Nothing happened.
For a moment he was panic-stricken. Then the screen began to glow softly, colors shifted, green mostly, soft cool green with a hint of blue in it…. And he found himself floating dreamily next to Geri in a world of green, with greenish light filtering down ever so softly from far above them.
“Hello,” Geri said.
He grinned at her. “Hi.” ‘
“I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be able to live underwater, without any equipment, like a mermaid.”
Hector noticed, when she said that, hundreds of fish swimming lazily about them. As his eyes adjusted to the subdued lighting, he saw sculptured shapes of coral about them, colors that he had never seen before.
“Our castle,” Geri said, and she swam slowly toward one of the coral pinnacles and disappeared behind it.
Hector found himself sliding easily after her. The water seemed to offer no resistance to his movement. He was completely relaxed, completely at home. He saw her up ahead, gliding gracefully along, and pulled up beside her. A great silver fish crossed in front of them, and brilliantly hued plants swayed gently in the currents.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Geri murmured. “Our own world, without troubles, without dangers.”
Hector nodded. It was hard to believe that they were actually sitting in a pair of booths some thirty meters apart. Hard to admit that there was another world where a war was brewing, where Odal was waiting to commit another murder,
A dark shape slid out from behind the rocks ahead. Geri screamed.
It was Odal. Slim, dressed in black, his lean face a mask of death.