Magic gives you a lot of choices," Grandad says. "Most of them are bad.

Some promises aren’t worth keeping.

I'm the best kind of thief, the kind that leaves behind items equal in value to those he's stolen.

What an author doesn't know could fill a book.

The inside is packed with people. Lots of them crowding the bar, passing drinks back for people to carry to tables. A bunch of guys are pouring shots of vodka. "To Zacharov!" one toasts. "To open hearts and open bars!" calls another. "And open legs," says Anton.

But if you didn't believe in monsters, then how were you going to be able to keep safe from them?

After that, she wasn't sure what the game was or if she'd imagined it. All she knew was that she had lost.