“Maybe he has an escape route in his office?” Trent suggested.

“And that’s why he locked us in there?” I said. “Come on.” I grabbed his sleeve and pulled. “We don’t have enough time to find a way off.” My thoughts went to the purple disk in the ceiling. I had influenced it once. Maybe I could bend it to my will. “Come on!” I repeated as his sleeve slipped through my fingers when he refused to move. “Unless you want to stay and watch numbers count down. I might be able to break the no-spell zone Lee has on his boat.”

Trent rocked into motion. “I still say we can find a weak point in his security.”

I headed up the ladder, not caring if Trent noticed I wasn’t wearing undies or not. “Not enough time.” Damn it, why didn’t Kisten tell me what he was doing? I was surrounded by men who kept secrets from me. Nick, Trent, and now Kisten. Could I pick ’em or what? And Kist was killing people. I didn’t want to like a guy who killed people. What was wrong with me?

Heart pounding as if marking the reducing seconds, we went back to the gaming room. It was silent and still. Waiting. My mouth twisted at the sight of the sleeping people. They were dead. I couldn’t save them and Trent. I didn’t even know how I was going to save myself.

The disk above me looked innocuous enough, but I knew it was still functioning when Trent glanced at it and paled. I guessed he was using his second sight. “You can’t break that,” he said. “But you don’t need to. Can you make a protection circle big enough for both of us?”

My eyes widened. “You want to ride it out in a protection circle? You are crazy! The minute I hit it, down it goes!”

Trent looked angry. “How big, Morgan?”

“But I tripped the alarms last time just looking at it!”

“So what!” he exclaimed, his confidence cracking. It was nice to see him shaken, but under the circumstances, I couldn’t enjoy it. “Trip the alarms! The disk doesn’t stop you from tapping a line and making a spell. It only catches you when you do. Make the damned circle!”

“Oh!” I looked at him in understanding, my first wild hope dying. I couldn’t tap a line to make a protection circle. Not sitting on water as I was. “Um, you make it,” I said.

He seemed to start. “Me? It takes me a good five minutes with chalk and candles.”

Frustrated, I groaned. “What kind of an elf are you!”

“What kind of a runner are you?” he shot back. “I don’t think your boyfriend will mind if you tap a line through him to save your life. Do it, Morgan. We’re running out of time!”

“I can’t.” I spun in a tight circle. Through the unbreakable glass, Cincinnati glowed.

“Screw your damned honor, Rachel. Break your word to him or we’re dead!”