"Of course I am," he laughed, taking my arm and guiding me to the far end of the room. "It's what I get paid to do. So to speak. Theo North. Hmm. The 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.