Paige came over while he was still trying to come up with an angle he hadn’t already tried. “No luck with Hetta?”
“I offered to buy her a pony. She didn’t take me up on it.” He massaged his forehead. “Do you think she’d like a pet squirrel?”
“I’m certain her dad would be less enthusiastic.” Paige gave him a curious look. “Can you really ride a unicycle?”
“Yes, though I can’t say it’s a skill that’s ever come in handy.” He kept an eye on the kids, just in case anyone started to get too ambitious on the obstacles. “I’m beginning to wish I’d let my brother talk me into that hypnotism course instead. Or possibly cattle-roping.”
Paige made an amused sound. “I’m pretty sure we’re not allowed to lasso the children.”
“I can get Zephyr to change the rules. He always says he owes me for helping him to get this business off the ground.”
Paige shook her head, but a smile tugged at a corner of her mouth. Conleth’s day improved immeasurably.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Archie, staring hard in their direction. Paige must have noticed too, because her smile vanished. She edged a little further away.
“It’s nearly the end of the session,” she said, rather more stiffly. “I’ll get Archie and Hetta. You’d better stay close to Nancy.”
Sure enough, the camp bell rang a few minutes later. Conleth, ready for this, lunged for Nancy. This meant that instead of launching herself into the air, she merely cracked him under the chin with the top of her head.
“Thanks, Conleth!” Nancy took off her crash helmet. “Good thing you made me wear all this safety gear.”
“Yes,” Conleth said indistinctly, hands clamped to his throbbing jaw. “That was definitely one of my better ideas.”
By the time Nancy had wriggled out of her layers of protective padding and he’d satisfied himself that he still had all his teeth, Paige had rounded up the rest of their pack. Hetta trailed behind the others.
“That was fun!” Beth announced, too loudly. “Wasn’t that fun, everyone?”
“Yes, there’s nothing I enjoy more than pointlessly scrambling over random piles of wood that I could easily walk around,” Ignatius said, with almost as much withering sarcasm as Conleth could have managed himself. “I do hope our next activity will be equally thrilling.”
“What are we doing next, Conleth?” Finley asked.
Conleth consulted the itinerary Leonie had given him that morning. His heart sank further.
He folded the paper, tucking it back into his pocket. “A nature hike.”
Hetta’s eyes widened. So did Archie’s—though, Conleth suspected, for very different reasons.
“Oh, that does sound fun!” For once, there wasn’t anything forced about Beth’s enthusiasm. She’d always loved animals. “Can we go deep into the woods, away from the main trails? If we’re careful and quiet, we might be able to see mule deer, or cottontails, or?—”
“Worms,” Archie breathed. “Spiders.”
“Spiders?” Hetta squeaked.
“Slugs.” Archie sounded lost in some private, wondrous vision. “Big, fat, slimy slugs. And centipedes. Giant centipedes with a billion legs and poison pinchers.”
Hetta shrank back against Paige. “I’m not going anywhere with giant poisonous centipedes!”
“Don’t mind Archie, Hetta.” Paige put an arm around her, shooting her brother a warning look. “There aren’t any giant centipedes in the woods.”
“Oh yes, there are,” Archie assured her. “I’ll show you. I knowexactlywhere to find them.”
Conleth was starting to suspect that this hike was going to involve rather too much nature. For him personally, at least.
“Don’t worry, Hetta,” Beth said. She glared at Archie. “We won’t go near any bugs. And anyway, Conleth would protect us from anything dangerous.”
Hetta paled. “There are thingsmoredangerous than giant centipedes with poisonous pinchers in the woods?”
“Maybe we should go some other place,” Finley suggested. “Where the wildlife is less, uh, leggy.”
