Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

P aige's tiny heart thudded in her minuscule chest as she stood in the dark.

"Calm down, Paige. You're hardly stuck."

"Umm, from where I'm standing, I'm stuck."

"I could totally just go and get Drucinda to rescue you."

Paige rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as her nostrils flared in frustration.

"Don't roll your eyes. I'm trying to figure this out."

Paige tugged her chin back toward her chest. How had he known she rolled her eyes? Did he know her that well already? "Yeah, well, maybe you should try harder. Or maybe you can't with your tiny teacup brain."

"That's not funny. I was trying to motivate you out of self-pity and into action."

"I'm doing the same."

"No, you're not. You're just taunting me."

"I'm not taunting you. I just want to get out of here."

"Is there any way you can shift the poker on your end?" Dewey asked.

"Oh, yes. Why didn't I think of that? I can just grab the poker that's over four times my size and pull it from one side to the other."

"Good. Do that, and we'll have this solved."

Paige heaved a sigh as she shook her head.

A moment later, Dewey spoke again. "Well? Are you doing it?"

"No!" she shouted.

"Why not?"

"Because I can't. I wasn't serious. There's no way I can move this thing."

"Did you honestly try, or are you just being defeatist."

Paige wrinkled her nose as she stuck her fisted hands on her hips. "Find another way, Dewey. I can't budge the thing."

"Fine, fine. We'll let it all fall on me."

"Well, you did!" Paige eyed the poker sticking up from the fireplace tool set. Could she move it?

With a click of her tongue, she marched across to it and grabbed hold of it. She leaned back, putting all her weight against it, but it didn't budge.

"There, I tried it. It didn't work. Are you happy now?"

"Very," Dewey said. "Maybe there isn't a trigger on this side."

"What's over there? Maybe we can work together to solve this."

"Nothing. It's just a blank wall."

Paige slapped a palm against her forehead. "Oh, that's just great. So, I'm stuck. You'll probably have to break down the wall to get to me."

"I'm trying to press on every part of the wall to get this to move, but I can't find any triggers."

"Maybe if you–" An earthquake cut off the rest of her statement. She toppled over, landing hard on her backside as the fireplace swung back into the room.

"Paige? "

"Dewey?" She climbed to her feet and glanced around the room.

"Where are you?"

"I'm out here in the bedroom. You did it! You found the trigger."

"I'm stuck behind the wall!" Dewey shouted.

"How did that happen?"

"I pressed on the wall and it gave way. I fell inside."

Paige shook her head. "Press it again, and then you'll be out."

"Right."

The floor moved again underneath her. "No, wait!"

Paige's eyes went round as she scrambled to leap off the moving stone. It swung into the dark passage before she made it. Instead, she rolled onto the dusty floor inside.

"Paige?"

"I'm inside the passage! I couldn't get off the stones in time!"

"Oh, right."

The fireplace swung away from her again, this time before she could climb back onto it. Dewey rushed in. He raked a paw over his forehead. "There. Now we're on the same side."

"Good to see you again, buddy."

"Okay, now, just get on the moving platform and we'll ride back to the bedroom."

Paige nodded as she stepped closer to the blank wall. Dewey tapped the spot on the panel and waited. He narrowed his eyes, smacking it again. "Okay, this just worked."

He tried a few more times, but nothing happened.

"Maybe you're pressing the wrong part."

"This is the part I pressed when it worked the last three times." He slid his eyes sideways before he tried a few spots around the area he'd been pressing. After a moment, he flung his hands in the air. "Nothing."

"Great. So, we're stuck. Again."

"Yeah, and this time we can't get Drucinda to rescue us."

"Well, maybe we can."

"How do you figure that?"

Paige shifted her gaze into the dark passage. "Where does this go?"

"Who cares?" Dewey asked, flinging his arms out. "No one wants to know where the creepy passage goes."

"What if my mom is down there? What if she's stuck in here? We could find her."

Dewey sucked in a breath before he let his shoulders slump. "Fine. We'll go down the spooky passage and explore it."

"I feel like we've done this several times before and been very successful."

"Oh, really? You mean like the time we were in the secret passage in Devon's castle and got caught?"

"Well, there were other secret passages like in the werewolf mansion, and we found an artifact there."

"Okay, fine. But how are we supposed to see? It's dark in here, and we don't have a light."

"It's not that dark," Paige said with a shrug.

"Are you insane? It's pitch black in here."

"Not really. I can see basic outlines and shapes." She held her hand up in front of her face and waved it. "I can see my hand in front of my face."

Air swooshed past her. She snapped her gaze toward Dewey. He flailed his arms around.

"What are you doing?"

"I can't see a thing. I can't see my paw in front of my face."

Paige crinkled her nose before understanding dawned on her. "OMG. "

"What? What happened?"

"When Drucinda's grandmother fixed my vision, she must have given me slight night vision. Wow, this is awesome."

Dewey huffed. "Oh, great, wonderful. That's so nice for you. I'll just be here blind as a bat."

"Don't worry, buddy. I won't let you walk into a wall."

Dewey heaved a sigh as Paige slid her hand into his paw and tugged him forward. "Gee, thanks, Paige. I feel so confident. Especially since, until recently, you walked into walls pretty often."

"I did not," she said as they continued down the dark hall. "I fell down a lot. But I'm getting better."

Paige ceased moving forward.

"What's happening? Is there a giant monster in front of us?"

"No." Paige glanced over her shoulder before she switched her view forward again. "But we've made it like 2 feet in this hall. This is going to take forever."

"Not much we can do about that," Dewey answered with a shrug. "Just wait until we hit the stairs. It'll be like when we had to rescue Devon from that Slimer's house."

"Oh, right, the time you took us to the wrong village." Paige swung her leg up and tried to climb onto Dewey's back.

He batted in the air, knocking her against the unfinished wall behind her.

"Ow, what the hell, Dewey?" Paige asked as she picked herself up and dusted herself.

"I didn't know it was you. I thought a large spider was trying to crawl on me."

"Seriously?"

"You have to tell me these things. And what are you doing crawling onto my back anyway? "

"I wanted to fly. This is going to take forever. We've made it inches down the hall. By the time we find anything, I'll be two years older."

"I can't see, Paige. Am I supposed to fly blind?"

Paige shifted her eyes back and forth, thinking the answer seemed obvious. "Yeah. I'll guide you."

"Oh, yeah, that'll work."

"Well, it's better than going an inch an hour."

"According to you. You're not the one who could fly into a wall."

"I'm not going to let you fly into a wall," Paige answered with a scoff. "I'll be riding on your back. I don't want to crash either."

"Fine, fine. Whatever. We'll do it your way."

Paige crossed to him and swung her leg up to climb onto his scaly back. "You're the one who told me to use my brain for creative solutions to being small. This is my creative solution."

Dewey rose lazily into the air and hovered. "I'm going to stop inspiring you."

"Just fix me. Then you can ride on my shoulder again instead of me riding on your back."

"I hope we finish here soon because I'm suddenly motivated to get you back to normal size. Although I have a few other projects I'd like to do, too."

"Like what?" Paige asked. "Go straight. Slowly. Don't go zipping around. I can't see that far ahead."

"Like things, okay? Just…things."

Paige wrinkled her nose at the statement. What things was Dewey working on? "Why are you being so secretive?"

"No reason. No secrets. Just–"

"Left, left, hang a left," Paige called, interrupting him.

Dewey slid around the corner and stopped moving forward. "Light! "

"Yeah," Paige said with a grin. "Looks like a peephole into another room. Let's go see."

Dewey moved forward again. "At least I'm not flying blind."

"And we're not still walking down the first hall."

"We make a good team, buddy." Dewey flicked a paw over his shoulder, and she gave it a celebratory smack.

"You know it. We'll get ourselves out of this situation in no time."

"And come out better for it."

"And Drucinda will be impressed at our huge skills despite our tiny size."

Dewey bobbed his head up and down. "And Devon will still be handsome, but we won't care, because we are capable and savvy."

They arrived at the slit in the wall. Dewey positioned himself to peer into it.

Paige shifted around on his back and frowned. "Hey! I can't see a thing."

"Yeah, well, I'm the one doing the flying, so I get first dibs on looking through the hole."

"What do you see?"

Dewey sighed as he backed away. "Just an empty room."

"I wonder if there's a way into it from this side."

"We can look for one."

Dewey felt around on the wall, searching for anything that may be a trigger to open a panel. "Nothing."

"Are you sure you tried everything?"

A puff of smoke escaped his nostrils. "Yes, Paige, I'm sure. I'm not an amateur."

"Well…"

"Don't say anything you'll regret before you find yourself taking the rest of your thirty-fifth year on Earth walking the length of this passage." He continued down the passage. Darkness closed in around them again.

"Uh, slow up," Paige said. "There's something weird ahead."

Dewey froze. "Weird? Like a monster?"

"No, like…it's a dead-end or something. I don't know. It's hard to tell."

"Oh, great. So we are stuck in here. And we can even call for help. I hoped to find someone who can help us search for another way out of here. Or at the very least, they can let us out in the bedroom."

"There is an opening but it stops. It's…ohhhh, it's a stairwell going down to the next level."

Dewey clapped his paws together. "Oh, yay. Maybe we'll have some luck finding someone yet."

"All we need to do is keep talking to each other, and Devon should be able to hear us coming from a mile away." Paige frowned at the memory.

"Right, because we chatter soooo much," Dewey said as he headed forward and ducked into the stairwell. He glided his paw along the rusty railing on the wall.

"Yeah, we're real talkers. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. That's what we do."

"Oh-ho-ho, yeah," Dewey answered with a chuckle as they reached the bottom and he let go of the railing. "Straight ahead?"

"Yep, straight ahead for us two chatterboxes."

"If we went to parties, we'd be the life of it," Dewey said. "What with our excellent conversation skills and our–"

"Dewey? Paige?" Devon's muffled voice said. "Are you behind the wall?"

Paige tugged her lips back in a wince as Dewey shot a panicked glance over his shoulder. "Shoot," Paige hissed.

"Caught again. "

"We can hear you chattering. How did you find a secret passage?" Drucinda asked.

"By accident," Dewey shouted.

Paige smacked his head. "You should have said because we're smart," she hissed.

"Because we're smart," Dewey added.

"You found it by accident or because you're smart?" Devon questioned.

"We found it by accident because we are smart. They are related."

"What does it matter? We found it!" Paige called.

"But there's a small problem," Dewey said. "We're stuck inside. We can't get out."

"I suppose that's by accident because you're smart, too, is it?" Drucinda asked.

"Exactly," Dewey said with a nod. "Could you be a dear and get us out?"

Drucinda sighed loud enough for them to hear her. "Why don't you finish exploring it and then we'll get you out?"

"How are we going to let you know when we need out?"

"We're a little busy at the moment searching for clues and the mysterious banging. Just let us know where the passage is and how to open it and we'll let you out when we can."

"Unbelievable," Paige grumbled.

"Fine. We're also searching for clues," Dewey answered. "It's in Reed's bedroom. Flick the fireplace poker to the side."

"I'll do that, and jam the mechanism to leave it open," Drucinda called.

"Wonderful. Happy hunting!" They waited a moment, but no one responded. "Do you think she went up to open it?"

"No, I did not. I told you we are in the middle of a search. I will do it after we finish our sweep of this hall."

"Fine. No rush."

"Go," Paige whispered, pointing down the hall .

Dewey floated away in the direction they'd been going when they'd been caught. "Did you see something?"

"No, I just wanted to get away from Drucinda and Devon. I could feel the judgment through the walls."

"They kind of did talk to us like we were children," Dewey agreed.

"Maybe it's our small sizes."

"Lots of people do mistake me for a toddler," Dewey said.

"I'm fairly certain I wouldn't be mistaken for a toddler," Paige answered as they sailed around a corner.

"No, but you could be mistaken for a pixie. You're missing wings, though. And also, she doesn't treat pixies like children."

Paige sighed as they continued forward. "Maybe we'll find our own way out on this end. Then we can sneak up on them and scare them."

"And we'll laugh at how foolish they are." Dewey waved a fisted paw into the air.

"Or we'll end up shot."

"Right. Drucinda will just kill us outright."

"Looks like the passage opens up a little ahead of us." Paige squinted into the darkness as they flew forward.

"Oh, good. Maybe we'll find a clue there or a way out."

"Yeah," Paige said with a grin as the walls fell away on both sides.

"Can you see anything?" Dewey asked as he came to a stop, hovering in the air.

Paige scanned the space. "Not really. Although, it looks like there's something across the room."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Like a pile of something. Maybe it's just junk."

"Junk? Who would store junk in their secret passage?"

Paige shrugged as she checked the other areas in the room. "I don't know. But it's hard to see. My night vision is probably minuscule compared to Drucinda's. I bet she could figure out what that is in seconds."

Dewey chuckled. "Yeah. And maybe storing junk in a secret room is pretty normal. I mean, where else do you put junk you don't want?"

"I've never had a secret passage, so I don't know what I'd do with one, to be honest." Paige laughed as she refocused her eyes on the odd pile across the room. "Go a little closer."

"Okay." Dewey fluttered farther into the room and hovered in the center. "Any better from here?"

Paige squinted ahead at the thing. It looked like a pile of rubble. She glanced up at the ceiling. Had the floor from the room above collapsed here?

"Anything?" Dewey asked.

"It's weird. It looks–" A flicker of motion stopped her statement.

"Looks like what? Help a dragon out, Paige. I'm blind here."

Paige struggled to form words. Something had moved in the pile. Her heart thudded as she pondered what it could be. Rats? Thank goodness she wasn't on the floor. The thing was probably bigger than she was.

"Paige?"

"Yeah, there's something–"

She stopped again, swallowing hard. Teal eyes peered at her from within the pile. Teal? What had teal eyes?

"Hey, Dewey…"

"Yeah?"

"What kind of creatures have teal eyes?"

"Huh?"

"Are there any supernatural creatures with teal eyes?"

"That's an odd question when we're standing in a secret passage, but okay, I'll play. Let's see…" He ticked them off on hi s claws as he named them. "Sirens, Aquasylvan Elves, Stone Golems, and Lagoon Zombies."

"Right," Paige said, her eyes transfixed as the figure in front of her shifted. "Ummm, tell me more about the Stone Golems."

"Sure. There are a variety of Golems, but Stone Golems are kind of odd creatures. They look like a bunch of stones stuck together into a humanoid form."

"Are they dangerous?"

"Oh, extremely. They have high levels of strength and sharp teeth. They can smash through bone like it's cotton candy."

Paige's lower lip trembled at the statement.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because…" Paige gulped before she finished her statement. "There's one standing right in front of us."