Dani propped herself up on her elbows, sweating with the effort. “Was mommy a real witch? Is that why you’re so pissed off at the world? Is she disappointed in the mediocre party trick you call ‘work?’ What are you going to pull out next? Fancy card tricks? The dismembered thumb bit?”

“Shut. Up,” Lara growled.

“If you’re gonna kill me, go ahead and do it. Just don’t subject me to any more of your bullshit about how fucking clever you are. If you manage to do any real damage to the rift, it’s because you’re stealing the means from me, you half-assed, half-wit joke—”

Lara hissed an angry breath, creating a small orange sphere the size of a tennis ball. She didn’t bother throwing it, simply slammed it into Dani’s face. As Dani slipped out of consciousness, she thought perhaps she’d made an error in judgement.

Because OW.

16

Zed

Zed jogged up the stairs to Jillian’s office in Building One. He’d been feeling uneasy all afternoon, that weird nagging tension that pulled at the corner of his mind when he thought maybe he’d left the stove on. But it felt bigger and worse. Something was wrong in Zed’s territory, and he wasn’t going to rest until he laid eyes on Dani and knew that she was safe.

He noted that Lara, the scary receptionist was not at her desk, which was odd in itself. That girl was always glued to her desk. But he also noticed that he didn’t smell Dani anywhere in the office, despite her plans to meet with Jillian that afternoon. And that only made his discomfort worse.

“Jillian?” he called.

“I’m back here!” she yelled.

Zed leaned against Jillian’s door frame, frowning over the office’s single occupancy. “Hey, where’s Dani?”

Jillian lifted a brow. “I don’t know . . . because she’s an adult woman. And she objected when I tried to put a bell on her.”

“She said she was going to meet with you this afternoon.”

Zed frowned at her, which was enough to make Jillian sit up and put her serious face on. “I, honestly, don’t know, Zed. How did you get back here, anyway? Lara usually throws herself bodily at anyone who tries to cross my threshold without her written permission.”

Zed waved his arms toward the unoccupied waiting room. “She wasn’t out there.”

“What?” Jillian stood, walking toward the lobby. “She’s not off until four. And Lara never takes breaks. Ever. She’s basically Batman with better typing skills.”

“So Lara and Dani are missing now?”

“We don’t know that they’re missing,” Jillian said, her expression concerned. “They’re just . . . misplaced.”

“So you haven’t seen her at all?”