Chapter 31

"Awhat?" Paige asked, her jaw hanging open and her eyes wide.

Dewey offered her a confused glance. "Why are you acting like you've never seen a dragon before?"

"I'm not. I'm… It's not that. Are we talking about like a…you know…a…" Paige stumbled around, trying to carefully choose her words.

"I don't know what you're saying."

"A dragon dragon."

"What does that even mean?"

Paige leaned closer to him, lowering her voice. "Like a big dragon."

Dewey's features turned stony, and he crossed his arms. "Oh, I see. You mean is it a regular-sized dragon, not a pip-squeak like me."

"Not what I said."

"You didn't have to say it. I know what you meant. And to answer your question, I don't know. This cave is big enough to fit a full-sized dragon, but…"

"But what?"

"It didn't sound full-sized. Sounds smaller. Not as small as me. I'm teeny. Maybe a dwarf dragon, not a teacup."

Paige winced, trying to determine the direction from which the noise came. "How big is a dwarf?"

"Mmm, about four times my size."

"So, like big dog-sized?"

Dewey stared over at Paige. "Yeah, probably."

"Great," Paige growled. "That's perfect. Creepy little pixies and now a dwarf dragon that's the size of a big dog."

"I'll take on the pixies. You take on the dragon."

"Are you crazy? I can't take on a dragon."

"You should have kept that sword from the fairy tale."

Paige pressed her lips together, shooting Dewey an unimpressed stare.

"Anyway, I think we should go this way," Dewey said, jabbing a finger at the fork on the left.

"Why?"

‘Two reasons. There is heat wafting from this tunnel, which means it's likely leading farther into the heart of the cave."

Paige bobbed her head up and down, taking a step toward the fork.

"And second, this is the direction the screech came from."

She stopped mid-stride. "What? Then we should not go this way."

"We should definitely go this way. The dwarf is probably down there stealing the wand right now."

"Oh, wonderful. Maybe the wand is that way, and the dwarf is down there screaming because he went the wrong way."

"Doubt it," Dewey said, "but if you want to make it harder, we can go that way."

Paige held up her hands in defeat. "No, fine. We'll go this way. We really need to start bringing weapons with us on these trips."

"Next time, we'll bring Excalibur," Dewey said as he flew down the tunnel next to Paige.

"We have Excalibur in the archives?"

"No, the Grand Archive does. But after we pull this off, we'll have access to anything we want!"

"If we pull this off," Paige murmured.

Dewey patted her shoulder. "Think positive, Paige."

Paige refrained from answering as they wound deeper into the cave. The heat continued to rise. Paige tugged off her sweatshirt and tied it around her waist. Sweat rolled down her back, pooling at the small of it. Her tank top stuck to her skin, soaked through.

"How much farther?" she said, beginning to feel weak from the heat.

The passage they traversed widened, spilling into a larger chamber. Intense red light glowed from within.

They stepped inside, scanning the chamber. Thick red lava flowed through the center, splitting the cavern in half. It bubbled up into the air, and flames shot to the ceiling from each burst.

"Wow, no wonder they call it the Mouth of Hell," Paige murmured.

Stalactites and stalagmites poked from the ceiling and floor. A large teal tail with a purple leaf-life structure wrapped around one. A teal dragon, purple stripes painting his back, slinked around the large stone structure on all fours, his almond-shaped eyes narrowed at them. His purple horns wiggled in the air as his ears pressed back against his angular head.

Dewey's muscles stiffened, and his eyes widened. His jaw tightened as his paws curled into fists. "Thorn!"

"Hello, Dewey," the German Shepherd-sized dragon purred in a British accent.

"You know each other?" Paige asked.

Thorn lifted a front paw, revealing his razor-sharp claws. "Of course."

Dewey's nose wrinkled as he stared at him with disdain. "We went to school together. But only one of us learned to serve the greater good."

"One of us couldn't handle being bad. We were too…little." He offered a derisive chuckle, hiding his massive fangs with his tealish-purple foot.

Dewey jabbed a claw toward the larger dragon. "I'm perfectly capable of making a contribution." He raised his chin. "I'm a librarian!"

"A librarian?" Thorn said, his voice mocking. "Oh, how interesting. I'm certain you have loads of fun cataloging. And I imagine the library is committed to being handicapped accessible."

"I'm not handicapped," Dewey shouted. "I'm vertically challenged!"

"Right," Thorn said, his tail swishing.

Paige's eyes flicked back and forth as she watched the exchange. She pressed her palms against her sweaty head. "Wait. I'm confused. Are you working for the pixies?"

Thorn offered a hearty laugh, stalking across the chamber. "Certainly not."

"So, why are you here?"

"For the wand, of course. Oh, I may have promised the wand to the little creatures in return for the information they had about the location, but I have no intention of giving it to them."

Paige studied the dragon. "Do you have the wand?"

"Not yet, but it's only a matter of time."

"I don't think so, buster," Paige growled at him, stamping a foot on the ground and curling her hands into fists.

Thorn ceased his pacing, staring at Paige before he snapped his eyes to Dewey. "Is she serious?"

"Real smooth, Paige. Try to keep it together, huh?" Dewey whispered.

"I'm trying my best here, but I don't understand why he's just pacing around the chamber. Where is the stupid wand?"

A woman emerged from an opening two-thirds of the way up the far wall. She stood for a moment, her leg thrust out to one side, her hands on her hips, before she leapt from the hole, slid down the wall, and landed in a crouch on the floor.

She rose to stand, dusting off her hands on her ultra-short khaki shorts.

"Drucinda," Dewey grumbled.

"Who?" Paige said, shaking her head as the woman whipped her long, dark hair up into a sleek ponytail.

She set her dark eyes on Paige as her perfectly shaped lips curled at the edges into a devilish smile.

"Drucinda Sharpe, darling," she said in a rich, smooth tone. She swiped a finger across her flawless complexion. "Perhaps you've heard of me?"

"Uh, sorry," Paige said, drawing her chin back to her chest as she shoved her glasses farther up her nose, slick with sweat.

For the first time since the woman appeared, Paige noticed she didn't appear to be sweating.

"Well, you will have. After I rule the world with this." Her dark, perfectly shaped eyebrow arched high as she pulled the wand from within her form-fitting tank top.

She leaned a hand against Thorn's back as she waved the tan stone wand in the air.

"Wonderful job, Dru," Thorn snarled.

"Oh, please, darling, I couldn't have done it without you," she said, her fingers wiggling across his head.

"Well," Thorn said, his eyes narrowing at Dewey and Paige, "it's been lovely chatting, but we really should be going."

Paige spread her legs into a wide stance, crinkling her nose at them. "I don't think so."

Drucinda raised her eyebrows and shot Paige an amused glance. "Really? And who is planning to stop us?" She slid her gaze around the cave before her eyes settled on Paige, and she casually pointed a finger at her. "You?"

"That's right. Me and my partner, Dewey. We're not letting you out of here with that!"

Drucinda's lips curled into a smile, and she lowered her chin as she stared narrow-eyed at Paige. "We'll see. Let's play."

She crouched in a defensive position, wiggling her fingers to encourage Paige to approach. "If you want it, come and get it."

"Paige, this is probably a terrible idea. There's no way you can–"

"I'm not letting her out of here with that wand," Paige interrupted. "Just…distract the dragon."

"Distract the… Paige," Dewey shouted as Paige crept toward Drucinda.

"Come on, Strawberry Shortcake," the woman taunted. "Make a play."

Paige bit her lower lip, wavering back and forth on her feet as she considered the best way to retrieve the wand. Should she try to grab it or tackle the woman and hope she dropped it?

Drucinda pressed something at the end of the wand. It began to turn see-through, its bluish center morphing to purple.

"Uh-oh," Paige said.

"Look out, Paige," Dewey called as he circled around Thorn. "She's activating the wand!"

The interior turned red, and Drucinda pointed it at Paige's feet. A white-red beam shot out of the tip. Paige danced backward, and the beam smashed into the ground, charring it.

"Damn," Drucinda hissed, her lips forming a disappointed frown.

Paige stared at the smoke rising from the ground in disbelief. She tightened her jaw and snapped her gaze at Drucinda before she let out a shriek and rushed toward her.

The woman leapt sideways, placing one foot on a stalagmite and using it to push off and climb higher before somersaulting through the air and landing behind Paige.

Paige spun to face her, her jaw gaping. "Seriously?"

Drucinda smoothed her shorts down over her tanned and toned thighs with a smirk before she flicked her sleek brown hair over her shoulder. "Ready to give up yet?"

"Never," Paige growled, racing toward her again.

She made it halfway to the woman, who braced herself for the impact, when suddenly, a teal blur smacked into her and knocked her onto her side.

She rolled across the floor and banged into the cave's wall. She groaned as she glanced around while trying to pick herself up.

Dewey dive-bombed the larger dragon, teeth bared as he clawed and bit Thorn's back.

Drucinda narrowed her eyes at the tiny dragon, activating the wand again and pointing it at Dewey.

"Oh, no you don't," Paige murmured as she struggled to push herself to her feet.

She barreled on unsteady legs toward an unsuspecting Drucinda and smashed into the woman, knocking her onto her side. Her arm flailed, the wand pointing up toward the ceiling as it discharged, striking the base of a smaller stalactite and cracking it. The stone wobbled for a moment before plunging to the floor below, nearly striking Thorn's tail.

Paige and Drucinda rolled in a tumble of arms and legs, hitting a stalagmite as they continued to struggle.

"Give me that wand," Paige said through clenched teeth.

"Never," Drucinda shouted back as she struggled against Paige.

Dewey buzzed by them, trying to tug the wand from her hand.

"Thorn! Might you handle the tiny terror?" Drucinda called.

"My pleasure," he snarled, stalking toward them before leaping into the air and flying after Dewey.

"Look out," Paige shouted seconds before Drucinda landed a slap across her cheek, knocking her sideways.

Dewey fluttered as quickly as he could with the larger dragon hot on his tail. Paige scrambled to her feet, but Drucinda swept her leg at Paige's ankles, knocking her over again.

She landed in a heap, a stalagmite scraping her cheek as she fell. She grasped at her stinging skin tinged with crimson blood.

Drucinda focused her attention on double-teaming Dewey, trying to activate the wand again as a weary Paige pushed herself to her feet.

With her hair sticking out wildly from her ponytail and dirt and blood staining her cheeks, she stormed toward the other woman and grabbed her by the ponytail, dragging her backward.

"Give me that wand."

"Thorn!" Drucinda shouted.

The larger dragon whipped around, abandoning his pursuit of Dewey and barreling toward Paige.

A high-pitched squeal suddenly shot through the air. Paige squeezed her eyes closed as the noise threatened to make her ears bleed. Thorn stopped flying abruptly, his ears flattening while he struggled to hover in the air.

Dewey squashed his paws over his ears, and Drucinda clapped her hands over hers.

"I'm glad I got your attention," a tiny voice shouted after dropping a teeny whistle from her mouth.

All eyes turned to the contingent of Shrieking Pixies buzzing at the entrance to the cavern. Surrounded by two archers on either side of her, the tiny pixie flitted farther into the chamber, poking a black nail at Drucinda.

"Give me that wand," the pixie demanded.

Paige backed away from the woman, pressing herself against a wall next to Dewey.

"Uh-oh," Dewey whispered.

"This may work to our advantage," Paige noted. "And look, two of the pixies in the back are carrying that piece of Holigramium."

Dewey craned his neck, staring at the group of them. "I see it."

"If we get the chance, grab either of them."

Dewey held his hand over his mouth as he spoke. "If we get both, run."

Paige nodded as they continued watching the exchange between the pixies and their rivals.

"I don't think so," Drucinda answered when Thorn landed and slinked next to her. She waved the wand in the air while she studied the pixie. "I quite like it. I think I'll keep it."

"No, you won't. You promised it to us. We've already paid you for it!"

"Yes, you have," Drucinda said, cocking a hip and drawing more attention to her shapely body. "A pity it's in untraceable cryptocurrency. I think I shall keep that, too."

"The wand's useless to you without the crystal or the Holigramium," the pixie continued.

"Not really," Drucinda said, her eyebrows rising. "I could destroy you one by one with it."

The smile faded from her lips as she activated the wand and pointed it at the lead pixie.

The tiny creature raised her long arms, baring her sharp, pointed teeth as she shouted, "ATTACK!"