Page 4 (1/2)

Chapter Seven

The Who&039;d A Thought It was hopping

People were srand old time A warm fire crackled in a stone fireplace nearby, rain streaked the s directly in front of me was a crazy woman Beautiful, admittedly, but crazy nonetheless And crazy trumps beautiful every ti slowly, "What exactly did you mean by &039;we have someone to meet&039;?"

"Exactly that," she said

"Look," I said, "I&039;ve had a long flight from Seattle and a two and a half hour cab drive from Heathrow I&039;m a little slow on the uptake here Not to lish ale and it was a little stronger than I&039;-winded, Ja your books aren&039;t Anyway, tell you what, ditch the orange juice and I promise to buy you another one when this is all over"

"When what&039;s all over?"

Nothing wassense Had someone spiked my juice? Or was this another crazy dreaht? Heck, the Faery King&039;s underground kingdoedly within a nearby hill

As these thoughts raced acrossulps She slalass down on the table, wiped the back of her hand across her aped, too stunned to speak

"Co me her hand "I have a lot to tell you"

I stared down at her tiny, proffered hand, soe if I took it How exactly it would change, I did not know I also sensed that every decision and choice I had ever made in my life had led me to this verywas a strong one

"Well, Jaht"

"We don&039;t?"

"No"

She was crazy I knew that Beautiful and crazy, and suddenly I was finding it hard to think straight The hter seemed a little louder And Marion seemed, somehow, evenforout for it -

She snatched htness in her eyes instantly turned mischievous, and it turns out her hand wasn&039;t so delicate after all No, it was iron-like, and it promptly yanked me out of my cushioned seat and ontoShe turned and, still gripping h the pub and toward the open front door, where I could see it was still raining steadily outside

At the door, I heard a screalass crashing to the wooden floor I gasped and spun around and saw soet

On the far side of the tavern, three arb - chain h boots, and what appeared to be very real swords strapped to their backs - were pushing their way roughly through the bar, scatteringat Marion and me, and all of them looked utterly insane They appeared to have entered the bar from a back entrance

"U

She turned, and when she saw the three approaching Medieval Ti that surprised the hell out ofht, where we ran as if our lives depended on it

Which, I was beginning to think, they very well did

Chapter Eight

Fog hung low over the ground, swirling o a hard right and we headed back toward High Street She released

Yeah, I&039; to wake up

"Hurry, James!" she shouted ahead ofa tangledFor all I kneas back in , surreal drea After all, I had seen Inception, too Maybe there were more to these drea at all