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He looked up in startlement to see a cartoon sun in the middle of a flat, blue sky, staring down
at him jovially. You could look right at it without even blinking; lemon-yellow, it had round, fat
cheeks, blue eyes, a wide mouth, and a fringe of pointed petal-like rays. It smiled at him as soon
as it saw he was looking at it, winked broadly, and waved at him with one of the petals.
Stunned, he waved back automatically. It grinned, and went back to whistling and bobbing a little
in time to the song a real song that was also being whistled by a vivid blue and red bird perched
on the top of the gazebo. Puffy, flat-looking marshmallow clouds sat in the sky with the sun, a
sky that was an unshaded, turquoise blue, without any variation from horizon to horizon. The
emerald grass under his feet was more like carpet than grass, and did not crush down under his
weight. There was no breeze, yet the air smelled fresh and clean. In fact, it smelled exactly like
freshly washed sheets.
They also weren't alone. The other creatures were not very near, and they didn't seem to care that
a Gate had been opened in the park, although many noticed. There were otters and foxes, though
none of the foxes looked like FX. There was a massive cobalt-blue unicorn, and a centaur with a
black, d'Artagnan beard. They were having a picnic with what could only be called a foxtaur, and a
small golden-colored dragon, and an oddly hunched, very large bird. A white unicorn mare chased
playfully after a humanoid, black-horned unicorn wearing black leather and spikes, howling taunts.
And overhead, a red-and-umber gryphon with broad coppery wings glided in to join the rest.
He turned as a crackling, sizzling sound beside him startled him again. There was nothing there
for a second then a familiar arm clad in Armani-tailored silk phased into existence, as if the
owner was pushing his way through an invisible barrier, exactly like an expensive special effect.
The rest of Chinthliss followed shortly as Joe watched in utter fascination. He seemed to arrive
suspended a few inches above the plush green lawn and dropped as soon as all of him was "there."
Chinthliss landed with flexed knees, just as Joe had. He straightened, looked around, and nodded
with satisfaction.
"Good," he said. "At least we made our transition safely. Now, where is Fox?"
"Right here." Fox strolled up from behind them, although Joe could have sworn that there hadn't
been anyone there a moment earlier. He was in the fox-footed, three-tailed James Dean form, the
one with the red leather jacket. "Now where?"
"One moment." Chinthliss glanced at Joe. "Young man, would you please grasp our friend?"
Joe didn't understand what Chinthliss was trying to prove he couldn't touch Fox, he already knew
that but he shrugged, reached out, and made a grab for Fox's arm.
And with a shock, realized that he was holding a very solid, completely real, red-leather clad
arm.
"What " he said, startled. "How but "
Fox looked at Chinthliss in irritation.
"So what were you trying to prove?" he growled. "You know I'm real here!"
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"That's what I was trying to prove," Chinthliss said with ironic satisfaction. "That you were not
playing any of your kitsune tricks with me and projecting a spirit-form here as well, rather than
risking your real self. Thank you, Joe."
"You're welcome," Joe responded automatically, dropping his hold on Fox's arm and backing up a
step. He hadn't expected that. If Fox was real here was that cartoon sun up above real as well?
He didn't want to think about it.
But then he suddenly realized that he really didn't have to think about it. His part in this
mission was very simple. He didn't have to try and figure out what was real and what wasn't; all
he really had to do was keep a lookout for trouble and hit it or shoot it if it got too close. And
if it turned out that all this was just one big hallucination, well, no problem. He'd wake up from
this dream, or in the looney bin, and pick up his life where he'd left off. Right? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]