Paige gave him a skeptical look. “How can you be so sure?”
“Partly because he wouldn’t have put a skunk underyourbed.” He raised his eyebrows at her, his pegasus sense tracking two small, hangdog figures trudging in their direction. “But mostly because it seems the actual culprits have come to confess.”
CHAPTER 25
Paige looked between Estelle and Beth in consternation. “Youput 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.”
“Iwanted 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 dosomething.”
“We were trying to give him a chance to be heroic,” Estelle explained. “We sent him after you, so that he could swoop in tosave 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 wassupposedto 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.”
