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“Oh my God, The Magic Plate! We need to check to make sure everyone’s okay.” Kate tried to pull away from Isaac, but he tightened his grip.
“Wait!” He moved one hand to her cheek, and she wanted to turn into his touch but met his gaze instead. “We don’t know what happened. Maverick is creating fucking havoc everywhere. This could be a trap.”
“The restaurant,” she whispered as she visualized images of the restaurant from the night before. Then she saw the Isabella from her dream as clear as day in her mind. Her friend with a gaping hole in her chest, begging Kate for help. A cold shiver snaked down her spine, and she felt her world shrink as it had the night before—terror freezing her where she stood.
Isaac’s thumb rubbed along her cheek, bringing her back to the present. “We don’t know if anything like that has happened. Let me reach out to Reece to see what he knows. He’ll at least be able to tell us if only the middle building was affected.”
Kate felt the air drift across her cheek from the absence of Isaac’s hand. His small touch shouldn’t mean so much—maybe she only needed comfort because of the moment.
Isaac pulled his phone from his pocket just as another rumble detonated through the building, followed by dozens of screams.
The force of the blast chucked her forward, sending her crashing into Isaac, his phone flinging into the air behind them.
Momentum carried them forward, smashing them into one of the empty tattoo stations. Kate smacked her head as they knocked into a portable worktable, toppling it to the floor.
They skidded along the floor, colliding into two more stations. Metal clanged against metal as portable carts and trays crashed to the floor before Kate and Isaac finally came to a stop.
Before Kate could take stock of all that had happened, Isaac was pulling her to her feet. His hands ran down her arms. “Are you hurt? All I can sense is a bump on your head,” he said, his voice sounding shaky.
Kate gently prodded her temple with her fingers and only felt a slight bit of pain. “I’m fine. What about you?”
“I’m good. But I’m also not the one who almost died last night.” He leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips, but he had already straightened before she had time to react. “You’ve had more than your fair share of knocks and injuries lately.”
She let out a shaky laugh. “I guess I have. I—” She felt something soft on her face and rubbed her cheek. Her fingers came away white. “What’s that?” she asked before looking up. The panels from the drop ceiling had come loose.
“I’m thinking whatever rocked the other building did some damage in here.”
Kate followed Isaac’s gaze as he looked around his shop. Dust and plaster floated in the air, and ceiling tiles covered the couch in the sitting area. Books and framed drawings littered the floor, along with pieces of several workstations.
It was then the absence of sound struck her. “There’s no screaming,” she whispered, not even trying to disguise the fear in her voice. “Last night… there’d been so much noise as people scrambled about, and then it got quiet. Eerily quiet.” She rubbed her hands up and down her arms and sent a small blast of magic throughout her system to combat the sudden chill, before looking up at Isaac. “If anything happened, we’re to flash to the boardroom, like I did last night.”
Isaac’s gaze was soft as it met hers. “Yes, but the boardroom is in the first building, and even if none of the blasts were there, they could have affected its structural integrity.”
Kate could read between the lines and knew what he wasn’t saying. If there was structural damage, there could be casualties as well.
“Can you try Reece again?” she asked, not only because she wanted to find out what was going on but needed reassurance that her friends were okay.
“I don’t have my phone.” He looked around the room as if he could locate it in the mess.
“It’s okay, I’ve got mine.” Kate reached around to her back pocket when a telepathic message entered her mind. An update.
Isaac nodded to let her know that he got Jack’s message too.
They didn’t have to wait long before Jack continued.
Buildings attacked. Stay where you are. Help coming to you.
That didn’t tell them much, and now Kate was even more worried. Jack said the buildings were attacked, but she and Isaac hadn’t seen anyone yet. That could mean that all the apartments above them had been threatened or besieged.
Incoming. Kate heard Jack’s voice a moment before Ben and his daughter, Sam, flashed into the front of the shop.
“You both okay?” Ben asked as they walked toward each other, meeting in the middle of the shop.
“We’re good. It’s just me and Kate here. Can we help somewhere?”
Ben shook his head. “Jack’s got the rest of the buildings covered. No one was seriously hurt, just minor injuries from falling debris. There weren’t many people around since the bakery and your shop are the only businesses in the buildings open right now.”
“We think the blasts were a distraction,” Sam said.
