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The papers she stamped were gathered and she held them above her head. Gerard took them.
“Get inside,” she said.
The minute I walked by her, Gerard grabbed my arm as if I was about to bolt.
“Hey, watch it,” I said.
I struggled, refusing to go quietly, but he shifted me in front of him and gripped the back of my neck with his hand.
This was beyond inappropriate. My lawyer was going to have a field day. Even if it was a state-appointed nobody. Anyone could win this one, hands down.
He paraded me down a corridor, leading me to the front of a long line that was already gathered. There was evident disdain on the faces of those I passed, especially—
Wait.
I narrowed my eyes. There was a little person on the other side of the glare that stole my attention. A little person with…wings? And really realistic looking ones, they were shaking as she tapped her foot, watching me pass.
I shook my head and closed my eyes for a minute. That wasn’t possible.
Gerard shoved and jostled me through a row of waiting onlookers. A hairy ogre of a man caught my stare next. Complete with a nose too big for his face and a purplish wart under his right eye. He snarled as I was paraded past him.
The farther down the trail of people we went, the more unbelievable-looking things I saw. More wings, beings too tall, too small. Each time I caught sight of another one I shook my head harder and harder.
A concussion. I had to have a concussion. Was hallucinating part of the side effects? Because this concussion was surely acting up and causing me to see things.
What did the police here do? Raid a circus sideshow?
We finally approached another desk and I slumped forward as Gerard shoved my neck, hard. The pounding of another stamp thudded the table close to my face, and I pulled myself up, glaring at the guard who had just brought me here. How many of these stamp-happy women would be on the agenda for today?
I inhaled deeply, preparing myself for another attitude du jour. The woman stamping away hadn’t looked up from her book yet, so at least there were no snide glares my way. Yet.
Gerard the guard placed my papers down on the table next to where the woman was writing. She waved her hand up, still scouring her book as she wrote. “That’ll be all, Gerard. Leave her here.”
He huffed, clearly unappreciative of being dismissed without so much as a look. I snorted and that caught her attention.
She set down her quill, dropping it dramatically and making her annoyance evident, as raised her eyes to mine. She inhaled sharply, quirked an eyebrow at me, appearing fully prepared to give me a lecture for inserting myself where I didn’t belong.
But suddenly, she froze.
Her mouth hung open and she stared at me, searching my face silently as my discomfort grew.
She gasped.
“It’s you! Finally!”
