Minimum Wage Magic (DFZ, #1)

by Rachel Aaron

I didn’t have crime stats for the place, so maybe I was prejudging it, but in my experience, anywhere that had more vending machines for guns than for soda wasn’t winning any safe-neighborhood awards.

“Not to bring you down, but your spellwork is…not the best. Not that you’re not fantastic when it comes to blowing stuff up on the fly, but—”

I hadn’t thought it was that bad, but then, I’m a horrible mage. I’d backlashed myself with magic so many times I didn’t even feel it anymore. Now that I thought about it, I remembered that this kind of internal magic was always way scarier for non-mages who weren’t used to having their souls moved around on the regular.

I couldn’t help myself. “So you’re saying you can talk to the hand?” The look Nik gave me then was absolutely scalding, but I didn’t regret a thing. No matter how serious the situation, a good pun is never a waste.

But though he’d outmaneuvered, outgunned, and outmaged me in every possible way, there was still one place where I was still champion. One thing no one could beat me at. I could outcrazy anybody. “Opal,” Sibyl whispered in my ear. “Opal, don’t!” Opal did.