Page 135 of Shadow Witch

“What? I have two days to live?” Her words came out in a panicked puff as she breathed hard from her efforts to run away from the panther.

“Well, technically one. If you last longer than that, you’re just lucky. But really, I’d err on the side of caution with twenty-four hours.”

“OMG,” Paige said, already feeling her legs tiring. Why was she worrying about the poison? The cat would catch her soon and tear her to shreds.

“Wait, wait,” Dewey said as they tore around the corner again. “I’ve got it. Your bracelet.”

“What about it?” she asked, her lips tugged back into a wince as she continued running.

“Use it, dummy. You have the power of beast control.”

“Oh, yeah,” Paige said. “I forgot. I’m not used to using magic. Wait, what are the words.”

“Uh…something like ’Stop, you foul best.’”

Paige’s feet pounded against the stones as she continued to run. “Something like or exactly that? I don’t want to mess this up and die.”

“Uhh, pretty certain it’s that. Just…say a bunch of words that tell it to stop.”

“Right, yeah, I’ll just babble and hope it helps.”

She sucked in a deep breath, trying to mentally prepare for the challenge.

“May want to hurry up, this thing’s going to catch us soon.”

Paige squeezed her eyes closed as she whipped around to face the cat, raising her wrist in the air. Her bracelet’s charms dangled in the air as she shouted, “Stop, you foul beast.”

The cat skidded to a halt, sliding closer to them as it sat at attention, awaiting Paige’s direction.

“OMG, it worked,” she said, breathlessly with wide eyes.

“Yeah. You did it. Paige, you did it.”

“Yeah,” she answered with a grin. “I did…uh, now what do I do?”

“Oh, uh, good question. Maybe…tell it to go away or…stay or something.”

“Right. Good kitty…stay.”

Dewey shook his head. “No, no, no. You have to put it in its place. Stay, you foul beast.”

“Oh, right. Stay, you foul beast.”

Paige held her breath as she skirted around the massive cat who sat motionless, still obeying the command she’d given it.

“Almost there. Keep going,” Dewey whispered.

Paige bobbed her head as she completed her arc around the creature and began to back toward the hallway. “Now, maybe we can try this on the werewolf and get somewhere.”

“Yeah, if we can remember how many rights and lefts we took,” Dewey answered.

“Right. Well, I guess we’ll just keep going until we find it or I die twenty-four hours from now.”

“Sounds like a plan. Now…I think we need to hang a left up here.”

“Really? I thought right.”

“I don’t know. Just…go in a direction and hope we find the stupid werewolf.”

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