Excerpt
The officers of the First Councilors Corps close in, raising hideously contorted hands. I cant hear the incantations, but I see colored sparks flash between their fingers.
The girl clings to me. I can feel her shaking. The square fills with the bitter scent of magic.
Dont look!” I gasp too late, pressing the little girls face into my cloak.
The people scatter, doubled over from the painful effects of the magical spells. In the aisle of the marketplace, the young man lies slumped on the ground.
--Excerpted from Sparkers