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She licked her lips as she shook her head at him.

“Am I off by a lot?”

“Uh, yeah!”

“More than fifty pounds?”

Paige’s jaw dropped, and she shot him an incredulous stare. “Try double my weight! OMG, Dewey, how much do you think humans weigh?”

“Obviously, 250 pounds.”

“No.” Paige waved a hand at him and rolled her eyes. “For future reference, I weigh about 125.”

“Really?” Dewey inquired, jotting a note on his paper.

“Okay, okay, 130, but still, nowhere near 250.”

“All right, all right, don’t get your knickers in a twist. I’ve got it noted in case I need to make you any more slime.”

“I’m not getting my knickers in a twist. It would be like me saying you weigh half a ton.”

Dewey waved his paws in the air. “I’d love to weigh half a ton! I’d be almost as big as my sister.”

Paige squeezed her lips together and shook her head at him.

“Anyway, what’s your brilliant idea for sneaking me out of here? I can’t wait to hear this.”

The smile returned to Paige’s face, and she grabbed the bag next to her feet. She tugged a flat black rectangle from inside along with a piece of green fabric. After ripping off the cardboard wrapped around the black box, she unfolded it, then she zipped together several components.

When done, she waved her finished product in the air triumphantly.

“What is it?” Dewey asked.

The smile faded from her lips, and she set the mesh-covered box on her lap. “It’s a pet carrier.”

Dewey wrinkled his nose and drew his chin to his chest as he stared with disdain at the item. “Like for a cat?”

“Yeah! I spotted it in the pet aisle when we were on the phone. I use them to take Dickens to the vet. People will just think you’re my dog.”

“Except I have horns and wings.”

“You can barely see inside these things. No one will know. And besides, just in case, I bought this too.” Paige tossed the green fabric hanging from a cardboard rectangle across the room at him.

Dewey caught it and spun it around, reading the bright green lettering on the cardboard’s purple background. “Stegosaurus dinosaur dog costume.”

“We’ll put that on you and say you’re dressed up for a costume party as a dinosaur. No one will know.”

Dewey flung the costume back at Paige. “This is the stupidest idea I’ve ever seen. I’m starting to wonder if you were high before I gave you the slime.”

Paige wrinkled her nose at him. “It’s not stupid. I’ll need your help. And if you want to leave the archive and do fieldwork, this is the best way.”

“Fine, fine. We may need to use it because we need to discuss options to get that talisman from the Russians.”

“Oh, right. I forgot about that with the whole mark of the beast remedy and passing out.”

“And being high.”

Paige rolled her eyes. “And that.”