The rain fell in drenching buckets, soaking Crystal Miller and plastering her bangs to her forehead. Crystal looked around, startled. Seconds before she had opened the door to the supply closet in her history teacher's classroom, and the next she was here.
But where is here? she thought to herself. She looked around at her surroundings. She seemed to be in a courtyard to an office building. She stood in the center of a cement pathway lined with small, trim trees. The path led to two glass doors that led to the cheerfully lit building.
Crystal's teeth chattered. Maybe the secretary would let her use a phone. She walked towards the doors and pulled their slender, silver handles.
Crystal blinked in the bright light. The lobby was huge with a receptionist's empty desk against the far wall and rows of doors against the side walls. The lobby to the building was tiled in beautifully crafted marble, and large, marble pillars rose imperiously from the floor to the impossibly high ceiling. As Crystal took a better look around, she saw that the entire lobby was made of the same gleaming, white marble. The effect was almost blinding.
The clicking of heels on the marble made Crystal jump and slip in the puddle of water that her dripping clothes had created.
"Crystal Miller?" asked a small, slight woman wearing a blue dress suit who peered down at Crystal over the tops of her small framed glasses.
Crystal nodded.
"You're late. We expected you five minutes ago."
Crystal's mouth dropped open, "Wh…what?"
The woman gazed at her dolefully, "Well, you can't have expected us to encourage lateness. Now please follow me, and try not to drip water everywhere."
Crystal scrambled to her feet and followed the woman through one of the oak doors that lined the walls and into a carpeted hallway.
"I'm sorry," she panted, "You must have the wrong person. How can you have been expecting me? I don't even know where I am!"
The woman continued down the hallway, "Surely, my dear, you must have known about your selection?"
"What?"
"Your selection, dear," repeated the woman slowly, "I've received very high recommendations about you, from the boss no less! I'm sorry we couldn't give you time to prepare, but—"
"Hold on, just stop," said Crystal, "What the heck are you talking about? I didn't apply to be on a team or whatever you're talking about!"
"That's what they all say, dear, and I must say, I do get tired of explaining it."
They reached the end of the hallway. A single door with a gold knob sat in the wall.
"It's time to make a decision, Crystal Miller," said the woman, suddenly business-like, "Do you follow me through this door to a life you've only dreamed of, a life of danger and adventure, or do you walk out of here never knowing why you were chosen to appear on our doorstep? It's your choice."
Crystal's mind reeled. Why would she walk through the door? She had no reason to trust this woman. She didn't even know where she was! For all she knew, an ax murderer could be waiting on the other side, ready to chop her to bits.
On the other hand, if she walked away, she would never know why the door in her school led to the courtyard of an office building, or why she was expected in a place she had never been. It was a difficult choice. Common sense and curiosity were waging a war in Crystal's head. In the end, curiosity flattened common sense to the ground.
Crystal walked up to the door and turned the handle. There was a bright flash of light. The woman smiled, "Welcome, Miss Miller to the Disney Protection Agency."