the marriage stone (Discontinued)

Chapter 74 - The Setting Sun

"Michael, they won't wake up!" she exclaimed in horror.

"It's the same with everyone upstairs," he nodded, looking as pale and frightened as she felt.

They both stood there in the center of the room for a moment, holding each other's hands and staring around in indecision, neither knowing what to do.

"The phone!" Anna exclaimed suddenly, and began patting the coat pockets of her white dental coat for her mobile phone. She found the small folded device almost immediately and flipped it open. Dialing 999 she raised the device to her ear. The phone rang. . .and rang. She stared uncertainly into Michael's eyes as it continued to ring.

"They should have picked up by now," he said after several moments of silence. When she shook her head, still listening, he crossed the room to the main desk, reaching over the counter to take the phone out of Monique's hand.

"Hello, hello?" he said into the receiver. Anna watched as he cleared the line and dialed 999 himself. They both stood there, holding the phones to their ears, waiting, staring at each other across the room.

"This is a land line," Michael told her. "They should have picked up even if the mobiles are down."

"Unless they're receiving too many other calls?" Anna suggested, trying to think of a logical explanation for the lack of response.

"A computer should have picked up then," Michael reasoned.

"How many calls does it take to overwhelm the system?"

He just shrugged, not knowing the answer.

Anna flipped her phone closed. "It can't be a gas leak," she stated.

"What?" Michael stared at her, phone still at his ear.

"If it was a gas leak it would have affected us," she told him, motioning to the sleeping people around them.

"That rules out just about any chemical agent then," he agreed. "But I think it did affect me - at least briefly. I'm certain I blacked out. I woke up on the floor of my office."

Anna nodded. "I think something happened to me too," she admitted, remembering the moment of disorientation. She glanced down at her watch, but she had no idea how much time had passed. She couldn't remember the last time she had checked the clock. "Did you feel anything?"

Michael shook his head, frowning. "I got dizzy, and then I was waking up. I thought. . ."

"What?" she stared at him.

He gave her an almost helpless shrug. "I would have sworn I saw Hermione's friend, Harry, in the room with me - just for a second, but I'm certain I heard his voice."

Anna nodded. "The same thing happened to me. Just for a second I thought I saw him."

They stared at each other, both trying to figure out what this might mean. Anna knew there was only one logical explanation - though she hated to apply the term 'logic' to it. If this wasn't some sort of chemical or gas leak, it had to be magical.

"Magic then," Michael whispered as if loathed to say the word. They were both so careful about never saying any thing of that nature outside the safety of their own home. Hermione might live in the Wizarding World, but they did not - people who spoke about magic were not looked upon favorably. They were both fascinated by the subject, but knew enough to keep their professional lives very separate from the topic.

"That still doesn't explain why we weren't affected," Anna reasoned. "We have no protection against spells."

"Unless Hermione or Dumbledore did something to us," Michael suggested. "What if they've cast some sort of protection incantation on us? Hermione said something about wards to protect our house."