Page 24

“Consider the alternative,” Dewey said as he tore another slice of buttered bread in half.

“What if it goes wrong? I don’t want to be worse off. Or forever changed somehow.”

“We’ll be careful.”

“Right,” Paige said with a curt nod. “Just like when you made me the slime and estimated my weight at 250 pounds, and I got high. Or the time your hand slipped, and you gave me too much Seepy Sap, and I melted into a puddle. Forgive me if I’m feeling less than confident.”

“Relax, Paige. Both of those were accidents that will not happen again.”

“I’ll relax when I’m cured and not turned into a toad.”

Dewey wrinkled his nose, his horns wiggling. “What’s wrong with being a toad? Some of my best friends are toads.”

Paige froze as she mopped up the last of her egg yolk with a piece of toast. “Seriously?”

“Yes, Paige,” Dewey snapped, “way to think humans are just the end all, be all.”

He shook his head and rolled his eyes.

Paige collected her plate and utensils and sauntered to the sink to wash the dishes with her lips pressed into a thin line. “Sorry. I’m still getting used to this whole magical world stuff.”

“Maybe try not judging other creatures to start with. Just sayin’.”

Paige shot him a look over her shoulder as she dumped her plate into the dish drainer and moved on to the pan. She finished the cleanup while Dewey flitted over with his dish. She washed it while Dewey dried the other dishes and put them away.

“Now to find Dickens. I can’t believe he never came in with that bacon cooking. He must be really deep in the archives,” Paige said as she dried her hands on a dish towel.

“I’ll help you look,” Dewey said, shoving the last plate onto the stack in the cupboard.

They crossed the room, and Paige dug through her duffel bag in search of a bag of treats. “He loves these. Maybe they’ll help lure him back.”

“Good idea.”

They stepped out of the nest. Paige scanned the archives below in search of the small animal.

“I don’t see him,” Dewey noted as he flew alongside her.

“Me either,” Paige said with a sigh. “I guess I’ll go that way, and you take the other direction.”

“Okay. Meet back in the middle in fifteen?”

“Sounds good,” Paige said.

Dewey buzzed off in the direction he’d agreed to search as Paige circled her way around the nest, descending to the floor below.

She hit the smooth cement and wandered in the opposite direction from Dewey, shaking the treat bag. “Dickens! Here, kitty, kitty!”

She shoved her glasses farther up her nose as she wandered into the stacks, glancing up and down each aisle when she passed it.

“Dicky! Come on, kitty! I have your favorite treats!”

She rounded the corner and continued into another section of the archive. “Dickens!”

She shook the treat bag again.

A loud noise echoed throughout the space.

Paige clamped her hands over her ears, squeezing her eyes closed at the thundering sound.