Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

P aige clamped her jaw down as she tried desperately to stop her lower lip from trembling. "Uhh, Drucinda…"

"I see it. I have already acknowledged that when I shouted ‘we're trapped', remember?"

"Yeah, but…do something," Paige said.

"Me? That's a millennia-old werewolf. Are you serious?"

Paige flung a hand at her. "Yes, you. You're the badass here. You're the leather trouser-wearing Valkyrie. You could probably wrestle him to the ground with one hand tied behind your back."

Drucinda jabbed a finger at the snarling beast. "Oh, could I? Have you seen his size? He's three times the size of a normal werewolf. He's a beast."

Paige wrinkled her nose. " So are you saying you can't do it? You're defeated? The great Drucinda Sharpe is beaten?"

"Certainly not. I'm merely saying that it may require the both of us."

Paige widened her stance as she nodded. "Okay, so, what do you want me to do? I'll grab his tail, maybe? "

"No," Drucinda said with a shake of her head as she stared at the wolf. "Just stand here and look helpless. I'll sneak around behind him and leap onto his back."

"What? I'm not going to be the bait. You be the bait."

The wolf growled, the sound echoing ominously off the stone walls.

"Fine, all right. Go ahead," Drucinda said, crossing her arms. "Take him down."

Paige nodded, her heart pounding as she tried to firm her resolve. "Okay. Yeah, I will."

She eyed the wolf who raised his hackles again. With her eyes narrowed, she took a careful step to the side.

The wolf lunged forward with a bark, snapping its jaws at her. "Whoa."

"Mm-hm," Drucinda said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Drucinda shrugged. "I didn't say anything."

"Yes, you did. You said mm-hm. Just like that, too, with all the sass."

"Merely pointing out that you haven't even made it a step yet, but you wanted to attack the wolf, so…go ahead."

Paige heaved a sigh, her frustration growing. "You aren't helping at all. You could help."

"What do you expect me to do? You wanted to be the hero…go play hero."

Paige poked a finger at her. "You're the bait. Do…bait things."

Drucinda flung her hands to her sides. "What the hell does that mean?"

She shook her head. "Never mind. If you know what bait things are, you do them and I'll deal with him."

Paige rolled her eyes but gave in. She had no desire to leap onto the back of the massive beast and wrangle it to the ground. "Okay, fine. Since I actually know how to play the bait, I'll do the job you can't."

"Ha!" Drucinda barked as she eyed the temple before she slid her gaze back to Paige. "Ready?"

Paige lunged to the side and nodded. "Ready."

"Here we go," Drucinda said as she kicked a foot against the wall, using it to propel herself higher. With another few steps, she climbed nearly to the ceiling before she flung herself over the wolf's head.

She tucked into a ball, spiraling through the air before she landed neatly behind the wolf. It whipped around to face her, snapping its jaw.

"What happened to your bait antics?" Drucinda shouted, punching the wolf in the nose to drive it back a step.

"I tried my best!" Paige shouted. "Here wolfy, wolfy. Back here."

"Jump on him!"

"What?" Paige cried.

The wolf lunged at Drucinda again. She ducked before she wrapped both hands around its snout. "Jump on him!"

Paige stood frozen for a moment, her heart pounding.

"Do it!" Drucinda encouraged as she continued to wrestle with the wolf.

Paige bobbed her head up and down as she tried to find the courage to leap onto the beast's back. She crept closer, trying to assess its movements before she flung herself forward.

"Today, Paige. Jump!" Drucinda said through clenched teeth.

Paige leapt into the air, spreading her arms to latch onto the wolf. Drucinda twisted its head to the side, causing the furry creature to fall and roll away.

Paige landed with a hard thud against the stone floor, the air leaving her lungs. She gasped for breath as she tried to recover. "Jerk," she forced out.

"I couldn't help it. Try again," Drucinda said.

Paige forced herself to her feet, preparing for another assault. The moment she lunged, Drucinda shifted again, sending her into another nosedive to the floor.

She climbed to her feet, gasping for breath. "You're doing that on purpose."

"I'm not," Drucinda answered, her features taut from her efforts to control the wolf. "If you'd just do your job."

"This was supposed to be your job!" she shouted as she leapt at the wolf again, this time landing on his back.

The wolf bucked her, rearing back on its hind legs like a wild horse.

Paige dug her fingers into his fur in a desperate attempt to hang on to the wolf. "Stop it. Stop!"

"You aren't doing very well," Drucinda said as she inched backward.

"Help me!" Paige shouted as the world spun around her in a dizzying array. "This thing is crazy."

"Well, you are trying to kill it."

Paige gritted her teeth as she struggled against the wild beast. "There's no way I can kill it."

"Are you joking?" Drucinda crossed her arms as she narrowed her eyes at Paige. "Kill it before it kills us."

"Why don't you kill it?" Paige shouted as the wolf reared back again. "Oh, I can't take much more. Please, stop, Mr. Wolf."

The wolf's motions slowed, his ears flicking.

"Oh, thank goodness. That's it. No need to get all upset. We're just looking for our friend, Dewey."

The wolf's thrashing eased, his ears twisted toward Paige. "Small dragon?" he asked.

"You talk? "

"Of course, I speak. Why wouldn't I?"

Paige heaved deep breaths as she clung to his back. "Then, why didn't you say something when we came in? That could have saved so much trouble. I never would have jumped on your back."

"Yes, about that. Please get off."

"Don't," Drucinda said. "Look, Wolf, I don't trust you."

"Of course, you wouldn't, Valkyrie."

Drucinda's eyes went wide, and she clenched her fists at her sides. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Means your kind and my kind don't get along very well. Not historically. And I was not about to put up with it. Especially after last night."

"What happened last night?" Paige asked.

"Will you please get off my back? You're not light."

Drucinda sniggered at the statement.

"Stop laughing. And I'm not that heavy," Paige argued. "You're huge."

"I'm not," the wolf shot back. "It's mostly fur. And last night, you lot came in here giggling and laughing like you were school children. Oh, let's play Moon Ceremony and pretend to sacrifice someone to the Wolf God. Hahaha. It was a shameless display that played upon harmful stereotypes that have led humankind to fear us werewolves."

Paige shook her head. "Uhhh, I think humankind fears werewolves because you keep trying to eat us."

"Really? Is that so?" The wolf twisted to glance at her over his shoulder. "When is the last time you heard of a werewolf attack?"

Paige puckered her lips before she raised a finger in the air. "Actually, not long ago, I was attacked by a werewolf. They nearly killed me."

"No, no," Drucinda said, "those were shapeshifting werewolves. "

"Oh, well, that explains it. The dirty buggers. Shapeshifters are not really werewolves, you know?"

"No, I didn't know."

"Well, maybe you ought to learn. Educate yourself. Stop being a–"

"Don't say racist. I'm not. I'm just…"

"An uneducated idiot," the wolf shot back.

Paige bobbled her head. "Okay, that's fair. Look, we're just looking for our friend, Dewey. Have you seen him? Tiny dragon, teal, smart mouth."

"I saw him last night. While he looked like a tasty morsel, I didn't eat him. He left with you. Something about a celestial observatory."

Paige slid off the wolf's back. "Please don't eat me."

"Will you stop with that nonsense?" He snarled at her. "It's really aggravating. How would you like it if my first words were ‘Please don't shoot me with a silver bullet?'"

Paige wrinkled her nose. "Okay, sorry. I'm just…scared."

"Years of being conditioned against the big bad wolf," Drucinda said. "And yet you attack me, the Valkyrie, who did nothing to you."

"Did nothing to me? You held my snout closed. And it hurt."

"Sorry," Drucinda said with a shrug. "Desperate times and all of that. You looked ready to attack."

"Why didn't you? Why did you suddenly calm down?" Paige asked.

"Something about you." The wolf shook his head. "There's something about your voice."

Drucinda dropped her head back between her shoulders. "How stupid. She has Snow White Syndrome."

"Oh, that explains it," the wolf said with a nod. "That's why then. Otherwise, I would have attacked."

Paige's jaw unhinged. "Are you joking? All that carrying on about how mean I was to say that and you were ready to eat us anyway."

"Well, after last night, I was, yes. But you're all still alive, so…"

"Maybe not Dewey." Paige let her gaze fall to the floor. "We can't find him."

"Maybe he got lost looking for the Star Serum he was after."

"Star Serum?" Drucinda questioned.

The wolf nodded. "Yes. He said he needed Star Serum to supercharge a soul compass. Where the little fellow found one of those is beyond me, but anyway, he wanted star serum. He'd been searching in dozens of locations, and finally said he'd go to the observatory."

Drucinda and Paige exchanged a glance.

Paige's heart lifted as the corner of her lips curled up at the corners. "I'll bet that's where he is. Let's go."

Drucinda nodded as she took a step toward the door.

The wolf blocked her. "Just a moment."

"Now what?" Paige asked, her pulse ramping up.

"Would you consider making a donation to the Preservation of Werewolves fund?"

Paige wrinkled her nose. "Are you kidding me? Look, I don't have any cash–"

"We take checks and all major credits. Also Weremo."

Drucinda rolled her eyes. "I've got Weremo. Just a moment." She tugged her phone from her pocket and tapped on it. "There. And I'll see that Dominic Durand makes a generous donation, as well."

"Really?" the wolf asked.

"Yes. That's his daughter-in-law you're holding up," Drucinda said as she returned the phone to her pocket.

"Well, we really appreciate all of your help in preserving historic werewolf sites. Have a great day." The wolf slinked off into the shadows of the temple.

Paige stared after him, her features scrunched. "What the hell was that?"

"Shakedown," Drucinda answered. "Come on, let's get Grandmother and go to this celestial observatory. It all makes sense now."

Drucinda stalked from the temple into the bright sunshine outside with Paige following her. "It does? Can you explain it to me?"

"Yes. Dewey was after Star Serum. In his inebriated state last night, he must have gotten the idea in his head to track it down. That explains all the hops to these odd locations. He was in search of it, and finally decided to go straight for the source."

"Why do we need this again? How does it supercharge the soul compass?"

"Soul compasses can be difficult to follow. It can take a tremendous amount of effort to track down an individual with one. However, Star Serum can make it much, much easier. The connection needed to activate the soul compass can be at a lower threshold. It's not a terrible idea, but this search for Star Serum has really been quite tedious," Drucinda answered as they reached her grandmother.

"Well?" Eyva asked.

"He's not here. But the wolf inside said he was searching for Star Serum."

Eyva's eyebrows shot up toward her hairline. "Ohhh, really? Well, that explains a lot, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does. Let's hope we find him at the celestial observatory."

"And the Star Serum. What a fabulous idea from the little guy. It will make your search for Reed so much faster and easier. "

"While I agree, I would rather have searched for the Star Serum whilst sober. This has been nonsense. Come on," Drucinda said, staring up at the sky. "Let's go to the next location."

With a click of her tongue, she shook her head. "Why isn't this working?"

"Maybe because I didn't give to the werewolf's fund or whatever," Paige said as she glanced over her shoulder to the temple ruins.

"No, that's not it." Drucinda heaved a sigh as she rubbed her temples. "The stupid thing is slow. Come on, universe! We haven't all day."

Drucinda set her hand on her hip, arching an eyebrow at the surroundings. After a second, the winds picked up. "Finally."

She crossed her arms as the air swirled around them, whipping their hair wildly as it whisked them to their next location.

Paige landed with a thud under a starry night sky. "Wow. This place is cool."

She twisted to find a circular, stone building poking toward the sky. "Do you think Dewey's inside?"

"There is only one way to find out." Drucinda crossed to the door and kicked it open.

"Can you ever just open a door like a normal person?"

"I prefer not to," Drucinda said as she strode into the building and glanced around. "Let's try upstairs."

Paige mounted the curving staircase behind Drucinda, her heart pounding as she wondered if they'd find Dewey lounging in a chair, gazing at the stars through a telescope.

As they arrived in the observatory, Paige scanned the space, her heart sinking as she found only books and star charts surrounding a massive telescope .

Her shoulders slumped as she stalked a few steps into the room, hoping he'd flutter out from somewhere. "Dewey?"

"Unbelievable," Drucinda said with a sigh. "He's not here."

Paige frowned, wrapping her arms around her. "No."

"Damn it," Drucinda cursed as she took one final look around. "Well, that's that. Let's go back. You've got a wedding to attend. And if we hurry, we can still make it in time to Devon's last challenge."

"Gosh, I hope he wins. If I have to marry Henry…" Paige wrinkled her nose as she descended the stairs behind Drucinda.

"What?" the woman asked. "He's not that bad. And he may be quite a nice husband."

"The entire point of me getting married was to get the soul compass to find my mom. Not to actually get married and have a husband."

"My point is…even if it doesn't work out the way you hoped, you still may come out with a win."

"Nothing?" Eyva asked as they stepped into the night air.

"No, so it looks like we add Dewey to the missing persons' list and search for him after the wedding," Drucinda said with a shrug. "Poor fellow."

Tears filled Paige's eyes as the winds picked up to send them home. "I can't believe this."

Any further words were cut off as they transcended back to the real world. By the time they landed back in the sitting room, tears had spilled onto her cheeks. She sniffled as she wiped them away.

She sank onto the couch as her stomach clenched. Her poor little friend had gone missing on the eve of her wedding. She swallowed hard as she wondered if they'd ever find him or if Dewey would be lost forever.