Page 127 of Shadow Witch

The little dragon fluttered off her shoulder. “Sorry, Paige. I think this is a stupid move.”

“Fine. I’ll do it myself, then.” She tightened her fists and pounded her way toward the tunnel. If no one helped her, then so be it. But she’d waited too long already to search for her mother. She wasn’t going to wait a second longer.

Her lower lip trembled, but she firmed her jaw in a desperate attempt to stop it.

She slipped into the tunnel, scanning it as she inched forward. She glanced down at the flashlight still clutched in her hand, flipping it around. If she had to, she could use it as a weapon.

She hadn’t brought anything else along with her. Maybe Dewey was right. Maybe they were too stupid for this sort of thing.

She swallowed hard and tried to steady her breathing. She would prove them all wrong.

A fluttering noise sounded behind her, and she twisted to eye the tunnel she’d already passed through. Was someone following her?

She spotted nothing and convinced herself that she was hearing things. She ducked as she passed the first torch, pressing herself against the wall as though it would protect her in some way.

The fluttering sounded again. She twisted, getting an eyeful of nothing but the torch. By the time she side-stepped to see more, a blur closed in on her.

Blindly, she swung the flashlight at it in an attempt to protect herself.

“Watch it!” a snarky voice said.

Paige’s eyes went wide as she finally identified the source of the fluttering. Dewey hovered in the air in front of her.

“You nearly hit me with that flashlight, Paige,” he said, his paws on his hips.

“Sorry, I thought you were a bad guy.”

He offered her an unimpressed stare. “Are you serious?”

“Yes,” she answered. “You said you weren’t coming. So, anyone following me had to be a bad guy.”

“Or your mom. Are you going to attack your mom?”

“No,” she answered as he settled on her shoulders. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“Helping you. I firmly disagree with this decision, but I can’t let you go alone.”

“I was fine,” she snapped at him, creeping further down the tunnel.

“Suuuure, you were.”

“I was.”

Dewey heaved a sigh. “Oh, really? So you have no use for me? Is that it?”

“No,” she answered. “I’d rather have backup but…”

“But what? I thought we were a team, Paige. I thought you’d be glad I came down here with you.”

“I am,” she admitted, her footsteps slowing. “We are a team. I would have come down here either way for my mom, but…I’d rather bumble along with you than without you.”

Dewey wrapped his paws around her head. “Aw, Paige, that’s really sweet. Gee, I hope we don’t die down here because I can’t wait to keep kicking butt as a librarian team. Especially now that you’re a Durand.”

“Yeah, do you think that’s going to be a problem? Dominic kind of said that he expected me to be loyal to the family. What do you think that means?”

Dewey shrugged. “Darned if I know. But just think of the resources we’ll have at our fingertips. We’ll probably win best library team every year even if we are stupid and bumbling.”

“Stop saying that. We’re not stupid. We’re just…physically challenged in terms of fighting and stuff.”

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