Page 126 of Shadow Witch

“How are we going to get out of here?” Dewey asked.

“Seriously? You can fly. You could fly out of here. The better question is how am I going to get out of here.”

“Shh,” Dewey hissed.

“You shush,” Paige answered as she rose and brushed herself off again. “I’m being serious.”

“Shh,” Dewey said again.

“Dewey, stop shushing me. I can talk whenever I want. I’m–”

Dewey fluttered to her and clapped a hand over her mouth, his eyes wide. “I said shut up.” His eyes slid sideways before he returned his gaze to her. “Someone’s here.”

“What?” she whispered. “Who? My mom?”

“Unless your mom lit a bunch of torches, no.”

Paige clicked off the flashlight and let her eyes adjust to the light from the flickering flames as it bounced off the stone walls. “Maybe she did.”

“Are you insane or just stupid?”

“Hey!” she breathed. “Neither.”

She shifted her gaze toward the glowing torches, her heart thudding against her ribs. The compass had led them here. Was it leading them to her mother or straight into a trap?

“Come on, let’s check it out,” Paige whispered.

“No way. We need to wait for Drucinda.”

“I’m not waiting. My mother could be down here. Someone could be holding her captive. We have to find out.”

“Are you sure you can’t wait? What if someone else is down here with her? We need Drucinda to kick their butts.”

Paige took a few tentative steps toward the torch-lit tunnel. “We’ll have to make do. We can’t rely on Drucinda all the time.”

“We can if we try hard enough,” Dewey shot back.

“Dewey!” Paige cried. “During my first week at the library, we fought off werewolves. Don’t you have any faith in our skills?”

“No,” he answered. “I’m pretty certain we got lucky with those werewolves. In fact, I know we did. We’re two bumbling fools, Paige. Let’s face it. We’re going to get ourselves killed one day.”

“No, we are not. We are not…fools. Maybe we’re bumbling…but we’re…bumbling smart people.” Paige inched closer across the stones toward the tunnel, craning her neck to peer into it.

“Bumbling smart people? Is that even a thing?”

“Yes?” she said, her voice forming it as a question rather than a firm answer. “Look, here’s the thing. We’ve been through a lot together. And while we may not have the smooth, confident approach Drucinda has, we figure it out and get through it.”

“I’m starting to wonder if we’ve just gotten lucky. I mean, in thinking back on it…we’ve had some lucky breaks. And on top of that, we’re now dealing with a group who has kidnapped your mother, framed Drucinda for her death, and kept her captive for over thirty years. Paige, this is bad news.”

Her footsteps faltered as she reached the tunnel. He had a point. How had these people managed to keep her mother trapped for so long? She was an experienced librarian. And she’d ended up kidnapped and held for over thirty years. Were they that powerful?

“Paige, let’s just wait–“

“No!” She squeezed her fingers into fists, determination swelling through her as she fought to steady her nerves.

“It does us no good if we get kidnapped, too!” Dewey argued.

“We won’t. Look, we’ve fought werewolves, we’ve beaten vampires. And if we have to bumble our way through beating whatever has my mom, then we will. I’m not waiting. Either you’re with me or you’re not.”

---