“I’ve heard that.” Laura’s mouth twitched a little. “One of those boring public health regulations, I believe.”

“I explained that Araminta was a companion, but by then things had become complicated.”

“How complicated?”

“In the general uproar and confusion that followed the reference to a rat, Araminta took a few sample bites from some of the other diners’ plates as well. A large person came out of the kitchen waving an empty garbage bag and a big pot. There was talk of catching Araminta in the pot, transferring her to the bag, and delivering her to animal control.”

“Oh, my.” Laura’s eyes danced. “Sounds like a circus.”

“Suffice it to say that we will not be going back to the Quik-Bite Deli anytime in the near future.”

She went down the hall to her office and opened the door.

The waves of strong, subtle psi power slammed right through her sturdy defenses, catching her completely off guard and rezzing all of her senses. Excitement and anticipation pulsed through her. The energy was unlike anything that she had ever encountered: dark, controlled, fascinating.

The hair rose on the nape of her neck. Beneath the fabric of her neatly tailored business jacket, goose bumps prickled her upper arms. A strange, unfamiliar sensation stirred within her. She felt as if she were about to leap off a very high diving board into a fathomless pool.

Get a grip. Okay, so one of the visitors was a particularly strong psi talent. No, not one of the visitors; the man. This energy was indisputably male.

The ability to resonate psychically with amber and use it to focus the brain’s natural paranormal energy waves had begun to appear among the colonists on Harmony shortly after they came through the Curtain to settle the new world. Something in the environment had begun to stimulate the latent ability in humans.