.”

Appeased, Archie went to get the ball. “Let’s score your misses against my baskets. That’s more fair.”

“Wouldn’t that make it rather easy for me to win?”

Archie passed the ball to him. “No, because you’d have to mess up deliberately.”

“Huh.” Conleth threw the ball, which arced right through the center of the hoop without touching the rim. “I can’t argue with that. One all, then.”

His body felt looser now, which weirdly made the rest of him feel looser, too. It was like having something to do with his hands cleared out room in his head, giving him space to think.

He threw the ball, managing to score another basket. “Why’d you bring me out here?”

Conleth snagged the ball as it bounced back. “To talk.”

“We could have done that in the office.”

Conleth shrugged, casually tossing the ball through the hoop. “You’ve been cooped up in the dorm all day. Honestly, I’m impressed the cabin’s still standing. I would have chewed my way out through a wall within the first hour.”

Archie decided this was not the time to confess what he’d done to the floor. He hoped no one would move his bunk until after the end of summer.

“I wanted to talk about why you called the sheriff,” Conleth continued, passing the ball back. “I know you were trying to get in so much trouble, we’d have to send you home. You figured out that Paige would have to leave too, while I’d still be needed here. You were hoping that if she didn’t see me for the rest of the summer, she’d get over me.”

Archie’s skin went tight and hot. He flung the ball without taking time to aim, unsurprisingly missing the hoop. “Guess we’ve not got anything to talk about, then. You seem to have it all figured out.”

“Not really.” Conleth retrieved the ball from the corner of the court. “You started off the summer determined to keep me away from your sister. That bit, I understand. And when you realized she was actively avoiding me out of her own choice, you eased off on your persecution. Which makes sense too. No need to waste effort making me look bad when I was perfectly capable of doing that myself.”

That didn’t make much sense to Archie, since as far as he was concerned, Conleth had spent the entire summer so far being annoyingly cool and perfect, at least when Ragvald wasn’t involved. And even getting his butt kicked at toga honk had somehow worked out for him, since apparently Paige liked watching a shirtless guy plastered in mud.

Girls were so weird.

“Yet when you suspected she might actually be starting to have feelings for me, you panicked.” Conleth tossed the ball to him. “That’s the part I can’t figure out.”

He suddenly didn’t feel like shooting hoops any more. “I know I was stupid. You don’t have to rub it in.”

Conleth shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. As plans went, it was actually rather clever, though that’s not the same as being a good idea. My brother Connor would give you a high-five. No, I understand the logic of your scheme. What I don’t get is why you did it at all. Why you did everything in your power to force us apart.”

“Because you’re a smug, annoying jerk,” Archie informed him. “With stupid hair.”

“True,” Conleth said, matter-of-fact. “But you love your sister. You’d do anything for her. Even tolerate a smug, annoying jerk with stupid hair, if that was who she wanted. Yet when you were afraid she might choose me, you went out of your way to take that choice away.”

“I…” He clutched the ball. “I had to.”

“Why?”

“Because…” The itchy, prickly feeling was back behind his eyes. “Because…”

His bear leaned against his mind, big and warm and worried. He wanted to turn and taking refuge in that simple, uncomplicated other self…and yet somehow, he also didn’t want to.

Instead of shifting, he flung the ball as hard as he could. Conleth made no move to catch it, or get out of the way. He just stood there, letting it bounce off his chest without flinching.

“Because Paige can’t mate anyone!” Archie yelled at the top of his lungs. “She can’t leave home, not ever! I can’t look after Mom all on my own!”

And then, to his utter disgust, he burst into tears.