"We've got a problem."

   Jennifer appeared through the wall, startling Tate and I. Daniella rematerialized from the gap. After another hour of practice, she was able to get through to the gap much easier. 

   "What is it?"

   "Gene hasn't responded." Her cheeks were empty of color. "It's been six hours. He's never been silent for this long."

   Considering I've never heard the man speak, I find that hard to believe. Tate grimaced. "You don't think that he's been compromised?"

   "What else could it be?" She gritted her teeth. "I have to go to Anchorage with Zain. I hate not going to find him. Here is the last message he sent me." She handed over her phone. I looked at the last few messages.

    (12:15 p.m.) Gene: That was too close. Even without Roxie here, Dani's strong. She sensed I was there. I got out of range, but I can't get that close again.

   (12:16 p.m.) Jennifer: Then gather what information you can within the base. How many they have, their numbers. Anything is helpful.

   (12:16 p.m.) Gene: Way ahead of you.

   (3:41 p.m.) Gene: They haven't cancelled their plan to attack Anchorage. It's been changed from nine this morning to noon in three days. Dani doesn't seem to care that she doesn't have Roxie. Something has convinced her that Roxie is going to come to her and that Dani doesn't need to worry. It might be the man that's the other leader -- his name appears to be Kingsley. His behavior is off. I'm investigating him further. But at least we have a deadline: noon on Thursday. They're sending someone inside to break down the Council's door and then Dani will break the rest of the defenses. 

   (3:41 p.m.) Jennifer: Shit. We're still waiting for Roxie to wake up. Depending on how much she was able to figure out, she might be able to confirm or deny all of this. 

   (3:45 p.m.) Jennifer: Gene? How are you doing?

   (4:30 p.m.) Jennifer: Gene, answer me. I need to know that you haven't been compromised. What's going on?

   (6:00 p.m.) Jennifer: GENE. Send me ANYTHING to confirm you're okay. 

   There was a message every half-hour on the nose after that with Jennifer checking in on him. There was no response from Gene since 3:41. I handed the phone back, grim. "That doesn't look good, I'll give you that much. But he was able to give us a date. We have a deadline."

   "What if it changes?" asked Jennifer sharply. "What if we are preparing too late?"

   It didn't take Tate's faint brush against my arm to understand. Jennifer was stressing over her husband. She was too wired. I pursed my lips. "We don't have a choice, do we? We already have less than seventy-two hours to prepare for her forces."

   Jennifer handed the phone back to me. She'd enlarged the font on the messages, maximizing one message to show on the screen. Dark letters, green background. 

   (10:26 a.m.) Gene: They're calling themselves the Dark Stars.

    Tate blew out a breath. "Well, that's happy."

   "I don't like this," said Jennifer. "They're organized. Determined."

   "That's why we're doing this." I stood up. "You're welcome to leave if you want, Jennifer. This isn't a Council-ordered operation, anymore. You can go AWOL."

   Her jaw clenched. "I'm not leaving. Not until I have my husband." With a sharp turn, she walked back through the wall. 

   Daniella shook her head. "I still can't really believe we're doing this." Snapping her staff back into place, she sighed. "I'm going to bed. See you two in the morning." She took her exit, closing the door after her. 

   I slumped back into the couch with a groan. My hands covered my face. "God, Tate, am I doing the right thing here?"

   His weight shifted and his arm slipped around my shoulders. "How do you mean?"

   "I've completely taken over this thing." My fingers dug into my face. "There's this pressure sitting on me. I feel like I'm sinking. They're relying on me being right. They're relying on me being able to handle Dani."

   Tate took a moment to think. His fingers softly toyed with my hair. It was not helping me think. "I think that they trust you. They don't know if they can trust the Council anymore. Besides, they want to help. I think you're doing the right thing."

   "What if I'm sending everyone to the slaughter?"

   "Then we did what we could."

   I grunted. "That's not good enough."

   "I somehow doubt any answer is going to satisfy you, Roxie." He leaned his cheek on my head. "You're just going to have to trust yourself. We've working on the plan, right? You've been writing down what you can remember for hours. Look at this thing." He picked up my notepad. I'd been scrawling my memories of my capture. It looked like a crazy person had been writing on it. "Considering you were halfway conscious the whole time, that's impressive."

   "What does that have to do with this?"

   "It means that we already have more information than Dani can know. She has no idea you were able to see and hear while with her. We're already a few steps ahead. With Gene sending us information, we're even further ahead."

   I shook my head and sat up. "I'm going to bed." He watched as I stood up, trudging for the bed. I didn't even bother to change clothes or wash up. I tugged off my shoes and collapsed backwards onto it. 

   "Uh, you're kinda on my bed."

   "Then where's mine?"

   "You don't exactly have one. We only booked five rooms."

   "Then we can share." I pulled back the cover and slid under it. My spine stung slightly as it finally relaxed. While there, I wriggled out of my pants. 

   Tate stared. "Are you sure?"

   "I'm pretty sure you're not an asshole, so yeah."

~

   Caze and Erlan were waiting in the hotel lobby as Tate and I descended. Daniella sat at a table, chugging a cup of coffee. Caze had the wood bracelet in his hand. 

   "What did you find out?" I asked as we met up with them. I slid onto a stool. 

   Erlan bobbed his head. "It's certainly fascinating. From what we can tell, it amplifies the magick's power by about three times. Where it took Caze three strikes to take down a tree, it would make it one. I ran three times as fast with it on."

   "What about its weaknesses?" Daniella sat beside Tate, nursing her coffee.

   Caze grimaced. "Well, breaking it doesn't work." He opened his hand. I saw it was in pieces. "You have to break apart the runes. Cutting isn't efficient. Smashing or shattering is. It's the only way to break the runes' abilities."

   "Someone with this bracelet can make it past the barrier," added Erlan. "With ill intentions. However, it doesn't last long. The bracelet only gives about two minutes of passage before the door's magic finds the wearer. We tested it out yesterday. Zain gave us a lift to Anchorage. It took a while to convince the barrier we had ill intentions. Then I had about two minutes before the pressure became too great."

   "So, someone sent inside to get to the door has two minutes to get there and destroy the runes." I nodded. "Okay. We can work with that. Right?"

   "I think so," said Caze. He put the pieces into his pocket. "What's the plan from here?"

   I shared a look with Tate. There's the pressure again. "Well, Zain and Jennifer are rounding up our forces in Anchorage. Gene is still MIA. He gave us a time. At noon, we've got forty-eight hours until Dani and the Dark Stars attack Anchorage."

   "The Dark Stars," repeated Daniella.

   Tate nodded. My fingers rapped on the table. "They are going to send someone within the barrier with this bracelet to destroy the door. Once they do, Dani's going to tear the rest of it down herself. Then they storm the city, subdue the Enforcers, and kill the Council. They want the barrier down by noon for the invasion."

   "How are we going to stop them?"

   "I'm thinking we have two lines of defense." I ticked off one finger. "One will be at the door, guarding it from harm. The other will be at the barrier to meet the Dark Stars head on. If any of them slip through the cracks, the people at the door can stop them. Focus on taking down their bracelets. Daniella and I are going to take care of the dark magicks. I'll slip into the gap and remove their sources while Daniella distracts Dani."

   Erlan's eyes seared into my face again. He has a nasty habit of trying to read me all the time. "And what will you do about Dani after that? You can't run from her forever. She's going to be targeting you."

   "She doesn't have to know I'm there at first." I licked my lips. "That's where Daniella comes in. We have to hope coming across her niece is enough to distract her long enough for me to get the sources away from the fight. Once that's done, I'll deal with Dani."