Page 118

“Ho?” Paige asked.

Dewey flew to the case and tugged on it. “It’s stuck. Pull it off the wall.”

Paige gave him an incredulous look.

“Smash the glass.”

“That’s unbweakable.”

“You have a hammer hand. Hit it!” Dewey said, flinging a paw toward her enormous hand.

Paige pulled the scarf from around her neck again and wrapped her massive hand in the red fabric. She lined up her arm and smacked the glass. It shattered to pieces from the vigorous blow.

“See,” Dewey said as he flew to the case and ripped the map off the corkboard. “You did it.”

Paige unwrapped her hand and stared at it as she nodded. Might not be half bad to keep this sucker.

“Okay, let’s see here,” Dewey said, fluttering the map in the air. “Looks like we need to go to the left for the remaining Holigramium deposits.”

Paige nodded again, her tongue becoming uncomfortably large in her mouth.

Dewey buzzed forward farther into the mines with Paige close behind him. They entered the elevator leading down and rode it to the bottom, where a large cavern spread out in front of them.

She wandered across the yawning space and pushed the handle up on a large box. Lights sprang to life overhead, illuminating the rocky landscape.

Dewey’s eyes lit up as he spotted the tunnels leading into the mines. “Look! Mine cars!”

A grin crossed his face, and he sped over to one, climbed inside, and peeked over the edge. “Come, Paige! We get to ride a mine car.”

“Oh gweat,” Paige said with a roll of her eyes as she stalked toward the mine car.

She flicked the switch to illuminate the passage they needed to traverse before climbing onto the mine car’s base. She swung her leg over and climbed inside as Dewey let the brake off and pushed the handle forward.

The car rolled ahead into the tunnel, its wheels squealing on the track. The passage dipped sharply, and the car dropped quickly, along with Paige’s stomach.

“Weee,” Dewey called as the wind whipped past them.

“Swow down,” Paige called.

“Live a little,” Dewey said as the breeze ruffled his ears.

They bobbed up and down, hugging the curves as the track followed the winding passage through the cavern.

Dewey glanced around as the walls opened farther. “Look, another track. Wonder where that goes?”

“Who cawes? Howigramium!”

“Yes, yes. We’ll just get the Holigramium and get out.”

Paige nodded from where she crouched at the back of the mine car.

Dewey stared down at the map in his hand before eyeing the track in front of them. “I think we’re almost there. Just a few more curves.”

Dewey hugged the hand brake, slowing the car as they wound around the last two wiggles in the track and arrived at the end of the line. They bumped into another car as they came to a stop.

“Wonder why there’s another ca–“ Dewey started, when a loud bang echoed off the stone surrounding them.

“Down,” Paige shouted, tugging Dewey lower in the car. “Gun!”