"And how do you decide what's major enough for everyone to get it?"

"There's a group of people who manage mass communications for the network. If you have an announcement, you send it through them. If they think it's worthy, they pass it on. An individual can't do a mass message."

I sighed. "That makes things difficult for me, if you can't get advertising out there.

This would be so much easier if we could buy air time on TV, or the magical equivalent, and do a really good image ad."

"Sorry I couldn't be more helpful."

"You were very helpful. I'm just going to have to be more creative. And I have to get back to my own office." I forced myself out of the chair before I got too comfortable and drifted off. Maybe that concussion was worse than I thought. Rod stood and came around his desk to open his office door for me.

"Let me know if you have any other questions," he said.

"Don't worry, I will. You may get tired of me."

He laughed. "I don't think there's much danger of that. And thank you for your suggestion. I'll think about it."

After the exciting afternoon I'd had, I hated going back to the dreary verification pool. As soon as I saw my coworkers, I couldn't help but wonder if my great idea about relocating the verifiers was so smart after all. The rest of the group seemed to enjoy their leisure on company time. How would they react to being asked to work harder? Would they really feel more like a part of the company? Thinking about it made my head hurt.

Speaking of my head, I made a stop at the bathroom before going to my desk and took a look at myself in the mirror. There was a knot forming on my temple where I'd hit the wall. It was currently red, but it was the kind of red that turns black and blue by morning. I wasn't sure how I'd explain a goose egg like that to my roommates. I tried pulling my hair across my face, but that made it look worse by drawing attention to it. I needed to come up with an excuse.

Fortunately, I wasn't dating anyone, so they couldn't jump to the conclusion that any lame excuse I gave them was a cover-up for an abusive boyfriend. They might think I had an abusive boss, but since I'd survived a year with Mimi, they had to know it couldn't get much worse. I supposed I'd just have to tell them I'd bumped into a wall, which was the truth, more or less.

It wasn't fair. Marcia came home with stories about big deals she'd had a part in, and Gemma was always telling us about the famous designers and models she ran into in the course of her job. Until now I'd never had anything more exciting than tales of Mimi's latest outburst. They'd listened politely and had done a pretty good job of faking interest, but I couldn't help but wish I had a job where I could do something important or interesting. Now I finally had something worth talking about, and I couldn't tell anyone about it.

The closing-time stampede struck just as I returned to my desk. Still deep in thought, I gathered my things and left the building. "That was some catch, sweetheart," Sam said as I stepped onto the sidewalk.

"Yeah, not bad for a day's work, huh?"

"Are you kidding? That was spectacular. I'd try to get you transferred to Security if I thought I could get away with it."

"All it took was a good eye and a strong set of lungs. Owen did all the work."

"Yeah, but he wouldn't have known what to do if you hadn't been there, pointing the way."

That was something to think about. Owen might be one of the most powerful wizards around, but that intruder could have got away with stealing stuff from his department if I hadn't been there. "It's nice to be needed," I said with a smile.

"And it sounds like you have even more on your plate now. At the rate you're going, you'll be running the place by Christmas." He saluted me with one wing. "Now, go home and get some rest. You've got a busy day ahead of you tomorrow."

He was right about that. I had a marketing plan to put together and a magical war to fight. This company and these people needed me. More important, they knew they needed me, and they were willing to listen to me. It was enough to make me want to call Mimi just to blow a big raspberry in her ear. Look out, world. Little Katie Chandler wasn't quite so ordinary anymore.

* * *

My head was still hurting and I was tired when I got home, so I should have been glad to be the first one there. It would give me a chance to rest and recover a little before I had to face Gemma and Marcia. But I was about to explode from nervous, restless energy . Even if I couldn't talk about what had happened, I needed to talk to someone. I could at least tell them I had an important new project. That sure beat having nothing better to say about work than "I typed another memo today."