Page 68 of Shadow Charms

“Well, we’re not going back for it.”

Paige glanced down another hallway branching off at an angle. “This place is a maze. We’ll never find it.”

She passed the opening and continued down the hall.

Dewey’s claws dug into her shoulder. “We’ll be lucky if we find the way out.”

“Yeah, the breeze died down, and now I have no idea which way to go.”

They bypassed another hallway splitting off in a new direction before reaching a circular opening with five halls branching off.

Paige glanced over her shoulder in the direction they’d come. “Well, we can rule out one choice here. Four left. Which one?”

“Umm,” Dewey murmured, scratching his chin. “Right.”

“Which right? Like right-right or stright?”

Dewey crinkled his brow and twisted Paige’s head so she’d stare at him. “Stright? What?”

“Stright. Like straight and right.” Paige slid her hand forward in a diagonal motion before indicating the passage catty-corner from them. “Stright.”

Dewey’s nose wrinkled, and his horns wiggled. “That’s…weird. Ummm, maybe sleft.”

Paige adjusted her glasses and gave Dewey a sideways glance. “Sleft? Straight and left. So, as weird as you find it, you also find my directional indicators ingenious.”

“I may or may not find them useful. Anyway, I meant right. Right-right.”

“Got it,” Paige said with a sharp nod.

She inched into the new corridor and hurried down it.

Raucous laughter and the din of several overlapping conversations met their ears.

“Crap,” Dewey hissed. “Dining room must be ahead! Turn back!”

Paige backed up a few steps before spinning around and retreating back to the star-shaped intersection. “Okay, left-left, sleft, or stright?”

“Stright,” Dewey said, poking a finger toward the hall next to them.

“Let’s hope this one leads to an exit.” Paige glanced down the hall that curved away from them before she entered it.

She approached the curve and peered around it.

“Clear,” Dewey hissed. “Go!”

Paige darted around the bend, hurrying toward a doorway at the other end. “Wonder what’s behind the door.”

“I hope the exit.”

“Me, too!”

Paige sprinted the length of the corridor, her feet pounding against the dirt. She reached the doorway, skidding to a halt and shoving her glasses higher on her nose. She blew out a controlled breath and wrapped her fingers around the leaf-shaped doorknob.

“Man, I wish there was a peephole,” she said as she hesitated to twist the handle.

“Open it real quick,” Dewey counseled, his claws digging into her shoulder again as apprehension set in.

Paige nodded, and after another calming breath, she whipped the door open and stared inside. Both of them relaxed as they found an empty room filled with weapons.

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