Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

A s Paige's gaze fell to the floor below, a warm hand slipped around her shoulder. She glanced up, surprised to find Lily offering her support.

"Well, you ladies know a few of the hiding spots. Maybe we can start with those. And the rest of us can explore the other parts of the house for others. Sorry to treat your house like a hidden object game, but…"

"Don't worry about that," Kelly said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "We don't mind. And there are plenty of hidden spots. I was just hoping to narrow it down a little."

"If I may," Damien chimed in, "the clue we found said to search where opulence meets mystery's lore, and the key piece may be found at the core."

"Core," Kelly answered, her brows furrowing. "Like at the core of the house?"

"Maybe," he answered with a shrug. "Does it actually mean the core of the house, or does it just mean it's somewhere in the house? I'm not sure, but it's worth a shot to start at the house's core. Does that ring any bells?"

"Well, yes." Kelly exchanged a glance with her sister. " There is a scary set of halls under the house. We explored it a little on another…case."

"Don't ask," Jodi said with a shake of her head. "But we could start there."

"Sounds good. How do we want to do this? Are we all needed down there or should some of us stay topside and look around here?"

"Uh, why don't we split up? We know the halls down there, so whoever wants to go with us, let's grab some flashlights and go."

"Why don't you take Paige and Dewey with you," Lily suggested. "Cassie and I know the house since we've been here. We can poke around up here with Damien."

"Sure, that sounds perfect. I'll grab the flashlights, and then we'll head to the carousel room."

"Carousel room?" Paige asked.

"Yes. You have to access the basement level through the carousel room. It's…odd, but anyway…"

"Wait, you have a carousel in your house?"

Kelly grinned, wiggling her eyebrows. "We do. And it's my favorite thing about this creepy old place."

"Can we ride it?" Paige asked.

"Absolutely. We'll take a ride on it before we head into the dungeon."

"It really is fun," Jodi said with a nod as she motioned for them to follow her down the hall.

"Have fun exploring the rest of the house," Kelly said to Lily before they departed.

"This place is really amazing," Paige said to the sisters as they continued down the hall past a large dining room.

"Thanks. I think it's sort of creepy, but Jodi likes it," Kelly said.

Paige crinkled her brows. "Oh, did Jodi design it? "

"No," Kelly said with a chuckle, "we inherited it accidentally. Totally unexpected."

"Ah, the unexpected inheritance trope. I know it well," Dewey answered.

"Huh?" Kelly crinkled her nose at the words.

Paige elbowed him and shook her head.

"Oh, nothing," Dewey said.

Kelly pulled open a door in the hallway and rummaged around in the large closet, pulling flashlights from a shelf at the top.

"Thanks for helping us," Paige said as she accepted a boxy flashlight. "I really appreciate it. Sorry for the trouble."

"No trouble at all. We're kind of getting used to solving mysteries. It seems everywhere we go, a dead body turns up."

"Amateur sleuth trope," Dewey whispered.

Paige shot him an annoyed glance.

"Well, hopefully no one ends up dead here." Paige grinned, suddenly wondering if that wasn't the right thing to say.

"Right?" Kelly shot back, seeming to let the comment roll off of her easily. "Okay, let's head to the carousel."

They continued down the hall and through another hallway that had a babbling brook with stepping stones leading through it.

"What the hell kind of house is this?" Dewey asked as he carefully hopped from stone to stone. "This would be so much easier if I could fly."

"Shh, will you stop saying ridiculous things before you get us caught?"

"Sorry, Paige, I can't help it. I have that headache again. I feel awful. Wearing this ring is taking a toll."

"Well, when we get into the privacy of our rooms, you can take it off, until then just…buck up."

"Something wrong?" Kelly asked .

"Nope," Paige answered with a shake of her head. "Just discussing some of the interesting architecture in the house. That stream was something else."

"Yeah," Kelly said before she stopped in front of a massive set of bronze doors emblazoned with a set of carousel horses. "Check this out."

She and Jodi tugged the doors backward, triggering a hidden mechanism that whirred to life. Music spilled from the room as lights flickered to life, illuminating a massive spinning carousel.

Paige's jaw dropped open as she watched the horses bobbing up and down as they circled around and around in the room. "Wow! This is like…a real carousel."

"Yep," Kelly said with a grin and a nod. "It's my favorite thing in the house. Jodi and I ride it all the time. I love it in here. Come on."

She waved a hand, motioning for them to enter.

"Just be careful stepping onto the platform," Jodi warned as each sister carefully made her way onto the revolving floor.

Within a minute, they all whirled around in circles. Paige hurried to a horse and climbed on, grinning as she rode it up and down.

Dewey tried twice to climb up before he successfully mounted one. "Hey, this is sort of fun."

"Yeah," Paige answered with a nod as they continued their ride.

"I told you," Kelly said.

They rode for another few minutes before Paige twisted in her saddle and glanced at Kelly. "So, how do we get to this basement area?"

Kelly held up a finger before she climbed down off her horse. Her sister did the same, and together they wandered to the doors to pull them shut. The carousel slowed to a grinding halt, plunging them into silent darkness.

Paige's heart skipped a beat as she hurried to toggle on her flashlight to beat back the blackness. "Yikes, it sure is dark in here."

"Yep. Careful when you get down," Kelly said as they picked their way across the floor to a specific horse. With a few twists of the pole through its back, a panel slid away in the floor, leading to a black hole.

"How are we supposed to get down there?" Paige questioned, her voice rising an octave. Surely, they weren't going to jump.

"There's a ladder under here," Kelly answered as she dropped to her knees and blindly reached into the hole.

A metal ladder swung forward and unfolded, creating a new path to the floor.

"Wow, that looks rickety," Dewey said.

"Right? But it held us the last time, so we should be okay," Kelly answered as she swung her legs over the edge and stepped onto the first step.

After a few minutes, they'd all made their way down into the damp, dark basement. Paige shivered as the cooler air swirled around them.

"Creepy, right?" Kelly asked.

"We've seen worse," Dewey answered.

"Where should we start?" Paige questioned.

"Well, this place is like a maze. There are hallways everywhere. Do you feel comfortable splitting into teams of two or would you prefer to stick together?" Kelly asked.

Paige and Dewey exchanged a glance. "We're okay going off on our own. Just…don't leave us down here."

"Wouldn't dream of it. Okay. We'll take the hall to the left at the next intersection, and you can head right. Once you've checked everything out on your side, we'll regroup and head forward together."

"Sounds good." Paige nodded and raised her flashlight. "Oh, if we find anything, we'll try to give you a shout."

"Same," Kelly said with a nod as they moved forward to the first intersection of halls.

Paige and Dewey veered off to the right, their flashlight beams sweeping back and forth as they crept down the hall.

"So," Dewey said after shooting a glance over his shoulder, "do you think those two are like witches or something?"

Paige screwed up her face. "What? No. They seem like normal people."

"Do they? I mean they have a carousel in their house and some pretty large lions guarding the stairs."

"They're carved."

"That's what we think. What happens when the sun goes down?"

"The sun is down. And they're still wooden."

"Fine," Dewey shot back. "What happens when the sun goes down and the magic words are said? My guess? Those suckers come to life and stalk around the house eating people."

Paige's footsteps faltered as she wrinkled her nose. "What? No."

Dewey shrugged. "Hopefully, we won't find out the hard way, but…I'd sleep with one eye open and my shoes on. Well, not me. I'm going back into dragon mode the second I can. This headache is killing me."

"I'd tell you to pop it off now, but if Kelly and Jodi appear…"

"Yeah, they'll probably kill me and use my parts in their potions."

Paige shook her head as they reached another intersection and veered right. "They're not witches. "

"Werewolves?"

"I doubt it. I think they're normal people."

"What kind of normal people accidentally inherit a house like this? I mean, come on, Paige. Use your brain."

"Unexpected inheritance is a pretty common cozy mystery trope."

"As an author, of course, I know that. But this is like unexpected, unexpected. Because they probably hexed someone."

Paige clicked her tongue. "They didn't hex anyone. Now, concentrate, would you? We need to find this key."

"I haven't seen anything so far."

"It could be anywhere. I mean, any of these blocks could be hiding it."

Dewey patted one. "Should we be trying them all?"

"Dewey, we will be a year older by the time we've done that."

"Good point. Maybe there's a way to tell just by looking at them."

"Maybe there will be something obvious. Like a cupboard or something."

"Why would there be a cupboard down here?" Dewey snorted a laugh as he shook his head.

They hit a dead end, and Paige's shoulders slumped. "I don't know. It's just wishful thinking. Come on, let's go back the other way."

She twisted on a heel and retraced her steps to the intersection, continuing down the hall in the other direction. Dewey followed behind her, hobbling.

"What's wrong with you?" Paige asked as she waited for him to catch up.

"My legs, my hips, my back. You name it. Walk, walk, walk. It's too much."

"Do you want to take a break? "

"No," Dewey said with a sigh as he shook his head. "Keep going. If I sit down, I'll never get up."

Paige crinkled her nose as she slowly continued down the hall. "Wow, it's like your eighty."

"Try three-hundred-and-eighty," Dewey said. "Dragons are different, remember?"

"Yeah, but…you're like my age in human years. And I'm not complaining about my back and my hips."

"I guess you're just so wonderful and fit," Dewey snapped.

She offered him a coy smile. "I guess so."

"Don't read too much into it. In my dragon form, I'm pretty fit, too."

"Yeah, although I think the flying is really a lot less work."

Dewey screwed up his face. "How do you figure that? I've got to keep my wings beating a pretty good clip constantly."

"Just seems…faster. Like not as much effort to get from point A to point B."

"Well, it's not, okay? It's deceptively easier. That's it."

Paige bobbed her head as she rounded the corner and froze.

"What? Are you going to complain that walking is, in fact, harder?" Dewey spread his arms to the sides.

"No, look! A cupboard." A smile spread across Paige's features as her light beam illuminated it.

Dewey shifted his gaze to the end of the corridor, his jaw dropping open. "I can't believe it."

Paige's heart lifted as a smile formed on her lips. "Let's hope we're in luck and the key's in there."

"Yeah," Dewey said matching her expression. "That would be something, huh? We could move on to the next spot. We'll bang out these keys in no time and be back to save your mom."

She wiggled her eyebrows at him. "Yep. It'll be almost too easy. "

"Haha." Dewey clapped his hands together and rubbed them. "Race you."

"Race–"

Paige's eyes went wide as he took off before she could finish the statement. She scrambled to catch up with him, both of them slamming into the cupboard at the same time.

"I won!" Dewey exclaimed.

"You did not," she answered. "I was here at the same time."

"Believe whatever you want, I know I won."

"Come on, let's just open this and get the key."

He bobbed his head.

With her heart hammering against her ribs, Paige grabbed hold of the wooden knob, her fingers lingering on it before she pulled the door open. Would they find the next key?