Chapter 17
F ire burned through her skin as Paige pressed the back of her hand to Devon’s cheek. “Oh, no.”
“Oh, yes. Sexy Devon goes down again. What’s with this joker?” Dewey asked, sticking his paws on his hips.
Paige patted his cheeks. “Could it be from the Dragonberries?”
“No, he’s not allergic. This is something else.”
“But what?” Paige asked, her forehead wrinkling. Her shoulders slid down, and a prickly heat washed over her body as realization dawned. “Wait.”
She pushed at his limp form until she rolled him onto his side. With a grimace, she tugged his shirt up and studied the still-healing wound on his back.
“Oh, found the cause.”
“What is it?” Dewey asked, circling around him. His eyes went wide, and his jaw dropped open. “Oh. Yeah, that would be the cause.”
Paige scowled at the gash on his back. Red and angry the last time she saw it, it was now tinged black on the edges. A slimy green substance covered most of it, and pus oozed from the edges.
Paige pressed the back of her hand against her nose. “Ugh, it stinks.”
Dewey nodded as he turned his head away from the stench. “It’s infected. He probably never noticed with the slime in his system.”
“What are we going to do with him? He’s out cold.”
“Drag him into the bushes and hide his body,” Dewey answered.
“Dewey!” Paige shouted. “No! We can’t just leave him here to die.”
“I didn’t say that . But we need to get the Harpy Heat. Obviously, he can’t help. We’re going to have to drag him into a bush and hide him until we come back.”
Paige climbed to her feet and grabbed his wrists. “This is horrible.”
She dragged him away from the village’s perimeter and laid him next to a large tree trunk. She tugged leaves from nearby and used them to cover his body as best she could.
“I hope this works.”
“Come on, let’s go,” Dewey whispered, waving her back toward the village.
Rustling leaves stopped her before she made it. A groan split the jungle sounds. Paige winced as she glanced over her shoulder. “Paige?” Devon said.
She hurried back to him, trying to salvage the canopy she’d built to cover him. “Quiet. You’re sick. Just lay there, while we go get the Heat.”
“Wait, Paige. Your mom. She was…”
Paige leaned forward, arching her eyebrows as she awaited the response.
“She was…”
“She was what?” Paige asked.
Devon’s body slumped, and his head lolled to the side.
“Of course,” Paige said with a sigh as she rearranged the leaves to cover him again. She rose to stand and brushed off her pants.
“What’s the holdup?” Dewey growled, with a wrinkled nose.
“Devon woke up.”
“So?” Dewey asked as they crept toward the village.
“Well, you know, he picked right then to say something about my mom.”
“What did he say?”
“Nothing, he passed out again.”
Dewey offered her an unimpressed stare. “Why doesn’t he just stay unconscious until we’re done?”
“I hope he gets up before we have to trek back to your parents’ house. I’m not dragging him all that way.”
“We’ll see. Okay,” Dewey said, rubbing his paws together, “what’s our plan?”
“I’m going to run to the middle of the village, get the stuff, and run back.”
Dewey wiggled his horns. “ That’s your plan?”
She slid her eyes sideways to glance at him. “Yeah, why?”
“Nothing, sounds good. I’ll hang on your shoulder for backup.”
“Okay.” Paige blew out a breath as she stretched into a lunge. She switched legs, pushing her right leg back this time. When she finished, she widened her legs and leaned from side to side before she swung her arms back and forth.
“You finished with your Olympic prep?” Dewey asked as she stopped moving.
Paige shot him an unimpressed glance as she grabbed her arm and tugged it closer. “No. A few stretches first.”
Dewey crossed his arms and shook his head. “Sure. We have all the time in the world. No need to rush. My family just gets closer to dying every second we waste, but sure, get a good stretch session in.”
“Okay, okay,” Paige said, dropping her arm and approaching the village’s perimeter. “I’m going.”
She inched forward past a few huts before she craned her neck to stare up at the nests in the trees above. “What are these buildings?”
“Probably shops.”
“Shops? They’re birds. Do they shop?”
“Obviously,” Dewey answered as she hugged close to the thatched wall and crept forward. “Didn’t you see the necklace the Harpy that grabbed us was wearing?”
“Must have missed it when I was running for my life.”
“It was pretty nice,” Dewey said as they rounded the corner and raced across to the shelter of the next structure. “Nice jewels, gold trim. A quality piece. You know, I’d say–”
“Dewey,” she hissed, “maybe we could discuss jewelry another time. We should be quiet.”
“Oh, right,” he said, with a bob of his head.
She shuffled forward to the corner of the rectangular structure and peered around it in search of the garden.
“It’s just that I can’t stop thinking about those pink gems. What were they? I wonder where she got them. I–”
“Shhhh, stop it,” Paige breathed, with a flick of her hand. “I see the garden. Maybe we can focus on that.”
Paige narrowed her eyes at the fenced-in area with its lush plants in neat rows. “How are we going to get past the fence?”
Dewey rubbed his chin. “I’ve got it. Dig a hole and go under it.”
Paige shot him a narrow-eyed glance and shook her head. “You’re going to have to fly over.”
“I can’t.”
“Are your wings broken?”
“No,” Dewey said, with a shake of his head. “But they might see me flying around.”
“Oh, right. They won’t see me digging a gigantic hole.”
“Not if you tunnel from here,” Dewey said.
Paige pressed her lips together and slow-blinked. “I’m not Bugs Bunny.”
“Too bad. It would have made the digging so much easier.”
“Just fly over there and grab a Heat fruit and come back.”
Dewey fluttered into the air with a sigh. “Of course. It all falls on my tiny yet impeccably scaled shoulders.”
“That’s why it’s sixty-forty between us on saving the world,” Paige said, with a cheeky grin.
“More like seventy-thirty at this point. Okay, wish me luck.”
“Good luck, buddy. See you soon.”
Dewey flicked his gaze back and forth before he buzzed across the opening and sailed higher in the air. He shot over the top of the chicken wire fence before he dipped lower and zipped up and down the rows of plants.
Paige curled her fingers into fists and clenched her teeth. “Come on, Dewey. Find it quick.”
The teal dragon paused as he studied a plant before he circled around it. “Paige!” he hissed. “I found it! I just need to find a ripe one.”
She flashed two thumbs up at him as her heart pounded. “Almost there. Come on, Dewey.”
The dragon fluttered to the ground and stalked closer to the bushy plant, rustling the pink-tinged leaves as he disappeared in them. A second later, he stumbled back, shaking his paw.
“Tried to bite me.”
Paige winced as she shifted her weight back and forth. “Be careful.”
He gave her a nod before diving back into the foliage. He emerged with a pinkish-purple, pepper-shaped item. The top of it hinged open and closed as a sharp set of blue teeth tried to bite him. He held the item at arm’s length as he rose in the air and fluttered toward Paige.
He stopped midway, and Paige’s heart skipped a beat. “Dewey!”
A golden plant captured the dragon’s attention. He flew toward it and skirted it before he continued over the fence and back to Paige.
“What was that about?”
“I’ve got good news and bad news. Here, put this in your backpack.” He thrust out the Harpy Heat fruit. The jaws continued to scissor, trying to bite any flesh it found.
“I hope it doesn’t chew its way out,” Paige said as she unzipped the top.
“Ohhhh,” Dewey said. “Do you have a container of some kind to put it in?”
“No,” Paige said. “I didn’t bring my Tupperware set, sorry.”
“That’s no good anyway. It’d have to be made from a heavy metal to stop it from eating through.”
Paige wrangled the feisty plant away from Dewey and dropped to a knee, shifting the bag onto the ground.
“Okay, he’s just going to chew a hole through this and escape,” she said after trying to shove the plant inside.
“We can kill it,” Dewey said.
Paige winced at the suggestion. “That feels terrible.”
“It’s going to die anyway. We’re going to kill it when we smash it up to make the paste to save my village.”
Paige’s features scrunched as she stared down at the little fruit fighting for his life. “Oh.”
“It’s not like a real, living, breathing thing, Paige. It’s just a natural reaction to being removed from the vine. It’s fine.”
Paige sucked in a breath and nodded, thrusting the plant back toward him. “Okay, you do it.”
Dewey snatched it away from her. “Sure, make me a murderer.”
“You said it wasn’t alive!”
Dewey banged it against the ground a few times until the hinging jaw ceased its snapping. “There. Done. Dewey Decimael has murdered a plant in the name of saving lives!”
“Thanks,” she said as she shoved it into her bag and slid the pack onto her back. “Now, you said there was good news and bad news?”
“The good news is, we have the Harpy Heat.”
“Please don’t say the bad news is there’s a Harpy standing right behind me.”
Dewey rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous, Paige. I’d be way more panicked if that was the case.”
“Doubt it. Both you and Devon had zero reaction the last time.”
“Untrue. Anyway, this is hardly the time. Here’s the bad news. We need to go back into the garden, and this time you’ve got to come with me.” Dewey poked a finger in her direction.
“Uh, no,” Paige said as she tightened the straps on her pack and took a step toward the village edge.
“Uh, yes. There’s a Glowrock plant in there.”
Paige let her shoulders slump. “I am not risking my life so you can collect a glowing plant to put next to your lava lamp in your nest.”
“I don’t have a lava lamp. I’m not a Boomer. And I don’t want the Glowrock fruit to put in my bedroom. That’s just stupid.”
Paige raised her eyebrows up and crossed her arms. “Then what do we want it for?”
“We need it because it’ll cure Devon’s infection. So, unless you want to drag his sickly, unconscious rear-end around, I’d suggest we get one of the fruits.”
“Okay, go ahead.”
“No dice, Paige-a-roo, the fruit is too heavy for me to carry. You’ll need to get it.”
Paige planted her forehead against her palm. “Maybe we should let Devon take his chances with the infection. Or maybe your mom has something in her medicine–”
“Not that’ll work on a day-walker’s Harpy hit that fast. Here’s the other good news, though. I found the opening. It’s on the other side. You just need to run around there, and I’ll fly up and open the latch and let you in.”
“Oh, wonderful,” Paige said as she stared at the large garden. With a sigh, she flung her hands in the air. “Fine. Let’s go.”
“On the count of three, run as fast as you can.”
Paige waved the comment away as Dewey began his countdown. When he reached three, she sprinted across the opening to the garden. She hit the chicken-wire fencing and pressed against it, while she inched her way around to the opening.
“Come on, Paige,” Dewey hissed when she poked her head around the corner. “Hurry up.”
“Okay, geez,” she whispered, hurrying toward him as he unlatched the gate. The chicken wire snapped back, and Paige darted through the opening. She glanced around at the plants surrounding her. “Where is this stupid thing?”
“Right up here,” Dewey said, buzzing over her head.
She darted around the many different plants in the garden before she spotted the golden leaves of the Glowrock plant. Dewey flitted around it, in search of a ripe fruit.
“Here!”
Paige hurried over to the large golden ball. She reached for it before she snapped her hand back. “Do these bite?”
“No, of course not. Glowrock’s don’t bite.”
Paige blew out a relieved breath before she clamped her hands down on the metallic-like fruit. It sent a buzzing, electrical pulse up her arms. She winced and tried to pull her hands away but found them stuck.
“This is weird. It’s vibrating.”
“Obviously,” Dewey said. “Give it a twist to get it off the vine.”
Paige pressed her lips together as her arms jiggled from the vibrations. She gritted her teeth and wobbled the fruit back and forth until it snapped off the golden vine.
It thudded to the ground below, and she shook her arms. “Ugh, that was weird.”
“The pulsating?”
Paige nodded as she stared down at the reflective skin of the fruit.
“It should subside now that it’s off the vine. It’ll still quiver a little bit.”
“It’s not going to fit in the backpack. I’ll have to carry it. So, I hope it stops jiggling soon. My arms won’t survive it.” Paige reached for the round, golden growth but fell short. She stretched again but found herself unable to move.
“What the hell?” She glanced around her, catching sight of a thick vine wrapped around her ankle. “How did you get there?”
She wiggled her ankle, trying to free herself from the creeping plant. “Come on.”
“What’s the holdup, Paige?” Dewey asked as he flew toward the opening in the fence. “Let’s go!”
“I can’t get the Glowball. I’m stuck.”
“Glowrock. And what do you mean?” He spun around and flitted back toward her.
“This stupid vine got twisted around my ankle,” Paige said as she shook her leg again before she started to paw at the tightly-wrapped greenery. “I have to untangle this before I can get to the fruit.”
She tugged at the supple limb, trying to unpeel it or sever it.
Dewey sailed overhead, and a gasp escaped his lips. “No!”
“I know, I know. I’m clumsy and somehow got this all twisted around me. I just–”
“Paige! Don’t touch it.”
“Huh?” She asked, jabbing at her glasses as she craned her neck to stare up at him.
“Don’t struggle. Don’t touch it. Don’t move.”
Paige snapped her hands back, holding them up in the air. “Why?”
“That’s Crawling Quicksand.”
Paige screwed up her face as she stared down at the vine. “Huh?”
Dewey landed near here. “Crawling Quicksand. The more you fight, the tighter that’ll get, and the faster it’ll pull you toward the main plant.”
“What happens then?”
Dewey winced, his eyes wide. “It eats you.”