She pulled her coat off, and one of the accompanying witches took it for her, shuffled it away somewhere. She sank down onto Thomas's couch and stared out the window. Behind her the phone rang. Thomas picked it up and spoke in muted tones to the person on the other end.

Thomas approached her after hanging up the phone. She didn't bother to look at him. "They know we're here. They say 4 p.m., at Duskoff International. The pretense is that you've agreed to exchange your life for Annie's, but we all know that's not the way this is going to happen. We're here to fight. They know that well enough. They'll do all they can to take you from us. We need to be ready.”

Mira only nodded and kept staring out the window. A curious sense of power had stolen over her, a feeling of confidence. All her fear was locked somewhere deep inside her. She couldn't afford fear right now, not while Annie was with Crane and needed medical attention. There was no time to waste on feelings that did no good, did nothing to get Annie back. Everything seemed so crystal clear to her.

"Where is Duskoff International in relation to your apartment?" she asked Thomas mildly.

"Five blocks north of this building.”

"Thank you." She stood and walked down the hallway, seeking a quiet place.

"Mira? Where are you going?”

She turned. "I'm a witch. It's time I started to act like one.”

"Do I need to worry about you? You seem too calm.”

"You don't need to worry, Thomas." Mira turned back around and continued down the hallway, finding one of the bedrooms at the back of the apartment. She sat cross-legged in the center of the bed, closed her eyes, and let her consciousness drift deeper, drift until she couldn't sense her physical body anymore.

She heard a little pop as her consciousness freed itself, and she directed it out of the room and into the main part of the apartment.

Her awareness was the air itself, and she could point her attention anywhere she chose. Regulating the sounds of the witches in Thomas's apartment so they faded to nothingness and managing the loud clamor of the street beyond, Mira turned northward and sought the Duskoff Building and Annie.

The gunmetal gray building stood on the corner of a large intersection. A tall, wide, carved granite sign in the common area in front marked it as the building she sought. Despite it being Saturday, many people walked the street outside the frosted double glass doors. Mira tried to send her consciousness into the building but couldn't get past a heavy barrier that ran around it.

Warding.