Chapter 22
“H oney,” Estelle said tentatively. She stood in the doorway of Honey’s room, Flora at her side. Both girls looked uncharacteristically serious. “Can we talk to you?”
“Of course,” Honey replied. She set aside the laundry that she’d been sorting. “Please, come in. What’s on your mind?”
Privately, she suspected she knew. Ever since the swimming incident a few days ago, things had gone downhill with the pack.
If she’d harbored any faint hopes that the revelation of Ignatius’s secret would bring the kids together, it had been quickly dashed.
The boy had withdrawn completely, shutting them all out.
Whatever he was thinking, he kept it to himself.
And maybe I should be grateful for that.
Honey was uncomfortably aware that Ignatius was watching her. She’d done her best to go about the daily routine as if nothing was wrong… but she could feel his constant scrutiny like a weight hanging over her head.
The other kids might not know what was going on, but they’d clearly picked up on the oppressive atmosphere. Honey was glad the girls still felt able to approach her about it. At least some of the pack still trusted her as a counselor.
Estelle and Flora exchanged a quick, furtive glance. “It’s… kinda private,” Flora said. “Look, can we go somewhere else? We don’t want any of the girls from the other packs to overhear.”
So it was about Ignatius. Slipping on her shoes, Honey followed the girls outside. She started to turn toward the chairs on the porch, but Estelle caught her hand.
“Not here.” The girl tugged her down the stairs. “Someone might come out and overhear. This way. I know a good spot.”
A little bemused, Honey let the girls lead her away from the cabins. She’d somewhat expected them to head for the waterfront or the central part of the camp, but instead they made a bee-line for the woods.
“Girls,” Honey said, balking as they tried to draw her down one of the trails. “I don’t think—”
“ Please , Honey,” Flora said. She kept looking over her shoulder, as though she feared someone was following them. “It’s really important.”
“We won’t go too far,” Estelle added, tugging at Honey’s sleeve. “But we have to talk in here. There’s a reason, I swear. Just trust us, okay?”
Honey eyed the woods dubiously. The sky was still pink-blue with the last rays of sunset, but shadows under the trees were thickening fast. Still, there weren’t actually any camp rules against kids being in the woods after dark, as long as they were supervised.
In fact, most of the other counselors regularly took their packs out to shift in the moonlight.
Is that what this is about? she wondered. Perhaps they didn’t want to talk about Ignatius at all. She knew Flora and Estelle had listened enviously to the other girls’ tales of late-night escapades. If all they wanted was a little adventure, it couldn’t hurt to indulge them.
“Well… okay,” Honey said, letting them draw her into the woods. “But we have to be back in the cabin by lights-out, okay?”
Estelle flashed a Flora a brief, triumphant grin that Honey was pretty sure she hadn’t been supposed to see. “Nooooo problem. Come on. It’s just down here.”
Honey hadn’t been to this part of the woods before, but the girls seemed to know where they were going. At least, she hoped they did, since Honey was soon hopelessly muddled by the branching turns of the trail.
Just as she was about to tell Flora and Estelle that it was time to be getting back to the cabin, they stopped. Both girls swung round to confront her. In the moonlight, their faces were pale and solemn.
“Honey.” Estelle fixed her with wide, serious eyes. “We know your secret.”
If she’d been prepared, she could have pretended not to understand. Even if she hadn’t been able to hide the moment of aghast surprise, she still might have been able to recover; pretended it was bafflement, asked them what they meant.
Instead, completely blindsided, she did the worst thing she could have possibly done.
She blurted out, “Please don’t tell anyone!”
“Of course not!” Flora said indignantly, as though hurt Honey should even feel she had to ask. “You can trust us. We’ve all known for ages, and none of us have breathed a word .”
The world seemed to tilt under her feet. Not ‘neither’ of us. None of us.
“How many people know?” Honey managed to croak out.
“Don’t worry,” Estelle said reassuringly. “Just me and Flora and Beth and Rufus and Finley.”
“Don’t forget Claire,” Flora reminded the other girl.
“Oh right, and Claire.” Estelle hesitated, then added, more reluctantly, “Aaaaand… maybe Archie.”
Oh God. “Archie knows too?”
“We didn’t tell him!” Estelle protested. “He’s just always hanging around. You know Archie.”
“He might have figured it out on his own,” Flora said. “I mean, it’s been pretty obvious.”
Honey swallowed, wondering what had given her away. “It has?”
“Yeah.” Estelle patted her hand, as if Honey were a child in need of comfort. “It’s okay, you don’t have to feel embarrassed or anything. You can’t help it.”
“And we understand why you tried to keep it a secret,” Flora said earnestly.
“Well, I didn’t at first. I couldn’t figure out why you hadn’t just talked to him, or why he would make a big deal out of it.
But then Estelle and Beth explained things to me, and it made sense. I mean, we all know he has issues.”
Estelle squeezed Honey’s hand. “It must have been really hard for you, having to pretend everything’s okay. And we get why you’ve been trying to take it so slow. But it’s not working.”
“It’s not working hard ,” Flora put in. “If you don’t do something fast, it’s all gonna blow up in your face.”
“Right,” Estelle agreed. “We found out his plan, and you gotta move fast. That’s why we finally decided we had to talk to you.”
Oh God, oh God, oh God. Her mouth had gone bone dry. “So Ignatius knows?”
“Ignatius?” Flora shot her a funny look, like she hadn’t been expecting the question. “I don’t think so.”
“ We haven’t said anything to him,” Estelle said. “But I guess he’ll figure it out eventually. We did, after all. And it is pretty obvious.”
“Girls.” Honey crouched so that they were eye-to-eye—partly to emphasize the importance of her next words, but mostly because her knees were threatening to give way.
“You know that if an adult asks you to keep something a secret, you know you don’t have to agree, right?
And it’s okay to change your mind later and tell someone, even if you promised you wouldn’t? ”
Estelle and Flora both nodded solemnly.
“I need to ask you to keep this a secret for a little while longer.” Honey held up a hand as both girls opened their mouths.
“No, listen. If you feel uncomfortable about this in any way, now or later, I want you to talk it over with someone you trust. You can even go to Zephyr, if you feel that’s right. Just not Ignatius, okay?”
“Honeeeeeey!” Estelle rolled her eyes. “Of course we’re not going to tell Ignatius! Like we’d tell that jerk anything. ”
“ And we’re not going to tell Zephyr, either.” Flora frowned, then added, “Though… I think he might already suspect. And a lot of other people, too. Sorry, but you really aren’t that sneaky.”
“But it’s okay.” Estelle grinned at Honey, her whole face lighting up in sudden glee. “We are. And we have a plan.”
Flora took Honey’s other arm, so that she was trapped between the two girls. They both beamed up at her.
“We,” Flora said, “are going to help you catch Buck.”