Page 147 of Shadow Beasts

Dewey tapped a finger against his chin as he stared at the mirror.

Paige waved him over to the side opposite her. “Try to lift it. Let’s see if we can budge this.”

Dewey darted to the opposite side, wrapping his hands around the dowel sticking from the side. Paige grabbed the metal wrapping around the mirror on the other.

“On three.” She counted down, and they both strained, trying to raise the mirror from its stand.

Paige’s side hovered over the dirt floor a few inches in the air. Dewey’s didn’t budge.

“Ugh,” Paige groaned as she let her side of the mirror rest on the thick metal stand.

She rubbed her fingers against her forehead as she stared at the large object.

Dewey flew around the mirror, stretching his arms to crudely measure it. “It’ll fit in the rental, I think, but we’ll have to lose the stand.”

“Lose the stand? We’ll have to shed about a hundred pounds of something else, too,” Paige argued. “We can’t carry this.”

Dewey hovered in the air in front of the mirror, his finger tapping his chin. “Hmmm.”

Paige shook her head at the heavy item. “If we can’t get this out of this room, we need to break it.”

Dewey’s eyes shot wide. “Paige! We can’t break it! The mission is to retrieve it, not destroy it.”

“We have to break it, Dewey! We can’t let it fall into the hands of the werewolves. Regardless of what the mission parameters state, we can’t let this get out. If we can’t take it with us, we need to destroy it.”

“We have no idea if breaking it will ‘destroy it,’” Dewey challenged, using air quotes around the last words. “Breaking it may unleash a magic we don’t understand. It may create chaos. It may release something we can’t control.”

Paige cocked a hip and sighed, tapping her temples with her fingertips. “Ugh, this is impossible. We can’t move this! We’d need an army to help us.”

A breeze rustled through the chamber, flickering the flames on the torches lining the walls. Voices sounded, echoing through the underground passage.

Dewey’s eyes widened, and he spun to face Paige. “We’d better figure something out quick. Someone’s coming!”

Paige flicked her gaze to the opening, then back to the mirror. She pushed her shoulders back and raised her chin, one eyebrow arching high in the air.

A smile crossed her lips, and she shoved her glasses higher on her nose. “I have an idea.”

* * *

Paige and Dewey crouched behind the mirror. They’d moved it to the left of the door leading into the chamber. Paige’s heart thudded in her chest from the quick efforts they’d made and the impending conflict.

The approaching voices grew louder as the newcomers approached the secret room. From the sounds of the conversation, three people approached. Paige assumed, based on the voices she’d heard, the group consisted of Helen and the two werewolves.

“Here they come,” Dewey whispered. “Get ready.”

Paige nodded, then leaned to peek around the side of the mirror, giving a signal to the center of the room.

“And the mirror’s straight ahead?” one of the males asked as the voices became clearer.

“Aye, right where I showed you before.”

“I cannot believe you failed to kill the girl,” the other male voice said.

“Dinnae you worry. I’ll find her and that cursed little dragon, too. They’ll pay for what they did.”

A harsh chuckle sounded, mixing with the sound of their footsteps scraping along the floor. “Oh, I doubt that. They’re probably long gone by now.”

“Then no harm done. You’ve got your mirror, and I’ve got my money.”