Page 159 of Dancing for the Minotaur

“Taurex, please. Trust me and keep walking,” she begged.

There was such urgency in her voice, he obeyed without question. Whatever she was doing, she seemed to have a good reason for it. So he kept his mouth closed and kept walking.

They continued across the plaza and down the sidewalk together, Terra moving quickly enough that Taurex barely had to shorten his stride. Every few steps she glanced behind them as though expecting someone from the police station to burst through the doors and call them back, and Taurex began to wonder whether his release had been considerably less straightforward than Detective Ramirez had implied.

Eventually Terra led him into a parking garage and stopped beside a tiny silver vehicle.

“Okay, here we are,” she said. “Get in.”

Taurex stared at it…then at Terra…then back at the vehicle.

“This is yours?” he asked at last. He’d never seen her car before, since she’d always parked in the garage when she worked for him.

“Yeah, this is it.” She nodded. “Come on—we need to go.”

He regarded the small silver car with increasing concern.

“Are you certain?”

Terra gave him an exasperated look.

“Of course I’m certain. I drove it here, didn’t I?”

Taurex walked around the front of the vehicle, studying the interior through the windshield.

“I do not believe I will fit.”

“You’ll fit,” she said confidently.

“I do not think that statement is supported by the available evidence,” Taurex protested.

Despite everything, Terra made a small choking sound that might have been a laugh.

“Look, just get in.”

Taurex opened the passenger door and attempted to comply. His first problem was his legs—which were too long for the cramped space. His second problem was his shoulders, which were too broad. His third, and most serious problem, was the nearly five-foot span of his horns.

He managed to lower himself halfway into the passenger seat before the left horn struck the doorframe with a solid thunk. Then he stopped.

“Oh, my!”

Terra pressed her lips together and her eyes crinkled at the corners.

“You may laugh,” he told her darkly. “But it is no laughing matter to me.”

“I’m not laughing,” she protested.

“You are,” he accused.

“I am absolutely not,” she said firmly. But then her shoulders began to shake and something suspiciously like a snicker escaped her.

Taurex gave her a flat look.

“Oh, come on.” Terra finally surrendered and laughed outright. “You have to admit, this is kind of funny.”

“I have recently been arrested for four homicides and am now attempting to fold myself into a transport apparently designed for a child. I fail to see the humor,” Taurex said stiffly.

But for some reason, that only made her laugh harder.