Chapter 14
“W hat?” Paige shrieked. Her heart pounded as she swayed on her feet.
Dewey buzzed into the room and slid to a stop. He tugged his teal lips back into a grimace as his dark eyes went wide.
“Yikes.”
“What is it? What’s wrong with me? How do you know I’m poisoned?”
Dewey winced and zipped from the room, returning with a large “handheld” mirror. He shoved it in front of Paige. Her jaw flapped open as she stared at her reflection.
“OMG!”
“Yep,” Dewey answered. “That’s how we can tell.”
Paige twisted her neck, studying the red bumps all over her skin. “I look like a high school kid with an acne problem.”
“But the good news is, those are just pox from the poisoning,” Dewey answered. “No acne.”
“Whew,” Paige answered, “really dodged a bullet there. I’d hate to die with pimples.”
“Mmm, I doubt you’ll die. Although you may wish you had,” Dewey answered her.
“How did I get poisoned? And why does no one else have it?” Paige asked.
“I’m guessing that was a Dragonberry cobbler?” Devon said, shoving his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the door jamb.
“Yep. But why would that–” Dewey’s eyes went wide, and his mouth formed an “O.” “Ohhhh.”
“Humans can’t eat Dragonberries,” Devon answered.
“Oops, totally forgot that.”
Paige collapsed to a cross-legged seat on the floor. “How could you forget that? And what did you mean, I’ll wish I would have died?”
“Well,” Dewey said with a wrinkled nose, “the effects of the Dragonberry poisoning can be severe. And I’d say based on the number of welts on your face alone, yours will be severe.”
“What are the effects?”
“Those welts will become itchy and continue to grow in size until they burst open and seep a sticky, gooey substance. The more you itch them, the worse they’ll get, and they can leave a scar, so try not to.”
“So basically, this is chickenpox - except grosser?” Paige said, drawing her knees to her chest.
“Well, sort of, but…not really.”
Paige flicked up her gaze. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“On top of the welts, you’ll suffer from fairly severe gastrointestinal issues,” Dewey said. “And–” He squashed his lips together.
“And what?”
“You’ll…you…”
Devon peeled himself from the door jamb and stalked toward them. “Just tell her.”
“Tell me what?”
Dewey glanced at the floor. “You tell her.”
“You may turn scaly like a dragon,” Devon said.
“What?” Paige asked, scrambling to her feet. “Is it permanent?”
“No, just temporary. But for a while, you may look like me. Or…well, probably you’ll be red or pink. Which could be cool.”
Paige stared at him, with her jaw set. “Why does this always happen to me?”
“Just lucky, I guess. Anyway, what time is it? I’m surprised Mom and the fam aren’t back yet.” Dewey flitted to the window and glanced out. “Hmm, it’s already getting dark. Where is everyone?”
Paige collapsed in a heap. “You go find out. I’ll just lay here and slowly turn into a reptile.”
“Hey!” Dewey said, turning sharply toward her and waving a paw. “Watch it. There’s nothing wrong with being a dragon.”
“I didn’t say there was. But I didn’t want to turn into one!”
Dewey hovered over her. “Come on, get up. You’ll just feel worse lying there.”
“I doubt that. Especially when the gastrointestinal upset occurs.”
Dewey jabbed a fist in the air. “The best thing to do is keep yourself moving. That’ll make it easier.”
“Moving will make the vomiting easier?”
“Well…that’s one way this’ll end.”
Paige flicked her gaze to him, her eyes going wide. “I think I’d better stay close to a bathroom.”
“Not to be a pain, but…I doubt you’ll reach the toilet here. Plus, it’s not what you think.”
“I won’t be glued to a toilet with vomiting and…other issues?”
“No, once you throw up the Dragonberry bushes growing in your stomach, you’ll be fine. I’d highly recommend you just let them come up. You really don’t want them coming out the other end.”
Paige pushed herself up to sit. “Throw up the Dragonberry bushes growing in my stomach?”
“It’s not that bad, Paige,” Devon said, pulling her to her feet. “He’s right. The more you move around, the smaller they’ll stay before they come up. I’ll hold your hair.”
She yanked her hands from his as she pouted. “Thanks, pal.”
Devon offered her a nod and grin before he turned to Dewey. “So, you think your folks should have been back by now?”
“Yeah. That celebration should have lasted no longer than two hours. Three max. Four if they got stuck with Aunt Ida yakking their ear off about how her son is a doctor and works for Dragons Without Borders.” Dewey rolled his eyes.
“We should try to track them down. It’s almost dark, and that’s when they’ll be able to fly us to another airstrip, so we can continue pursuing the Bronze Ring. We can’t let the Transylvanians get it.”
“With this little stopover, they may already have it,” Paige answered, rubbing her forehead as her stomach gurgled.
“Possibly, but they’re slow movers, so we stand a good chance,” Devon answered. “But we should get going.”
“Okay, let’s go,” Paige said, with a sigh. “I’ll go out looking like this. Of course, later I’ll be scaly, so what difference does it make?” She stalked from the room to the massive staircase leading down and slid down the first few steps.
“Paige, wait up!” Dewey called as he fluttered after her. Devon buzzed past them in beast mode and landed on the floor below before changing into human form.
Paige dangled her legs over the edge of the next stair and dropped to the tread below. Red welts began to form on her hands as she worked her way down.
“Ugh, my disease is spreading.”
“It’s not a disease. Just food poisoning.”
One of the blisters scraped against the railing as she slid down to the next step. It burst open, spewing reddish-purple goo across the room.
“Ugh,” Devon cried from below. Paige hurried to the railing and peered through the balustrades. Sticky slime covered his normally perfect hair.
“Whoops, sorry.”
Devon pulled his hand away from his hair. A line of goo stretched from his head to his fingers. He slid his eyes closed and morphed into his beast form. He flew into the kitchen and returned, wiping at his hairless head with a towel before he switched back to human.
“Wow, that’s handy,” Paige said as she slid down the last stair.
Devon waved the towel, which could wrap around his entire body, at Dewey. “Mind if I take this with us? I have a feeling we may need it.”
Dewey glanced at Paige with a wrinkled nose before he nodded. “Sure. I hope that’s all we need.”
Paige’s stomach gurgled again, and she pressed a hand against it, scowling. “Ugh. I’m starting to feel the gastrointestinal upset. Before we go, do your parents have any Pepto, or something similar?”
Dewey flew toward the door with a shake of his head. “You don’t want to take that. Pepto is like Miracle-Gro for Dragonberries.”
“Really?” Paige asked as the heat of the late afternoon smacked her in the face. “Okay, well, I don’t want this to be any worse than it already is.”
“Right. The walking will help. The more you sit, the bigger those bushes will get. You’ve got to jiggle them around so they want to come out.”
“Ugh, this is so gross.”
“You gotta admit, though,” Dewey said as they wandered through the empty streets of his town, “it was good going down.”
“It was. It was a really good cobbler. I just can’t believe every time we have a case, you manage to do something to maim me.”
“Hardly!” Dewey said, with a puff from his nostrils. “I have done nothing of the kind.”
“Uh, yeah, you have. Plastered Paige, Puddle Paige, Purple Paige, and now–”
“Pimply Paige,” Dewey said, with a chuckle.
Paige shot him a glare. “Once, just once I’d like to have a case where something weird doesn’t happen to me.”
Dewey landed on her shoulder and patted her on the head. “You picked the wrong job for that, kiddo.”
“No kidding,” Paige said as they reached the entrance to the village and headed back into the jungle. “So, where would this celebration be held?”
“There’s a cave nearby. Hang a right at the marked tree.”
“Do you think the celebration just ran long?” Devon asked as he trekked behind them.
“Not this long. Like I said, even if Aunt Ida caught them, they’d still have been home already. And no one is back yet. Not one dragon. That’s…”
“Odd,” Devon finished for him.
“Right.”
“What could have happened, though?” Paige asked. “Ohhh, maybe they ate some bad food or something.” She winced again as her stomach plopped. “Like me.”
“Dragonberries aren’t poisonous to dragons, Paige,” Dewey said, with a roll of his eyes.
“I didn’t mean that. I meant like bad pork or something.”
“No. That’s not it. It’s something else. But what?” Dewey rubbed at his chin as he pondered it.
“Whatever it is, let’s hope it’s a simple solution. We need to get going before the vampires beat us to the ring!”
“Like I said before, I doubt it,” Devon answered. “The Transylvanians are not exactly the fastest movers.”
Paige nudged her glasses up on her sweaty nose. “Really? This seems rather motivating.”
“Have you ever met a Transylvanian vampire?” Devon asked, shooting her a sideways glance.
“Not to my knowledge.”
“They love to party. And I mean party. Epic, massive parties in whatever lavish mansion they can find. The hangovers can last for days. While we shouldn’t dally, we have some leeway because they are the laziest breed of vampire out there.”
“Also the meanest,” Dewey said, with a finger poking in the air.
“He’s right. They’d kill their own mother in some instances.”
Paige winced again as she trudged past a tree with a ribbon wrapped around it.
“Stomach bothering you?” Dewey questioned.
“No. Well, yes. But I was wincing because of the vampires. They sound awful.”
“They are,” Devon said, “which is why I’m here. Ronnie was right to send me with you.”
“Debatable.”
“It’s not,” Devon said as they continued through the thick vegetation.
“We’ve been up against some pretty tough opponents. Including your good friend, Drucinda. And we’ve won.”