He looked up at her and let out a slow breath of exasperation.

“And what is that?” Devon as, as if he didn’t know.

Wow. Tina wanted to clock him.

“That you call that damned limo back and take me home!” she yelled. “If I get back soon, then I won’t make a complaint to the police. I’ll just quietly quit and that will be that.”

Not that anyone would believe her, even if her stola didn’t turn back into a 2019 outfit and her pouch of coins didn’t turn into a roll of fifties or God knew how many rolls of toonies they were worth.

The dwarf looked up with a distinctly unhappy look on his face. Oh, now, he was giving her the sad look. And damn but it didn’t work on her, at least a little bit.

“But…” she didn’t want to say it, but hell, when she went back to the employment office she was going to need the form that said she didn’t quit. “You will state that you laid me off or something like that. Understand? So I can keep paying my rent until I can find another job. And I damn well want a decent recommendation as well, for even putting up with a minute of this!”

His unhappy look turned to more of a contrite expression.

“You are certain that you won’t enter the tournament?” He said that in a rather unexpectedly hopeful tone after all she had yelled at him.

“One hundred percent,” she told him. “I’m only going to live once, and I intend to die with my skin intact! Someday… in the distant future. The distant future from 2020, you know, like 2099 or something even more science fictiony! I’m going to live to see people on Mars! A robot prime minister. That kind of stuff.”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Okay, that was enough. And Tina knew it from Devon’s raised eyebrows.

“Very well,” he told her. “Again, I will check the conjunctions tonight and let you know. As I told you, it may take a few days before we can find a ride back to when we came from.”

“What does that mean?” she asked. “We get back for the weekend? I told you my cat only has a couple days of food and water!”

“Oh, no,” he told her. “As I said, we will return at near the same time we left, within hours at worse. The doors between realms are rather fixed. Besides, don’t you have a roommate? Your cousin? Can’t she feed your cat while you are away.”

“She isn’t going to be happy about it, that’s for sure!” Tina shot back. “Okay, how long will I have to stay here in this smelly world?”

“A few days at the most,” he told her. “And I have arranged that the stay isn’t going to exactly be unpleasant. Why don’t we head back to the apartments I have secured for us. To give you time to calm down, and think things over.”

He motioned her to follow him and started walking.

Tina let out a breath, but as he started to stroll out of sight, she started after him, catching up quickly.

“I’m not changing my mind,” she told him. “You’re not making me change my mind!”

He stopped, and turned to glance back at her over his shoulder. She could swear that there was a glint in his eye and a bit of a smirk on his lips. Maybe glint had to with the torchlight, but the smirk, that was pure dick.

Damn, she thought. He’s not going to stop nagging, is he?

Why should he? that devil’s advocate in her head whispered. Don’t you want to have a little fun? Don’t you want to win?

“No, of course not,” Devon told her, completely ignorant of the debate playing out in her head. “Now come along. The streets of Constantinople aren’t especially safe at the best of times, and are even less safe after dark.”

Tina took another breath, this one of steely resolve and hurried after him. No, after thinking about it, she did not want to find herself lost in the alleys of this ancient city with who knew who wandering about looking for someone with a jangly purse worth their stabby while.