Page 40 of Shadow Witch

Paige stared up at the progress trackers at the top of the screen. Neither man had made it even one-third of the way through. “This is going to take forever. I’m going to need more snacks."

“Watch your salt content or you’ll never get those leather pants on again,” Dewey said before he tipped the paper cone and slid the remaining contents of it into his mouth.

“I’ll get a bigger size,” Paige said as she grabbed another bin of popcorn. “Does he have any chocolate?”

“He does. There’s an entire table of sweets over there,” Dewey said. “You’d better ask to size up now.”

“Very funny,” she said as he landed on her shoulder. She strode to the table and perused the layout of chocolates and fruit. “Wow, he really does put out a spread.”

“You know it. And you don’t want to be his daughter-in-law. I can’t believe you. Imagine this being your life all the time, Paige.”

“There’s not going to be an Amor Fortis every day.”

“No, but there’s probably chocolate.”

Paige tossed a few nonpareils into her mouth followed by a handful of popcorn. “Okay, you have a point. Oh, Devon made it to the one-third mark, but he’s stopped.”

“He’s got to battle a realm demon to move on to the next section.”

Paige’s features pinched as she took her snacks closer to the screen and settled into one of the seats set up to watch the big screen.

The dark-haired announcer leaned closer to his microphone. “Seems like Devon is having no trouble with the jungle beast. He’s making short work of this monster.”

“That he is, Sam. We’re seeing some serious rage against the jolly green giant that I can only assume is fueled by his intense love for Paige Turner.”

“And with a name like that, you’ve got to be surprised. Am I right?”

Paige frowned at the screen. “Shut up, guy. Like your name’s so great.”

“Actually, it is,” Dewey said. “That’s Sam Scoreboard and his partner, Charlie Competition.”

Paige screwed up her face. “What? No.”

“Yeah.”

“And they’re talking about my name? My name is way more normal than Sam Scoreboard.”

Dewey shrugged before he returned his attention to the screen. “Looks like both guys are through the first bit. It’ll be interesting to see if Devon starts to lose speed when he hits midway.”

“I think he already is,” Paige answered as she pointed to the progress board. “Looks like Henry is catching up.”

“Oh, yeah. Slow and steady wins the race. I’m going to cream Devon if he loses. I put way more than I said on him.”

Paige rolled her eyes and flicked her gaze back to the screen. The two men continued to fight their way through the challenges in the realm.

They arrived at the last battle at the same time and defeated their final enemy at almost the exact same moment.

Only the retrieval of the artifact remained. Paige inched forward onto the edge of her seat, her throat going dry as she waited to see who would claim the first victory.

If Devon lost, she’d not only be stuck marrying Henry, but she’d never get that soul compass.

She held her breath as both men raced toward their prizes. With their fingers stretching forward, they latched on to their respective artifacts at what looked to be the same time.

“Oh, that’s going to need a replay, Sam. I didn’t see who grabbed it first.”

“Me either, Charlie, but it may not matter.”

Paige’s heart skipped a beat as she stared at the screen. Henry grabbed his sword and immediately turned it onto Devon. With the tip grazing his chiseled chin, Devon held his hands in the air. One slash with that blade could kill him…and cost Paige the soul compass.

---