“We didn’t want you to worry, that’s all.” She sighed, resting her cheek on his hair. “Seems I didn’t do a very good job at that.”
“Paige?” She hadn’t heard him sound so small and scared since he’d been a toddler, afraid of monsters in his closet. “Is it my fault Mom’s sick?”
“No.” She drew back far enough that he could see her face, hoping he could read the conviction there. “It’s not your fault, Archie. Never think that, not for a second. Her brain doesn’t make enough of the right chemicals to keep her emotions in balance, that’s all.”
Archie fidgeted. “But worrying about me makes it worse, doesn’t it.”
She hesitated, not wanting to lie to him. “It’s true that Mom sometimes finds it hard to cope with stress. But that doesn’t make it your responsibility to manage. The last thing she’d want is for you to worry about how things might affect her.”
“Youdo.”
She floundered for a moment, unable to deny it. “Well, yes. But that’s different.”
From the dubious look Archie gave her, he was not convinced. “How?”
“You’re still a kid. You’re not supposed to be worrying about grown-ups.” She gave her brother a last hug before releasing him. “Besides, I’m your big sister. It’s my job to be the boring, responsible one.”
Archie peeled another piece of bark off the log. “I know how much you do to help Mom. That’s why I was scared when youfound your mate. I thought you’d leave home, and then she’d only have me.”
“Of course not,” she said firmly. “I’m always going to be there for you and Mom, no matter what. Nothing could ever change that.”
“Do you…” Archie stalled, mouth closing for a moment. Evidently changing his mind about whatever he’d been about to say, he asked, “Am I really allowed to stay at camp? Even though I broke the most important rule?”
“Well, it’s a special case. It wouldn’t be great for other kids to have to adjust to a new counselor at this point, and I really would have to go home too if they expelled you.”
“I kinda wish wecouldgo home,” Archie muttered, crumbling the piece of bark into fragments. “The rest of the summer is gonna suck. The other kids all hate me now.”
“They’re your friends. They have good reason to be upset, but I’m sure they’ll forgive you, as long as you prove to them you’re genuinely sorry.”
Archie’s forehead furrowed. “How?”
“I think we’ve both been keeping secrets for too long.” She took Archie’s hand. “Maybe you should try telling your friends the truth.”
CHAPTER 29
“But 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 normallywouldbe 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’sdumb.” 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 uncleisa 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.”
