“No,” he replied calmly. “I know I’m smart. And I think you’re smart, too. I believe I’m about to be proved right.”
Leonie’s whistle blew, cutting off any further conversation. “The buses are here! Counselors, brace for impact!”
“We’ve got to get to work, Archie,” Paige said as a clatter of approaching feet and excited voices came from the direction of the parking lot. “You’d better go find your own counselors.”
He didn’t move.
“Archie!” Paige hastily fixed a smile on her face as campers started to stream into the square. “This is not the time to make a scene! Get out of here, or so help me?—”
“Hi!” A beaming, solidly built girl with an overstuffed backpack bounced up to them. “I’m Nancy! You must be my counselors!”
Paige blinked at the girl, taken aback. She’d expected to be assigned a group of young teenagers, but Nancy couldn’t have been any older than Archie.
“I think you might have made a mistake,” she said. “Are you sure you have the right number?”
“The lady with the clipboard said I was in pack five.” Nancy pointed at the large ‘5’ sign tacked to the railing next to Conleth. “You’re the counselors for pack five, aren’t you?”
“Yes, but—” Paige looked at Conleth for support. “I thought we were meant to be assigned to the oldest group.”
Conleth, for his part, seemed totally unsurprised by their unexpectedly young camper. “It seems there was a last-minute change of plan. And anticipating your next accusation—no, this wasn’tmydoing.”
Nancy, meanwhile, had turned her attention away from the boring adults to the much more interesting Archie. “Oh, hey there! Are you in pack five, too?”
“No, he’s not,” Paige said. “He’s just?—”
“Yes,” Archie interrupted, still glaring at Conleth. “I am.”
“Archie!” Noticing that Nancy was watching, Paige did her best to smile, as though this was all some sort of joke. “Enough. Go find your counselors right now.”
“He has.” Conleth looked across at a slight, nervous-looking girl who had sidled up to their small group. “Hello, there. Are you looking for pack five?”
Finding herself the center of attention, the girl froze. She gulped, then nodded.
“That’s us.” Conleth gave her a warm, reassuring smile, all effortless charm. “I’m Conleth, one of the counselors here. What’s your name?”
The girl’s eyes swiveled from side to side as though in search of escape. In the tiniest of voices, she mumbled, “Hetta.”
“Hello, Hetta.” Conleth waved a hand around the group. “Allow me to introduce you to everyone. The beautiful woman currently looking somewhat confused is Paige, my…co-counselor. We’re still waiting for all our campers to show up, butso far we have Nancy here, and of course Archie. I’m sure you’ll all soon be firm friends.”
“No, they won’t!” Paige yelped. “This can’t be right. There’s been some kind of mistake!”
Nancy eyed her dubiously. “Uh, not to be rude, lady, but are you sureyou’rein the right place?”
“Hang on a second.” Paige seized Conleth’s arm, dragging him a little way from the kids. “Conleth, you’ve gone too far this time. You can’t put Archie in our pack!”
“I didn’t,” he replied calmly. “He came up with this all on his own. I’m impressed, actually. I’d expected to have to drop some subtle hints that he should go to Leonie and ask her to rearrange the pack assignments.”
“Youwantedhim to do this?”
“Of course.” He raised his eyebrows, as though this should have been obvious. “I told you I had a plan. If Archie is in our pack, he won’t have to worry about what we might be doing together while he’s busy with camp activities. He can keep an eye on me all summer.”
There was a certain logic to that, she had to concede. “But what about his shifting? He’s supposed to learn from his counselors. I certainly can’t teach him. And he’s not going to listen to you.”
“The camp offers plenty of opportunities to learn from subject experts as well as pack counselors. I already have a mentor in mind for him.” He opened his hands, palm-up. “I’ve thought this through, Paige. I admit it’s not a perfect solution, at least from my perspective. But it’s a solution.”
Damn it, she didn’t want to admit he was right. “You could have told me all this before.”
“I really couldn’t. If Archie had thought we were working together, he would have been even more suspicious. He wouldnever have put himself in our pack. He had to believe you were furious with me.”
