Page 44 of A Fae in Finance
“Oh,” I said, and stared at Doctor Kitten. “Does he do that on purpose?”
Lene appeared not to hear me. “And he likes the window. I will provide him with a larger window.”
What?I didn’t say, because she had already gone back to the door and opened it.
Gaheris, the fiery guy from last night, stood there, lurking.
“Bigger window?” he asked, in a voice that indicated he often trailed Lene, widening apertures for cats.
“A comfortable window seat as well,” she said. “And perhaps a long hallway to run up and down? And a few crinkle balls?”
Gaheris stepped inside and closed the door.
“A long hallway,” I repeated.
Gaheris glanced at me. “We can borrow space,” he said. “The land above the hill will not miss a few meters of forest. The humans do not use it anyway.”
“You’re going to borrow space from a forest and put it in my room?”
He shook his head. “No, we will put a small passage into the mortal realm here.”
He must have interpreted the look on my face as one of annoyance and not one of disbelief. “It will be self-contained,” he added. “Like those shark tunnels humans love at the aquarium. Two entrances, here”—he pointed, and a golden flame shot up along the inner wall—“and here.” Another flame, about a foot farther along.
Then, misinterpreting my expression, he added reassuringly, “They will dim at night!”
I stared at him. He stared at me. Doctor Kitten stared at Lene. Lene stared at Doctor Kitten.
“Aquarium?” I said.
Gaheris shrugged. “My sister works in a human hospital and took me to an aquarium a few years ago. I like them a lot.”
“I just—I have to do work,” I sputtered. “Will this take long?”
Lene carried Doctor Kitten to the bed and curled around him, her bushy brown tail flicking. “We will nap,” she announced. Doctor Kitten had lain down in the decadent pose of an emperor, on his back with his legs splayed.
“You look like a possum,” I muttered, but he chose to ignore me.
I sat down at the desk, hooking my legs outside the legs of the chair. My computer was still unlocked, the Excel model on the screen.
I looked over at the second screen, with the latest comments from the Gray Knight, and found the line where I had stopped.
Inputs, B36: change “operating expense” to “operating expenditure.”
Behind me there was a noise like a sheet of paper going up in flame. I glanced back, unconvinced that anyone would warn me if there was danger. The left portal now looked like a crack in the wall of the bedroom, and through it I could see a tangle of roots and grass. Had he really just opened a way home? Would a new portal still kill me?
I forced myself to take a slow breath. I couldn’t mess up this chance—there might be a portal in my bedroom that could take me back to New York. But I had to play it cool.
I unhooked my legs from the chair and stood up. Lene and Doctor Kitten didn’t move on the bed.
Doctor Kitten.I was an idiot. They’d trapped mewithmy cat. If I took him through the portal and exploded in transit, then he’d be trapped outside in some godforsaken forest and covered in viscera.
Doctor Kitten, bless him, was a very spoiled indoor cat. He didn’t like the decorative fern in my apartment and would strongly dislike a real forest.
I sat back down, clicked into cell B36, and made the change. Then I tabbed back to the Word document where I kept my notes, tabbed until I had selected the line, and struck through the line so I knew I’d completed it.
I’d keep an eye on this potential portal, but it was too soon to make any moves.
Another knock at the door. I looked up, but this time Gaheris answered.
