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“Do you think you can manage a discussion about this given the circumstances?”

Paige pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes. “Yes. Just don’t wiggle your stupid ears, and we’ll be fine.”

Dewey glanced at the stack of books next to him as he spoke. “I can’t control that.”

The answer gave Paige another giggle fit. She covered her mouth and waved a hand in the air. “Sorry. I’m sorry. Proceed.”

“All right, well, here’s the situation. This talisman is being held captive at the Moscow Library Archives. They won’t send it to us, and no amount of pleading is going to help. Not even Ronnie is going to cut through the red tape on this one and force them to send it to us. And even if she could, by the time they send it, well…”

“I’ll be dead,” Paige answered.

Dewey lifted a paw at her and nodded. “So, we need another answer.”

“Oh, I have one.”

Dewey squashed his thick eyebrows. “Really?”

“Yeah. We’ll ask another library to ask them for it. Maybe they’ll give it to the British branch or the French or something.”

“Likely not. Any library friendly to us is not going to get this talisman from them. They don’t share anything with anyone.”

“And they won’t trade?”

Dewey wagged his head back and forth. “Nope. No trades.”

Paige tossed her hands in the air as she sank back into the cushion behind her, careful not to disturb her thick bandage. “So, we have no options. This is a useless discussion.”

“Not true. There is an option. It’s…extreme, but necessary.”

Paige darted her gaze around the room as she tried to piece together the option. “What? ‘Cause I’m not seeing any options.”

Dewey arched an eyebrow, a gleam of mischief in his dark eyes. “We’ll steal it from them.”

CHAPTER 19

Paige cocked her head and arched her eyebrows, adjusting her glasses as she let the statement sink in. “Steal it from them?”

Dewey nodded, his teal lips pursed and his pen clutched in his paw.

“Are you insane? Did you take some of the slime for the 1,000-pound person, too?”

Dewey’s horns wiggled with annoyance, and his tail swished behind him. “No, I’m not insane.”

“We can’t steal this! I’ve barely been here one day. I don’t have the skills to sneak into another library and steal something. I could barely steal something from this one.”

“Well, I suppose that’s where that stupid costume and carrier will come in handy. You’ll definitely need my help. I can find things much faster in the archives.”

Paige leapt from her seat and paced the floor in front of her, one palm pressed against her forehead. “We can’t do this. There’s no way. How do we get into Russia? I can’t take you on a plane. And even if we get into Russia, how would we get past the security? And even if we did, how do we get out with the stupid thing? Ugh.”

“I have a few solutions to those problems.”

Paige paused in her pacing, shooting him an incredulous glance. “Well, I’d love to hear them because this sounds like a terrible idea.”

Dewey tapped his pen against his notepad as he detailed his daring plan. “Okay, first, the library has a plane on standby at a private airfield that will land at another private airstrip for just such occasions. We won’t need to fly commercial so that solves the problem of getting me past airport security.”

“Oh good, so we can sneak into Russia undetected. Perfect,” Paige said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Dewey poked the pen in her direction, ignoring her tone. “Right. Now, from there is where things get tricky.”