By late evening, the café had finally grown quiet.

The last customer left shortly before closing, giving Lauren a tired wave before stepping onto the dark street. Luke locked the door behind him and turned the sign from OPEN to CLOSED.

After the noise of the day, the silence felt strange. The espresso machine had gone still, the music had been lowered, and only the hum of the refrigerators remained beneath the faint clink of dishes from the kitchen.

Lauren stood behind the counter, surrounded by used cups, crumbs, and the lingering smell of coffee. A few strands of black hair had escaped and clung to the side of her face. Her feet hurt, her neck remained stiff, and she had lost count of how many drinks she had prepared, yet she was still smiling.

Luke had handled the rush better than she expected. He was still awkward with some customers, especially the regulars who enjoyed teasing him, but he worked hard and rarely needed to be told what to do twice. By the afternoon, people were calling him over by name and complaining to him about their coffee as naturally as they complained to everyone else.

Lauren had noticed the way his expression changed whenever someone thanked him. He was beginning to feel like he belonged there, and she hoped he understood that he did.

The two Powerforge boxes waited in the back office.

Throughout the day, Lauren had imagined calling her daughters and showing them the gifts. She could already predict their reactions. One would ask a dozen practical questions, while the other would immediately demand that they all connect that same night.

The thought made her smile.

Inside Powerforge, distance would not matter. They could walk through the same town, share a meal at an inn, or fight monsters together as though Canada were not separating them.

Lauren planned to wait until after her next session with Luke before telling them. Thinking about that session brought a different warmth to her exhaustion.

Water ran behind the half-open kitchen door while Luke finished the last of the dishes. Every so often, a glass clinked against the drying rack.

Once they finished closing, they would head upstairs. Lauren would pretend she still had paperwork, and Luke would enter Powerforge expecting to see Yvonne again, never realizing the woman he was waiting for was only a few rooms away.

A nervous thrill passed through her.

She still had not decided how long she intended to continue the deception. The responsible choice would be to reveal herself before Luke became more attached to Yvonne, but responsibility had become much less appealing after hearing him describe their dungeon run that morning.

You seem to like her.

Lauren remembered how red his ears had become, and a private smile touched her lips as she wiped the same section of the counter twice.

Inside the game, she could be bolder than she ever allowed herself to be in the café. Yvonne could tease Luke, ask what he wanted, and keep pressing until he answered honestly. In the real world, Lauren worried that pushing him too quickly would change the gentle trust growing between them.

One more dungeon probably would not hurt. After that, she could explain everything.

Probably.

The lights outside flickered, drawing her attention toward the windows. Electric lamps cast pale circles across the sidewalk, but most of the nearby businesses had already closed. Their dark signs left the café as one of the few bright places on the block.

A bus passed at the far end of the street. Once it disappeared around the corner, the neighborhood became quiet again.

Lauren rinsed the cloth and wrung it out over the sink.

"Luke?" she called.

The water in the kitchen stopped.

"Yeah?"

"Are you almost done?"

"Just a few more things."

"Don’t rush. The plates will still be there tomorrow if you miss one."

"I’m not leaving dirty plates for you."

His answer settled warmly in her chest.

"All right," she said. "Just don’t stay in there forever."

Luke laughed softly, and the water began running again.

Lauren returned to the counter.

A faint pressure formed behind her eyes, making her pause with the cloth still pressed against the polished surface. At first, she blamed the long shift. Bright lights, constant noise, and hours without a proper break had left her exhausted, so a headache would not have been surprising.

Then the pressure sharpened.

Heat pulsed through her temples as her fingers tightened around the cloth. Lauren closed her eyes, but violet light flashed through the darkness, and the cloth slipped from her hand.

"No..."

The café vanished.

For a fraction of a second, Lauren saw the front entrance from several feet away. The street beyond the windows was empty except for a lone man approaching through the darkness. His face remained blurred beneath the violet haze of the vision, but she could make out his broad shoulders and the long coat shifting around his legs.

He did not slow when he reached the door.

The man drove one arm through the glass and tore the entrance inward. Shards sprayed across the café while the metal frame twisted away from its hinges, knocking over a table and sending several chairs skidding across the floor.

Luke rushed out of the kitchen at the sound.

He barely cleared the doorway before the intruder crossed the café. The man moved too quickly for Lauren to follow, appearing in front of Luke almost the instant he stepped through the broken entrance.

A violent flash filled the room.

Luke’s body jerked backward as blood spread across his shirt. He reached toward Lauren while falling, his fingers trembling as though he were trying to warn her.

Then the vision shattered.

Lauren gasped and caught herself against the counter. The café returned, but the pain behind her eyes intensified as violet images covered the walls, tables, and darkened windows until she could barely separate them from reality.

The same scene repeated. The man smashed through the entrance, Luke rushed from the kitchen, and the stranger reached him before Lauren could move.

Unlike the tangled possibilities she had seen inside the dungeon, the vision never changed. Every version ended with Luke lying motionless among the broken glass.

Another plate clinked against the drying rack.

Luke was still in the kitchen and safe for the moment, but Lauren now understood what she had seen. A man was coming to force his way into the café, and Luke would be the first person in his path.

The vision struck once more, sharper than before. Glass burst across the room as the door tore free from its frame, and the shadowed man stepped through the opening just as Luke turned toward the sound.

The intruder lunged.

Lauren forced her mouth open.

"LUKE!"