Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29

P aige stood stock still, the worry etched into her face in the form of a deep grimace. "What is it? What's the peril?" Paige asked, her voice a hoarse whisper.

"Shadows," Dewey answered.

"What?" Paige struggled to determine what he meant before her eyes went wide. Behind Dewey, his own shadow crept closer, seeming to have a life of its own. It reached for him with long spindly fingers ending in sharp claws.

"Look out!" Paige shouted as she reached for her friend and grabbed him.

"We can't get away!" Dewey said as Paige hurried down the hall. "They're our own shadows turning against us. No matter where we go. They'll follow."

"Are they dangerous?"

"They're going to kill us!" Dewey wailed. "It's happened in the past. Shadows killing their counterparts. We'll never survive this."

"Yes, we will," Paige said, determination lacing her voice. She reached for a torch and wrangled it from the holder before tossing it down and stamping on it. It fought to stay alive but eventually burned out. "That's one."

"Oh, good thinking. We'll get rid of all the shadows! There are no shadows in the dark."

"Exactly," Paige said. "Help me get these down."

Dewey flitted from her shoulder and buzzed across the hall, yanking a torch from its holder. Paige stamped it out. They continued down the hall with Dewey removing torches, and Paige ensuring they offered no more light. When she'd killed the light from the last one, they found themselves in almost pitch blackness.

"Do you still feel anything?" Paige whispered.

"No, you?"

"Nothing. There's light coming from the other hall, though."

"Yeah. We'll have to do this all over again in every hall we go into until we make it past the peril."

Paige bobbed her head as she pressed against the wall and crept toward the next passageway. "Stupid peril."

"I told you we should have picked deception. No one deceives Dewey and gets away with it."

"Too late now. We're too far in to turn back. And what happened to Bones?"

"He doesn't have a shadow as a Mummy. So, he's just merrily going along like nothing's happening. He's probably already at the end, waiting for us to catch up."

Paige heaved a sigh as she reached the corner. The moment she poked her head around it, she felt the familiar feeling of her shadow's fingers sliding around her neck. She ducked back, pressing into the blackness, and the sensation disappeared.

"Why would they not have shadows?" Paige asked.

"It's complicated. I'll explain it later when we're not almost being killed. "

"Right." She sucked in a deep breath. "Are you ready to stamp out the lights in this hall?"

Dewey patted her head. "I pull ‘em, you stamp ‘em."

"On three." Paige counted up to three before she darted around the corner. Dewey buzzed ahead of her, tossing torched onto the stone floor as he went. Paige stomped on them until their light went out as the sensation of fingers grabbing her legs sent a shiver down her spine.

"Hey," she called as she panted for breath, stomping the second to last flame out, "why did we make it through the first two halls without nearly being killed?"

"They must not have had power in those ones. The buggers. Can you believe your own shadow would try to kill you?"

Paige smashed the last torch's head, plunging them into darkness. "I'll believe almost anything anymore."

"Except that Devon loves you. You don't believe that."

"No, I don't. I think Devon…I don't know…"

"What? Ohhhh," Dewey said as he smacked her in the face with his wing before landing on her.

"Hey, watch it. And why are you saying ohhhh?"

"I get it, Paige. It's okay. We'll get you therapy when we get back."

"Therapy?" She pressed herself against the wall before she risked a glance in the next hallway. The Mummy stood at the end of it, patiently waiting for them to arrive. "I don't need therapy."

"Really? Could have fooled me."

"What's that supposed to mean? What are you trying to say?"

Dewey patted her head. "You think Devon doesn't love you because you don't deserve his love?"

"What? That's insane and so not true."

"I think it is. This all stems from when Reed left little baby Paige with those nuns. Now, you can't accept the love of others because you feel you don't deserve it. If you didn't deserve your mother's love, how could anyone else love you?"

Paige screwed up her face at the statement. "That's so untrue. It's not that I didn't deserve it. She had to leave me because someone was after both her and me. This has nothing to do with deserving love?"

"Doesn't it?"

Paige set her face into a stony stare as she prepared to head around the corner into the last hall. "No, Dr. Freud, it doesn't. It has nothing to do with my mother. I can't believe Devon loves me because he doesn't even know me. Devon is in love with love, I think. And the chase."

"Hmmm, that's an interesting theory. Devon, as a vampire, probably is enamored with vampiric romance. And perhaps he sees you, a human, as a worthy recipient of his lavish attentions."

"Hey, buddy?"

"Yes?" Dewey asked.

"How about theorizing when we're back at the library, huh?"

Dewey's wing clapped her across the face again. "Oops, my bad."

Paige pressed her lips together before she started an argument in the middle of the blackened corridor. "Let's just get through this last hall."

"Right. On three!" Dewey counted up before he barreled around the corner with a battle cry. He froze partway down it as Paige hurried behind him.

"Why aren't you throwing the torches down?" She struggled to pull one from its holder.

"This hall's clear. Come on, let's keep going and wrap this up. "

Paige stared down at her hands, studying the shadow cast on the stone floor belonging to them. This time, it didn't move on its own. "Wow, good to know my shadow is back to just being my shadow. I never realized our shadows hated us enough to kill us."

"Wouldn't you hate you if you were your shadow?" Dewey twisted to face her. "Think about it. All you do is follow the person around everywhere they go, except you have to be dragged across the ground or through the bushes. You're only around when the light's strong enough, and you never get to sleep because the jerks turn out the lights and you disappear."

Paige slow-blinked at the question. "Whoa. That's heavy."

"Yep. So, it makes sense why they aren't exactly well-adjusted."

"It also makes sense why the scepter can't fall into the wrong hands," Paige answered. "Come on, let's beat this Mummy Lord and secure another artifact!"

"That's the spirit, Paige!" Dewey landed on her shoulder and patted her head again. "It's always good to have a positive attitude when you're going into a life-and-death battle with a supernatural creature who is far stronger than you."

"Why do you always say the worst things at the worst times? Now I feel like we can't win."

"It's important to be realistic. We likely can't win. But we'll try."

They reached the end of the corridor. The Mummy threw his bandaged arms around Paige and hugged her tight before he pointed to a panel in the wall. "Open."

Paige studied it, trying to find a way to open it and enter.

"How?"

"Press," the Mummy answered and motioned toward the tiles surrounding the doorway. "Press. "

"Got it." Paige studied the symbols on each. "I wonder if there is an order."

"Press. Open. Die."

Paige slapped a palm against her forehead. "Really?"

"At least he's being honest," Dewey said. "Maybe we should just push a few and see what happens."

"That's the worst thing we could do. Haven't you ever seen Indiana Jones? One wrong move and a giant ball is going to come rolling down the hall and flatten us."

Dewey rolled his eyes. "There isn't going to be a giant ball rolling down here to kill us. That's ridiculous. I'm just going to press a few of these…"

Dewey studied the symbols before he poked at a few tiles. They remained depressed into the stone until he hit a fourth one, then they popped back out.

"See…it just resets. Nothing terrible."

A second later a loud bang echoed through the corridor.

Paige crinkled her nose as she raised her gaze from the tiles. "What was that?"

A loud grinding noise followed, filling the air.

"Huh?" Dewey asked.

"I SAID WHAT WAS THAT?" she shouted over the noise.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Dewey screamed back.

"Sounds like it's coming from behind us." Paige twisted to glance down the corridor. Her eyes went wide as she focused on the end of the hall. "OMG!"

"What?" Dewey said as he randomly pressed tiles again.

"There is a giant stone ball rolling down the hall toward us. It's going to crush us if we don't get out of here quick!"

"What?!" Dewey exclaimed. He whipped around, his eyes going wide and his jaw unhinging. "OMG! Paige, do something!"

Paige randomly pushed tiles around the doorway, trying to coax the door open. "I'm trying! I told you not to press all those buttons."

"I couldn't help it. I didn't know there'd be a trap."

"When isn't there a trap in an Egyptian tomb?"

"Funny you should ask, because–"

"Shut up!" Paige cried as the ball picked up speed, barreling toward them. "Start pressing tiles!"

Together, they continued to work toward a solution. Sweat dripped down Paige's temple as she searched for the right combination. With her lips tugged into a deep grimace, she continued to pound against the tiles until finally the panel slid open.

Dewey buzzed inside, and Paige dove forward just as the stone ball slammed into the wall on the other side of the doorway.

The ground shook underneath them and the wall jarred, spreading dust over them. Paige choked out a cough as the dust settled around them. She pushed a lock of hair out of her face and sat up. "Ugh, that was way too close."

"Tell me about it," Dewey said as he still lay sprawled on his back sucking in deep breaths.

"Don't ever touch stuff again."

Dewey tipped his chin up and flung his arms out to the sides. "How was I supposed to know the traps they put into Indiana Jones were real?"

"I tried to warn you." With a groan, Paige pushed herself up to her feet and dusted herself off. "Where's Bones?"

She twisted in a circle before she spotted a piece of bandage poking from under the ball. "Oh, no! The ball squashed him."

Dewey sat up before he fluttered into the air. "Oh, shoot. Well, that stinks. Oh, well, let's move on."

"Move on? This poor creature died because of our mistake. Poor thing." Paige frowned down at the floor when the bandage shimmied. Paige's eyes went wide, and her heart skipped a beat. "He's alive!"

Dewey twisted from viewing the new room. "Huh?"

"He's alive." Paige threw herself against the ball and pushed. "Help me!"

"This is stupid, Paige," Dewey said. "I can't push that ball."

Paige's feet slipped as she worked to try to budge the big stone. "Just help me shift it a little. Maybe he can get out from under it, then."

Dewey rolled his eyes before he pressed his paws against the ball. "Fine, fine. But this is a waste of our time."

"Just…push." She grunted and groaned as she fought to gain traction and budge the ball. Dewey's wings beat hard as he threw his tiny weight into it. The ball wobbled backward an inch, and the bandages flew out from underneath, reforming themselves into Bones's form.

Paige let off the pressure and the ball settled back into its place with a resounding thud. "Whew. There. He's saved."

"Mama," Bones said, throwing his newly formed arms around Paige's neck.

"Yeah, you're welcome, buddy," Paige said with a pat on his bandaged back.

Dewey buzzed past him with a grimace. "Try not to get yourself into another bind."

"That was hardly his fault," Paige said, finally scanning the new room. "It was our stupid fault, as always. We're going to get our stupid selves killed."

"Probably. But we'll go out in a blaze of glory. Then everyone will say how great we were, and how smart we were, and how we gave our lives for the greater good." Dewey stared into space, a half-smile on his face.

Paige screwed up her face, pulling her eyes away from the massive torches lighting the large room. "I think you actually want to die."

"Don't be ridiculous, Paige. I'm just saying if we do, it's hardly a tragedy. Our memories will live on in glory."

"I'd think it was a tragedy."

"No, you wouldn't. You'd be dead. You wouldn't think anything."

Paige let her features settle into an unimpressed stare before she returned to studying the space. "I'm afraid to touch anything here."

"Well, we can't just stand here." Dewey settled on her shoulder and waved a paw forward. "Proceed, Paige."

With a pounding heart, she took a few steps forward before the room around them disappeared, replaced with mirror images of themselves from every angle.

Paige twisted around, finding her shocked face staring back at her in every corner of the room. "What the hell?"

"We're trapped. By our own selves!"

"Oh no…do our mirror images hate us too?" Paige cried.

Dewey shook his head. "No. They don't. They're mostly nice, actually."

"How are we supposed to get out of here?" Paige asked, noticing the Mummy had no reflection.

In answer to her question, a voice boomed overhead. "To move forward, choose the correct mirror to reveal the exit."

Paige cowered, frowning at the ceiling. "What the hell was that?"

"P-pretty sure that's the Mummy Lord, and we're in a reflection riddle."

"A what?"

Dewey swallowed hard before he explained. "A reflection riddle. We have to pick the right mirror reflection. If we do, it'll let us move on to the next test. If we don't…"

"Yeah? "

"Well, our reflections may not be as nice as I said before."

Paige's heart dropped at the words. She spun in a slow circle, eyeing each of the mirror reflections. They all looked the same. There would be no way for them to pick one over the other. Which meant that, given the number of mirrors they had to choose from, they had about a ninety percent chance of choosing death.