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Paige crinkled her brow and opened her mouth, trying to drink in any of the water she floated in.
“NO!” Dewey said with an exaggerated head shake. “The vial! The vial!”
Paige wrinkled her nose again, glancing down at her kangaroo pocket. She pulled the vial from within the fabric fold and eyed it.
“DRINK IT!” Dewey shouted. “It cures curses!”
Paige’s eyes went wide. One corner of her lips tugged back in a half smile. She lifted the stopper and pressed it to her lips, downing the sweet-tasting water. She lowered the vial and waited for a second.
Nothing happened.
“Nothing’s hap–“
A sharp pain shot through her core and took her breath away. She clutched at her belly and shot a glance at Dewey as the world turned fuzzy around her before fading to black.
* * *
Paige’s eyes fluttered open. A bright light blinded her. She squinted against it, shielding her face with her hands.
“Ugh, what is the bright light?” she asked. “Oh no.” A sinking feeling filled her. “I died. I’m dead. The bright light is calling me home.”
Paige winced and pulled her hands away, expecting to find pearly white gates and a robed man with a shiny halo. Instead, as her eyes adjusted, she found herself lying in the grass next to the Pool of Yearning.
She pushed up to her elbows and swung her head around. “It worked!”
Paige stared down at the empty vial still clutched in her hand. “Dewey was right! It worked. I’m saved!”
A giddy chuckle escaped from her lips before her smile faded.
“Dewey,” she shouted.
She rushed to the water’s edge and stared down into it. Somewhere under the surface, Dewey remained trapped in his watery cell.
Paige pressed her lips together as she vetted through ideas. She scooped more water into the vial and tucked it into her waistband before peeling off her sweatshirt. She adjusted her tank top, sucking in deep breaths. With her arms swinging front and back, she talked herself into diving into the pool.
“Can’t be that bad, right?” she murmured. “Maybe cold. That’s fine. I can do cold.”
“How deep were we? Felt far.” Paige shook her head. “I can hold my breath that long.”
She sucked in a few more breaths and bobbed up and down on her toes. “Okay, Paige. Time to be a hero.”
She stared into the placid water, catching a vision of her disheveled appearance. She smoothed her hair back before she leaned forward. With her eyes squeezed closed and her lips pulled into a wince, she splashed into the water.
“Oh! It’s cold! It’s cold!” She gasped as she trod water.
She panted out a few breaths before she sucked in a deep one and forced herself below the surface.
She kicked her feet, diving farther into the cold waters. Darkness surrounded her as she swam closer to the bottom. In the dim light, she spotted a fuzzy teal splotch.
Paige frog-kicked her way closer to it, her lungs burning.
“Dewey!” she shouted as she approached his cell.
The little dragon lifted his dark eyes to her.
She thrust the vial through the rope bars at Dewey. “Drink it!”
Dewey snatched the bottle from her hand. Paige twisted and kicked toward the surface. She fought toward the light glowing at the top, each second agony as she struggled to not breathe.
