Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

P aige slid the already-soaked tissue across her cheek, attempting to dab away the slick tears still staining her skin. She'd just finished sobbing when another round threatened to send her into the fetal position again as tears stung her eyes.

A quiet knock sounded at the door to the small storage room she'd locked herself in over an hour ago. "Paige?" a little voice called out. Devoid of its normal snarky-ness, she barely recognized Dewey's call.

"Go away," she huffed out, her voice strained from the tears.

"Come on, Paige, you can't stay in that closet for the rest of your life."

She gave up on the tissue, tossing it into a trash can and using her sleeve to dab at her cheeks. "It's a storage room, not a closet."

"You say tomato, I say…well, you get it."

"Just go away," she said as fresh tears flowed.

"You can't still be crying."

Her features contorted as hot tears rolled down her cheeks and dripped from her jawline. "I am." She hiccupped after forcing out those two words.

"How? I mean…honest question because I feel like it should be physically impossible. An average human's tear reserves are only–"

"Shut up, Dewey!" she shouted, clamping her mouth closed as the anger burning inside her put a stop to the flowing tears for a moment.

"Sorry, Paige. But I'm not leaving. We're partners. We get through stuff together."

"Not this."

"Just open the door. Even if you just want to sit there and cry, at least I'll be with you. You'll know you're not alone."

She frowned and sniffled. She didn't want any company. She wanted to be left alone to wallow in her own grief. He didn't understand. He couldn't.

Another voice murmured on the other side of the door before Dewey's voice answered. "No, she still won't open it…I don't know, I guess so."

Another rap at the door echoed in the small room. "Paige?" Devon's voice called before the doorknob twisted back and forth. "Come on, open up, Paige. We need to talk."

Her frown intensified and she balled her fingers into fists. "Go away, Devon."

The last person she wanted to talk to right now was the hot vampire who'd gone from nearly killing her to proposing in a mere few weeks. The world she currently lived in was too insane for words. But the latest blow had been…debilitating.

Another murmur of voices before a strong knock at the door again. "Paige, this is Drucinda, open this door at once."

The woman's sharp voice almost made her do it. "Make me," she shouted back.

"Fine. "

The woman's clipped answer carried all the authority of a commanding general in an army strike. Paige wrinkled her nose and mimicked her. "Fine."

"Yeah, right," she murmured to herself. "How is she going to–"

Her words cut off as her hand raised in the air not of her own volition. She grabbed it with the other and tugged it down.

Before she could stop herself, she rose from her seated position on the floor. She fought the movement of her legs with every fiber of her being, but they crossed to the door. Her hand shot out and swiveled the lock before she tugged the door open.

Drucinda stood on the opposite side, arms crossed, hip cocked, and one perfectly formed eyebrow arched high. "There. It's open. I've made her do it, as requested."

"I was being sarcastic."

Drucinda poked a finger at her. "You were also being an idiot."

Paige wiped at her sore, red-tinged nose. "Oh, I'm sorry I'm upset that I just found out my mom died."

"No one's blaming you for that, darling. But we're all here for you. Yes, the evidence we found is a blow–"

"A blow?" Paige scoffed as she crossed her arms. "It's more than a blow. You found a body that was identified as my mother. That's…the final nail in the coffin, not a blow."

"Not necessarily," Devon answered.

Dewey fluttered into the storage room and landed on Paige's shoulder. "Yeah, Paige. Dimples says it's fake."

"Oh, Devon says. Right, let's just take Devon's word for it because he's been truthful all this time."

Devon heaved an annoyed sigh. "I only lied a little bit right in the beginning. And not even that much. "

"Quiet, Hotness, when we want to hear from you, we'll ask," Dewey said with a wave of his paw.

"And we don't," Paige said with another sniffle.

"Right. No one cares if you have a clue to find Paige's mom where she really is. Just keep that to yourself."

Paige snapped her gaze to Dewey, her forehead creasing. "What?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Hot Stuff has nothing to say. Right?" Dewey choked out the last word through clenched teeth, shooting Devon a hostile glance.

"Whatever, man," Devon said with a wave of his hands in the air.

"Don't you think we're all feeling this?" Drucinda asked.

"She was my mother!" Paige cried.

"And she was my best friend. I knew her far better than you. I actually spent time with her when I was more than twenty-four hours old. And I'm not blubbering like a baby."

Paige stared at the woman with a blank expression. Was she actually comparing her grief to Paige's? "My mother is dead. After all the hope of her being alive, she's not. I think I have the right to grieve. And yes, I think a mother is different from a friend."

"Exactly," Drucinda said. "Yet, here I stand, a pillar of strength, forged by the fire of my love for Reed."

"What?" Paige asked, her eyebrows knitting.

"Whoa," Dewey murmured. "That line…say it again. I need it for my romance."

"Shut up, little man, there's no time for that now. Though I will give it to you later if you promise to credit me."

"Done," Dewey said with a nod.

"Now," Drucinda said, "let's put on our big girl leather trousers and start dealing with this."

Paige pouted, crossing her arms as she stared at the floor. "I don't have leather trousers. "

Drucinda's features registered shock for the first time in Paige's history with her. "Haven't got…my heavens, it's far worse than I imagined. No wonder you're so terrible at things."

Paige crinkled her brow. "Are the leather pants…magical?"

"Magical trousers? You've finally lost your mind. No, darling, they are not magical. But every competent female in the magical world owns a least one pair of leather trousers. They are a staple."

Paige stared at her for a moment before she shook her head. "I can't even."

"Obviously not, you haven't got the trousers for it." Drucinda and Dewey chuckled over it. "Heavens, even Devon has leather trousers."

"Fitting, since he is a vampire," Dewey said. "I'll include that detail in my book."

"Give Paige some leather trousers, too, so she won't be a whiny brat."

"I'm not a whiny brat!" Paige shouted, her hands balled into fists at her side. "My mother is dead! After decades of wondering about her and missing her, and then finding out she was alive, she's slipped right through my fingers!"

"Well, that's what they want you to think, anyway," Devon said with a shrug as he crossed his arms, his biceps bulging under his sleeves.

Paige slid her tired, stinging eyes closed and shook her head. "No. Please stop giving me hope where there is none. I can't handle it. They found her body. They made a positive ID. It's over."

"Or they want you to think it's over," Devon retorted.

Paige let out a muffled scream as her head dropped back between her shoulder blades. "Stop saying that!"

"No!" Devon yelled back. "Because it's true. We have a clue. Yes, it's vague, but if we put our heads together, I think we can track it. Now, do you want to find your mom or not?"

"A clue? Didn't you buy a vowel in the last round when they found her body? Am I speaking an alien dialect?" Paige said.

"You don't understand, Paige. Take it from someone with over a century of experience in this world. You've been here for what? A month? You have no idea how real things can look when they aren't at all."

"He's correct. Your mother appeared to be dead thirty-odd years ago," Drucinda added. "Yet she was not. Now she appears to be dead again. I have my doubts."

Paige swallowed hard, the lump forming in her throat again. Could they be right? Could this all be an elaborate hoax to get her to give up on her mother?

"How would they do this?"

Drucinda shrugged. "Elaborate magic. A system we don't yet understand."

Her hope waned almost immediately. "Wait, you're saying this is a magical hoax, but only with magic no one has ever used before."

Drucinda heaved a sigh as she tried to explain. "Higgins is something none of us have ever seen before. He has somehow resurrected himself into a form we don't understand. There is something big happening here. Something they needed all those artifacts for years ago."

Paige shook her head. "I'm just not sure I can let my heart hope again."

"Then let ours. You do the grunt work."

"Grunt work?" Paige asked.

"Yes, we need an artifact," Devon answered. "It's the one thing that will tell us about your mother's status for certain. But only if we can find it and calibrate it. "

Dewey gasped. "You're not talking about…" His voice trailed off as his eyes went wide.

"Yes, I am," Devon said with a tense jaw and a nod.

"What?" Paige asked. "What is it?"

"A…" Dewey lifted his chin, his voice taking on a reverent tone. "A soul compass."

"A what?" Paige shot back.

Dewey sighed. "Way to ruin the moment, Paige. Soul compasses are only the single greatest artifacts of all time. They literally monitor someone's soul and can tell you if they are alive or dead."

"Why has no one used one of these before? Like thirty years ago maybe, when she went missing the first time?"

"Because we needed you," Drucinda said. "But you were gone, too."

"Me? Why do you need me?" Paige asked.

"Soul compasses work off the emotional connections," Devon answered.

"Well, why didn't you use Drucinda's that was forged by the flames of love or whatever?"

"It's not the same as a mother-child bond, dimwit," Drucinda said with a roll of her eyes. "Look, do you want to find your mother or not?"

Paige let her gaze fall to the floor. Could she bring herself to hope again that her mother was alive? What if she found the soul compass, calibrated it, and learned she was dead?

She shook her head. No, she had to know. She'd never forgive herself if her mother was still alive, and she'd been too cowardly to search for her. She had to take the chance, even if it led to heartache. She had to be strong.

She firmed her resolve, wiping at her cheeks and lifting her chin. "Yes. I want to find her. Tell me what I need to do."

Drucinda heaved a sigh as the corners of her lips turned up into a relieved smile. Dewey clapped his paws. "Good choice, Paige. We're all with you on this."

Paige nodded at him, firming her lower lip. "I have to know. She deserves this chance."

Dewey patted her head. "Right. Just remember that as we go through this process."

"I know," Paige said with a slow nod. "It'll be hard. Sometimes, I'll lose hope. I may even feel like giving up. But I have to press on and keep fighting to find her. She deserves my best."

Dewey wrinkled his nose, his horns wiggling before he shot Drucinda and Devon a glance. "Er, that's not exactly what I meant…I mean, sure it's going to be darn near impossible, and we'll probably have a pretty rough time considering that we stink at almost everything but…"

"But what? Why is everyone acting like I'll have to walk through Hell to get this compass?" Her eyes went wide, and she shot a glance at Dewey. "Wait, do I? Is that what I have to do?"

"Close," Dewey said.

Her features slipped into a frightened mask as she glanced at her other two companions. Devon cracked a smile, throwing his hands out to the sides. "Pucker up, Paige. We're getting married."