My magic. That was at the heart of me. It was a manifestation of what I believed, what I lived. It came from my desire to see to it that someone stood between the darkness and the people it would devour.

I can't be under arrest now... I don't have time.

Better safe than exsanguinated.

If you make some comment even obliquely alluding to menstruation or menopause and its effect on my judgment," Murphy interrupted, "I will break your arm in eleven places.

There aren't any magical words, really. Words just hold the magic.

Troubleshooters?" Michael asked. "When there's trouble," I told him, "they shoot it.

Where is your unit?" Murphy asked. I wiggled my eyebrows at her. "Right where it's always been, dollface.