Chapter 32

The cave erupted into chaos as a flurry of pixies buzzed around it. Tiny arrows sailed through the air in every direction.

Drucinda tucked into a ball and somersaulted away before springing back up to her feet. She stashed the wand in a cargo pocket of her tiny shorts. It poked from the top, too large to fit inside. She dug in the other pocket and tugged a tiny gun from it.

She pointed it at a pixie and pulled the trigger. A minuscule ray shot out, missing its target, pinging off the rock, and bouncing around before it died out.

"What the hell is that?" Paige asked.

"A matom gun."

"What?"

"Mini-atom gun. Could kill the pixies," Dewey explained as he watched the chaos, "but it won't hurt us."

"Look!" Paige said, thrusting a finger toward a corner of the cave. "They dropped the Holigramium."

"Yeah," Dewey exclaimed. "And Thorn's going for it. I'll get it. Try to get the wand."

Paige nodded as Dewey buzzed away, threading his way through the murder of pixies and weaving around the stone beams jutting from the floor and ceiling in an attempt to reach the gem first.

Thorn thundered across the floor, pelted by arrows from the pixies. They glanced off his thick skin, though he kept his wings tucked tightly against his back so they could not be jabbed by the poison darts.

Dewey took advantage of the focus on his nemesis, chancing a flight toward the gem.

He reached it first, diving down to snatch it from the floor. Thorn narrowed his blue-purple eyes at Dewey before he reared up onto his hind legs.

"The midget has the Holigramium," he bellowed.

A small group of pixies turned their attention to Dewey. They eyed him holding the gem before their mouths opened, and an aggravating bleat sounded as they shrieked and dove toward him.

"Go, Dewey," Paige shouted from across the room.

Dewey glanced at her, eyes wide. She waved him on.

"I'm right behind you," she promised.

Dewey nodded, zipping across the space as he weaved through the pandemonium in the cave. Paige darted from her hiding spot behind a stalagmite and hurried toward Drucinda who continued to fire the matom gun wildly.

Black blood burst from one of the pixies as a ray sliced at his leg. Another pixie raced to his aid.

Paige slinked behind the woman, her eyes on the tip of the wand poking from her pocket. With her heart pounding and blood rushing into her ears, she tiptoed forward and snatched the wand before she covered her head and raced toward the entrance.

"Hey," Drucinda shouted behind her.

A sting pinched Paige's back, followed by another and another and another. She winced as she glanced behind her, wondering if she'd pass out soon from pixie darts.

Drucinda aimed the matom gun at her, her finger tugging the trigger back over and over. "She has the wand! Get her!"

Paige continued to race toward the entrance, swatting away pixies and covering as much of her skin as possible from the darts now flying toward her.

Dewey appeared at the opening, waving her on. "Use the wand!"

Paige's eyes went wide, and she nodded as she searched for the activation button. She swiped her fingertip across the pad, and the wand lit.

"Aim at the stalactite," Dewey said.

Paige poked the wand toward the large structure, zapping it. It cracked but did not fall. She quickly reactivated it and shot the base again. The crack splintered farther, threatening to fall as she ducked around it.

With one last shot over her shoulder, the large rock structure broke free and crashed to the floor. The massive pile of rock cut off most of the opening leading from the cave, leaving only a tiny glowing red slit at the top.

A few pixies buzzed through.

Paige whirled to face them, pointing the wand in their direction. "Move and I shoot."

They skidded to a halt midair, their long arms shooting up over their heads.

"Stay back," Paige warned as she backed away from them.

She shot another stalactite from the ceiling, trapping the pixies behind it before she and Dewey turned and fled from the cave.

They followed their path back to the main entrance, bursting from the cave into the cool night air.

Paige sucked in deep breaths as she doubled over, leaning on her thighs.

"Wow, that was crazy," Dewey said between gasps.

"Yeah," Paige agreed, her lips curling at the edges as she raised her eyes to his. "But we got it!"

She waved the wand in the air with a chuckle.

"Hey, watch where you're putting that thing."

"Oh, sorry," Paige said, lowering it to point at the ground.

Dewey spun in a circle as he searched the area. "I hate to ruin our triumphant moment, but I doubt that block is going to hold them back for long."

"I agree," Paige said.

"And we're hours from the airstrip. We'd better get a move on if we plan to hike to the evac zone."

"I've got a better idea."

Dewey flicked his eyebrows up as Paige dangled a key fob in the air. "These came out of Drucinda's pocket when I grabbed the wand. I'd bet there's a vehicle of some kind around here."

Paige pressed the red button on the key fob. In the distance, a horn blared.

Dewey grinned at her. "Paige, you are the best librarian ever. Now, let's get back to Shadow Harbor and throw it in the Grand Archive's face!"

* * *

Paige descended the stairs with Dewey perched on her shoulder. The wand, Holigramium, and Crystal of Increased Energy rattled around in the carrier that dangled from her arm.

She grinned at Ronnie who waited below in the hangar, flanked by two armed guards prepared to transport the precious cargo back to the archive.

The corners of Ronnie's lips turned up, and she waved her hands at her sides. "You did it. I can't believe it, but you did it."

"You didn't actually think we'd fail, did you?" Dewey asked.

"Of course not," Ronnie said, shooting Paige a knowing glance. "I hired the right people for the job."

Paige handed the carrier off to the two security guards who loaded the items into special containers before placing them in the back of an armored truck.

"Heading home?" Ronnie inquired as the truck pulled out on its way to the library.

"Nah, I think I'll head back to the library with Dewey. He wants to run a few blood tests to be sure that antidote cured me entirely."

"Well, you certainly look better than the last time I saw you."

"No more purple," Paige exclaimed with a giggle.

"No, just a few scrapes and bruises. You should have those looked at."

"I will," Paige promised. "But for now, I'd just like to see Dickens, stretch out on my air mattress, and hang out with my best friend."

Dewey lifted a paw, and they high-fived.

Ronnie motioned to her SUV outside the hangar. "I can offer you a lift. I'm headed back that way."

"Great, thanks so much."

They climbed into the car with Dewey settling behind the tinted windows in the back seat.

"Hey, Ronnie," he called as she buckled in before firing the engine, "did Paige tell you that Drucinda and Thorn are prowling around again?"

"She did," Ronnie said, flicking her gaze in the rearview mirror as she trundled down the bumpy pavement and onto the main road.

"When did she get out?" Dewey asked.

"Beats me. I'll do a little digging once we get back to the library."

"Get out?" Paige questioned.

Dewey drummed his fingers on the armrest. "Drucinda did a little stint in magic jail."

"Magic jail?" Paige inquired, twisting to face him.

"It's a privately owned penitentiary designed to hold offenders of the supernatural world," Ronnie explained.

"What was she in jail for?"

Dewey and Ronnie shared a glance through the rearview mirror, and Ronnie pressed her lips together, flicking her gaze through the windshield as she rocketed up the ramp to the expressway.

"What was that look?" Paige asked.

"You may as well tell her, Ronnie," Dewey said. "She's going to find out anyway."

Ronnie flicked her turn signal on and merged into traffic. Her grip tightened around the steering wheel, and she slid her eyes sideways to glance at Paige.

"She did some time for…killing your mother."

Paige slumped back in the passenger's seat in stunned silence, staring straight ahead as she fluttered her eyelashes. "I thought my mother went missing, not that she was…murdered."

The last word stuck in her throat as a lump formed.

"We don't know that she was. Drucinda was the last person to see her alive. She was arrested and questioned after Reed's disappearance, but wouldn't admit to anything. Eventually, they charged her with murder. She did a bit of time for it, but her attorneys appealed. No body, no crime was the argument."

Dewey wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "Guess they finally succeeded in getting through to a judge."

"Or they paid one off," Ronnie said, glancing back at Dewey.

"Murdered?" Paige repeated as she stared into space. "I can't believe this. That woman killed my mother?"

"We have no proof of that," Ronnie said. "In fact, as much as I dislike Drucinda, I don't think she murdered your mom."

Paige finally lifted her gaze to study Ronnie. "Then what happened?"

"I'm not sure, but given your latest feat, you've got carte blanche to investigate your mother's disappearance moving forward."

Paige stared out the window at the passing scenery as she considered the new information. Could her mother still be alive? She'd spent years wondering what had happened. Were answers finally on the horizon? Or had any chance of learning about her mother died years ago?

A small paw clamped down on her shoulder. "We'll find out what happened to her, Paige. And we're going to start with that bracelet."

Paige lifted her wrist, letting the bracelet dangle from her arm.

Could this be the key to finding her mother? And would she need to confront Drucinda to do it?

THE END