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With another frustrated sigh, she continued down the hall, skirting a secretary desk and inching closer to the next hallway jutting off to their left. Voices floated down the upcoming hall.
“Go back! Go back!” Dewey whispered frantically.
Paige darted back down the hall and around the large furniture piece, then she crouched behind it. Two men appeared, continuing down the hall away from them, discussing something about a missing colleague.
“That must be the guy we left on the side of the road,” Dewey said as they disappeared around another corner, their voices fading.
“Yeah,” Paige said. “I guess they didn’t find him yet.”
“Nope,” Dewey said. “Let’s hope we’re out of here before they do.”
Paige rose from her crouched position and skirted around the secretary desk again, aiming for the hall from which the men had just emerged. “Should we try this one?”
“Okay,” Dewey agreed.
Paige swung into the new hall. Only one door stood in the middle of it. The opposite end spilled into another hallway.
“This place is like a maze,” Paige complained as she tiptoed down the corridor.
Dewey tapped her on the head. “Paige, someone’s coming behind us. Go faster!”
Paige’s eyes widened, and she quickened her pace, her heart pounding against her ribs.
“They’re getting close. Hide!”
“Where?”
“In there!” Dewey said, pointing to the lone door in the hall.
Paige dashed toward it and twisted the knob, slipping inside as someone rounded the corner into the hall. She eased the door shut and turned the lock, backing away from it. She spun and scanned the room in search of a hiding spot.
“There’s nowhere to hide in here,” she noted as she studied the minimal furnishings.
“Give me the bar,” Dewey requested.
“Why?”
“In case I need to defend myself!”
“Seriously? You have teeth and claws. What am I supposed to use?”
Dewey waved his hand across the room. “Get that poker from the fireplace tools.”
“Oh, that’s not a half-bad idea,” Paige said. She handed the metal rod off to the dragon perched on her shoulder and hurried across the room to grab the poker’s handle. She tried to wrangle it upward, but it wouldn’t budge. “It’s stuck!”
Voices sounded outside the room. Two men discussed something, but their words were unintelligible, blocked by the thick wooden door.
“Hurry, Paige!”
Paige wrenched the fireplace poker sideways. It swung at an angle, and the floor underneath them moved. Paige wobbled as she struggled to remain upright. The room swayed in front of her.
“What’s happening?” Dewey questioned as the room slid from their view, replaced by another windowless space.
“I think we’re in a secret room,” Paige said, stepping off the fireplace platform. “I must have triggered it with the poker.”
A large wooden table stood across the space with two small boxes stacked on top. A glowing gray light emanated from inside one.
“Why is that box glowing?” Paige asked as Dewey rose from his perch on her shoulder and darted toward it.
