I stared at the paper application with mounting frustration.

As I'd been told at nearly every gas station, retail store, and fast food joint I'd visited, paper applications were going the way of the wild goose. Every department store large or small had a web page these days. After surfing the net for job openings in Rosanna's neighborhood for an hour straight, I'd logged off the computer with a snort of disgust.

Every single one of the applications asked for things I couldn't provide. A driver's license, a permanent address, a social security card, or birth certificate. I had been able to procure exactly three paper applications. I'd taken them with a polite smile, knowing I'd have to trash at least two of them. The craft store was out. It was a small family-owned chain that my mother loved to frequent. It had been a risk just going in to visit. Thankfully, the bubble-gum chewing clerk had barely glanced at me while she fished the application from beneath the counter.

The Dollar Tree was also out. Though my parents would be considered fairly well-off on paper, that didn't change the fact they still had to feed, clothe, and care for seven children. Six, I amended with a wince. There were just six children in the house now.

I stared blankly at my remaining application. What was going on at home? I had no idea what day it was anymore. Without school and the daily drudgery of homework, I hadn't really kept track. It had been February when I'd left, right? And I'd been gone nearly a month now. So it was March, maybe? Or the beginning of April.

The jawas would be back to school after spring break. Well, those who were attending anyways. Amanda had just started kindergarten the year before, so it would just be Hope and little Harry at home with Mom.

I glanced guiltily at the application. The date was as woefully blank as the rest of the paper. I stared down the long row of desks. As usual, I felt an odd sense of agoraphobia when I stepped outside the bleak confines of Rosanna's apartment. Since I'd picked up the coin, I'd had the sensation of crosshairs on my back. I had a secret that people would kill me for. I gave my head a rueful shake. I was being a bit of a drama queen. I couldn't stay at Rosanna's forever. And if my hastily constructed plan had worked and the Fallen really was gone, I needed to do my part and help pay the bills.

I tapped the man nearest to me on the shoulder. He was tall, even sitting down, and wore a tailored brown suit that failed to hide his potbelly completely. His jacket bulged in all the wrong places. With his prominent forehead, thick bushy brows, and sandy brown crew cut he gave me the distinct impression of a monkey.

He scowled at me. Before my interruption he'd been scanning the library intently, clearly looking for someone. I nearly flinched back from his reproachful glare.

"Can I ask you what the date is?" I asked meekly, gesturing to my application.

The man's brows pushed together even further, an impressive feat to be sure. "This better not be a joke, kid."

"I need to fill out an application. I don't know the date."

"Ain't you all got phones or summat? Check that. I'm busy."

I pulled the trac phone Rosanna had given me for emergencies. I had only two contacts. Rosanna and Mercy. "This thing doesn't do jack, sir. Can you please just give me the date?"

The man seemed slightly mollified by the courtesy title. He reluctantly drew his phone from his pocket and checked the screen. "It's April third."

I scribbled the date in the space provided. There. At least I had something on the page. I looked up with a grin, ready to thank the grumpy stranger, and I saw him.

He was hard to miss. He stood head and shoulders above everyone else in the literal as well as metaphorical sense. My heart threw itself painfully against my ribs. I'd always sort of liked Harry. Okay, "liked" was understating it a bit. I'd been carrying a torch for him for awhile now. When I'd turned twelve, puberty had slammed into me like a freight train and my father's brooding wizard friend with the sexy leather coat and bad attitude looked way more appealing.

I hadn't been sure why so many people found him frightening. He was handsome, when you actually got a good look at his face. He had a strong jawline and, whenever I'd seen him, a bit of stubble. He'd always looked weary, but good-natured.

He didn't look that way now.

Harry's brow was furrowed in concentration and deep frown lines slashed his face. He shot a guilty glance at the row of computers that lined the walls and put several feet between himself and the poor things, lest he short them out completely with his presence. I knew he could. Once, when he'd been over for little Harry's birthday, he'd managed to short out the DVD player and halted the Barney film ten minutes in. He'd sheepishly handed my father what change he had to replace it. Despite my mother's protests, he hadn't used the money for the repair and instead put it in the offering plate on Harry's behalf.

Harry's consideration for public property was the only thing that kept him from spotting me. It gave me the few seconds I needed to scrabble beneath the table. It was a temporary measure. Nothing in the world was going to stop Harry from finding me if he was using magic. I didn't quite understand the mechanics, but I knew if he had a link to what he was tracking, he could locate something that was missing, like a wristwatch, a pet, or a runaway daughter.

"Shit," I muttered under my breath. Of course Dad would have called in Harry. Four weeks had gone by and I hadn't had the courage to go back and tell him what I'd done. He and Mom must be frantic. When nothing had turned into more nothing, even Mom's resolution to keep Harry out of our lives would have weakened. Charity Carpenter wasn't so stubborn that she'd write off her daughter because of a petty thing like dislike.

If I'd been thinking, I would have taken my hairbrushes from the bathroom before I'd run off. I'd been using Rosanna's for the past month, a necessity that still made me uneasy. Living with four other school-aged kids made me wary of other people's things. When one of my siblings inevitably got lice from a schoolmate, everyone in the house got it. My scalp felt tender just thinking about the lice pick.

It didn't matter now. Harry was here, he had my hair and he was coming for me. The man who I'd asked for the time was looking at me like I'd gone nuts.

"What are you doing, kid? Sit up."

I shook my head vigorously. "I was never here, got it?"

He caught my nervous glance in Harry's direction and his expression hardened. I wished I had time to puzzle out what that meant. Mr. Mystery man knew Harry, and apparently didn't like him. He gave me a brief nod. "Got it."

He slid my applications underneath his own bag, effectively erasing any trace that I'd ever sat near him. I breathed a sigh of relief and began to crawl along the floor. I received a few odd looks, but no one commented. There were enough crazy people in the world that a girl hiding beneath the table didn't really phase anyone.

I reached the end of the table nearly a minute later and peered cautiously out from under it. Harry was staring down at something in his hand. A necklace, I thought it was. The amulet that hung from the end of the chain was straining forward, like it was being pulled by a strong magnetic force. It was pointing in my direction. I ducked back under the table, cursing under my breath.

How the hell was I supposed to get out from under here without Harry seeing me? I was purely human. I wasn't fleet-footed enough to escape notice as I passed. I knew some of the creatures dad fought could do that. If I didn't move, Harry would still find me. To be found crouching beneath the table like a misbehaving child was something I couldn't tolerate. I scanned the library again, and found my solution. A few feet away from me was a cart, laden with heavy hardback books. It looked like they were bound for the large print section.

As quickly as I could manage in my hunched position, I darted over to the cart. I felt marginally safer when I was hidden behind it. I just had to cross the aisle and get into the stacks. This branch of the public library system was huge, and I could lead him in a circle and exit out the front doors before he could spot me. By the time he followed me out, I would already be lost in the crowd. I'd pack up everything at Rosanna's and be gone before he could track me there.

I frowned. I didn't like the thought of leaving Rosanna and Ken without a word. It was rude, and it chafed against every rule my mother had drilled into my head. But what choice did I have? I couldn't go home. I had no doubt that Harry would drag me back by my hair if I let him. There would be questions. I knew I couldn't hold up under the weight of my father's disappointment. I'd spill the whole sordid story. Then what would become of me? I couldn't be kept around my siblings in this state, that was a certainty. Would they lock me up? Wait for the Fallen to take over so they could slay it? Or would I be kept forever under the watchful eye of the church, never allowed to do anything that might spur me to take up the coin? I flinched away from the thought of that bleak future.

I inched the cart forward. I didn't dare peek over the top of it to see if Harry had noticed. I took shuffling steps forward. The cart bumped against the bookshelf and I heard Harry's footsteps coming toward me. My heart threw itself against my ribcage, and I took off running down the aisle. I hit a librarian as she rounded the corner. The encounter sent me stumbling and knocked her over. The brunette shot me an affronted look, then grunted in pain as the stack of books she'd been carrying fell in a heap in her lap and around her on the floor.

I didn't stop to help her up. I knew Harry would do it for me, and that would give me time to escape. I turned a corner and had to vault another cart. I was suddenly grateful I'd taken track instead of volleyball. The cart was higher than most of the hurdles at my school, but I was sure I'd never have made the jump without the practice. I landed wrong, rolled, and got to my feet shakily. A couple who'd been wrapped around each other tightly broke apart with a loud sucking sound and stared at me.

"Get a room," I quipped and took off again. I could hear Harry's voice on the other side of the aisle. I needed to get out of here.

I tried not to take turns too often. It would slow me down. But whenever I heard Harry's voice, now calling my name in hushed tones, I'd make a detour into the next stack. Book titles passed by me in a blur. The only thing I really registered was that I must have stepped into the romance section, because bare-chested men and scantily clad women abounded.

I turned the corner for a final time, only to find myself in the midst of a crowd. I was momentarily bewildered. I thought I knew the layout of the library by heart. I should be in the history section, and near an exit. Instead, the shelves that were normally situated by the door had been pushed to either side. The crowd was gathered around some sort of exhibit, and one of the librarians was explaining in a high, obnoxious voice the significance of the artifact that was normally displayed at the University of Chicago. It was on loan from the university for the next month.

I wanted to smash whatever it was to pieces. The crowd was blocking my exit, and Harry's voice was only a few feet away. I stood, rooted to the spot. This was it. After all that effort, Harry was going to find me. He was going to take me home and I'd have to explain everything. I raised my hand to shield my face, as if it could somehow obscure me from view. As I did, a fine mist seemed to shimmer before my eyes.

I blinked rapidly, trying to clear my vision. Through the haze, I saw Harry turn the corner. He whipped his head this way and that. I waited for his eyes to narrow, for him to seize me by the arm and drag me toward the door.

Only...it didn't happen.

Harry glanced down at the pentacle amulet that hung loosely from his fingers. It had stopped pulling. Of course it had. Harry had found me. So why wasn't he acknowledging me? He may have only seen me as a kid, damn it, but I was standing right here. He could at least nod or speak to me. I didn't think I deserved the cold shoulder.

"What's the matter with you?"

I almost responded with a sarcastic quip, but bit my tongue when Harry tapped the amulet gently. It remained stationary. Harry continued to frown at it.

It slowly began to dawn on me. Harry couldn't see me. Testing the theory, I tiptoed past him. He didn't react at all. I was too nervous to let loose the giggle I could feel building. Somehow, impossibly, I'd managed to dupe the great Harry Dresden. I wove my way through the crowd, being careful not to jostle anyone in the crowd. Those I did accidentally elbow glared at their neighbors rather than me.

When I reached the doors, my heart had slowed. I merely felt like I'd run a marathon, instead of trying to have a heart attack. I waited by the door. Sooner or later someone would open them, and I could slip outside. Invisible or not, no one was going to overlook a door opening on its own. Harry certainly wouldn't, if he'd made his way around to the front.

Mystery man strolled casually out to the lobby, scanning the room intently. Sometime in the minutes I'd been dodging Harry, his bag had disappeared. Instead, he clutched a slurpee he'd no doubt purchased at the cafe that was attached to the library. He made his way over to one of the set of wide double-doors and pushed it open. I slipped out after him, breathing in deeply. Chicago air wasn't the purest in the world, but in that moment it felt like breathing in perfume. I was out. I could be on the street in minutes and back to Rosanna's within the hour.

I fell into step beside mystery man, using his footsteps to disguise the sounds of my own. We made our way around the corner, toward the parking lot. I'd wait until he was in his car before I went further. He was the only one around who could hear me flee.

I'd already begun to think about what I'd need to pack. The list was pathetically short. Maybe I'd risk a homeless shelter for the night. One on the edge of the city. I could hitchhike down to Missouri or Kansas. Surely that would be far enough away. Harry was powerful, but I didn't think he could track me across state lines. I could purchase an aerosol to defend myself. I'd heard wasp spray was as effective against would-be rapists as mace.

I was so lost in thought that I didn't notice what mystery man was doing until it was too late. The red arc looked like blood against the grey sky. I let out a shriek as the slurpee splashed across my front. The sugary concoction ran down my torso and settled in my bra. I was going to be sticky all night. The man reached casually into his jacket and pulled out a gun. He pointed it at me, using the sound to zero in on my location.

"You run, and I'll shoot you."

I was frozen again. I believed he'd follow through on the threat. There was no bluff in his dark eyes. My sneakers would slap audibly against the concrete if I tried to run. Invisible or not, I'd still die if a bullet hit somewhere vital.

The man gestured genially toward the parking lot with the barrel. "Come with me, girlie. We need to have a chat."