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Paige’s jaw dropped, and she shook her head, beginning to argue before her expression changed. She smirked at Dewey.
“Okay.” She twisted to face the little green man. “Okay. Take it easy, friendo. We’re going back in our cells.”
“We are?” Dewey asked.
“Oh, yes, we are,” Paige answered with a wink.
She held her hands up before she returned to the entrance of her cell. She scrunched down, sticking her arm inside the cell. “See, we’re going back inside.”
Across the chamber, Dewey glanced back at Paige, who winked again, before he stuck his head inside the opening.
Paige curled her fingers around the chain inside. With a lick of her lips, she eased it forward, trying to keep it quiet.
The little troll approached her, shooing her into the cell with unintelligible words.
Paige nodded, holding one hand up and waving a finger in the air. “One second. This is a really tight fit.”
The troll’s mossy eyebrows pulled together, and he stepped closer, angrily waving a finger at the cell.
Paige took advantage of his proximity, yanking the chain through the bars as she shot her arm out toward him, grabbing hold of his chubby arm and tugging him forward. She wrapped an arm around his neck as he struggled against her.
“Dewey! Get the chain and put it on him,” Paige shouted.
Dewey flitted over, sliding onto the floor to grab the shackle and tighten it around the troll’s ankle.
“We have to hurry. He’ll let everyone else know!” Dewey said.
Paige shook her head, her arm still around the troll’s throat as he grunted and tugged at her. “No dice. If I keep the pressure around his neck, he’ll pass out. Then we’ll go.”
Dewey’s eyes went wide. “Whoa, Paige, that is badass.”
Paige’s face reddened with effort as she continued to squeeze. She offered Dewey a nod as the troll continued to thrash in her arms. After a moment, he shifted, opening his mouth and clamping down on her arm.
“Ow,” she screamed as red blood trickled from the two holes he’d poked into her arm. “He bit me! You monster!”
The troll whipped around, growling at them as he showed his blood-stained teeth. In seconds, his snarl faded, and his posture stiffened. His eyes went wide, and a tremor shook his body.
A single word escaped his lips. His gaze raised to Paige, his face a mask of pain.
“What’d he say?” Paige asked as Dewey fluttered toward her and landed on her shoulder.
“He said poison.”
“Poison? I didn’t poison you! You bit me! I didn’t–“
Another shudder rippled through the little troll’s body before he went stiff. He fell forward, flat on his face.
“Is he… Is he dead?” Paige whispered.
Dewey leapt off Paige’s shoulder and hovered over the troll’s body. He poked it before flying upward away from him.
Paige stretched her neck to stare over him. “Is it a trick?”
“I don’t think he’s dead,” Dewey answered. “But he’s unconscious.”
“What did he mean about the poison?”
A hissing sound escaped the troll, and his body deflated. Black worms crawled from underneath him, slithering across the floor in search of another host.
