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“Are you kidding me?” Paige exclaimed, hurrying over to the opening and peering inside.

Dewey grinned at her and buzzed across the room, then he dug in the backpack for the flashlight. He clicked it on and darted back to the opening. “Let’s check it out.”

Paige hurried back to the window and glanced outside. “Okay, but we can’t be in there long. I’m not sure how long the food will take to get here.”

Dewey spiraled upward in a circle, pumping his fist in the air. “Yeah! Let’s go!”

Paige followed him into the dark passage. She ducked to avoid cobwebs strung from the corners as they wound around behind other rooms.

Dewey swept the light beam from side to side. “Where do you think it comes out?”

“How should I know?” Paige answered.

“Maybe in a dungeon.”

“Oh, please,” Paige said as they inched ahead through the passage, “not another dungeon.”

“It makes sense. I bet they have a massive dungeon in here. With an Iron Maiden. And one of those racks to stretch people.”

“Eww,” Paige said with a wrinkled nose.

A spider scurried away as Dewey swept his light over the dust-covered wood creating the walls. “Yeah, I bet they tortured lots of people up here in the Highlands.”

“Will you quit talking about creepy stuff while we’re in the creepy passage?”

“Sorry,” Dewey said as they rounded a corner.

Voices floated from down the passage.

Paige froze, shushing any further conversation. She held up a finger. “Listen.”

“Voices,” Dewey said.

Paige nodded in the darkness and tapped a finger farther down the passage. They crept down the corridor. The voices became clearer as they inched farther along.

Paige signaled for Dewey to click off the light. As their eyes became adjusted to the darkness, a pinpoint of light shone through the wall. Dewey darted toward it and peered through the opening.

He grabbed Paige’s hand with his paw as she closed the distance between them and whispered in her ear, “Check it out!”

He settled on her shoulder, placing his front paw on the top of her head to steady himself.

Paige stared into the small hole. One man stalked around the large bedroom. The other sat in an armchair near the fireplace.

“…sure the deal is in place?” the seated man inquired of the other.

“Yes,” he said, his chiseled jaw flexing as he answered.

“And the arrival of the woman?”

The man paced the length of the room, running his fingers through his shoulder-length, unruly, dark hair. “Not a problem. I’m handling it.”

“How?”

The man clenched his jaw and spoke through gritted teeth. “I have it under control.”

Paige narrowed her eyes at the man, squinting at his jawline as it rippled with long, wolf-like hair poking from it.

The other man stood, buttoning his blazer, his dark hair slicked down toward his head. His piercing blue eyes almost glowed even at this distance.