Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

P aige's heart hammered against her ribs as she stared down at what she assumed was a likeness of herself. "What is this?"

"Read it," Michael said, crossing his arms.

"Okay." Paige flicked open the book as Dewey peered over her shoulder. She cleared her throat and launched into the story.

Paige Turner frantically scrubbed at the wet stains dotting her turquoise blouse. The cheap paper towel wadded into a clump, doing little to remove any of the muddy marks. Instead of lifting the spots, her blouse now sported flecks of damp paper towel.

Paige's shoulders slumped as she fought the losing battle in the tiny bathroom stall. She glanced down her ruined outfit. She couldn't show up to her interview looking like this.

Her nose wrinkled. "What is this?"

"I would wager that is your life story," Alexander said. "A disastrous interview but the job secured by a mysterious bracelet. A missing mother. A magical library filled with artifacts. Is any of that familiar?"

Heat rose in her cheeks as she scanned a few more pages. The first chapter perfectly outlined what had happened the day she's landed her job at the Shadow Harbor Library.

"No, this can't be right."

Michael crossed his arms, a smarmy smile on his handsome features. "Now who's the fictional character, Paige Turner ?"

"No…no, I'm real. I'm…real. I have…real feelings and thoughts and dreams and hopes."

"Uh-huh. Same thing we said. And then your mother said noooo. You're not real. You're just characters in a book." Michael offered her a haughty glance.

"May I ask a question?" Alexander ventured.

Paige swallowed hard, trying to wrap her mind around what she'd just read. "Uhhh, maybe?"

"Are there really dragons where you're from?"

Paige's eyes flicked to Dewey next to her. "Welllllll, about that."

"No," Damien said, his eyes wide, "seriously? Aw, why didn't you bring the tiny dragon?"

"Teacup," Alexander corrected. "He's a teacup, and he's quite sensitive about his size."

"I am not," Dewey shouted back, his fingers curled into fists.

"Wait," Alexander said, his eyes focusing on Dewey. "Dewey…you're Dewey. But you're not a dragon."

"Think again, pal." Dewey yanked the ring off his finger, transforming back into his teacup dragon form. "There, happy?"

Jaws dropped as Dewey fluttered around the room. "Yes, I'm tiny. Keep staring. Why don't you take a picture, it'll last longer?"

Damien lifted his phone to snap one, and Dewey knocked it from his hands. "I was joking. "

Paige shook her head. "Stop. This is…insane. We can't all be fictional characters. That makes zero sense."

"Stinks, huh?" Michael asked. "Having someone tell you you're not real. That you're just a figment of someone's imagination. Every action you take, every word you say…all scripted by some maniac who apparently loves to create chaos and wreak havoc at every turn."

Paige shifted her weight. "Yeah, it kind of does. But…how do these books exist?"

"Why don't we just forget about the books for now?" Celine asked. "If we're fictional, then…I guess it will work out, eventually, but if we're not– "

"We have to make sure things work out because no one is going to write us out of the trouble we're in," Paige finished.

Celine nodded. "Right. So, we need to handle our own problems." She set her crystal-blue eyes on Paige. "I still don't understand why you're here, though. Is it related to why your mother was here?"

"Oh, my mom accidentally got sucked into this realm when she used a Magician's Teapot."

"That's right…the magical teapot," Michael said with a snap of his fingers. "Celine, how could you forget that?"

Paige offered him an unimpressed stare before she continued. "I'm here for a different reason."

"Which is?" Alexander prodded.

Before she could answer, the doors open, and a handsome man strolled in.

"You must be Gray," Dewey said.

Gray froze, staring at the tiny dragon floating in the air. "Does someone want to tell me why there's a small dragon floating around the library?"

"This is Dewey, a friend of Paige's," Celine said. "They're…from the same place Reed Moore was from."

"Oh, no," Gray said with a shake of his head. "Not another set of people who think we're fake. And please, don't tell me you're a fan of Marcus Northcott."

"Actually, I haven't read much of the book, but– "

"Marcus is my favorite," Dewey answered before he poked a finger at Paige. "And Devon, her husband's, too. Marcus has a fan-club. Especially after the whole thing with Cate."

Gray shook his head. "I don't understand it."

Dewey fluttered back and forth as he spoke. "I think it's really that whole bad-boy-turned-good trope that's so popular with the ladies. He really– "

"Enough," Gray interrupted. "I don't want to hear anymore. Why are you here?"

Celine shoved her hands into the pockets of her hoodie. "Paige was just about to tell us."

"We need your help."

"Why don't you ask Northcott if you love him so much?" Gray shot back.

"Actually, that's probably a good idea," Dewey said. "I'm convinced he'll know where this serum is that we need."

"What serum?" Alexander asked.

"Eclipsarum Elixir," Paige answered.

Gray crossed his arms. "Never heard of it."

Dewey landed on Paige's shoulder. "I'll bet Marcus has. We should ask him. Point us in the direction of the house by the sea."

The Slayers exchanged glances.

"So, you basically want to just plow into Marcus's place unannounced and ask for his help?" Damien asked.

"Yeah, I'm still not convinced you actually read these books because if you had, you'd know that's not going to work," Michael added.

Celine nodded. "They have a point. Marcus isn't exactly the most helpful individual in the world. "

"Well, that's why we need your help," Paige said. "Maybe you could…introduce us and…foster a relationship."

Michael doubled over with laughter. "Foster a relationship? With Marcus Northcott? Are you joking?"

"Maybe the better approach would be for me to ask Marcus about this Elixir and gauge if he knows anything about it," Celine offered.

"Right. Good idea, Celine. And then we," Dewey said, waving his finger in the air to encompass the rest of them, "will go to Alexander's to do research on it using his extensive library of references."

Alexander shifted his weight from foot to foot, shooting a glance at his fellow Slayers. "It is rather alarming that they know so much about our habits."

"Well, if you read that book, you know about ours, too," Paige pointed out.

"Some of them, yes," Alexander answered. "Although, I hadn't gotten to the part where you married Devon. Thanks for the spoiler."

"Sorry," Dewey said with a shrug. "But we all knew where this was going, didn't we?"

"I didn't." Paige shook her head. "I didn't know. I hadn't expected to marry him."

"Well, anyway," Dewey said as he fluttered into the air and landed on Alexander's shoulder. "Let's go! We have a lot of work to do."

"Wait, before we break up this little party, why are you looking for this stuff?"

"Oh," Paige said, her gaze falling to the floor. "It's for my mom. She'd been missing for– "

"Thirty years, yes. I read that," Alexander answered. "But she's alive?"

"Yes, but not doing well. She's in a magical trance. We need the elixir to save her life. She's dying. "

"Oh, how terrible," he answered. "I'm so sorry."

Celine pressed her lips together into a thin line. "Sorry, Paige. Okay. I'll see what Marcus knows." She flicked her gaze to Alexander. "Meet at your place?"

"Apparently."

"Onward, Al!" Dewey said with a raised fist. "I can't wait to see this place. Looks like the old homestead in England, huh?"

They shuffled from the room with Celine setting off in a different direction while the others took the path leading to Alexander's house.

Paige sucked in the pine-scented air as they strolled through the trees, her mind fixed on the fact that her mother had likely walked this path while here.

She wondered how she was doing now, if there had been any change. Her stomach twisted into a tight knot as she hoped finding the elixir would be simple. Maybe they'd be able to get back to them by nightfall.

Get back…Her heart stopped. How did they get back? Drucinda hadn't told her. Did they just go back to the cave and keep walking? Was there a Chapter Gate inside? She hadn't seen anything glowing there. Was there some other way?

"Dewey!" she called in a loud whisper. "Dewey."

"Smell that pine," Dewey said as he rode along on Alexander's shoulder, sucking in a big breath. "Wow. Look at these trees."

"Many of them are very old," Alexander answered. "Particularly on this estate."

"I'll bet, Al. Beautiful property. Just like it's described in the bo–" Dewey tugged his teal lips back in a wince. "Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to bring up a sore subject."

"Quite all right. I think we can all agree this may be some…fluke, and we are all, indeed, very real. "

"If we're not, it's a pretty sick joke," Gray said.

"Well, writers do usually add quite a bit of drama into their plots, so it would explain some things," Dewey answered. "I, myself, am a writer. I'm writing a paranormal romance about Paige and Devon."

Michael shook his head at the dragon. "I can't believe this."

"I can't believe you told us there were no such things as dragons, and here we are looking at a dragon," Damien said to Celine.

Michael shrugged. "Celine said there are no such things…here on this Earth. I guess on their Earth there is."

"I want to live on their Earth," Damien lamented. "It sounds cooler."

"Uh, it's not," Paige answered with a shake of her head. "I've been nearly killed like a dozen times in less than a year. There are werewolves, and vampires, and other stuff…all kinds of other stuff. And they're all horrible."

"But there are cute little dragons," Damien shot back.

"Hey," Dewey retorted with a wag of his finger, "I'm just little. Not cute. I can bite, you know? I can do some damage."

Damien held up his hands before he twisted to Paige, his voice lowered to a whisper. "So, are there big dragons, too?"

"I heard that," Dewey answered. "Yes, there are. My entire family is normal sized. Only I got the teacup gene. But size doesn't matter."

"Sure it doesn't, buddy," Michael said with a nod and a fake smile.

Dewey grimaced at him as the trees cleared and Alexander's house came into view. "Wow, this place looks great. I bet you've got secret passage and everything."

"I have a few," Alexander answered. "Though I haven't used them in years."

"No? Well, let's starting using them, Al. I want to try it out." Dewey raised his eyes to the house again. "Oh, you even have a cool gargoyle. Neat."

Damien stopped walking mid-stride, freezing as he wrinkled his nose. "Uh, that's not a gargoyle."

"Then what is– "

The so-called gargoyle shifted before it leapt from the rooftop and strutted toward them. Paige stared at a woman identical to Celine in every way except her hair color.

Dewey fluttered off of Alexander's shoulder and retreated to sit on Paige's. "Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh, what?" she asked. "She's related to Celine, right?"

"Yeah, her cousin. But she's completely crazy. Totally nuts. Also, she's really evil."

"Seriously?" Paige asked as she glanced forward at the leather-clad woman who cocked a hip and set her hands on her waist, grinning at them. "Okay, yeah that fits."

"Totally nuts. She killed one of her own just to prove a point," Dewey answered.

"Well, well, well, are we entertaining? Looks like we picked up a few new friends. Another redhead and…some sort of strange bird."

"Hey, lady, I'm a dragon!" Dewey shouted back.

"There are no such thing as dragons," she answered before she poked a finger at Paige. "But I am interested in you."

"I'm no one important. I'm just here…accidentally. And they are…taking me to the house to wait for the police to come and arrest me because I am a criminal."

Dominique's eyebrows rose, an amused expression playing on her pretty features. "Really? Well, then you and me should talk, Red. I love criminals. I'm one myself."

"I told you she was nuts," Dewey whispered.

The smile slid from Dominique's features. "Hey, Dragon, I heard that. "

"Oh, yeah?" Dewey asked. "What are you going to do about it, Cupcake?"

"Dude, I would not do that if I was you," Michael hissed. "She'll literally kill you and feed your body to the birds."

"What am I going to do about it? I'm going rip you limb from limb."

"No, you won't, Sugar Plum. Paige would never let that happen?"

"Huh?" Paige asked, her features twisting. "Dewey, why do you keep saying things like that?"

"I don't know. It's like I don't have control over my own words. Like…I'm being scripted."

Her forehead crinkled. "Well, get unscripted."

Dominique laced her fingers together and stretched before she rolled her neck back and forth. "All right, Red. You wanna play? Let's play."

Her features devolved into an angry glare as purple-red orbs exploded from her hands, hovering in the air above her with a white-hot energy.

Paige's eyes went wide as her heart hammered against her ribs. She could never defeat Dominique. The woman would squash her like a bug. She'd never save her mother, because she was staring into the eyes of death.