Page 132 of Shadow Witch

Dewey waved a claw in the air. “I could scratch the walls with my claw.”

“Oh, right,” she said as she nodded. “Let’s do that.”

Dewey flew into the air and crossed to the stone wall. He scraped his claw against the stone at various angles.

“Is it working?”

“Yep.”

“Okay…so why are you still doing it?”

Dewey twisted toward her. “I’m writing “Paige and Dewey were here.’”

Paige’s jaw dropped open as she wrinkled her nose. “That’s going to take forever.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. I’m only on the ‘a’ in Paige.”

“Just leave it as it is. That’s enough. We just need to remember that the stone next to the second torch has the mark. Then we’ll know if we’re circling around.”

“Right,” he said as he landed on her shoulder. “Let’s keep going.”

She continued down the hall, repeating the information to herself over and over. Second torch, second torch, second torch.

They rounded the corner and continued down the hallway. Paige let her fingers trace along the stones as she walked, using the roughness to ground her focus.

She could be steps away from her mother. She needed to keep her wits about her if she hoped to reunite with the woman.

A shaky breath escaped her as she moved forward, driven by curiosity and desperation. Her breath hitched as her fingers hit a divot in the stone, and she froze.

“What’s wrong?” Dewey asked.

Paige slowly slid her eyes to the side. Her jaw dropped open as she studied the mark on the wall. Her eyebrows pinched together, and her features twisted. “This can’t be.”

“What is it?”

Paige pulled her hand away from the stone, revealing the “P” scratched into it. “This isn’t right. W-w-we turned a corner. This can’t be the same hall.”

Dewey fluttered to it, his fleshy eyebrows pinching. “It can’t be.”

“That’s what I said!” Paige shouted. She shook her head, digging her fingers into her scalp. “Okay, no. This is just…let’s just keep going and see what happens if I go the other way at the intersection.”

“Right,” Dewey said as he landed on her shoulder.

“No, left, we went right last time.”

“I know that.”

Paige tried to calm her pounding heart as she hurried to the junction. “Then why did you say right?”

“I meant correct, right, yes. Not the direction.”

“Well, that was confusing in this situation.”

“Sorry,” Dewey said as they reached the other hall.

Paige swung a left, her footsteps hastening to make it to the second torch. Her eyes went wide as she stared at the “P” marring the stone. “This isn’t happening.”

“Oh, no,” Dewey said with a shake of his head. “We’re trapped in an endless hall.”

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