Hexes and X's (Z&C Mysteries, #3) by Zoey Kane, Claire Kane Page A

only have five X’s left.”
    “Is there anything in here that is cute at all? We at least had a bunny the last time we were in danger, on that cruise.”
    “That depends. How do you feel about sewer rats?” The silhouette of one could be seen skittering along the opposite wall.
    “Mother,” Claire stiffened, “I hardly have words. In fact, I feel a scream.”
    “Thatta girl! Give me your flashlight.” Not moving off the step, Zo shone the light around. A plank hanging from the ceiling said, “This be the only way through, matey. Yo ho!”              
    Claire started laughing.
    “What is so dang funny?!”
    “Ah, Mother. Don’t you know what makes everyone laugh, from kids to old folks? A good poo-poo joke. I could just cry!”
    Claire took back the flashlight and shone its light on the slow-moving brown creek two flights of stairs down. “We have to journey through the sewage.”

     
     
    TWELVE
     
    “That’s what stinks.” Zo pinched her nose. “I thought you had passed gas.”
    Claire glared at her.
    “You are your father’s daughter…”
    Another glare. “Anyway, if the methane doesn’t kill us, we might be crazy by the time we get out of here. But I see that is the way out.”
    The river of crud was so not the same as one of Zo’s spa mud baths she reveled in back home. “Let’s think of something else,” Zo hoped, looking all around. “We could catch the big rats, weave them together and raft out of here.”
    “Next?”
    “Okay, so strategy. We take the walking stick and hook-stick to balance us and walk as fast as we can—or swim.”
    “Swimming is a no. I don’t want that down my neck!”
    “Or worse…”
    “Oh, crap!”
    “Exactly!”
    A loud scream echoed through the sewer tunnel. “At least it is warm” was followed by a shrill giggle.
    “Shut up, honey.”
    “We are going to need shots and pills, Mom.”
    “Yes.”
    They were thigh-deep in the stuff, and walked as fast as the heavy liquid would allow. “Antibiotics, antifungal, anti-everything. What kind of sewer is this?” Claire asked.
    “This is not a normal cesspool,” Zo said, knowing full-well how these things work as a licensed real estate agent. “Just like the terror rooms we’ve been in, this was designed. Captain Dread obviously grafted into the town’s sewer and piped a lot of it down into here.”
    “He was a maniac. And there is no proof that there is any treasure either. It is just a rumor. He was like two cents short a dollar for a sane brain; one fang short a monster.”
    “One Depends diaper short a Swamp Thing,” Zo added.
    “Yeah!”
    After striving through the mucky river a while, Claire said, “You’d think the captain would have a boat hid around here for himself?”
    Zo turned to take a look back. “What’s that?”
    “Where?”
    “A boat—metal one, docked under the last landing of the stairs.” Zo pointed.
    “What?! There was a boat?” A scream echoed through the tunnel again.
    “Just walk on. I am not retracing my steps.” Just her luck, Zo slipped with her next step and went completely under. Claire dove forward to help pull her up. They slipped some more before standing face to face, trying their best to wipe their eyelids of sludge.
    Claire began a giggle behind tight lips. Zo frowned and wagged a finger, but her daughter’s urge to laugh grew in strength and she, too, began to burst behind her own tight lips. Rather than wag, Zo did the next best thing: SLAP! She smacked her daughter hard across the cheek, which paused Claire’s urge to laugh only for a moment. It was Claire’s turn: SLAP! A couple more back and forth slaps, and they finally stopped laughing. They nodded at each other in satisfaction, and everything was hand signals from then on.
    The tunnel became darker, and the tunnel became deeper the more they walked. Zo cupped a hand around an ear and pointed ahead of them. It sounded like a sloppy waterfall. She put the hook-stick in the crook