She moved through the doorway into a living room area. There were two baddies on the ground under the windows, a Feeb on top of each of them, holding them down with a knee in their backs and their arms straight up in the air behind them. Pete was right behind her as she went through what she assumed was the bedroom door.

Only when she came through, the room had suddenly quintupled in size. It was huge, and had wooden floors, a staircase, a gigantic hearth, and an oaken bar straight out of some medieval fantasy movie. What the frak"

"Is a movie being filmed?" Ryder slowly turned and narrowed her eyes at the speaker, a pretty blond in a fabulous outfit, holding something that looked like a Tupperware container full of cookies.

Ryder looked over the rest of the room and found some five or six faces staring at her. The radio made a horrifying squeal and she yanked the earpiece out, wincing. "What the frak?" she said, out-loud this time.

Not seeing Sorento in the crowd of faces, she eased her finger off the trigger of her gun, but kept it level. She slapped the mic at her throat, turning it on. "Seriously. Pete" Tanner" Are you guys playing some kinda joke on me" It ain't funny." Nothing. The comm link was silent. She turned to the blond with the Tuppie and said, "Yo, Blondie. Who put you up to this" Was it Tanner" Pete?"

The blond stared at Ryder. "What"! I'm afraid I don't know a Tanner or a Pete, unless you count the tentacle guy in the office....You're not in Kansas anymore, gorgeous." She offers Ryder a sympathetic look. "I know, it's hard to digest, really. You might want to sit," she said and gestures to a chair. Ryder lowered the gun and slid the safety on before slipping it into the holster at the small of her back. "It's a real funny joke and it totally got me back for the April Fool's thing. But it ain't funny now. So c'mon. Who paid you guys?" She looked around the room, taking in the various faces, states of dress and the fact that the room seemed to be lit by a series of torches and candelabras that held actual candles. "You're all actors, right?"

"I wish!" the blond grumbled Ryder.

Ryder looked around the room again and then pressed a button on the mic at her throat. "Iannicelli to LT. This is really not frakking funny anymore." She turned and tried to get the door that she'd just come through open again. It won't budge.

The blond pulled back the Tupperware's lid, taking a tentative step toward Ryder. "Here, have a cookie. And seriously, sit down." She cringed as Ryder tried the door.

"I don't want a frakking cookie." Ryder jiggled the knob of the door furiously and then started throwing her shoulder into it, all the while shouting into the mic. "Pete"! Tanner"! LT"! This is Ian. Come in!"

"Hey, Officer?" Another cute, tiny blond waved to Ryder. "Do you have a cell phone?"

The question caught her attention and she paused and reached to her belt to pull out her cell. Maybe she had to make a phone call before the ruse would end. Hey, any port in a storm, right' "Yeah, I got a cell. How come?"

The second blond held out a business card to her. "Take this and call the number on it. Ask for Agent Griegor."

Ryder took the card and glanced at it. "A frakking Feeb' We had inter-departmental cooperation on this!" Oh, she was going to murder Pete when she saw him again! She moved to a corner and dialed the number, holding the phone up to her ear. While waiting for the call to connect she studied the crowd. The first blond stood there looking awkward, still clutching her Tupperware full of cookies, while the second blond moved back to join a small dark haired man, and a taller blond. The call connected and a male voice said, "Hello?"

"This is Detective Iannicelli of the NYPD," Ryder said, eyes still on the room. "I need to talk to an Agent...uh...Greigor." She paused for a moment, listening to the man on the phone with her. "Badge number 57237." She paused again and then said, "Yeah, I'll hold." She was subjected to two minutes of awful Muzak until Greigor came back on the line. She frowned and then slowly blinked, digesting what he'd just said. "I don't know. Some blond chick. Cute. Short. Hanging with two guys." She glanced around the room and said, "Uh...sorta. Torch light, big hearth, long bar." She paused again, listening to the Feeb. "WHAT"!" Are you frakking high?" She paused again, a sheepish look coming over her features as she was chastised. "Sorry. But I was just in a five-floor walk-up in Prospect Heights." She frowned, listening to Greigor again. "Fine. Tomorrow morning." She closed the phone with a snap and slid it back onto her belt. She looked over the crowd for the second blond girl who'd given her the card. "You. C'mere."

"How about, please?" said the taller blond man.

"Ain't talking to you, bub," Ryder said to him. "Talking to the chica." Ryder approached their table. "Dude on the phone tells me you can explain to me what the frak just happened."

"Come on, she's had a rough night, Ryan," the second blond said to the tall man. "Why don't you have a seat, Officer?"

Ryder kicked out a chair and sat down hard in it. "It's Detective, not Officer." Maybe she was a little peevish, but damn it, she'd worked her ass off for that shield. She unfastened the tactical vest and removes it, laying it across her lap before taking off the mic and shoving it into the pocket of her jeans.

The blond offered her hand to Ryder, who shook it. "I'm Mindy and this is Sir Surly," with a nod at the tall guy, "and Mr. Burly," with a nod at the smaller, darker man.

The dark-haired man turned in the chair and offered his hand to the Detective. "I'm Daniel, Detective." Ryder nodded to him and shook his hand, too.

The tall guy offered the cop a hand too, "Detective, I am Doctor Ryan Wilson." Ryder shook his hand and gave him a slightly narrow-eyed look. The good Doctor didn't feel right to her. But it was probably just her intrinsic dislike of anyone with alphabet soup after their name.

"Where do you want me to start?" Mindy asked.

"Where the frak am I?" Ryder asked as she pulled her t-shirt up, revealing wash-board abs, and yanked the earpiece through the shirt and then stuffed it into her pocket.

Mindy said, "Rhydin. Though its easier to think of it like Ren faire in Wonderland at first."

"How'd I get here" How do I get back home?" Ryder asked. She had no idea how the raid was going down. She'd left her partner in the middle of a hot scene. God knew if he was all right. She said a silent prayer for Pete and then focused on Mindy.

"The best I can explain the how is you fell down a rabbit hole. As to getting back, that's Agent Griegor's thing not mine."

Ryder nodded slowly and pressed her lips together in a thin line. "Rabbit hole. Like frakking Alice" When do I get to meet the Cheshire Cat' Or the Caterpillar" I sure could use a hit from his hookah. Maybe it'd help things make some frakking sense."

Daniel held up one hand, grinning. "I'll be the Cheshire Cat."

Ryder gave Daniel a look. "Sure. Does that make Doc the Caterpillar?"

"I have a Hookah at the house, decorative one," Ryan said with a nod.

Ryder shook her head slowly and wiped a hand down her face. This was without a doubt the weirdest night of her entire life. Even weirder than Tanner's bachelor party and the donkey show.

"Detective, do you want something to drink?" Daniel asked quietly, in a soft and rather soothing English accent. She opened her eyes and looked at him. He was cute " built like a brick drek-house, could no doubt handle himself well in a fight. Ryder nodded and said, "Beer. Is there beer here?"

Mindy nodded and said, "Get her something good. Not that Badsider crap, Danny." Danny nodded, standing and going over to the bar to pick up a bottle of Silver Mark. He came back and handed Ryder the beer. "Here you are," he said.

Daniel sighed and shook his head. "No, it's not a joke. There are a lot of people here who aren't human."

"One of my clients is a vegetarian werewolf," the doctor added helpfully.

Ryder snorted derisively and then laughed. "Oh, bull drek!" She stood up, looking into the corners of the room for hidden cameras and mics. "This had better not be going on the TV."

Daniel sighed. "Look, Detective...uh...what?s your name, anyway?"

"Ryder Iannicelli" she said, glancing over at the table from the nearest corner.

"Come back over here, would you?" Daniel asked.

She raised a brow and returned to her seat. "Okay. You got me freaked out. What the frak is up?"

"I can prove it to you," Daniel said, "but you'll have to promise me something first." He gave her a big smile, with a hint of pleading in his eyes.

"I ain't promising nothing to no one," Ryder shot back.

"Take the clip out of your gun, and let me hold it," the Doc said. "I don't want you shooting my friend here."

Ryder stood up fast enough to knock her chair over, sending it crashing to the floor with a loud noise. "This ain't funny anymore. Quit it. Now," she said using her Cop Voice.

"Seriously, stop," the Doc said. "You aren't in New York, not even anywhere remotely close."

Her hands went for the piece at the small of her back and pulled it out, keeping it pointed at the floor, though, and with the safety still engaged. "No, you frakking stop. This drek ain't funny any more."

Mindy walked over and held out a bottle of rum to Ryder, saying, "Sugarplum, I'm sorry if we scared you."

Daniel stood slowly, keeping his hands open and in plain sight. "Detective...Ryder, please calm down."

Ryder kept the grip on the gun and doe-brown eyes move from liquor bottle to face to face. "You all just move back a couple paces, okay?" She said, jerking her chin towards the fireplace at their backs.

"I am not going anywhere," the Doctor said. "Paranoia is not good here."

"Hey, Ryan," Daniel said. "I'd really prefer if no one, including myself, got shot tonight. So maybe you could ease up a little?" He spoke without taking his eyes off the Detective.

Ryder brought the gun up, still safetied. "I said move back."

"I said no," Ryan answered. "You keep waving that thing around in here someone other than me or Mindy may take your head off at the shoulder."

Ryder slid the safety off and keeps the gun pointed in the general direction of the trio. "Now," she said and pointed the gun at Ryan.

"Can I borrow your phone, Ryder?" Mindy asked quietly. Ryder moved her hand slowly down to her belt and unclipped the phone before tossing it over to Mindy.

Mindy slowly takes the phone and says, "I'm gonna call Gustave. Will you be more comfortable with another officer type here?"

Ryder gave a curt nod, keeping the gun leveled at Ryan's head. "Yeah. That'd be good." God forgive her, but she was scared drekless and this so-called shrink was not helping the situation by purposefully provoking her. If he'd just sit down and shut up, she'd holster the weapon. But as it was, he was in her face threatening her. Either he had some kind of death-wish or he was just really, really dumb.

"How about thinking more and talking less?" Daniel said to Ryan, annoyance clearly in his voice.

"I am thinking," Ryan answered. "This is a fear reaction, brought on by confusion and a bit of narcissistic rage. Guns are what the good Detective uses in her home state, so she's going to keep the damned thing pointed at us cause it's her safety device from training in dealing with dregs of humanity, which we are not."

"Frak you, Doc. Back up. Now." What was with this guy' A lecture" Now" He must be an idiot!

"Detective, please put the gun away," Daniel said quietly.

"I said back. The frak. Off. Now. This is your last warning." She was holding gun steady, some small voice in the back of her head praising her for keeping it steady despite her fear.

"Gustave?" Mindy said into Ryder's phone. She listened for a moment and then held the phone out to Ryder.

Ryder nodded to the table near her. "Put the phone down there and back up. And take the Doc with you. Maybe put a muzzle on him, too." Keeping the gun level, she moved to the phone and picked it up, putting it to her ear and listening, eyes still on the trio down the barrel of her gun. "Griegor?" She paused, listening intently, then nodded and shut the phone before putting it back on her belt. The gun is lowered and re-safetied but not put away.

A few moments later, a walking advertisement for nerd wear with a badge clipped to his belt and a cell phone pressed to his ear slips in. The phone was closed and Ryder was singled out. Ryder asked, "You Greigor?" and shifted to keep all four of them in front of her.

"I'm Agent Greigor." He showed her his badge. "Rough night huh?"

There was an audible sigh of relief from the trio as Ryder slid the gun back into the holster at her back and steps forward to shake the Feeb's hand. "No drek," she said.

Greigor had a firm handshake. For all that he looked like a nerd, the guy had muscles. "I think you scared Miss McKnight almost as much as you've gotta be scared."

She shot a slightly contrite look at Mindy. "Yeah, sorry about that. Look, uh...this has gotta be some kind of frakking joke. I mean...a magic hole that swallows people up and spits them out somewhere else?"

"No joke," Greigor answered. "I've got all the science behind it back at headquarters. My partner's there. She's making up the guest room for you."

"Far frakking out." She shook her head and went back to the table to retrieve her tac jacket, radio, mic and ear piece. She paused as if she wants to apologize to Mindy and Daniel but thought better of it and went to join Greigor. "Right. So let's go. This place is giving me the frakking creeps in the worst way."

"We're the Shelby parked on the end, but be careful of the paint job. Hannah'll kill me if we scratch it," the Feeb said and led her out of the bar.

Ryder followed him out the door and angled for the car. "Seriously. Not a joke" On your badge, Greigor."

"On my badge. I promise I'll explain everything when we get to the beach house."

She slid into the car. "You'd better," she muttered and looked up into the sky. Two frakking moons. Weird how it was that little detail that settled it for her. There was no way that could be faked. Greigor gunned the motor and the car sped off, leaving the weirdness behind.