name is ringing a bell, but I can't put a face to it. While I'm thinking on it, why don't we get started?"
I stared at the policeman in disbelief, marching over to where he stood. "I am not going to stay here and do nothing while my friend is in danger!"
"The sooner you're finished, the sooner you can help her," he said soothingly, gently escorting me back to the corner.
"Oh, this is ridiculous. I'm going to go get my friend, and then you can bet I'll be back to complain to your superior about your callous disregard of human life!" I took one step forward and stopped, my skin crawling with horror as the black and white checkered tile floor that filled the reception area melted away to nothing. Everything but the two tiles I was standing on, and the two where Terrin stood across the room, was gone, a black pit of emptiness in its place.
"Sweet mother of reason," I swore, closing my eyes for a moment in hopes that whatever optical illusion I was seeing would disappear.
It didn't.
"All you need do to complete this trial is walk over to me," Terrin said with a happy little smile that I badly wanted to smack right off his face.
"This is not happening," I told him, shaking my finger at him. "Floors do not just disappear. And since I haven't been around any faery rings to breathe in hallucinogenic spores that don't show up on hospital tests, I doubt if this is a hallucination. Thus, I must be dreaming. An extremely lucid dream, one I want to stop right this very minute."
I closed my eyes tightly and willed myself to wake up.
"I'm afraid I don't have a lot of time to give to your trial," Terrin said.
My eyes popped open at the word trial. He looked at his watch. "This isn't a timed event, but I do have other appointments I must attend to, so I would appreciate it if you could please focus on the matter at hand."
"Good gravy, you're another henchman?"
Terrin's eyebrows rose. "Pardon?"
"You're another one of Theo's henchmen, aren't you? Just like those two ladies? How many of you are there? It must be hugely expensive hiring so many people to play these silly roles. Regardless, I'm not going to do whatever it is he is paying you to get me to do, so feel free to go on to your other appointments." I crossed my arms and tried to look decisive and absolute without appearing bitchy.
"I assure you, Portia Harding, I am not in the pay of Theo North." Terrin's gaze on me was steady. "Now if we could dispense with the drama, could you please walk over to me?"
"You have not begun to see drama," I warned, giving him a look that should have singed off his eyebrows. "I consider this harassment of the purest form, and I will have no qualms whatsoever about lodging a complaint with the police about you if you do not cease with this ridiculous persecution!"
Terrin laughed, genuine amusement in his face. "The police? They have no jurisdiction over me, at least not the mortal sort. Please, time is passing quickly. If you could just walk over to me, we will both be free to go about our respective ways."
"You are insane if you think I'm going to walk anywhere near you," I told him, glancing at the floor. "Not that I believe your little optical tricks."
The amusement in his eyes deepened. "I see. You don't believe that I have made the floor disappear?"
"Absolutely not. This is nothing more than an illusion. It's done with lights and mirrors, or holograms, or some other sort of sophisticated projection."
"An interesting supposition. Would you care to prove it?" he asked, holding out a hand for me.
I glanced nervously from his hand to the floor. I knew, I knew that the floor hadn't disappeared into nothing despite the apparently yawning chasm in front of me. It was physically impossible. Thus, what I was seeing had to be an illusion. And if it was an illusion, then it was perfectly safe for me to walk across the floor.
At least, that's what I told myself. My legs refused to move, however.
A little bell jangled over the door to the street, heralding the arrival of someone...someone tall, dark, and incredibly handsome, someone whose mere presence had me grinding my teeth.
"What have you done with Sarah?" I asked before Theo was fully into the reception area. He stopped as