In the harsh light of the empty break room, Natalie looked down at the string of text messages on her phone.

From Kurt: Hey. I’m sorry this morning was stressful. Can I take you to dinner to make up for it? I promise I won’t spend the meal pressuring you to move.

Natalie had answered three hours later: Sorry for the late response. I hadn’t had a break until just now. Dinner sounds great, but I’ll have to take a rain check. I agreed to work overtime for my boss tonight.

Kurt replied almost immediately. Alright. Bummer. Maybe another night this week.

Natalie had stared at the message for several minutes before typing back: Maybe. I’ll have to check on my work schedule and let you know.

Kurt’s only reply had been Xoxo.

Natalie had left the conversation at that, feeling somewhat guilty. The truth was that she had seen Kurt’s first text almost immediately. She hadn’t been lying about not being able to answer it right away, because there was a strict “no cell phones” rule at the call center. Everyone broke the rule by glancing at texts now and then, but almost no one dared to take a chance on actually writing a text back—at least no texts that required more than a simple one word response like “Okay.” The supervisors had eyes like hawks, and having your phone out for more than a split second almost ensured they would catch you.

Natalie wasn’t willing to risk a record of disciplinary action at her job just to send a text, so she waited until her break to answer Kurt. Before her break, though, she stopped by her supervisor’s desk to volunteer for overtime hours. The call center was short-staffed due to a seasonal flu epidemic that had swept through the staff, so management was begging for volunteers to cover extra hours. With so many employees out sick, the opportunities for overtime were nearly unlimited. Her boss had been surprised but happy that she had agreed to work late. Natalie worked hard during her normal shifts, but she never volunteered for anything extra. She hated the job too much to even think about taking on overtime. Today, though, she had agreed to work until eleven p.m. This would not only ensure that she didn’t have to go to dinner with Kurt, but that it would be too late even for catching a drink at a bar by the time she got off.

She was acting like a coward, she knew. It did pain her greatly to pass up an opportunity to see Kurt. Last night had been the most amazing experience she’d ever had, but this morning had freaked her out completely. She’d never expected him to bring up their relationship over breakfast, for one thing. At most, she’d thought he might promise that they would talk later. But not only had he wanted to have a conversation right then and there, he had also asked her to move to Torch Lake with him, and said he loved her. Talk about a lot to process at once.

Natalie, to her shame, had not said she loved him back. Instead, she’d bolted for the door while insisting that he should move to Chicago. She knew that was a spineless way to act, but she’d been too much in shock in that moment to do anything other than escape. And now, she wanted to postpone the next conversation with him as long as she could.

The trouble was, she did love him. But she had no idea what to do about it. He seemed dead set against moving here, and she was dead set against moving to Torch Lake. They were at an impasse, and one that could not easily be solved over the breakfast table. Or the dinner table, for that matter.

And so, Natalie decided to avoid the subject altogether by throwing herself into her job. The extra cash would be nice, anyway. And she was pleasantly surprised to find that after nine p.m. there was no one in the call center except for her and one supervisor. Everyone else on the night shift was sick, and Natalie was the only one who had volunteered for overtime tonight. The supervisor was helping her take calls, which supervisors normally did not do. And he was so grateful that he wasn’t left alone to man the phones that he looked the other way whenever Natalie glanced at her cell phone. Natalie had never felt so relaxed at work. The calls were steady, but that just meant that she stayed busy and the time flew by. Soon enough, she’d be out of here.

At ten o’clock, the supervisor ducked out for a smoke break, leaving Natalie completely alone in the call center. She glanced around at all the empty cubicles, thinking the place looked like a ghost town. She’d never been here this late at night, and she’d certainly never been the lone soul in the room. She stood to get a better view as she listened to the caller on the phone griping on and on about how his account had been mishandled. Natalie couldn’t believe how rude some people could be on the phone to complete strangers. What had she ever done to this guy? And yet, her job was to be as polite as possible, so she did her best to say “uh-huh” and “I’m so sorry to hear that” at appropriate intervals.

She was glancing around the large call center, thinking about how eerie it looked right now, when the screeching man on the phone suddenly went silent. Surprised, Natalie looked down at the display on her phone, thinking that the caller must have lost reception and that the next caller in line would be beeping in at any moment. But there was no beep to signal an incoming call, and the screen of her giant office phone had gone completely blank.

“Weird,” Natalie said, pulling off her headset so she could climb below the desk and take a look at the cords. Something must have somehow been knocked loose. That guy, whoever he was, was going to think Natalie had hung up on him on purpose and call back twice as pissed off as before. But when Natalie got below the desk and looked at the cords, using the flashlight on her cell phone to see better, all of the cords seemed to be intact. She frowned, and stood up again, jiggling the phone. Maybe her phone had just suddenly stopped working. She might need to switch to a different phone for the rest of her shift.

She glanced up at the clock. Her supervisor should have been back from his smoke break by now. Natalie chewed her lower lip and wondered what to do. Should she just log out of her computer and log in at the one next to her? That’s probably what her supervisor was going to suggest doing, anyway. Natalie grabbed her purse and jacket and moved to the next cubicle over. But she saw then that the phone at that desk was blank as well.

“Huh.” Had the whole phone system gone down? Natalie’s heart leapt. Then she could go home now, instead of having to stick it out here for another forty minutes. She glanced anxiously at the main door of the call center and walked back to her original desk. She couldn’t exactly leave without telling her supervisor. Where was he? Sometimes the management here made her so angry. They were so strict with the employees, but then bent the rules for themselves as much as they wanted. Break times were supposed to be strictly limited to fifteen minutes.

As Natalie sat there fuming, she noticed the bluish glow from her computer screen suddenly go black. Thinking the machine had just gone to sleep from not being used for several minutes, Natalie reached out to wriggle the mouse. But when she did, nothing happened. Natalie frowned. What was going on? Was there some problem with the electricity in here? She needed her computer on to log out before going home. Otherwise it was going to be such a headache tomorrow, filing a request for the tech team to manually go back and fix her timecard from today.

Natalie crossed her arms and glared at the entrance door. She’d had enough of this night. Time to get out of here, but where was her supervisor? Surely he wasn’t going to take a thirty minute break? That was twice the time allotted to him. The door clicked, and Natalie sat up straighter. Finally. She could explain the phone and computer situation and go home. But before she had a chance to see who was coming through the door, the whole room suddenly went black.

For the first time, Natalie realized that she was dealing with more than just a routine equipment failure. Fear gripped her heart as she peered through the darkness. The room should have been equipped with emergency lights, but they weren’t coming on. And the energy saving insulation shades had covered the windows in the room, blocking out any light from the city that would have filtered in. Natalie was alone in this pitch black room.

Well, not completely alone. She could hear soft footsteps walking across the carpeted floor. She wanted to call out to her supervisor. She wanted to believe that it was just him, returning from his break at the exact moment that the power had completely gone out. But she knew better. If he had been the one walking in when the power went out, he would have said something. Would have cursed or yelled or called out to ask if she was okay or something. Whoever was actually in here had not been surprised at all by the blackout, which meant that they were likely the one who caused it.

Natalie felt a chill run down her spine. Someone was after her, and she had a feeling that that someone was a Dark Warrior. If Wyatt had managed to figure out that she was a wizard, it was entirely possible the Dark Warriors had, too. She had been careless somehow, and now they knew who she was. They had come to cause another “disturbance,” one that would take her down with it.

Natalie had never in her life been filled with so much fear, but she forced herself to remain calm. She had to think clearly if she wanted a chance at surviving this. Her sweaty palms gripped her cell phone and she slowly sank below her desk, being as silent as humanly possible. She quickly unlocked her phone and turned the brightness down as far as it would possibly go, hoping that would be enough to keep it from being noticed by whoever was in here hunting her.

Natalie shivered. She knew they must be hunting her. There was no other explanation for all the phones, computers, and lights going out. With trembling fingers, she navigated to her text messages and started typing a text to Kurt.

Please help! SOS! At work and under attack. Think the DWs found me. All power to building cut off and I’m being stalked.

She hit send, and prayed that Kurt would see the text and get to her before it was too late. She had no idea where he was in the city right now, but she knew if he was far away and saw she was in danger he would shift into dragon form and be here in a matter of minutes. It was risky to fly across Chicago like that, but he would do it for her sake. Hopefully it was dark enough tonight that his dragon form wouldn’t be noticed by too many people. He’d have to dive past the lighted skyscrapers and land on a lighted street to get to her, but that was a small part of the journey. Hopefully, since most folks were home avoiding the cold snap that was forecasted for tonight, Kurt could pull this off without stirring up too much of a ruckus.

Natalie could only hope. That and sit here as silently and still as possible, buying as much time as she could before whoever was hunting her found her. She would fight on her own if she had to, but she had a feeling it wasn’t going to be easy. She used to be quite good at magical defense. During the war years, she’d learned to defend herself with magic and had practiced every day. Now, she was rusty. She fingered at her magic ring, which she normally kept under an invisibility spell so no one would know she was wearing it. She hadn’t used it much in Chicago, preferring to avoid magic entirely rather than risk accidentally performing a magic spell in front of a human. The fight on the boat with Kurt had been her first magical fight in years. She’d done well enough, but she’d been grateful for his help. And she worried that whatever she was about to face here in this call center was going to be much worse than the fight on the boat.

She glanced down at her phone, but the screen was still black. Kurt might already be in bed for all she knew. He had always liked to rise early when possible, which meant it was perfectly reasonable to think he might be snoozing by ten-thirty at night. Natalie had a sinking feeling that she was going to be facing this threat, whatever it was, on her own.

“Gotcha!” a sharp voice said, causing Natalie to shriek and jump. In the process she dropped her phone and hit her head on the underside of the desk. This seemed to amuse the man whose voice had just startled her. Natalie shrank into the back corner of the desk, peering into the darkness but seeing nothing.

“Magicae lucis,” the man said. Instantly a beam of light appeared from the man’s magic ring, and Natalie got her first look at him. He was wearing a dark black wizard robe, and his long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Natalie was surprised that he had gone out in public looking so much like a wizard, even if the streets were relatively deserted thanks to the cold and the late hour. He must not give a damn if anyone saw him, which only made the chill in her spine worse.

“What do you want?” she demanded, trying to sound brave. Her voice didn’t quaver, but she could feel her hands shaking. He grinned at her, a sly mischievous grin that looked wicked in the dancing shadows of the light from his magic ring.

“What do I want?” he repeated. “Oh, not much. Just VENGEANCE.”

He shouted the last word so loudly that Natalie once again jumped and hit her head on the desk. She had to figure out a way to get out from under here. It had been a good place to hide, but now she was trapped, and she didn’t like that feeling at all.

“Yes, vengeance,” the man continued in a steely tone. “Did you really think you were going to get away with killing a boat full of Dark Warriors?”

Natalie’s heart dropped. This was about the boat. Somehow, the Dark Warriors had figured out that she was responsible for the boat and they had tracked her down. She hadn’t thought it was possible. She’d been bundled up completely except for her eyes when she attacked the wizards on the boat. Only after they were all dead had she taken her thick hat, ski mask, and scarf off. How had they managed to identify her?

It didn’t matter. The fact was that they had, and she was in deep trouble. If this wizard was here to avenge the deaths of several other wizards, then he wasn’t going to go easy on her. Natalie took deep breaths and told herself to remain calm. There was still hope for her. If Kurt could get here in time, then he could help her. One dragon could do a lot to hold back even a large group of wizards. And Natalie might be able to run, depending on how many other wizards were in this building. She’d have to figure out a way to get past this guy first, though. She tried to quickly run through spells in her mind that would distract him or stun him enough that she could run by him. She felt horribly claustrophobic trapped under this tiny desk.

He was watching her now with cold, cruel eyes, and Natalie realized that he actually wanted an answer to his question. This gave her a new idea. This guy was a talker. If she could keep him talking, she would delay whatever harm he had come here to cause. That would give Kurt more time to possibly get to her. It was a long shot, but it was better than doing nothing. So she crossed her arms and stuck her chin out at the man.

“You Dark Warriors think you’re doing so much in the city, but you’re really not. What are you accomplishing, other than a few little explosions here and there? People are shocked for a moment, but then life continues as normal. It’s not having any real effect on anything.”

As Natalie had hoped, the wizard’s eyes darkened and he launched into a long list of everything the wizards had done and why it was, in fact, having an effect on things.

Good, Natalie thought. Just keep talking, fool.

Natalie chewed her lower lip and tried to think of the best escape plan. Her best bet might be to smash through one of the windows in here. They were on the fifth floor, but if she performed a featherweight spell on herself as soon as she jumped, then she would drift down to the street as light as a feather. There were probably guards outside, but it was better than being trapped in here. She’d have to get past this guy first, but she was beginning to think that a simple stunning spell would do the trick. He was talking so much that he wasn’t on high alert. He was thinking about himself and his own “great” deeds, and not about keeping Natalie contained.

Above all, she must not panic. If she kept a clear, steady head, she had a much better chance of getting out of this alive.

But just as she raised her magic ring to perform the stunning spell and make a run for it, the entrance door to the call center swung open again. For a moment, Natalie feared that it was her supervisor, finally returning from his smoke break. If he came into this mess now, the wizards would surely kill him. But then an unfamiliar voice spoke, and Natalie realized it was just another wizard.

“Steve, come on. What’s taking so long? We’ve got to get out of here before the bomb blows.”

Natalie’s heart clenched up in her chest. Bomb? There was a bomb in this building?

The wizard in front of her snapped out of his monologue, and looked at her once again with those chilling eyes of his. “Well, little girl who thinks we aren’t accomplishing anything, tonight we are going to accomplish your death.”

Natalie said nothing, just stared at him with a defiant expression.

“Oh yes,” the wizard continued. Then with a sudden flourish of his magic ring, he bellowed out, “Magicae murus!”

Instantly Natalie sensed the air around her changing, and she cursed under her breath. Instinctively, she put a hand up to the empty space in front of her, the only way out from under this desk. As she’d feared, her hand met an invisible wall. The wizard had just used a wall spell to trap her here. She told herself not to panic, but that was getting harder to do by the second. The wizard noticed her distress, no matter how hard she tried to hide it, and he let out a long, evil laugh.

“What’s the matter? Scared? Well, you’re about to be even more scared. Let me just give you a little clue about what’s going on here. My fellow Dark Warriors and I have set up a magically charged bomb. It’s hidden away in this building where you’ll never find it. At least, you’ll never find it in time to defuse it. It’s set to go off in ten minutes. That gives me and my fellow soldiers time to clear the building, but you’ll be stuck in here. Even if you manage to get past the wall spell, we’ll have put an even stronger containment spell around the building by the time you do.”

The wizard laughed, the evil sound of it seeming to echo in the empty call center room. Natalie felt fear trying to crawl in and get a grip on her heart, but she pushed the feeling down. She must not give in to it. She must not panic. She channeled her emotions into anger instead.

“You’re horrible!” she yelled at the wizard. “If you want to kill me, then just kill me. If you blow up this building you’re going to kill a lot of innocent people. There are security guards, and I’m sure a few other employees working night shifts here. And my supervisor is in the building somewhere.”

The wizard laughed. “Oh, how touching that you care so much for your fellow humans. If you’re worried about your supervisor, he’s fine. We found him outside smoking and put a stunning spell on him. He’s wandering aimlessly around the streets of Chicago right now. He’ll be horribly confused when he finally comes to, but he’ll be fine. As for any other employees in the building right now…” the wizard shrugged. “Sometimes there are casualties in war.”

Natalie felt a chill go through her. This man was speaking of war, and had called himself and his friends soldiers. Maybe the rest of the shifter-wizard community was in denial, but the truth was plain to see: another war was beginning. Evil was once again trying to take over.

The wizard was walking away now, still laughing. “Ten minutes,” he said, then glanced down at his watch. “Actually, nine now. Your only chance is to find and disarm the bomb, but you’ll never manage it. You’re stuck under a desk, which will take you a while to escape from. Then, this building is fifteen stories high, and the bomb could be anywhere. And even if you do find it, it would take you ages to figure out how to disarm it. You’re toast, Natalie. I hope killing all those wizards on the boat was worth it.”

The wizard disappeared with another long, evil laugh, letting the door to the call center slam shut behind him. Natalie looked down at her phone, but realized that it wasn’t getting a signal. The Dark Warriors must have put some sort of scrambling spell on the building to keep anyone from using their cell phones to make any calls for help. Natalie hoped that her message to Kurt had gotten through before the scrambling spell took effect, but she had no way of knowing for sure. She hadn’t heard from him, and she wouldn’t, now. Any text he tried to send wasn’t going to get through the Dark Warriors’ spells.

Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic, she told herself. She couldn’t count on anyone to come rescue her right now. She was going to have to save herself. With steely determination, she turned to the back wall of the desk. Her best bet to get out of here was not to overcome the murus wall spell, but to simply destroy the desk. She had to be careful, though. She was cramped in so tightly that any attempts at a strong destructive spell were liable to cause harm to her as well. Furrowing her brow, she tried to think of her best option.

Finally, she settled on a laser cutting spell. The spell would cause a sharp laser beam to shoot from her magic ring, and she could use that laser to cut a hole right through the desk. There was still some risk of hurting herself, but because laser beams could be directed so precisely she was hoping she would escape unscathed.

Gritting her teeth together, Natalie pointed her magic ring at the desk’s back wall and said “Magicae disseco.”

A purple laser beam appeared instantly. As Natalie had hoped, it cut right through the back of the desk. With as steady of a hand as she could manage, she used the laser to cut a large semicircle across the back of the desk. Then she whispered “Disseco terminantur,” and the laser beam disappeared. Nervously, Natalie pushed outward on the semi-circle she’d just cut. To her relief, that whole portion of the desk fell away, leaving a gaping hole she could easily crawl through. With her heart pounding, Natalie said, “Magicae lucis!”

A light beam sprang from her magic ring, allowing her to see in the otherwise pitch black room. She made her way to the door, and pushed it open to find that by now the hallway was entirely dark as well. Thankful for the light from her magic ring, Natalie started running toward the stairwell. She knew the wizard had said there would be containment spells all around the building that wouldn’t allow anyone out, and she knew those spells would be strong. But she was going to try to break through them anyway. It was her best hope of survival. This building was simply too big for her to ever hope to find the bomb. According to the clock on her cell phone, she had seven minutes left before this building went up in a cloud of fire and smoke.

Her only chance was escape, and that chance felt like it was slipping away from her.