“You promised you wouldn’t get distracted, and you did.” Hetta retreated from the start of the obstacle course. “I’m not taking any chances.”
“Hetta, I willpayyou to walk across this log,” Conleth said recklessly. “I will literally buy you a pony. Two ponies. Any color you want.”
“Nuh-uh.” Hetta turned her back on him, marching away. “I don’t want to go on the obstacle course, and you can’t make me. I’m not doing it.”
This was possibly just as well, as there was a horse ranch just down the road from the camp, and Conleth had not been joking. It had taken him a solid twenty minutes to convince Hetta to even approach the obstacle course. The prospect of having to start all over made him want to crawl under the log and stay there.
“CONLEEEEEEEEEETHHHHHH!”
He counted to five. Then he turned.
“Yes, Archie?” he said, as patiently as he could manage.
From on top of the monkey bars, Archie waved a socked foot at him. “I lost my shoe again.”
“Archie, stop bothering Conleth,” Paige called from the other end of the course, where she was supervising the rest of the kids. “You can climb down and get your own shoe.”
“I didn’t drop it here.” With a triumphant smirk, Archie pointed at the previous obstacle—a knotted rope swing over a wide, muddy trench. “I dropped itthere.”
Conleth contemplated the solitary sneaker, half sunk in the center of the mud. It was, he noted, just slightlyout of reach from any edge. “Of course you did.”
“I’ll get it, Uncle Conleth,” Beth volunteered. She started to make her way back down the climbing wall. “I don’t mind.”
“That’s all right, Beth.” Conleth went over to the swing obstacle. “I’ll do it.”
“But…” Beth threw a worried glance at Paige. “You’ll get all dirty.”
Conleth boosted himself up onto one of the platforms. “No, I won’t.”
He took up the rope, wrapping the end around his calf. It wasn’t quite the right equipment, and it had been a while since he’d done this, but he should still have the knack…
Gripping the rope with one hand, he kicked off from the platform. Everything slowed to a crawl as he drew on his power. He had all the time in the world to judge his approach, flip upside down, and snag the lost shoe.
Pulling himself back upright, he reined in his pegasus. Time sped back up. He landed neatly on the far platform, let go of the rope, and turned to find everyone goggling at him.
…Perhaps I should have done that more slowly.
Conleth mentally kicked himself. He could have made that lookmuchmore impressive.
Well, no doubt he would have another opportunity before too long. He tossed the sneaker over to Archie. “Your shoe. Again. Perhaps you should try double-knotting the laces this time.”
Estelle was still staring at him as though he’d started levitating and speaking in tongues. “I thought you only did paperwork.”
“One of my brothers has a boundless passion for exotic new hobbies, which he always starts with enormous enthusiasm and inevitably abandons after two sessions.” He ran a hand through his hair, smoothing it back down. “I’ve thus been dragged along to a lot of different activity courses over the years. Including, in this case, aerial silks.”
Nancy also looked deeply impressed. “Can you teach us how to do that?”
If she was dangling from the ceiling, at least she wouldn’t be able to leap anywhere. “If you like. We already have crash mats, and I can order proper equipment to set up in the sports hall. I’ll warn you that you’ll have to put in some work, though. It takes practice to be able to do that sort of advanced trick.”
Finley frowned. “I thought you said you only did a couple of lessons.”
“I said my brother got bored and gave up.” Conleth tugged his shirt straight. “I believe that if you’re going to do something, there’s no point doing so half-heartedly. Which is why I can also ride a unicycle, make a variety of French pastries from scratch, chisel a perfect dovetail joint, and wield nunchucks. And in anticipation of your next question, no, I’m not teaching you that last one.”
“All right, everyone, time to get going again.” Paige clapped her hands, putting an end to the discussion. “We haven’t got that much longer on the obstacle course. Like Conleth said, let’s do our best.”
The kids went back to scrambling, climbing, and covering themselves in filth. Or at least, most of them did. Hetta had parked herself on a bench at the side of the course, with the air of a girl who did not intend to move for any reason short of an incoming meteor strike.
Conleth let out a sigh. Hetta was hardly going to be willing to confess her secret if she didn’t even trust him to hold her hand across a log. There had to besomeway to persuade her to take part in camp activities.
