Page 128 of Shadow Witch

“You can say that again,” Dewey answered, his voice echoing off the stone as they approached another hall.

“We’ll get better. Maybe I’ll take some karate classes or something after all of this.”

“Or just train with Drucinda. She’s pretty good at fighting of all kinds.”

Paige peered around the corner into the next hallway. “Drucinda is pretty good at all things.”

“She really is. Maybe she’ll win best library team. Her and stupid Thorn.”

“I thought you and Thorn had come to terms.”

“Not really. I still want to beat him. I want to be Best Library Team again. I mean, who would have thought tiny little Dewey would be one-half of the Best Library Team?”

“Me,” Paige answered as she stealthily slid down the next hall. “I would have. I knew you were super smart when I met you.”

“Actually, you thought I’d eat you when I met you.”

“Well, you played that trick on me, and I thought you were a full-sized dragon.”

“Even if I was, that doesn’t mean I’d eat you. My parents didn’t eat you. My brother didn’t eat you. My sister didn’t–“

“Okay, okay, I get it,” she said as she held a hand up. “I didn’t know dragons weren’t mean at the time. Now, I do.”

“You’ve come a long way, Paige. I mean, you’re still not as awesome as Drucinda but–“

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, but she’s still not the Best Library Team either.” Paige shot him a cocky grin. They attempted a high five but missed, as usual.

“Still can’t get that,” Dewey said with a shake of his head. “Maybe one day.”

“Maybe,” Paige said as they reached another turn in the passage. “This place is like a maze.”

“Yeah,” Dewey. “At least so far we haven’t run into any trouble.”

Paige bobbed her head up and down as she reached a T in the corridors and flicked her gaze back and forth. “Which way?”

“Looks like the torches are lit in both directions. Couldn’t they have saved on fuel and just lit the way they went?”

“Guess not. So, right or left?” Paige asked.

“Check the compass.”

She raised her eyebrows as she grinned at him and nodded. “Right. Good idea.”

She pulled the compass from her pocket and held it in her hand. The needle bobbed around wildly. “So much for that. We’re back to square one. Right or left.”

“Uhhh.” Dewey rubbed his chin. “Probably right.”

“Probably? Why?”

“Most people are right-handed, and so they tend to pick right for a direction.”

Paige nodded and took a step to the right before she slowed. “What if they were left-handed?”

“Hmmm,” Dewey murmured. “They may have gone to the left, but no…probably they still went right. We’re almost trained to go right by societal norms.”

Paige crinkled her nose, but shrugged and continued along the passage. She stopped a few feet down, twisting to glance behind her.

She shook her head and kept moving forward.

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