A/N: Well, this chapter came out to be a big longer than others. I contemplated about splitting it into two, but I think the events flow right into each other. My spring break from grad classes is over, so I will be in classes and at work pretty much all week. I am not sure if I will be as productive as I was before. But I am looking forward to writing more!

***Chapter 7***

As I left Merlin's office, I bumped into Trix. She eyed me from head to toe. "Is everything ok?"

I actually wasn't sure myself. I slept over at Owen's house a few times before. One time I had to stay there for a couple of days to allow him to dim my immunity. But moving in with him for an indefinite time, even for security reasons, was a big step. I was excited and scared at the same time. "Yes. Just thinking about work," I said hesitantly.

All of a sudden Kim stormed into the room. She had a devilish look in her eyes and I could have sworn I saw horns sticking out of her head. She snorted as she came to a stop inches away from my face.

"Enjoy your fleeting victory," she said, grinding her teeth and glowering.

She pushed her way through us and barged into Merlin's office.

"I resign," was all I heard her bitterly say. Then she whispered something to Merlin, but it was not audible outside of the office. She stomped her way out of the office, making sure to push me with her shoulder on her way out. She grunted and lifted her chin high as she marched down the hall, disappearing at the staircase.

Trix blinked. So did I. That was an unusual eruption even for Kim. Losing a verifier, especially at this time, was a big setback for MSI Inc. If only there was a way to recruit them.

Merlin appeared in the doorway. "Please call in department heads for an emergency meeting."

Owen and Rod walked into the office first. They were quietly talking to each other. They greeted Merlin and me as they took their seats. Mr. Hartwell arrived next. His plastic smile and stiff body posture made him look like a Ken doll. The rest of the department heads walked in together, with Sam flying over them. Gregor bared his teeth at me, but did not turn green. I am sure he blamed me for the loss of an employee in his department.

As soon as everyone was seated, Merlin started. "I am sure you heard by now Kim resigned from MSI. When I offered to write her a letter of recommendation, she proclaimed to already have another job."

Great, I thought.

"Do you think she got recruited by our enemies?" Owen winced at his own question.

"I believe so. Sam, I need Kim's access revoked to the building and for her to be removed from the systems."

"Aye, aye, boss."

"I would also like for every department to change any access codes and pins that Kim might have had been entrusted with." After a brief pause, he added, "Are there any news from Prophets and Lost?"

"The future is still concealed from us, but we saw a vision of figures from the past. Unfortunately, there were no other clues on how they relate to the future," Minerva stated.

"We need to get as many people on our side as we can." As Merlin continued talking to the department heads, I kept brainstorming about an army of immunes. Then a light bulb went off in my head.

"I think I might have an idea." Every head in the room instantly turned to face me. This was yet another idea of mine that suddenly sounded stupid.

"You all know how immunes can't be affected by magic. But they can see fairies, elves, and some magic." Merlin's expression livened up as I spoke. "Why don't we try to officially recruit them?"

Owen looked at me with confusion, while Rod perked up. I think he might have caught on. I continued.

"When Owen first spotted me, he noticed me because I was looking at a gargoyle. Why don't we put a gargoyle and a fairy somewhere on Union Square? They will be concealed to both magical and normal people, so only immunes would find them odd. Then, we can try to trace people who seemed to noticed them." I glanced at Rod. "Rod and his personnel team can then run a background check and see if any of those people could qualify as verifiers. The rest of the people who we won't reach out to will think they saw actors from a musical promotion or something along those lines."

"That is a drastic measure," Owen noted.

"How will we get people's names so quickly? It takes time to find out the real identity of a person. We can't just wave our hand and summon a biography of a person." Rod was fiddling with the pen cap that was laid in front of him.

"Well…" I let my voice trail off a bit as I looked at Rod. "I was hoping that if the immunes are women, we could use your charm to get their names and numbers." I looked down at the table.

"And if it's a man?" he asked and raised his eyebrow.

"We can try to have a woman do the same."

"Ok, Miss Chandler. You and Rod can work on setting up the arrangement. Please keep it low key. We don't want unnecessary attention brought on us." With that, Merlin dismissed the meeting.

I had a busy week ahead, but I had Rod to help me this time. I checked my email before I went to his office. I had a couple of tasks to handle, but they weren't urgent. Rod was sitting at his desk when I entered his office. There were piles of papers everywhere.

"Hey, Rod."

"Hi, Katie!" Rod almost leaped from his seat. "I'm putting together a list of people who will help us with the show. Sam is busy these days, so I think Rocky and Rollo will do the trick. I also have a couple of potential fairies on my list."

He handed me a bunch of papers with names and arrows and brackets everywhere. I glanced over them and handed them back to him.

"That's great. When do you think we can put on the show?"

"The sooner, the better. Would tomorrow work for you?"

"I can take a couple hours off for lunch. We can try to go during the lunch rush. And can you put on some of that attraction spell?" I added with slight embarrassment.

Rod didn't seem uncomfortable. We agreed to meet tomorrow at the lobby at 11:30am.

I spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on the work that I have missed the past three months. Kim was a decent secretary, but her communication skills needed improvement. Some of the magic shop owners wrote complaints that needed my attention. There were a couple of people who were threatening to stop distributing our spells.

I closed my laptop at 5 o'clock and decided that I will deal with the rest of the complaints tomorrow. I grabbed my purse and headed down to Research and Development. Merlin gave me back my silver card that allowed me to pass most, if not all, locked doors within the building, so I didn't have to worry about standing outside the department in case Owen didn't know I was coming.

I looked inside the lab, but Owen wasn't there. I peek inside his office and saw him scribbling something on the whiteboard, with his back turned to me.

"Working late today?" I asked him with a coy smile.

Owen turned to me and glared. "Who let you in here? Can't you see I am busy?" he snapped.

I stood there in shock. Before I knew it, my eyes glazed over. In all of the months that I have known him, there was only one instance when I heard Owen raise his voice. I didn't know what it was that I had done for him to snap like that at me. When he was mad, he would grow quiet, but never yelled.

I ran out of the R&D before tears started to fall. I heard Owen yell my name after me, but I just kept running until I was outside.

Thankfully, Sam wasn't there, so I didn't have any explaining to do about my look. I sat on the bench near the entrance and changed into my walking shoes. Even though I had an unlimited bus/subway card, I needed to walk home to allow my thoughts to sort out.

I was walking on 5th avenue, looking into the windows of the high fashion stores and boutiques. I was about to cross the street when the streetlight turned red. While gazing through the endless stream of pedestrians, a gypsy ambushed me.

"I see a man in your heart." All the parts of a gypsy dress that I was accustomed to were present: bright colored bloomers, leather bodice, satin chemise, and a brown skirt. Instead of a hat, she had a bandana on her head, with strings of beads and feathers coming out of it. There was a big round amulet hanging from her neck with an emerald dragon design.

I decided to ignore her, but she grabbed on to my arm.

"There isn't an ounce of magic running through your veins."

That made me look back at her. She knew I was an immune?

"There are two women in your man's life," she continued.

"What?" was all I could say.

"It seems he wasn't wasting time when you were gone not too long ago." The gypsy made circular motions in the air. "Look out for a girl with a phoenix ring."

My heart sunk. How could she know I was away from Owen and that I was an immune? Could she be a real gypsy?

"I think you are mistaken."

"Karma is never wrong." She looked almost angry when she said that. Karma reached in her inner pocket and got an amulet. It was identical to the one that she had around her neck.

"Get your man to touch this amulet and he shall be forever yours."

I looked at the amulet. It was an exquisite piece of work, with every detail on the right side in perfect harmony and symmetry with the left side. I didn't know much about magic, but using a love spell on Owen didn't sound like a good idea.

"I don't need this," I said.

"You can't refuse a gift from a gypsy." With that, the gypsy left me standing in the middle of the sidewalk.

I stuffed the amulet into my purse and walked towards my apartment.

I was walking up my block and musing over the events of the day. All of a sudden a beautiful red rose floated up to me. Against my better judgment, I reached for it, but it started to float away. I followed it. The rose drifted into someone's hands. My gaze shifted up to see who the hands belonged to.

Owen Palmer was leaning against the railings of the stairs in front of the apartment door with a big bouquet of roses. He looked apologetic. He took a step in my direction.

"Katie…" He said as he gave me the bouquet. It was so big that I had to hold them with both of my hands.

The water drops on the roses were shining in the lights of the setting sun. I inhaled their sweet scent and closed my eyes. The smell was heavenly. Owen's voice brought me back to reality.

"I want to apologize for today. Jake and I were testing a spell earlier in the day and I was suffering from an aftereffect. I did not mean to snap at you like that." He looked at his feet and blushed, though not enough to match the roses.

Owen placed his hand over mine and looked straight at me. His other hand brushed my hair behind my ear and slid down to my cheek. I observed his facial expression. He looked so sincere and truly apologetic. The gypsy wasn't correct. She just couldn't be. Owen would never cheat on me. I leaned into him and allowed him to embrace me in a kiss.

I invited Owen to come up to my apartment. To my surprise, he agreed. Once we got upstairs, I unlocked the door and heard lots of shuffling and sputtering around. Rod and Philip were sitting on the couch in the living room. Marcia and Gemma were running around the rooms with clothes in their hands and wild expressions on their faces. I think they heard the news about moving for some time.

"I'm home," I called out.

Marcia's head popped out from behind her bedroom's door. Gemma froze midair as she tried to leap to her suitcase.

"Did you hear?" Gemma excitedly said. "Actually, I'm sure you knew first," she added.

Owen joined the men in the living room while I went to my room to pack my belongings. I did not know how long I would have to live at Owen's house, but I could always come back here to pick up anything I forgot. I chose a few blouses, pencil skirts, and pants for work. I also took a bathrobe, nightgowns, and house clothes. I saw my black velvet dress hanging in my closet above the previously enchanted red shoes.

Gemma called me into the living room. "We are leaving now." I hugged Gemma and Marcia goodbye. "We'll have to arrange to have dinners often. I will miss you too much."

"There is this useful technology called cellphones," I noted and hugged Gemma again. Philip was fussing around Gemma's bag. I thought it would have been a shock to his moral beliefs to have a lady living in his house without a chaperon. Once the girls and their 'bodyguards' departed, I went back to my room, threw in a brush, jewelry, and other accessories into my duffel bag.

Owen was still sitting on the couch, staring at the floor, and worrying his lower lip with his teeth.

"I can stay at the worker's apartment at MSI Inc." I said.

Owen shook his head and stood up.

"No. I want you in my house. And not only because it's easier for me to protect you there."