Chapter 32
After dinner it was free time. Yes, campers that age needed plenty of structured time – mainly to keep them out of mischief – but they also needed time to relax and just hang out with each other, doing whatever they wanted. As long as they weren’t getting into trouble, of course. The kids were told they could go anywhere inside the camp boundaries, but they weren’t allowed in the water or on the dock or in the canoes. There was simply too much opportunity for someone to have an accident and get hurt or worse if no adult happened to be close at hand.
They were told to head back to their cabins when the bell rang, because they didn’t want anyone out after dark by themselves.
The campers scattered and the counselors did the same. They were all going to spend time watching their kids, though. Hanging out with them or just being in the area if they were needed. The open field was available to the campers to play football, or soccer, or to just run around and have fun chasing each other. So was the horse corral – although they couldn’t actually go into the enclosure with the animals; they could still stand at the fence and offer handfuls of grass as treats if the horses were willing to be pampered.
The gym was open, too, for basketball or anything else they wanted to play.
“What are you guys going to do?” Barnes asked the boys before they had a chance to run out of the cabin, released to the four directions.
“I’m going to go look at the horses,” Brian said.
“Me, too,” Carlos agreed, grinning. They hadn’t had a chance to ride, yet, but that didn’t mean they weren’t excited about them. “Maybe we can get some tips before we go out on them,” he added.
“That’d be cool…” Ned looked over at Peter, though, well aware that his friend was allergic to horses and wouldn’t be riding with them. “What do you want to do, Peter?”
“I’m going to go explore.”
“I’ll come with you,” Ned said. “Maybe we’ll see some wild animals. Like bears, or wolves, or something.”
Ross rolled his eyes over at his fellow counselor, and Bucky couldn’t help the smile.
“Let’s hope you’re limited to squirrels and birds,” he said, moving aside as the rest of the boys ran out, some heading right for the horses, but Morgan and Greg turning the other direction to head for the gym. He looked at Ross. “Horses? Or the water?”
The other counselor shrugged, knowing Barnes needed to be around Peter and still not certain which way the boy was planning on going. “Whichever you don’t want to do.”
Bucky hesitated, but this was one of those times when he needed to be counselor for more than just Peter. There were other SHIELD people around the camp, after all, and Peter was security conscious enough that he wasn’t going to run off into the forest and get lost – hopefully. He didn’t need Bucky hovering over him as he looked around.
“I’ll go south,” he told Ross, pointing vaguely toward the lake.
“Then I’ll take the horses. Meet back here with the bell.”
“Sounds good.”
Ross left and Barnes looked down at Ned and Peter, who were grinning up at him.
“You two stay out of trouble.”
Ned’s eyes widened in practiced innocence, as if shocked that anyone could think that he could get into trouble.
“We will.”
He and Peter took off like they were shot from a cannon (a cannon that fires little boys with short legs) and Barn tapped the watch that he was wearing.
“Does someone have eyes on Peter and Ned?”
“We’ve got them.”
Barnes closed the door behind him and headed for the gym to look for his kids.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
“You need to find somewhere else to be,” Strange said, scowling at the cloak that was floating in front of him. “Somewhere that doesn’t have a lot of little kids running around.”
The thing ignored him, of course. It normally did. At the mention of kids – almost as if on cue – there was a shout and a lot of laughter from outside the little doctor’s cabin, and the cloak swept over to the window to look out at the kids that were running by.
“They’re on free time,” he told the thing. “So they’re going to be all over the place. Go back to the sanctum.”
The ancient relic ignored that, too, and went to the door, rattling the handle as it jimmied the thing to go out and apparently get a better look. Since it was more than capable of opening doors at the sanctum, and a cabin out in the woods would be even easier, Strange muttered a curse and waved his hand, invoking an invisibility spell on the cloak, rather than trying to contain it.
“Fine, go look. Just don’t touch anything – or anyone.”
He could see the cloak but now no one else would be able to. He hesitated on the porch, wondering how to follow its progress without looking ridiculous while doing it and making a lot of people think he was crazy. Finally, he stayed on the porch, pretending to watch the kids running around, but in all reality watching as an oversized piece of stubborn fabric floated around, following one and then the other as they ran around. At least it wasn’t touching them – which would definitely make things awkward.
“Community service is stupid…” he grumbled, unable to think of anything better to say.
Which was saying something, considering how intelligent he was, after all.
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
Where should we go?” Peter asked, even though they were already running somewhat down the hill.
“Let’s go look in the woods.” Ned turned toward the right. The woods weren’t all that dense, and they were very much within the camp’s area, so not off limits. Despite talking about bears and wolves, there wasn’t anything in these trees that was a threat to anything, or anyone. “One of the older kids said that it’s haunted.”
Peter frowned at that, slowing his run.
“Haunted?”
“Yeah.” Ned slowed down, too. Not because he was nervous or anything, but because running and talking isn’t all that fun. “I guess some guys in the olden days had a camp here – only it was for older kids, like high school kids. There was one of them that everyone picked on, so he finally got mad and chopped the rest of them up with a machete.”
Now Peter stopped.
“No way.”
Ned shrugged, stopping, too.
“That’s what he said.”
“It sounds like one of those horror movies…”
“Maybe that’s where they get the ideas for the movies from?” Ned suggested.
“Maybe.” Peter frowned, again, this time speculatively. He wasn’t a timid kid, though, and certainly wasn’t afraid of ghosts. “Let's go see if we can see one.”
“One what?”
“A ghost.”
Now Ned frowned, too.
“Seriously?”
“Sure. Why not? They can’t chop us up, right; they’re ghosts.”
“True.”
The boys grinned and continued heading into the trees, watching around them, closely.
A ghost hunt was exciting, after all. Especially without adults around them.
OOOOOOOOOOO
“We might have a problem…”
Tony frowned, looking up from his tablet. He and Pepper had had an early dinner and were relaxing in the living room. She was going through some emails and checking financial reports from the earlier markets, and Tony was debating the best way to design the nanobots in his new suit to stay where they were supposed to go, rather than running amok. When JARVIS spoke up, though, he knew it wasn’t about the newest suit.
“What’s up?”
“I’ve found a social media post that mentions Peter being at Wood Leaf.”
“What?” Pepper frowned. “How? From where?”
“The Facebook page of Nancy Cooper,” came the reply. A display showed the driver’s license of the woman mentioned.
“I don’t know her,” Pepper said before Tony could.
He shook his head, too.
“Her son is Greg Cooper,” JARVIS said. “One of Peter’s cabin mates at camp.”
“How would he let his mom know who Peter is?” Pepper asked, curiously. “I thought an agreement was made that the kids were going to keep Peter’s identity a secret so they could meet you when camp is over.”
“Thar’s my understanding,” he agreed. “Besides, there’s no way the kid could have told anyone. JARVIS is monitoring all electronic communications in and out of camp while Peter’s there…”
A little extreme, perhaps, but Tony was cautious, and JARVIS was overly protective.
“Then how…” he voice trailed off as her gaze fell on the letter from camp that they’d brought home with them. The one Peter had written to them which had been hand delivered by the camp rather than mailed. “Maybe he told them in his letter home from camp?” she suggested. “He might have thought it wasn’t going to get there until next week, so he might not have even thought it was breaking their deal…”
“Shit.” Tony nodded. “That’s a good guess.”
“The post mentions Peter Stark being at summer camp with her son,” JARVIS told them. “It’s more of an update to her friends about her son, but it does mention Peter.”
“What do the replies say?”
“There are only a couple of reactions,” JARVIS responded. “It was posted 30 seconds ago.”
“Pull it down,” Tony said. “And watch for any others – from any other parents or grandparents, or anyone else one of Peter’s cabinmates might have sent a letter to.”
“Will do.”
“Are we worried?” Pepper asked.
Tony shrugged.
Probably not. But I’ll let nick know. He can decide what to do.”
“We’re not making Peter come home.”
“I know, Pep.”