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“Stop playing around with that skull and help!”

“It’s stuck on me. Get it off!”

Paige hopped around, flicking her ankle in the air to free her toes from the ancient bone. She gave one hard kick, and the skull flew off and smashed into another pile across the room. Bones clattered to the floor below from their neat stack as the pile crumbled.

The force it took her to remove the skull from her foot sent her stumbling. She lost her balance and toppled backward, then she landed on top of a pyramid of skulls and bones.

A scream emerged from her lips as she sank into the pile of bones. They closed in around her, and the light from the flashlight dimmed. She flailed her arms and legs, trying to claw her way out. Each movement sent her deeper and deeper into the bone pile.

“Paige!” Dewey called.

She shrieked again as a skull smacked into her cheek. Panicked tears spilled from her eyes. Something poked her in the back as she hit the cold stone floor.

“Paige?” Dewey said again as the bones stopped their shifting.

“Get me out,” she responded.

“On it,” Dewey shouted. “Just hang on. I’ll get you free.”

“Ugh, hurry. They’re all over me, and some disgusting bone is poking me in the back.”

The sound of cracking bones reached her ears while Dewey tossed bone after bone aside to clear the pile. Light began to shine through as he lifted the bones from her body. The skull pressed against her cheek rose, replaced by Dewey’s concerned face.

“Are you okay?”

She gave him a stilted nod. “Yeah. Grossed out, but okay. Other than this bone poking me in the back.”

Dewey held out his hand to pull her up to stand. She swiped at her hair, arms, and legs after rising to remove any bone residue and shivered.

“Paige, look,” Dewey cried, shining his light at the object that had been jabbing her moments ago.

A large iron ring poked from the floor.

Dewey grinned at her. “I’d bet anything that leads to the mirror chamber.”

“At least my sacrifice wasn’t for nothing,” Paige said as she squatted to study it. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

She wrapped her fingers around the ring and glanced at Dewey with a deep inhale. She tugged upward. The large stone attached to the ring lifted into the air. Paige strained against its weight, her face reddening with the effort.

“Help,” she choked out.

Dewey dropped the flashlight and fluttered over, then he grasped the ring and beat his wings hard to rise into the air. They struggled for several moments before Paige collapsed to the floor and let go of the ring.

“It’s no use. I can’t budge it.” She gasped between heavy breaths.

“We have to figure out something. Come on. Let’s try again.”

Paige sucked in a deep breath and nodded, climbing to her feet again and swiping at the beads of sweat on her brow.

They both grabbed hold of the ring. Paige counted to three, and they lifted again. Paige winced as she struggled against the stone’s weight, and Dewey’s wings beat hard. The stone lifted only inches before they dropped it. It landed with a heavy thud back in its place.

Paige collapsed to sit on the stone floor, balancing her arms on her knees. “It’s no use. We can’t lift it.”

Dewey pressed his lips together in a thin line, his horns wiggling. “There has to be a way.” He rubbed his chin for a moment before he flung his paw into the air. “I’ve got it.”

He darted across the room and grabbed a femur bone. He waved it around. “You lift, and I’ll slide this under and pry it up.”

“That bone is ancient. It’ll snap like a twig.”