In her defense, Kayden was still in a state of shock.

Two days earlier, "magic" had just been a construct of her imagination, nothing more than what she could find in a movie or a card trick. And even after Blaze had proven to her that magic was in fact real, she had not been prepared for what had happened as she had been lying on her bed listening to the rain: for the deep pressure that had built in her stomach, for the uneasy rumbling in her skin, and then for the complete and terrifying darkness that had blinded her. Before she could cry out, her bed had vanished beneath her. And then some strong force had pressed against her body, preventing her from even forming a scream for a few painful seconds until she had landed, jarringly, in a rather nice, but completely foreign, kitchen.

That trip, added with Blaze's confession that he might have messed up the spell, did not put her in the most forgiving of moods.

She tried to comb through her messy hair with her fingers as she followed Blaze through his apartment. Apartment is definitely an understatement, she amended silently as she passed room after room. Whatever Blaze's father did for a profession, it paid well. Or can wizards just magick up money? she wondered. Life would be so much easier if you could just wave a wand and conjure up a hundred dollar bill.

Blaze led her through a pair of French doors into a spacious study lined with bookshelves. Thick leather spines with glinting golden titles winked down at her. She couldn't help but let out a soft "Whoa" as she craned her neck upwards, taking everything in.

Blaze made a beeline towards one shelf and plucked a navy blue book from its place. Kayden felt a slight tingle in her fingers as she watched him hold The Booke of Advanced Magick and she knew she still wouldn't be able to touch it.

The boy flipped the cover open, gripping the pages with his rough fingers to begin searching for the right spell. However, he had only turned a single page when he stopped. "What the hell?" he muttered.

Kayden approached him, peering over his shoulder as he flipped through more pages. She had seen the book only the day before, along with all of its tiny scribbles, complex diagrams, and lengthy lists. However, that all was gone, as if someone had taken a magic eraser and wiped out the entire book. Instead, the same uniform message appeared on each page in a blocky, official typeset:

Due to a volatile change in magic flux, all spell books have hereby been suspended. Please refrain from all forms of magic until further notice.

- The Congregation

The message was followed by four scripted signatures.

"What does that mean?" Kayden asked, her eyebrows scrunched.

"I don't know." Blaze rifled through a few more pages, but was greeted with the same message on every page. He stared at it for a moment longer, his face guarded, before shutting the book, replacing it back on the shelf, and walking out of the study.

"Where are we going now?" Kayden asked. She knew she sounded petulant, but she was growing tired of following him.

"To my room," he answered, glancing back at her. "I want to check something online."

Online? Kayden thought skeptically. She doubted that whatever was happening would be on the front page of MSN, but she kept her mouth shut and followed him.

Kayden had never considered herself a neat freak, but Blaze's room was absolute chaos. The floor, bed, and every other surface was covered with a liberal helping of clothes, so much so that it was almost impossible for her to see anything but black and navy fabric whichever way she turned.

"You can sit down if you want," Blaze said, moving a stack of papers and some rolled-up socks off of his desk.

"Where?" Kayden muttered under her breath, but Blaze was too busy searching for something to offer any assistance. In the end, she took it upon herself to shove a pile of crumpled shirts and blazers off the bed and onto the floor. When she could actually see the dark blue comforter, she allowed herself to sit down.

Blaze finally turned to her with a sleek black laptop in his hand. He pressed the power button and settled on the bed beside Kayden, his shoulder brushing against her arm. His black t-shirt was damp with rainwater.

For the first time since she had arrived in his kitchen, Kayden felt a tinge of embarrassment. Here she was, plopped on a random guy's bed in nothing but a camisole and pajama shorts. She felt exposed.

She quickly adjusted her hair over her shoulders, trying to hide her bra straps. Blaze glanced over at her, and she immediately dropped her hands and pointed to the screen. "Wizards use laptops?"

"Yeah. We don't live in the dark ages, you know." He looked at her oddly, his brown eyes deep beneath slightly furrowed brows. "My dad works for a computer company. In the non-er world, he manages a number of computer programmers. But his potestas job is as an 'integrator.' He slips codes into computer software so that potestas can access special features through the computer interface. Right now it works for any PC. They're planning on expanding to Macs soon, though."

"Really?" Kayden asked, slightly impressed. "That's pretty cool."

"Yeah, I guess," Blaze responded with a shrug, turning back to his laptop. His plain desktop appeared, decked out with just a few icons, but he ignored them all. Instead, he went to the keypad and held down control, alt, and delete.

When the Windows Task manager pop-up appeared, Blaze announced, "Aknah." There was a slight cackle of electricity; Kayden felt the hairs on her arms prick for a moment, and then fall back down. On the screen, another small pop-up appeared with three words written in blue hyperlink text: "Potestas Online Communications." Blaze clicked the link. A moment later, yet another window popped open.

"Tada," Blaze said, gesturing to the screen. "Welcome to Potestas Online Communications. POC for short."

"POC?" Kayden repeated, looking at him. "That sounds like some sort of disease."

Blaze looked at her, almost exasperatedly. "Are you really going to fight with me on this? I mean, Google?"

Kayden rolled her eyes, ready to come up with some sort of sharp rebuttal, but froze when she finally saw the screen. They were just on Blaze's homepage—"illusionsource.poc" according to the URL bar—but the website was so sleek and stylish that it blew away the nicest websites she had ever seen. The font was in the sharpest of blacks, and the page displayed a digitally defined graphic of what appeared to be a rotating mannequin. 

"Greetings Master Blaze," a female voice welcomed from the speakers. It was so clear that Kayden almost thought the voice had come from someone else in the room.

"Yeah, yeah," Blaze mumbled under his breath, clicking a link with a quick tap of his finger. Almost instantaneously they were taken to a different page. The background was entirely black, and in the center of the screen, written in silver calligraphy, were the words "Black Market." Beneath the phrase was a long silver search bar.

Blaze typed in "volatile change in magic flux" and then clicked a button with a small symbol inscribed on it.

"What does that mean?" Kayden asked, gesturing to the symbol.

"Aknah," he explained. "It's typically the first rune symbol you learn how to use. It roughly translates into a 'go' or 'begin' sort of thing. Wizards use it all the time for simple spells, like mail delivery and opening simple locks. It's just a rudimentary way to direct your power."

"Mail delivery?"

"In case you haven't noticed, the US postal system isn't doing particularly well. And unlike JK Rowling, we didn't think owls were a great solution."

Kayden raised an eyebrow. "Real wizards read Harry Potter?"

For the first time, Kayden saw his cheeks turn red. "Not everyone," he admitted. "But I like to keep up on non-er pop culture. We all live in the same world after all."

Kayden was tempted to argue; Blaze may be living in her world, but she was definitely not living in his. But then his eyes landed back on the screen, and his face fell. "God."

The search engine had brought up thousands of results, each one quoting the same line from the message in the spell book.

Blaze clicked the first link, bringing them to a user forum. Kayden scanned the thread over his shoulder, trying to keep up as he rapidly scrolled.

GHR165 - Orlando, Fl: Anyone know why my spell book has a message from the Congregation in it? It's an old volume, circa 1569, penned by William Selms. It's been in my family for ages and this has never happened before. I need to work on a glamour, but I can't access the rune diagram.

FLA825 - Cleveland, OH: GHR, I cast a spell this morning and nearly burned my hand off! When I went to double-check my diagram, I had the same message in my book! WTH is going on?

LNB223 - Princeton, NJ: FLA, did u spell check beforehand? Maybe it's some new precaution the Congregation is trying to enact if ur not checking things...?

FLA825 - Cleveland, OH: Of course I checked beforehand. And I doubt it. The message says something about a "volatile change in magic flux." Idk what that is, but it doesn't sound good.

LNB223 - Princeton, NJ: Shit, just checked and my book is wiped too. What's going on??

JJH885 - Douglas, WY: The glamour on my house is gone. Anyone know how to fix it? Also, does anyone have a book that's still functioning? My copy is a newer issue, Freedman presses, 2006, and I have that stupid message on every page.

It wasn't long before Kayden realized that something was terribly wrong. The online exchanges evolved from confusion to hysteria, eventually followed by reports not just of books being wiped, but also of major and minor magical incidents occurring around the globe.

"What is going on?" Kayden breathed.

"Clearly no one knows," Blaze said, looking more and more concerned. He typed in a new URL, loading an official-looking page. There were no fancy backgrounds or cool font faces, just plain black Arial text on a white screen. "The Congregation released a more detailed statement."

Kayden leaned over his shoulder farther; she was close enough that she could smell the remnants of cologne on his shirt. She peered at the wall of text, blinking. It was written in English, but there was so much legal jargon that she couldn't understand a single word. "And you think this is better?"

"Shh!" Blaze hushed, deciphering the text. Finally he groaned, a curse escaping his lips.

"What is it?"

"Apparently they don't know what's going on either, but it's something big. And bad." He looked back at her, his jaw set. "Something is wrong with the foundation of magic. Spells are backfiring with unpredictable outcomes. Glamours are failing; buildings that used to be supported by magic are crumbling. There... there are even reports of deaths." His face was like ash, drained of color.

"So... they blocked the spell books to stop people from casting spells?" she ventured.

"It's too dangerous," he said. "They were right to do that. But they still don't know what's causing it. They said they are putting all their efforts into finding that out..." He trailed off.

"What exactly is the Congregation?" Kayden asked. The way Blaze spoke of them, she had gathered they were somewhat important.

"They're the head of the US potestas community, a bit like the government, though only in matters that involve potestas," Blaze explained. "There are four members, but they also have a number of advisers and interns who work for them. There's actually an election early next year, but in general, the people elected to the Congregation are just older, significantly more powerful potestas with some brains and a bit of widespread appeal."

"Well what's the problem, then?" Kayden asked. "If they said they're going to look into this—"

"Nothing like this has ever happened before," Blaze said, looking at her with such intensity that she nearly flinched. His hand clenched the side of his laptop. "There's no precedent. Magic has been the same for as long as anyone can remember; that's why people keep spell books in their families for generations. Things never change. But something happened, and now we're all powerless." He looked down at his hands, at the green symbol winking at him from his wrist, and his voice dropped to a whisper. "I doubt this is going to get fixed quickly."

For a moment, Kayden didn't know what to say. She looked at him; his skin was pale, his eyes were downcast. But then she felt a stir of intensity in her gut, and she shook her head. "No. This isn't right. I can't be following you around forever. Something has to get done. I need to go home."

Blaze looked up at her; his eyes were weary. "We'll figure something out," he said, scrolling down the page to read a little more. "It looks like the Congregation is going to hold some meetings to discuss this shift in a couple of days. There's a teaching conference scheduled, and some health classes. Maybe we'll get an update in a few da—"

Suddenly he froze. He jerked his head towards the bedroom door, and then wheeled back towards her. "Did you hear something?"

Kayden shook her head, but then she heard it: a soft creaking. The front door of the apartment was opening.

"Blaze?" echoed a deep voice from down the hall. "Blaze? Where are you?"

The wizard's face blanched. "It's my father!" he mouthed, putting the laptop down and immediately jumping off the bed. "Quick!" he whispered. "Hide!"

"Where?" Kayden asked frantically, standing up and glancing around. Blaze's sudden panic was contagious, and there was no obvious hiding spot.

Blaze shoved aside some clothes and gestured to the ground. Kayden was about to protest, but then she heard footsteps and immediately dove into the pile. Blaze helped her for a moment, covering her up with his dirty clothes, and then rushed out of the room with a call of "Coming, Father!"

Kayden crouched on the ground, straining her ears. She heard the sound of Blaze's footprints receding down the hall, and then an exchange of voices, though the words were muffled. After a few moments, she heard Blaze's voice rise slightly, as in protest.

What happened? she thought to herself worriedly. She didn't know much about Blaze's father, but from the way Blaze had reacted to his voice, she had no desire to meet him. Especially under these circumstances.

And then she heard it: a rhythmic creaking of wood growing a little louder with each beat—footsteps heading down the hall. Kayden's heart froze as she heard the bedroom door open, and she hunched herself into a smaller ball, praying that whoever was in the room didn't come stomping through the pile she was hiding in.

The mattress springs creaked; the intruder had settled on the bed, Kayden assumed. Just relax, she thought, barely breathing. Blaze will be back in here in a second. He'll kick out whoever is in here. Just keep calm.

But suddenly, a loud song filled the air: Believe by The Bravery. The bass guitar riff was accompanied by the sound of buzzing, and Kayden flinched as strong vibrations ran down her thigh; the phone in her pocket was ringing. 

She scrambled for it and pushed the "end" button, but she wasn't fast enough. The mattress squeaked again, and footsteps drew nearer. She tried to remain still, but shirts and pants had already fallen away, leaving her back exposed. She heard a dark chuckle, and Kayden looked up to see a guy looming above her. But it wasn't Blaze's father.

"Wow," the guy said, looking down at her with a smirk. He had jet-black hair, hazel eyes, and carried a navy travel bag in his left hand. "No wonder Blaze was so jumpy—I didn't know he was getting it in. I'll have to give him a little bit of credit from now on." He took a step closer, appraised her critically for a moment, and then shook his head with an amused look. "Not too much credit though."