Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

P aige sucked in panicked breaths as she continued to spin, eyeing each mirror as she searched for some clue as to how to select an exit.

"Is there some sort of clue we can use to figure out which one to pick?"

Dewey raised his chin, narrowing his eyes. "The one that reflects our truest selves."

"Huh?" Paige screwed up her face and glanced at him. "What the hell does that mean?"

"I have no idea. I just know that's the answer to reflection riddles."

"Our truest selves?" Paige leaned closer to one of the mirrors and stared at her reflection. It looked like her. Was this her true self?

"This one looks like me," Paige said as she reached for it.

"Are you sure?" Dewey asked.

"Does it look like the true you?"

Dewey shifted his head back and forth, eyeing himself in the mirror. "Well, I'm not sure. I look less teal but it could be the lighting. I don't think I'm always this pale. "

"Pale?" Paige flicked her gaze back to the mirror. Was she paler, too? "Yeah, maybe I'm not this pale either. Right."

"Nah, you're always that light. You're like a slice of white bread you're so pale."

Paige flicked her gaze to the next mirror. "I'm not that pale."

"Like heck you aren't. You're so pale–"

"Don't," she said as she flicked a hand in the air. She studied this reflection, still not seeing anything out of the ordinary. "What do you look like in this one?"

"Mmm, not bad." Dewey studied himself before he lifted a wing and arched an eyebrow. "This might be my true reflection. Look at how lovely my scales look. And my wings…they really are nicely shaped, aren't they?"

Paige heaved a sigh. "Dewey, are we supposed to be looking for our physical true selves or like the true essence of ourselves?"

"What's the difference?"

"I'm not just my outward appearance. I'm made up of more. My strengths, my weaknesses, my hopes, my fears, my virtues, my vices." Paige stared into her blue eyes, searching them for a sign that signaled her true character.

"Whoa, that's deep, Paige."

She shifted her gaze to Dewey in the mirror. "Well, I think that would be the essence of this test."

"Here's the thing, though, I don't have any of those, so we're really just looking at my physical appearance."

"Yes, you do. You have a true inner self."

"No, I'm as shallow as they come. I don't have any inner wells of depth like you do…or think you do. I'm just plain old Dewey."

"No, you are not. You're extremely deep. You're vulnerable but strong, you hide behind sarcasm, but what you really crave is a friend who truly understands you. You say mean things because people have already said them to you, but you don't mean any of them. They're just a cover so your feelings aren't hurt. And you make fun of Devon's looks because you feel you've been wrongly judged by your looks. So, you cut down anyone else's good looks."

Dewey scoffed. "No. The sarcasm is natural. And I couldn't care less if I have a true friend who understands me. I am a loner, a rogue, a rebel. Oh, I do have one fear: spiders. Can't stand the little buggers. Why do they have to have so many legs and move them all so fast."

"Dewey…we're never going to get through this unless you can admit your honest, true self. Otherwise, these are all going to look the same."

"Okay, fine, fine. Let's work on your inner self, then, Paige." Dewey frowned at her in a challenge.

"Although I'm pretty straightforward, I'm kind, smart, meticulous. I–"

"Love long walks on the beach and rom-coms that make me ugly cry," Dewey said in a high-pitched voice. "This isn't your dating profile, Paige. This is your true inner self. Look deeper."

"Okay, ummm, I guess I have some issues because my mom left me. But now that I know she didn't just dump me, I don't have them, so…"

"Really? You don't have a commitment issue due to your mom leaving you as a baby?"

"No!" Paige said with a wrinkled nose. "I don't have a commitment issue. Just because I didn't snatch the ring off the first man who offered does not mean I have a commitment issue."

"But you don't think someone like Devon could love someone like you?"

"What? That's crazy." Paige shook her head with an eye roll .

"Is it?" Dewey said. "Is it really? The thought never once crossed your mind that you're sort of a dweeb, and he's super cool and hot?"

"I'm not a dweeb!" Paige said with a stamp of her foot.

"Also sensitive to criticism."

Paige balled her hands into fists. "That's not a criticism, that's an opinion."

"Face it, Paige. Your biggest hang-up in life is a lack of self-confidence of any kind. It likely stems from wondering why your mom left you for three decades of your life. You have no confidence in work or social settings."

Paige raised her chin. "I'd like to think of myself as socially awkward due to a high level of intelligence."

Dewey cracked a smile before it turned into a snicker. "Come on, Paige."

Paige's features faltered as she bit into her lower lip. She wrapped her arms around her midriff. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I am self-conscious because of my birth story."

"I'm sure you are. And it's nothing to be ashamed of." Dewey wrapped an arm around her head and offered her an embrace while he rubbed her hair. "There, there, Paige. Deep down, you're a weirdo, but I still care."

"Thanks, buddy." She flicked her gaze to him in the mirror, her features twisting with surprise. "Hey, the mirrors are all different now."

"Huh?"

"Look. In some of the mirrors, I'm gray, and in others, I'm more vibrant with colors."

"That must be it!" Dewey said. "The most vibrant is your true self."

"Okay, but…there are still five vibrant ones left." Paige spun in a circle as she eyed the mirrors with the color version of herself inside.

"Which one is most vibrant?" Dewey said .

"Don't dragons have better vision than humans? You tell me which one is most vibrant."

"Mmmm." Dewey rubbed his chin as he considered it. "That one." He poked a finger at one of the colorful mirrors.

"Are you sure?"

His shoulders slumped as he rolled his eyes. "Yes, Paige. I'm sure. Touch that one, and we'll be on to the next test."

Paige reached a hand toward the mirror when Dewey shouted, "No, wait!"

She yanked her hand back, a grimace on her face. "What?"

"Ehhhh, no, yes, no….yes, that's the right one. Sorry, panicked for a second. Proceed."

Paige shot him an icy glance before she stepped forward and reached for the mirror again. Her fingers touched the cold glass before slipping into it. It vibrated and pulsated against her skin as her fingers penetrated through the solid surface.

She grinned. "It's working. We're going through."

"Told ya," Dewey said, raising his chin triumphantly.

Paige's arm disappeared up to her wrist when she stopped, her eyebrows knitting. "Wait."

"What?"

"Something's wrong. I feel…something."

"Like what?"

Paige wrinkled her nose. "Fingers!" Her heart pounded against her ribs. "There's a hand. It's grabbing mine."

Paige tried to yank her hand back but found strong resistance. "It's got me. Help!"

Dewey flew off her shoulder as she stumbled toward the mirror, now pulled in up to her shoulder.

"Hang on, Paige. Stand your ground."

"What is happening?"

"It's the wrong mirror. The reflection is trying to pull you inside…and then…it will kill you. "

"What?!" Paige cried. "Help me!"

She yanked on her arm, trying to free herself, but found the mirror's pull too strong. Dewey grabbed her shoulders and beat his wings hard to fly backward, but his help did little to tug her from the mirror's magnetic pull.

"You said this was the right mirror!"

"I was wrong. My vibrance vision isn't better than a human's." Dewey winced as he continued to pull on Paige.

"I can't believe this. Get off me, Mirror Paige! Let me go!"

"Let her go, Mirror Paige!" Dewey screamed.

Paige risked sliding her other arm into the mirror to help loosen the mirror's grip on her. It resulted in a scaly paw sinking its claws into its meat and working to pull her further into the mirror.

"Owww, Mirror Dewey is just as bad as Mirror Paige. The little jerk's helping her."

"No, Mirror Dewey! Bad!" Dewey shouted. Paige wiggled her arms around, trying to free herself from the unseen attackers. One giant pull tugged her entire torso into the mirror.

She froze as she stared at the bitter cold, colorless world behind the glass's reflection. She spotted a grayscale version of herself and Dewey. Her mirror image's features distorted as she snarled at her, flashing sharp, pointed teeth at her.

"Eww!" Paige exclaimed as a devilish version of Dewey advanced toward her.

"Leave me alone, you crazy reflections!" Paige swung her arm and dislodged devil Dewey before she set her eyes on her own demonic form. With her now-free hand, she slashed at her, drawing gray blood. Her mirror image bounced back a step, letting go of Paige.

Paige flung herself backward, popping out of the mirror world and back into the tomb. She stumbled a few steps before she fell, sprawling on the ground .

She heaved heavy breaths, trying to recover. "Whoa. That was awful. Our reflections are evil."

"That's because those are the wrong reflections. They're only reflections of one facet of our personality. Usually a bad one."

"Tell me about it," Paige said as she rubbed her face. "Those are the worst parts of our personalities."

She climbed to her feet and stared at the other four mirrors with vibrant images. "How can we find the right one?"

Dewey settled on her shoulder again. "Uh, that one."

"No," Paige said with a shake of her head. "Not falling for that again. You don't have any better vision than I do, you're just guessing."

"Well, someone has to do it."

"No, not by guessing. I'm not sticking my hand into another mirror and having the devil duo try to kill me again."

"Maybe go slower this time."

Paige crossed her arms and shook her head. "No way. Uh-huh. We're going to have to dig deep and do some soul-searching on your part. I am not trying another random mirror. There's a seventy-five percent chance I'm getting killed."

"There's no soul-searching to be done. I'm shallow."

"You are not. What drives you, Dewey? What is your biggest fear?"

Dewey crossed his arms, refusing to meet her gaze. "I told you: spiders."

Paige shook her head. "I think it's rejection."

"It's not. I could care less if people reject me."

"You say that but that's not how you feel deep down. You're sensitive about your size, and you expect people to reject you because you're different. Deep down, though, you just want someone to accept you for who you are. Not be nice to you because of your differences, you don't want pity. You want someone to accept you because of them."

"Ridiculous," Dewey said with a shake of his head.

Paige narrowed her eyes at him through the mirror. "It's not. And here's the thing, buddy. I accept you because of them. Your size has nothing to do with your character. And your character is bigger than the biggest dragon on the planet."

Dewey tugged his teal lips into a frown and slid his eyes sideways to sneak a glance at her. "Rofu is like thirty metric tons."

"Your character is forty metric tons, Dewey!"

Dewey's frown melted into a slight smile. "Really? Maybe you have a point. For so long, I've been discriminated against. The people nice to me are only nice because they feel sorry for me. I don't want pity, though. I want someone to value me as I am."

"I do," Paige said with a bob of her head.

Dewey crossed his arms, frowning. "You don't. You think Drucinda is so super cool. And Devon is super-hot. And even Bones…you like Bones. And that lunkhead Golem. You don't value me."

"Of course, I do. When I first came to the library, I wouldn't have made it half a day without you. You're smart and funny. And you're trustworthy, unlike Drucinda or Devon. And Bones is just…I feel sorry for him."

Dewey shifted his gaze with a shrug.

"Dewey, I value you as you are. In fact, I wouldn't change a thing. Like if you were even a tiny bit bigger, I wouldn't like you as much. If you came with an ounce less snark, you wouldn't be you. There's nothing I would change."

"Really? You like my snark?"

"I do," Paige said with a nod.

"And you wouldn't change anything? "

Paige lifted her chin. "Nothing."

"Not one thing?"

"If you're meaning the whole steamy paranormal romance novel based on me, that may be a bone of contention, but otherwise, no. And even that…I can live with it. You're super creative, and somehow, Devon's weird vampire vibes coupled with my dorky-ness have inspired you."

"Don't hate the player, Paige. Hate the game."

"Whatever, the point is…I value you are you are. We make a great team. We make an awesome team."

The frown faded, replaced by a grin as Dewey held up a paw for a high-five. Paige's hand glanced off his and his paw slammed into her forehead. "Ow, okay, yeah that's not our strong suit."

"Nope, never going to get that." Dewey glanced at the remaining mirror choices. "Okay, looks like…that one. We're most vibrant there now that we've faced our true selves."

Paige eyed the choices, finding the correct one easy to identify. With their colors jumping off the glass, she reached for it. It melted away, allowing them to continue forward to a new chamber as all the other mirrors faded behind them.

In the dim light, Paige made out a series of sarcophagi lining the walls on both sides of them in a seemingly endless array.

Paige wrinkled her nose at them. "What's this test?"

"Hmmm," Dewey murmured, rubbing his chin as he studied their surroundings.

A whisper answered him. Paige shrank closer to the ground. "What was that?"

"Sounded like a whisper."

Another one floated in the air, then another, and another, and another. The hissing noises seemed to know no end as Paige staggered forward between the two rows of resting places. "Why are they whispering?"

"It's a whisper test." Dewey clapped his hands over his ears.

Paige followed him, wrinkling her nose. "A what?"

"A whisper test. We have to find the sarcophagus that isn't whispering to move on."

"What happens if we pick the wrong one?" Paige asked.

Dewey shrugged. "Simple. We die."