Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29

" E asy, big fella," Paige said, her heart hammering against her ribs.

Her comment earned a snarl from the beast as it stamped a foot closer to her.

"Don't make him mad, Paige. Just…back away slowly until we can get around the corner and go in a different direction."

"Really? Do you think that'll work?" She took a small step back on shaky legs.

"His vision is based on movement, so try to remain as still as possible, and take tiny steps."

"Oh, seriously?" She held her breath, afraid even the rise of her chest would alert him to their presence.

"No, I have no idea. But it worked in Jurassic Park."

"That was a T-Rex, not a werewolf!"

"Well…still…big, bi-pedal, sharp teeth. Similar."

"Not exactly," Paige cried. "Especially if his vision isn't based on movement."

"I mean…everyone's vision is somewhat based on motion, right? So…in a way, it's always true. "

"Shut up," Paige said with a shake of her head. "Just…be quiet. I'm trying to get us away from this thing."

"It's kind of strange that he isn't attacking us yet. Is he blind or something?"

"Shhh," Paige said with a wince. "Stop talking. Even if he's blind, I doubt he's deaf."

"But why is he just standing there scraping his claws?"

Paige's eyebrows went up. "Wait, maybe because I have Sleeping Beauty syndrome."

"What? No, you don't."

Paige continued her painful journey backward in a painstaking crawl as she snapped her gaze to him. "Yes, I do."

He wrinkled his horned nose. "No, Paige. If you did, you wouldn't be walking around. You'd be asleep."

"What? My milkshake brings all the animals to the yard. It has nothing to do with sleeping."

"Ohhh," Dewey said with a nod. "That's Snow White Syndrome. Not Sleeping Beauty Syndrome."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Got my fairy tales mixed up."

"Fairy tales? Those aren't fairy tales, Paige. Those are history." He shook his head at her. "Sometimes, Paige, sometimes. Anyway, yes, you have Snow White Syndrome, and that could be why. Let's try it out."

"No," she answered with a shake of her head. "I'm not risking my life to see if it works. What if it doesn't?"

"Well, if it doesn't then you'll be ripped to shreds most likely. But it would give us the evidence that we need."

Paige flicked her gaze over her shoulder. She'd nearly made it to the corner. "I don't want evidence. I'll just slowly back away from it, and we'll try another way."

"Well, sure, if you want to be unscientific about it. We can do that."

"Yes," she said as she finally ducked around the corner and pressed herself against the stone wall, blowing out a shaky breath. "Yes, I want to be unscientific and remain alive rather than prove a point and be dead."

"That's one way to go, I guess." Dewey fluttered from her shoulder and peered around the corner at the werewolf. "What if we have to go past him?"

"We'll worry about that if we can't find my mom in the other direction."

"You mean when we take the left, not the right?"

"Or the right, not the left."

Dewey landed on her shoulder again. "We're so lost."

"Whatever. We'll find our way somehow. We usually do. I'm still grateful that we didn't get eaten. Now, let's try another direction."

They retraced their steps, winding back through the maze under the pyramid and trying in a different direction at the first opportunity.

"I wonder if all these corridors lead to the same place?" Dewey asked.

"I don't know. I hope so. I feel like I've been down here for years walking around. And everything looks the same."

"Who lit all these torches? They must have used some kind of magic."

"Yeah, because it would have taken forever to do this. It's like when you watch a romance movie and they've got all the candles lit all over the house. Who has time to light all those candles?"

Dewey didn't answer her as she snaked around another corner and continued down the hall.

"Am I the only one who thinks that?"

"Maybe," Dewey answered. "I…have a scene in my book where Paige walks into Devon's bedroom and the entire thing is filled with candles."

Paige rolled her eyes and groaned. "Oh, you're kidding me. You fell for the trope. "

"Of course. People are going to love that scene. I mean, what's more romantic than a hot vampire who has filled the bedroom with candles and rose petals. Women are going to be over the moon for Devon."

Paige heaved a sigh as she continued down the hall. "Whatever. It's impractical."

"Well, not for a vampire. He could probably light those all at once."

"Fine, okay. But maybe make a statement about how he did that."

"That's not necessary," Dewey said. "That's over-explaining a detail no one cares about."

"I care."

"You're weird. No one else cares."

Paige's jaw flexed as she shook her head.

"I'll add a line in just for you."

"Thanks, bud. I appreciate that." She stopped, her eyebrows furrowing. "Have we been here before?"

"How would I know? The halls all look the same." Dewey shrugged, throwing his paws out to the side.

She stared at an imperfection in one of the stones. "I swear I've seen this pockmark before."

"Paige, there are flaws all over the place. I can't believe this one flaw has you caught up. Keep going."

Paige heaved a sigh as she continued forward a few steps before she shook her head. "Wait. We should mark this hall in some way."

"How?"

She stared down at her finger with a frown. "Blood."

"Eww…ooooh…has Devon turned you already?"

She screwed up her face. "What? No."

"Well, your first reaction is to use blood. Sounds very…vampire-y."

"What else do we have? "

Dewey waved a claw in the air. "I could scratch the walls with my claw."

"Oh, right," she said as she nodded. "Let's do that."

Dewey flew into the air and crossed to the stone wall. He scraped his claw against the stone at various angles.

"Is it working?"

"Yep."

"Okay…so why are you still doing it?"

Dewey twisted toward her. "I'm writing "Paige and Dewey were here.'"

Paige's jaw dropped open as she wrinkled her nose. "That's going to take forever."

"Yeah, tell me about it. I'm only on the ‘a' in Paige."

"Just leave it as it is. That's enough. We just need to remember that the stone next to the second torch has the mark. Then we'll know if we're circling around."

"Right," he said as he landed on her shoulder. "Let's keep going."

She continued down the hall, repeating the information to herself over and over. Second torch, second torch, second torch.

They rounded the corner and continued down the hallway. Paige let her fingers trace along the stones as she walked, using the roughness to ground her focus.

She could be steps away from her mother. She needed to keep her wits about her if she hoped to reunite with the woman.

A shaky breath escaped her as she moved forward, driven by curiosity and desperation. Her breath hitched as her fingers hit a divot in the stone, and she froze.

"What's wrong?" Dewey asked.

Paige slowly slid her eyes to the side. Her jaw dropped open as she studied the mark on the wall. Her eyebrows pinched together, and her features twisted. "This can't be. "

"What is it?"

Paige pulled her hand away from the stone, revealing the "P" scratched into it. "This isn't right. W-w-we turned a corner. This can't be the same hall."

Dewey fluttered to it, his fleshy eyebrows pinching. "It can't be."

"That's what I said!" Paige shouted. She shook her head, digging her fingers into her scalp. "Okay, no. This is just…let's just keep going and see what happens if I go the other way at the intersection."

"Right," Dewey said as he landed on her shoulder.

"No, left, we went right last time."

"I know that."

Paige tried to calm her pounding heart as she hurried to the junction. "Then why did you say right?"

"I meant correct, right, yes. Not the direction."

"Well, that was confusing in this situation."

"Sorry," Dewey said as they reached the other hall.

Paige swung a left, her footsteps hastening to make it to the second torch. Her eyes went wide as she stared at the "P" marring the stone. "This isn't happening."

"Oh, no," Dewey said with a shake of his head. "We're trapped in an endless hall."

"Endless hall? What does that mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. This hall just keeps looping over and over like a badly written piece of code."

Paige pressed her back against the cool stone wall. "What now? How do we escape? How do we get out of here?"

"Oh, that's simple. Just turn around and go the other way."

She wrinkled her nose as she cut her gaze to him. "What? Are you serious?"

"Sure. Endless halls are only one direction."

"Why didn't you say that to start with?" Paige grumbled as she reversed her direction to escape. "You said trapped. I thought we were doomed."

"No, it's really simple. We'll be out of here in no time. The problem is…we're stuck trying to move forward unless we test the theory that the werewolf won't attack you."

"Let's not and say we did. Maybe by the time we get back, Drucinda will be here, and she can just kill the werewolf."

"Sure. We can–"

Dewey's voice stopped as they rounded the corner to escape the endless hall. Paige froze, her eyes going wide again. "Oh, you're kidding me."

"Mmmm, don't think it's a joke, Paige," Dewey said with a shake of his head. "Looks like we'll be testing your theory about creatures sooner than we think."

Paige swallowed hard as she stared into the green eyes of a jet-black cat who could easily overpower her. "Hey, kitty. Nice kitty."

"I don't think that's going to work, Paige. She looks hungry. Plus werepanthers aren't really known for responding to auditory stimuli."

"A were what?"

"Panther," Dewey answered. "That's no regular panther. Look at the teeth, look at the claws. Look at how big it is."

Paige sucked in a shaky breath. "Yeah, those were all things I was trying to avoid looking at, to be honest. Do you think it would be affected by the Snow White Syndrome?"

Dewey shrugged. "Maybe. We may have to test it out. It's that or be chased through the endless hall over and over before you finally tire of running well before the werepanther. You stumble, fall, and before you can worry about how you've scraped your hands and chin on the rough stones, teeth are sinking into your back. The pain is overwhelming, and the last thing you experience before passing out is the heat of your own blood running down your back. "

"Ew, Dewey, that's disgusting."

"But exceptionally accurate."

Paige's stomach turned as his words echoed in her mind. "So, what are we going to do?"

"How do you feel about wrestling a werepanther?"

"Not good," Paige answered. "Look at the muscle on that thing. It's like one solid mass."

The werepanther sniffed in the air at them before licking its lips.

"Not to mention it's got at least fifty pounds on you. It's a beast."

Paige swallowed hard. "Is there any way to get through the endless hall in a different manner?"

"Nope. It'll just keep endlessly circling."

Her eyes went wide and the corners of her lips curled. "Wait. I have an idea."

"Is it to curl into a ball and hope it mistakes you for dead?"

"No," Paige said with a shake of her head. "It's to lure it into the endless hall. Then, we'll reverse course and escape, leaving it stuck in there."

"It could just do the same thing."

"Dang it," Paige said as her big plan deflated into nothing. "You're right. Okay, I guess I'll have to try the Snow White thing to get past it."

"Give it a go, Paige. Let's see if it works."

Paige swallowed hard, trying to stop her legs from wobbling underneath her as she took a step forward. "Hey there. You're a nice kitty. I bet you love to have your ears scratched, huh?"

She reached a trembling hand to the cat. The hiss that escaped it followed by the loud, rumbling growl made her stop.

"Okay, this isn't working. "

"Try again. Maybe it's still warming up to you."

"Right," Paige said with a nod. "Hey, pretty kitty. Who is a good kitty? Who's a good kitty?"

The werepanther licked its chops again before it sniffed in the air.

"That's it, Paige. Nice and easy. I think it likes you."

A grin spread across Paige's lips as she inched forward toward it. "Yeah? Maybe this Snow White thing isn't too bad."

"Right. We can slip past any supernatural guardians with just the purr of your voice. The opportunities this will open up."

Paige's smile grew wider as she imagined the rest of her career being a walk in the park. She'd become a legend among librarians. Able to soothe the savage beast with just a few sentences.

She reached her hand toward the massive cat to give it a head rub.

The creature leaned forward, the warm, wet nose bumping her fingers as it sniffed her.

"There we go. Nice kit–"

Before she could finish the words, the cat slashed at her with sharp claws, breaking the skin. Warm blood ran down her hand, dripping from her fingers as the cat lifted his lips and snarled, easing back on the explosive back legs before it lunged at her.

"Uhhh, Paige, that's not working. Run!"