21 LONDON 2021 AD
“Demons and elves! Have you completely lost your mind, Conley?”
In the face of the bristling hostility across the desk, Jake resisted panic. Without his superior on board, his scheme was doomed and, along with it, maybe the country and even mankind. Dismissing a truly insane notion, he concentrated ferociously because fraught moments require desperate measures. The solitary aplomb of the high official had deserted him to be replaced by slack-jawed astonishment. The previous truculence, as Jake had intended, was now ousted by awe and resignation.
Transformed into an elf, one of the ljósálfar, he somersaulted from the desktop to land perfectly on the radiator beneath the window. Pointing to the city below, he said in a tinkling voice,
“Nothing out there is exactly as it
