The hours stretched on, but still Brittany could not sleep. No one had come to offer her any food, not even a stale crust of bread. She hadn’t eaten anything since lunch, and she was kicking herself for not eating some dinner before she left the Winking Wizard. If she had, she might have missed out entirely on being kidnapped. And even if those two horrible men had still kidnapped her, at least she wouldn’t have had a completely empty stomach.

There wasn’t much use in wishing for what she could not have, though. There was no way to go back and change the past. She needed to focus instead on what she could do here and now.

What she could do, though, was far from clear. Brittany tried to think of any magic spells that might help her escape from this house, but every spell she could think of was a basic, rudimentary spell. She had a feeling that the men who had cast protective spells over this house had a much deeper grasp of magic than she did. Her puny little spells would do nothing against their dark magic.

Still, she tried to think. She also listened at the doorway, hoping she might overhear someone saying something, anything, that would give her a clue as to what was going on in the outside world. She had not stopped fretting about Simon and the safety of Torch Lake itself since she’d overheard those two men talking in the bar.

I had a chance to save Torch Lake, and I blew it. Over and over, Brittany replayed scenarios in her mind where she had done things differently, and things had not turned out this way. What if instead of going out to her car to call Simon, she had just called him from the back room of the Winking Wizard? She would have had a chance to warn him, and, even if she had been kidnapped, at least he would have known that the city was in danger. He might have realized that she was in danger, too. Now, he was probably going about his evening blissfully unaware that she was a prisoner right here in Torch Lake.

Brittany chewed her lower lip so hard that she tasted blood. She listened at the door to the room again, but could hear nothing. It was late, and everything was quiet. It wouldn’t have surprised her one bit if the guards were snoozing. They didn’t seem like the most dedicated of soldiers, and they were probably relying on the spells and alarm system to do most of their work for them. With a huff, Brittany sat down on the floor in the middle of the room. She knew she should sleep to keep up her strength, but she couldn’t imagine closing her eyes and relaxing enough to actually get some rest.

She was running through possible escape scenarios for about the thousandth time when she suddenly heard a long, loud roar. She sat up straight, instantly on high alert, with her heart pounding in her chest. She couldn’t be sure, but that had definitely sounded like a dragon’s roar. And it had sounded like it was coming from right next to the house. Was it possible that Simon had somehow found her? She didn’t want to get her hopes up for no reason. Maybe she wasn’t hearing things correctly. That roar could have been from a dozen different kinds of shifters. It might be one of the Dark Warriors out there.

But then, the roar sounded again. And this time, the guards inside the house heard it, too. They started yelling, and Brittany could hear the scraping of chairs as they suddenly stood up and realized that they might actually have to earn their keep as guards tonight. In that moment, Brittany knew in her heart that it was Simon outside. She ran to the window to look out, but from her small window she couldn’t see the front yard. She wondered if she should take a chance at trying to break through the window right now. She knew it wouldn’t be easy to do, but she could probably manage if she used her very best magic spells. The alarms would go off, of course, but that didn’t matter anymore. She wasn’t on her own. She wouldn’t have to fight alone.

More screams suddenly sounded out from the guards, and then Brittany heard a loud crashing sound, followed by the sudden blaring of alarms. The whole house felt like it was shaking, and she couldn’t keep herself from letting out a whoop of excitement. Simon was breaking in! He was coming for her. In that moment, she decided that it was worth it to try to escape the house. It would be easier for Simon to help her if he could see where she was. She would break through the window and run to the front yard where she could call out to him and he could see her immediately. Pointing her magic ring at the window, she yelled out, “magicae fragor” at the top of her lungs. The first time she cast the fracturing spell, nothing happened, so she tried again. The second time, there was a small cracking sound, and a small network of hairline cracks appeared in the window. Encouraged by this, Brittany attacked again and again with a vengeance.

“Magicae fragor! Magicae fragor!”

The cracks deepened and expanded, until suddenly the whole window shattered into a heavy shower of glass shards. Brittany let out another whoop, just as the alarm on her window went off. It didn’t matter. The guards could try to hold her back, but they would never be able to hold back an angry dragon. Brittany jumped through the open window and ran toward the front yard, feeling adrenaline pumping through her whole body. It felt exhilarating to be free. She saw as she rounded the corner that it was indeed Simon who was here to rescue her. She had known it in her heart, but it was good to see it with her eyes as well. She had only seen Simon in dragon form twice before, but it didn’t matter. She would have known that dragon anywhere. How he had discovered that she was missing, and then found her here, she had no idea. But he had. He hadn’t let her down, and her heart swelled with pride and gratitude. He was her dragon. Her hero.

“Simon!” she yelled out. “Simon, over here!”

In the chaos of the moment, no one had noticed yet that Brittany had escaped. But when she yelled, a few of the guards snapped their attention over to her.

“The prisoner is escaping!” one of them yelled. “Go get her!”

A few of the guards started running toward her, and Brittany gulped in fear. If they got to her before Simon did, she might be in trouble.

“Simon!” she screamed again, loud and desperate.

This time, he heard her. He pulled his head back from the front of the house, where he’d had it buried inside the front hallway, and his dragon lips turned up in a smile when he saw her. That smile faded, though, when he saw the guards running toward her. With an angry roar, he swung his head toward the guards. He took in a deep breath, and then let it out as a long, blazing stream of fire.

The guards screamed in terror and pain as he caught them off guard. More guards came running out of the building, and a few of them tried to run toward Brittany. Simon quickly fried them as well, and the remaining guards ran away in a hasty, cowardly retreat. Simon started to chase after them, but Brittany yelled at him to stop.

“No, wait! I have to tell you something. I have news that’s much more important than a few measly guards.”

Simon hesitated, his angry dragon eyes giving one last glance toward the retreating guards. But when he glanced back toward Brittany, his eyes softened and he gave a slight nod of his giant dragon head. With a roar and a rush of power, he began to shift back into human form. As soon as he was a man once again, he came running toward Brittany and pulled her into his arms.

“Thank god you’re alright,” he said, his voice catching with emotion. “I was so scared I was going to lose you.”

Brittany found herself trembling in his arms. She’d been so hyped up on adrenaline that she had felt brave as she ran into the front yard, but now that the moment was over, she was crashing back to reality and realizing how close she had come to dying. Behind her, the house where she had been held prisoner was going up in flames. Simon’s dragon fire had completely destroyed it.

“How did you find me?” she asked in a shaky voice. Then she shook her head. “No, no. It doesn’t matter now. We can talk about all of that later. Right now I have to warn you about the attack on Torch Lake.”

“What attack?” Simon asked, pulling back to look into her eyes. His own green eyes had the reflections of orange flames dancing in them.

“I don’t know how this is possible, but there are a bunch of Dark Warriors in the city. They’re hiding out somewhere and planning to attack from within as soon as the main Torch Lake army is out of reach. We have to call the army back. And our allies’ armies as well! The Dark Warriors are going to destroy us from the inside and we won’t have enough soldiers to defend ourselves.”

“Whoa, slow down. What are you talking about? How do you know this?”

“I overheard two guys talking about it at the Winking Wizard tonight. I tried to leave to warn you, but before I could even call you they grabbed me and brought me here. They had realized that I was eavesdropping and wanted to make sure I didn’t talk.”

Simon frowned, anger darkening his eyes. “I’ll kill them for this.”

Brittany shook her head. “This is so much bigger than just me and those two guys. Are you hearing what I’m saying, Simon? There is somehow a huge group of Dark Warriors in Torch Lake right now. Some kind of underground network. I don’t know how they got in or where they’re all hiding, but they’re here. They’re planning to rise up and attack the city as soon as our main army is too far away to get back in time to help.”

Brittany’s words finally seemed to get through to Simon.

“Shit. I have to warn Jasper and the High Council. And…we have to try to get the main army to turn around and come home.” Simon turned to start to run toward his car, grabbing Brittany’s arm and pulling her with him.

Brittany did not protest. She was happy to be with Simon, and relieved to be free of her captors, who she was sure were Dark Warriors, or at least worked for the Dark Warriors. Simon held the passenger door open for her and shut it behind her, then ran around to the driver’s seat and started to zoom away from the burning house. Brittany realized for the first time that other neighbors had started to come out of the other houses on the street and were gawking at the burning house. She shook her head, a bit disgusted at how human nature always seemed to want to stare at tragedy. Maybe one of those gawkers would at least have the sense to call the fire department before the blaze spread to the rest of the houses on the street.

As for Simon, he was on his phone, but he wasn’t calling the fire department. He had much more pressing worries than a street of houses burning down. He had called Jasper immediately, and explained everything that had happened with Brittany and the two men who kidnapped her. Brittany listened to Simon’s side of the conversation, worried that Simon was becoming more and more anxious the longer he spoke.

“We need to sound the war sirens, Jasper. People need to know that it’s better if they go into hiding. I don’t want a bunch of people out on the streets when this uprising happens. And tell the High Councilors to get to the emergency bunkers A.S.A.P. If things really go down like these two guys said, it’s not going to be pretty.”

There was a pause while Jasper said something, and then Simon spoke again. “It would be good if one of the High Councilors could blast a message across the radio or TV channels asking people to stay inside and stay safe. But that should take second priority to getting the Councilors to safety. These guys could attack at any moment, and we don’t want to lose any of our High Councilors.”

Simon and Jasper exchanged a few more instructions, and then Simon hung up the call. A few moments after the call had ended, the Torch Lake war sirens started going off. Brittany felt a chill going through her whole body. This was really happening. The city was under siege, and it might be too late for anyone to stop the Dark Warriors. From what Simon had been saying to Jasper, it sounded like it might already be too late for the Torch Lake armies to get back in time. In that case, the fate of the entire city rested in the hands of just two dragons. Two fierce, mighty dragons, yes. But still. Would that be enough?

Simon pulled up in front of military headquarters a few minutes later, parking at a strange angle as he pulled into the parking lot way too fast. He hopped out and ran around to open Brittany’s door for her again.

“Come on,” he said. “I want to get you to one of the bunkers inside. The emergency bunkers are some of the safest spots in the city, and if shit’s gonna go down I want you somewhere safe.”

Brittany felt dazed, like she was in some kind of strange nightmare. But she did as Simon bid her, taking his offered hand and jumping out of his car to make her way into the building. The war sirens were still wailing, piercing the otherwise silent night with their mournful cries. Brittany looked up at the night sky and saw red and white spotlights passing back and forth across the low clouds that had gathered. And then, to her horror, she saw that the clouds weren’t the only thing the spotlights were showing.

Hundreds of wizards were rising into the sky, lifting their magic rings high as they rose higher and higher. Before Brittany could even scream, she saw flashes of light starting to come from their rings. They were attacking.

“It’s started!” Brittany squeaked out, her voice filling with fear.

“Damn it! Let’s get you into a bunker,” Simon yelled, pushing her toward the building.

“No! I want to help fight!” Brittany wasn’t sure what came over her to make her say that. She wasn’t a soldier and had no fighting skills. But she couldn’t bear the thought of sitting by and doing nothing while her fellow citizens were attacked.

“Brittany, don’t be ridiculous!” Simon growled in a voice that told her he wasn’t in the mood for arguing. “You aren’t trained to fight, and I’m not going to lose you tonight because you’re trying to be a hero. Now get in the building.”

Reluctantly, Brittany agreed. She had a feeling that this wasn’t an argument Simon was going to let her win, and she didn’t want to delay him from fighting because she was whining about helping. She followed him as he ran down the hallway as fast as he could, through a long series of tunnels and doorways until she was completely lost. He seemed to know exactly where he was going, however. He came to a large, sturdy door that had some sort of electronic keypad on it. He entered a code into the keypad, then entered his fingerprints and let the light from the keypad scan his eyes.

“Welcome back, Simon Fillmore,” the keypad’s computer chirped cheerily, and the door opened wide. Behind the door, Brittany was surprised to see the entire High Council. They were huddled around a computer screen, monitoring the progress of the battle.

“Your honors,” Simon said. “I’d like to leave my girlfriend here for safety reasons, if that’s alright with you.”

The High Councilors nodded, barely looking up from their screens. Brittany herself felt her heart flip-flop at the sound of Simon calling her his girlfriend. She wished with all her heart that there wasn’t an all-out attack going on in the city right now. Stupid Dark Warriors, messing things up just when she’d found a guy she cared about, and who cared about her.

“The armies cannot return to help the city,” Councilor Morgan was saying in a grave voice, looking at Simon as he spoke. “They are too far away to get back now that the attack is underway, and besides, they had already started attacking the Dark Warriors out in the forest.”

“They’re already attacking Dark Warriors out in the forest? I thought it was going to take them longer to get to the main camp?” Simon said, his eyes widening.

Councilor Morgan shook his head. “The main camp was much closer than we thought. Apparently, a lot of things were closer than we thought. All we can do now is hope for the best. Hopefully our armies beat the Dark Warriors in the forest, and hopefully you and Jasper can hold back the Dark Warriors in Torch Lake.”

“We will,” Simon said, his voice angry and earnest. “I won’t let them destroy our town. Neither will Jasper. We’re strong enough. Two dragons can hold back a flood of wizards and other shifters, and we will.”

Brittany found her heart swelling with both pride and fear. She was so proud of Simon, but so worried for him as well. Hopefully, this battle would not be his last. He was already turning to go, but he stopped and looked at her, so much heat and intensity in his gaze that she felt her heart starting to pound even harder than it already was.

“Listen,” he said, crossing the distance between them and putting his palms on her cheeks. “If I don’t come back, I want you to know—”

“You will come back!” Brittany interrupted. “You have to!”

“I’ll do my best, Britt, but you know that nothing in wartime is guaranteed. If for any reason I don’t come back, I want you to know that I love you. I can’t leave you without telling you that. I love you. So damn much.”

Brittany felt tears springing to her eyes. “I love you, too, Simon,” she said, her whole body warming from his touch and his words. “I love you, too.”

He smiled a sad, longing smile, and then kissed her on the lips. The heat from his kiss shot through her, and she wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around him and hold him against her forever. But in the next instant, he was pulling back and giving her a sad wave goodbye. He disappeared through the door to the bunker, and she heard it clicking behind him as a series of heavy-duty locks engaged.

There was nothing for her to do now but wait, and hope that this day was not the day that Torch Lake and its inhabitants were destroyed.