Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29

“ B ut why didn’t you tell us any of this before?” Finley seemed even more upset about that than he had by the whole nearly-getting-the-camp-raided-by-the-cops thing. “I thought you trusted us.”

Archie pretended to be interested in poking a stick into a crack between two logs, which normally would be interesting because you never knew where a poisonous snake might be hiding, but in this case was more because he didn’t want to face the other kids right now. It was easier to talk if he didn’t look directly at them.

He was still kind of surprised they’d even agreed to meet him in their secret spot behind the woodshed. Technically kids weren’t supposed to hang out away from the main communal areas, but the counselors always turned a blind eye to private pack meetings unless you did something really obvious, like dare Nancy to jump onto a huge pile of logs and then fail to stop the resulting wooden tsunami before it took out a wall.

“Of course I trust you guys,” he mumbled. “It was just…private.”

“Well, that’s dumb.” Estelle poked him with her own stick, which was a lot sharper than the one he’d found. “We’re a pack. There aren’t supposed to be any secrets between pack.”

“Oh, lay off, Estelle,” Ignatius said, somewhat to Archie’s surprise. “Of course he couldn’t tell us. It was a family matter. My uncle says only filthy traitors reveal private clan business to outsiders.”

Estelle poked him, too. “Yeah, but your uncle’s a jerk. No offense.”

“Estelle,” Beth said reproachfully. “If you have to say ‘no offense’, you know you insulted someone.”

“No, it’s fine.” Ignatius shrugged. “My uncle is a jerk. You don’t get to be the alpha of?—”

“One of the most powerful dragon clans in the country,” most of the other campers said along with him, in varying tones of weary resignation.

“By being a nice person,” Ignatius finished, shooting everyone a glare. “Also, that continues to be annoying.”

Estelle jabbed him in the ribs again. “Stop bragging about your family so much, then.”

“Getting back to Archie’s family, which is the reason we’re all here,” Nancy said. “Considering he didn’t even tell his own sister, I think it’s fair enough he felt he had to keep the secret from us, too. The whole point of summer camp is that you don’t have to worry about real world stuff while you’re here. I mean, I haven’t told you guys every single detail about my family either.”

“Everyone’s got secrets,” Hetta said, so quietly even Archie’s awesome bear hearing barely picked up her voice above the dusk chorus of insects. “Sometimes it’s hard to share them. Even if you want to.”

Rufus flashed her a sidelong look from under his hair, then glanced at Finley.

“Rufus says he understands why you didn’t tell us, Archie,” Finley translated for the griffin shifter. He sighed, shoulders sagging. “I guess I do too. If I knew one of my parents was struggling with their mental health, I’d be worried sick. I can’t imagine how hard it must be for you.”

“I can,” Ignatius said, unexpectedly. At the mass disbelieving looks, he scowled. “What, you think rich people can’t have problems? My dad was my mom’s mate, but he passed away before I was born. My mom tries to hide it, but I know she’s still grieving. Sometimes I think part of her died with him.”

“Oh.” Estelle dropped her stick guiltily. “Ig, that’s awful.”

“Well, it is for my mom.” Ignatius shrugged again, though there was something a little weird about it, like he was a body-snatching alien trying to act natural to fool everyone. “I mean, it’s not like I can miss someone I never met.”

Archie knew that wasn’t true, because he’d never met his own dad, and sometimes he pretended to be spending a real long time in the shower when actually he was staring at himself in the mirror, trying to subtract the parts that were like Mom and assemble the rest into a face he’d never seen. But that was a private kind of thing, and he wouldn’t have wanted to talk about it either. Still, it made him feel kind of better to know that he wasn’t the only one with those kinds of feelings.

He took a big breath, because a real alpha didn’t back down from difficult things, no matter how much you didn’t want to do them. “I’m sorry for being a jerk this summer. And I get it if you still don’t want to be friends with me anymore. But I really miss you guys.”

The other kids exchanged glances. Then Beth got to her feet. She faced him, squaring her shoulders. Archie braced himself for…well, he wasn’t sure what. Yelling, probably.

“I’m still upset you tried to get between my uncle and his mate.” Somewhat awkwardly, Beth stuck out her hand. “But I understand now why you were scared he might take her away. I accept your apology, and I’m sorry I didn’t try to see things from your perspective. Truce?”

With a surge of relief, Archie shook her hand. “Truce.”

That reminded him that there was someone else he owed an apology. Releasing Beth, he turned to Hetta.

“I’m really sorry I got you into trouble.” He wanted to tell her he’d keep her secret, but couldn’t figure out how to do so without the other kids figuring out there was a secret. “It won’t happen again. I promise.”

“It’s okay.” Hetta dropped her head, glancing shyly at the other kids. “I know I haven’t exactly been a model camper, either. But I’d like to be friends too.”

Rufus bumped his shoulder against her like an affectionate cat.

“Rufus says, of course we want to be friends,” Finley relayed, smiling. He hugged Hetta, then Archie as well. “I’m so happy we can all be a proper pack now.”

“Yeah! Group hug!” Nancy bounced up, and disappeared. A muffled “Whoops!” drifted back to them.

Ignatius rolled his eyes as Rufus went to help Nancy down from the roof of the woodshed. “Yes, yes, we’re all one big, happy family. Now can we please stop with all the touching displays of heartfelt affection? I’m starting to feel queasy.”

“We’ve still got kind of a problem though, haven’t we?” Estelle said. “I mean, I really want to put all this behind us and have fun for the rest of the summer. But what about Conleth and Paige?”

Archie had been trying hard not to think about that. He eyed Beth, and found her eying him back.

“They are mates, Archie,” Beth said—though not in the annoying, why-are-you-being-so-stupid way she’d done before. She almost sounded apologetic. “And she does really like him.”

You love your sister. You’d do anything for her. Even swallow your distaste and tolerate a smug, annoying jerk with stupid hair, if that was who she wanted.

Stupid Conleth. Why did he always have to be right.

He heaved a gigantic sigh. “Yeah. I know.”