An Unkindness of Magicians
By Kat Howard
4/5
()
About this ebook
An Alex Award Winner
There is a dark secret that is hiding at the heart of New York City and diminishing the city’s magicians’ power in this fantasy thriller by acclaimed author Kat Howard.
In New York City, magic controls everything. But the power of magic is fading. No one knows what is happening, except for Sydney—a new, rare magician with incredible power that has been unmatched in decades, and she may be the only person who is able to stop the darkness that is weakening the magic. But Sydney doesn’t want to help the system, she wants to destroy it.
Sydney comes from the House of Shadows, which controls the magic with the help of sacrifices from magicians.
Kat Howard
Kat Howard’s short fiction has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, anthologized in best of and annual best of collections, and performed on NPR. You can find it in her collection, A Cathedral of Myth and Bone. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Roses and Rot and the Alex Award–winning An Unkindness of Magicians. She is also one of the writers of the Books of Magic series, set in the Sandman Universe. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, and you can find her on twitter at @KatWithSword.
Read more from Kat Howard
A Cathedral of Myth and Bone: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mythic Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Sleight of Shadows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for An Unkindness of Magicians
399 ratings28 reviews
What our readers think
Readers find this title to be a captivating and unexpected read. The world building is brilliant and the magic system is interesting. The writing style is simple yet elegant, and the book keeps readers engaged with its twisted and weird plot. Some readers were left unsatisfied with the ending, but overall, this book is expertly written and transports readers to another place. It is recommended for fans of Neil Gaiman and those who enjoy dark and quirky styles. Despite some pacing issues, it is still a good read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The world building in this is brilliant and I was left craving more and yet totally satisfied with the stand-alone nature of the book.
It's definitely got a sort of Magicians/Harry Potter/Magic-in-NY sort of feeling, and as others have noted, it delves deeply into the system of Magic in the world, which I found fascinating. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5There were just enough surprises to keep me going, but the story was very slow. I also wish that we got more out of the magician battles - they were so quick I sometimes completely missed that they had happened at all. I don’t think I’ll read the next one, but I liked this one enough to finish it.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I loved the concept of this book, but in the end it left me deeply unsatisfied. The vanquishing of the Big Bad was much too easy and didn’t feel earned or cathartic.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It was analogous to Boomers and political power. Missed some golden opportunities for prosody and characterization.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I got so caught up in the story that I read the entire book in a day, something I haven’t enjoyed a book enough to do in years. I love how Kat writes about magic in a way that feels real, not all fairy dust like so many fantasy/magic authors. This is my 2nd of her books, the other Roses and Rot I really enjoyed too, but this one even more so. Looking forward to her 3rd and future books.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Absolutely loved it. Once in a while you come across a book that is so expertly written it transports you to another place, this is that book. Amazingly written. I am only sad that the author wrote so few books. I literally was sad that it ended because it was that good. I
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good book, pacing was a bit fast and that really shows in the last 60 pages or so; however, still a good read
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a lovely book to read in a post-Kavanagh era, with angry women kicking ass, taking names, and breaking down oppressive systems. It doesn't pull any punches when describing the systematic injustice and horror at the heart of the Unseen World's magical system, which was somehow also cathartic.
I did feel the characterizations and relationships were a little rushed and one-note, but not so much that I didn't thoroughly enjoy the story. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazing! Love the magic system and it reads like a movie!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An Unkindness of Magicians was captivating and unexpected. Kat Howard paints a world so magical it takes you away from the mundane, yet familiar enough to hold possible. Loved it!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Champions battle is one of my favorite styles, so this random find (based on the cover) was a surprising delight.
I cannot agree with the reviews that an abundance of POV characters held down this book. To me, that coupled with lightning quick prose was a boon.
But I can agree with some readers that the pacing felt glitched. The last quarter shatters into a series of resolutions that lack the stakes the beginning sets up.
With today's algorithms, were those glitches worth removing two stars? No. But the end did leave me wishing that we'd spent more time in the climax.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is an amazing book filled with magic, consequences, and what happens when you fight rather than turning away. The magicians will amaze you with their skills and their heart. The writing will leave you breathless. And the consequences will break you and build you back up.
This is Omelas, for magic. This is the price that must be paid. This is the story the others forgot to tell.
(ARC received from the publisher)1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/54.5/5 starsThis was a beautifully crafted book, with amazing world building, and a very intricate magic system that I really enjoyed. The writing was engrossing, and beautiful, and I loved how Kat Howard created her characters and world. I really liked the Unseen world and how magic was maintained with the houses and sacrifice. Sydney, was a great character in the centre of it all, and I enjoyed how she dealt with everything and was just a badass, and I didn't even care that she was super powerful. The author did a great job showing her strong and vulnerable sides, and how Sydney did develop throughout the novel.Overall, this was excellent, and I would definitely recommend this fantasy standalone.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Magic is Unseen, hidden from mundanes by the laws of the magical community, which is currently undergoing a Turning, where leadership of the community may change from one House to another. Various upstarts are plotting, as are the already powerful. Into this uncertainty comes a woman who’s escaped from the House of Shadows, where sacrifices go for their magic to be painfully drained and used by others. Also, there’s a serial killer of women on the loose (why does it always have to be women? I know, but…). It’s hard not to think of The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, given that most people in the magic community know where their easy power comes from; this novel is pretty clear that even if you get rid of the atrocity, the people who survived it are not okay, and the people who allowed it are still around.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The premise of this book - magic in New York City and a regularly scheduled cycle of magic duels to elect the ruling House - is wonderful and well done. However it feels too shallow - the characters were lovely in theory, but I didn't get to know them well enough. The relationships between them weren't given enough time to develop, the romantic pairing between two of the main characters felt false and cold. That said the story was a lot of fun, I just wish it had been fleshed out better.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Revenge story written with somehow catchy writing style. Some of the descriptions and scenes succeed in creating a special atmosphere, but overall the story and the character are not very believable. A lot about magic and the characters possibilities are not explained, which makes it hard to understand where they come from and why are they taking a certain direction (except to create those nice scenes here and there). Tries to be mysterious by not explaining things, but feels in the end that there is no reasonable explanation, which makes for a random story. The ending is partially happy and although there are some twists in the story they seem to lack depth. Overall would not recommend.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Well-written but a quick read. The universe has more room and I hope she revisits it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I’m not entirely sure what gripped me about this story: the nature of the magic, the understandings of sacrifice, of inclusion and exclusion, of community. I just know that this is a story that will stick with me, and haunt me, for a long time. I’m so glad I gave it a chance; I almost didn’t.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5the Unseen World background was enticingly detailed and a perfect setup for urban fantasy, and i would have loved to have seen more of it (in fact, there's a sequel out now, A Sleight of Shadows). the setting in monied NYC worked a treat for a revenge story, from the high-end bars to Central Park landmarks that go bad because of dark magic. the story (revenge) just galloped along in quite engaging fashion, and the ending was satisfying. the characters, though, were mostly a bit shallow, other than the protagonist, and only seemed to have the one trait the story happened to need. however, it was lots of fun to read, and i will read the next one with interest.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Magicians Who Walk Away From Omelas. Well done.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Set in a modern day New York, a turning begins - one that sets magical house against magical house. I liked this book. The magic made sense, the characters, a bit stereotypical, but well written. Its not a perfect book - some of the magic was over the top (I'm looking at you, Sydney) and the lack of magical community outside of New York didn't make a whole lot of sense - it felt like New York City is the only place where magic exists.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5With so many book out there to choose from, and so many authors, each with unique style, it can be difficult for a reader navigate through an ocean of choices. But, if you love Neil Gaiman and his dark quirky style, you should take a chance on this book as well. I can wait to read more from Kat Howard.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5An alright fantasy book. Worth a read if you're into interesting magic systems. I guess I wasn't. 3/5
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Series Info/Source: This is the first book in An Unkindness of Magicians duology. I borrowed this book from the library.Story (5/5): I really enjoyed this story a lot. Basically New York City is the center for the world of the Unseen and this year a Turning will be taking place. A Turning means that the Houses of Magicians will compete to see which house will lead the Unseen until the next Turning. Enter Sydney, an unknown magician who belongs to the mysterious House of Shadows. She is trying to win her freedom from that House and will do anything to get it. Along the way Sydney finds out magic is failing and struggles to solve that mystery as she struggles to work her way through defeating New York City’s finest magicians.Characters (4/5): I really loved a lot of the characters in here. Sydney is an excellent character but so are all of the other characters. I will say that there are a lot of characters introduced very quickly, so I had to do some paging back and forth to remember who was who (initially I kept getting Ian and Grey mixed up...which is odd because they end up being very different characters in the end). Aside from the issues of introducing too many characters too quickly, I thought the characterization was amazing.Setting (4/5): I enjoyed the setting of New York City and how the world of the Unseen was woven into the modern day world. I am not a huge fan of New York City in general but the city setting worked well for this book. I will say that the world outside of New York City was not well developed. I was curious if the world of the Unseen exists everywhere? Is it just head-quarteered in New York City? Hopefully the world will be expanded upon some in the second book.Writing Style (5/5): I adored Howard’s writing style. I love how she focused on different characters and threaded their individual stories together to make a cohesive whole. It was very well done. Howard’s writing is beautiful and descriptive but easy to relate to. The characters here are engaging and I whipped right through this book. I loved the idea of the House of Shadows and how we get appearances from famous magicians in the form of the Houses of Merlin and Prospero.My Summary (4.5/5): Overall I really loved this and would recommend to those who enjoy reading about traditional magic woven into a modern day setting. This is beautifully written and I enjoyed the ideas here and the characters. I definitely plan on picking up the sequel, “A Slight of Shadows” and plan on checking out the other books Kat Howard has written.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Unkindness of Magicians might not have been quite as good as I’d hoped, but then again, I had a lot of hopes for this new stand alone fantasy from Kat Howard.In New York City, houses of magicians rise and fall during the Turning, a series of duels that determine the ordering of the houses and allow for the creation of new ones. The house that wins the Turning will lead the magical world, and a new Turning has just begun. This Turning will be like any before, because something is wrong with magic. Spells are going horrifically wrong or failing to work at all. The whole system of magic is collapsing. And Sydney – a powerful magician just appeared on the NYC scene – doesn’t want to fix the system. She wants to destroy it.From the official synopsis, I presumed that Sydney would be the main character. She’s probably the one who gets the most focus, but An Unkindness of Magicians has a huge cast. Possibly too huge. I could mostly remember who was who, but I felt like I never got an in-depth view of any of the characters. If An Unkindness of Magicians had limited itself more and focused on building up the relationships, I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more.Also because not all the characters were that interesting. Sydney’s got some of the most complexity, and I enjoyed Laurent and his struggles as an outsider trying to create a more inclusive magical community. Miranda, the scheming head of one of the houses, played into my love for morally dubious female characters. I’m also happy that there was an ace side character — it wasn’t perfect, as I felt like ace and aro were getting conflated, but I’m still happy about it. On the other hand, some characters just felt bland. Ian for instance. And Grey, one of the villains, was such a snooze. I’ve seen serial killers, including supernatural serial characters, plenty of times before in fiction. I’m not sure what including it here was bringing to the table.I’m also still confused about how the magic and the Turning were working in An Unkindness of Magicians. In a story so focused around a system of magic, it remained very vague and unclear. For instance, are the Houses drawing on a shared pool of magic or are they just shunting the magical backlash off onto someone else? Do you have to be an official house to draw on the pool? If not, why is becoming a house in the Turning so important? Also, it all just felt sort of petty. They’re fighting over New York City when there’s the entire rest of the world too (not that we hear anything about magic outside of New York).I’ve been pretty down on An Unkindness of Magicians this entire review, but I thought it was decent enough. It’s not a book I’ll ever reread, but I never thought about quitting it. Plus, Kat Howard’s prose is as excellent as always. I still plan on reading whatever she writes next, as long as it’s not a sequel to this one.Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Super solid pick-up for anyone who loves V.E. Schwab or The Magicians!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book was twisted and wierd and awesome in a way that only soft magic can be. A tournament setting that is not boring and manages to keep you engaged, a writing style that's simple yet elegant, and House politics, and an utter disregard for rules. This book was really really good.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anybody who thinks that fantasy has run out of things to say about magic and magicians needs to read Kat Howard. An Unkindness of Magicians is a wonderful look at a magical New York City that lies side by side with the non-magical one, but is filled with all the same power games, secrets and mysteries.The Unseen World is ruled by magical houses, such as House Merlin and House Prospero. When there is a “turning” magical battles determine the hierarchy among houses, whether upstarts can found a house of their own, and who ultimately rules over all the houses. Sydney, a product of the House of Shadows, is an unknown and very powerful magician who is hired to represent Laurent Beauchamps who is seeking to found his own house. They share a desire to shake up the political structure, which makes the powers that be increasingly nervous.The battles start out as competitions to demonstrate prowess but eventually reach the point where outcomes become deadly. Along the way, it seems that magic is beginning to fail. The reason, and the solution, is something that few people outside of Sydney are prepared to confront.An Unkindness of Magicians is filled with family squabbles, petty revenges, and murderous intentions. The competitions have a ritualistic format to them that underscores the long tradition of the event and the aristocracy it has given rise to. The characters are sketched out nicely, if not all fully developed. The depth of the depravity of some members of the unseen world is revealed slowly, layer by layer. Sydney’s personal and tragic history make her sympathetic and help to highlight the importance of her personal quest.Kat Howard has created a fascinating world with characters that leave you dying to know more about them. The stakes of who wins and who loses, who lives and who dies, are painted in stark and clear contrast. The quiet moments are particularly poignant in Howard’s skillful hands. This book is a lot of fun and Kat Howard is an author to watch. I’m looking forward to her next book. Highly recommended.I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this book from the publisher.
1 person found this helpful
Book preview
An Unkindness of Magicians - Kat Howard
CHAPTER ONE
The young woman cut through the crowded New York sidewalk like a knife. Tall in her red-soled stilettos, black clothing that clung to her like smoke, red-tipped black hair sharp and angular around her face. She looked like the kind of woman people would stop for, stare at, notice.
None of them did.
Stalking down Wall Street, the spire of Trinity Church rising before her, she slid among the suits and tourists like a secret, drawing no eyes, no shouted hey, babys,
not even the casual jar of a shoulder bumped in a crowd. She could have been a ghost. A shadow.
The sun stark, the sky a harsh blue, cloudless and broken only by the glare of reflections. Late-summer heat stewed salt-sweat and heavy cologne together, mingling them with the sizzle rising from sidewalk food carts. The day bright, almost ordinary.
The woman paused at a corner. Her slate-grey eyes flicked up toward some unmarked window in one of the buildings scraping the sky, as if to be sure someone was watching. Her lips, red as blood, quirked up at the corners, and Sydney stepped off the curb and into traffic.
Neither the cars nor their drivers seemed aware of her presence.
Sydney walked to the center of the intersection and raised her arms like a conductor about to begin a symphony. She stood, unmoving, for one breath. Two. Three. If there had been eyes somewhere above that rushing city that were able to watch, they would have seen her lips moving.
And then.
The cars around her, as one, lifted gracefully into the air.
Sydney held them there, rust-stained taxis and sleek black sedans with tinted windows, courier vans and a tour bus blaring the opening number of the latest Broadway hit. Ten feet above the ground, floating through the intersection like some bizarre migration of birds. A smile stretched, bright and wild, across her face. If the people in the cars could have seen it, they might have called it exhilaration. They might have called it joy.
The people in the cars didn’t see her. No blaring horns, no cursing drivers. No awe—no reaction—from either the people in the now-flying vehicles, or from any of the passersby. Simply flight, where that shouldn’t have been an option.
Sydney directed the cars through the intersection—through the air—with words, with small precise gestures that bent her fingers and hands into severe origami, with no obvious effort.
And then.
Her hands paused. Held like a breath. Two. Three. She lowered her arms to her sides, and as she did, the cars returned to the street as gracefully as they had left it, the flow of traffic uninterrupted. Sydney walked out of the intersection and cut back into the crowd. No heads turned. No one gave her any notice.
She had gone less than half a block when the text alert vibrated through her phone. The job is yours.
• • •
The message that began everything arrived in a variety of ways. Email. Text. Type-written formalities on plain, business-weight white. Handwritten letters in bordeaux ink, sealed with wax. Though no matter which medium carried it, in each instance, the words were the same:
Fortune’s Wheel has begun its Turning. When it ceases rotation, all will be made new.
If somehow you were not a magician, not a member of the Unseen World, and you managed to acquire one of these messages, it would look like nothing. A fortune cookie’s paper, a glitch in your email program. Uninteresting and easily discarded.
Miranda Prospero was a magician, and she knew precisely what had just landed on her desk. A surprise, and not a good one.
A precise and elegant woman in her late fifties, Miranda had the sort of face that had been too strong-featured for beauty until she had aged into it. Now, she wore her clothing and makeup like armor, as much of a shield and mask as anything she could have conjured. There to project an image, carefully chosen.
The cool morning light washed over her office where she sat behind an elegantly curved antique rosewood desk. She touched her fingertips to the edge of the paper. She quartered the air above it with her hands, spoke words that smelled harsh and bitter in their echoes. The message looked authentic, and there was magic in place—magic that should be inviolate, locked carefully away from influence—that would prevent such a message from being sent in error. But it was early, very early, for a Turning to be happening again. Normally, there would be at least twenty years between one and the next. Only thirteen years this time, barely more than half a generation.
Well. Thirteen years, five months, one week, and four days. Miranda knew the circumstances of the previous Turning well. They had, in many ways, made her.
A flash of light, and a sigil floated in the air above the paper: the Rota Fortunae. Blindfolded Fortune, turning a wheel.
What was written, then, was true.
The beginning of fear, its tiny barbed threads, lodged themselves in her heart. There were reasons why a Turning might come again so soon. None of them were comfortable.
She was prepared. She had been preparing for every day of those last slightly more than thirteen years. But she had hoped for more time in between. She had done everything she could to make sure that Prospero was a strong House. Well placed. Established and powerful enough that she would have no difficulty finding someone willing to represent it.
She pressed her fingertips to her temples, then rested them on her desk. She knew by now what a Turning involved, the rules and the stakes—she had been through them before—but details were homes for devils, and no more so than here. And so she read:
Any House may contract out their participation. Any such contracted champions will be deemed members of Houses with all attendant rights and responsibilities for the duration of their contract. Once contracted, a champion cannot be substituted. Any House that does not contract out its involvement accepts full consequences to its members, including death and disappearance, and forswears vengeance outside of the sanctioned challenges. The actions of a champion, contracted or otherwise, during the course of a duel are final.
Any House that, by the activity of any member, Blood or Contract, exposes the Unseen World to mundane attention will be unmade. Any House that chooses not to participate will be unmade. Malicious interference in an active challenge may result in magic being stripped from the magician or the interfering House being unmade.
Miranda’s mouth twisted. All of that would be taken as seriously as it ever was, with the first major breach of one of the rules committed by the end of the first week, if not the end of the first duel, and then the first time someone shook off that breach with some variant of Fortune’s Wheel does turn
immediately following. The Unseen World liked its rules, but only when they were convenient.
Any House whose champion, either Blood or Contracted, dies in the course of a duel will be exempt from the next required sacrifice to the House of Shadows.
The House ranked highest at the end of the Turning will become the head of the Unseen World.
And those last few clauses would be followed, convenient or not. Because underneath the pageantry and shine, those last few clauses were the purpose of the Turning.
Everything was as she expected. All the usual terms. No surprises. Those would come during the Turning itself. They always did.
Miranda refolded the letter, precise along its crease, and set it aside. House Prospero would maintain its tradition and contract out to a champion. There were always those willing to trade the risks inherent in a Turning for a large enough amount of money or the promise of membership in a House. She pulled her files, notes she’d kept on skilled younger sons and daughters, on talented cousins with no hope of inheriting a House on their own. She pushed aside the cold lump of fear that had settled itself in the center of her chest, and made her plans.
• • •
Your mother,
Laurent said, is going to lose her Chanel-wearing shit when she finds out you’re doing this.
As far as Miranda is concerned, I’m no longer her son, so I doubt she’ll do anything other than make sure that whoever she hires as champion knows I’m one more obstacle to be neutralized in her quest for power.
Grey poured whiskey, heavy with smoke and peat, for both of them, then set the bottle back on the bar cart. Cheers.
They sat at a long butcher-block table in Laurent’s apartment. Glass and chrome, granite and pale wood, high enough to make the lights and noise of New York City a scene in a silent movie below them. Laurent was particularly skilled in magic related to luck and chance, and had parlayed that and a more mundane skill set into a very healthy investment portfolio.
Do you think so?
Laurent asked. Even when she learns you’re representing yourself? I mean, eventually the duels are mortal. I know you two aren’t speaking, but do you really think she’d be cool with you winding up dead?
Five years ago, Laurent had bought his parents a retirement home in the Pacific Northwest, two hours north of Seattle. Woods and water, that’s what I want,
his dad had always said. His mom added that she’d like some grandbabies to spoil: And there’s certainly enough room here for you to come visit.
He’d told them he’d start with the woods and water, and putting the keys in their hands had been one of his happiest days. Opposite coasts and life happening meant he didn’t see his parents more than once or twice a year, but they loved each other. He couldn’t imagine either one of them coldly telling someone that all he was was an obstacle.
If she were to lower herself to speak to me in any way whatsoever about this, she would simply remind me that
—Grey’s voice changed, becoming an exaggeration of Miranda’s pitch and cadences—I had an excellent and assured place as the heir to House Prospero, and the fact that I now do not came about solely through my own folly. I agreed that I would accept the consequences of my actions, and these are no more than continuing consequences.
He smirked and took another drink.
Laurent laughed. Your mother is a real piece of work.
Believe me,
Grey said. I know.
It had been just over three years since she had disinherited him. That particular procedure had been bloodless—swipes of pens on papers messengered from one office to the next.
The rift had begun over a matter of magic. Grey felt comfortable pushing boundaries, looking for access to power in places that Miranda didn’t. She was, at her heart, a traditionalist. She felt he had crossed a line, and so she had taken everything from him.
They hadn’t spoken since.
Oh, and speaking of your family,
Laurent said.
Do we have to?
Grey pushed back in his chair.
I ran into your cousin Madison downtown the other day. She looked good. We grabbed coffee.
Oh, she looked that kind of good, did she?
Grey leered.
Not everything is about getting laid, you player.
Laurent shook his head in mock disapproval.
Yeah, but most things are. So, how is she? I haven’t seen her since she left school.
She said she had just made partner at some big law firm—Wellington & Ketchum, maybe?
Good firm. Prospero uses it. Actually, that’s probably why she’s there. Almost all the Houses have people in place to deal with their mundane world interests. It’s better when it’s family. They understand how important magic is, and they don’t complain about the secrecy.
It wasn’t one of the things that got talked about, but it happened. Every so often there were members of Houses who weren’t strong enough magicians to maintain membership in the Unseen World, or who chose to renounce their magic. They were cast out, but only so far. The Unseen World might keep secrets from the mundane one, but it understood it was still part of it, and someone had to do the busywork.
She asked about the Turning, didn’t seem surprised that you were in it,
Laurent said.
I wouldn’t have thought it was the kind of thing she would care about.
Grey shrugged the thought away and finished his drink. Have you found your champion?
I think so.
"You think? Grey poured himself more whiskey and held out the bottle to Laurent, who shook his head.
Things start soon. You need to have someone in place. Unless you’ve changed your mind and decided to represent yourself. It’s not like you don’t have the talent and balls to do well."
Laurent snorted. Thanks. No, I still want to watch one of these before I try it, so a champion it is. But she hasn’t signed the contract yet.
Do you honestly think that she won’t? Maybe you should invite her up here, impress her with all you can offer.
Grey gestured toward the window, the lights of city outside glittering like jewels spread out against velvet.
Ha ha. It’s not that—I think she’s happy with the terms I offered, but she’s good enough to have her pick. More than good enough.
Laurent passed a hand over the tight crop of his black hair. Her spell was astounding—complex and delicate, and completely hidden from the mundanes. Even the ones caught up in it. I’ve never seen anyone do magic like that, and she just walked in and out of the spell like this was what she did every Tuesday.
Grey’s face tightened. Where did you say she was from again?
I didn’t—she’s unHoused.
An outsider with that kind of power? That ought to make things interesting,
Grey said. Give us all something to talk about other than how fast this Turning happened. I figured it would be another ten years, at least.
It’s the only way either of us become Houses,
Laurent answered. Better that it happens now.
Agreed,
Grey said. I’m tired of waiting.
He had been, with decreasing patience, every day of the last three years. It was long past time.
Besides.
Laurent grinned. An enormous magic fight? This is going to be fun.
High above the city, they toasted each other, their potential, and the turn of Fortune’s Wheel.
• • •
Not for the first time, Harper Douglas wished she had stronger magic. Wished she had any magic really, beyond the ability to light a candle with a word. Which actually took a lot more effort than using a match did, and gave her a splitting headache after.
She had seen the woman with red and black hair, the one that no one else had seemed to notice. Had watched her walk down the sidewalk and into the street. Tracking her progress made Harper dizzy, then made her feel as if she might vomit, but she had kept the woman in view until she had stepped into the intersection, because she had known what that queasy dizziness meant. It meant she was close.
Then Harper had felt the woman’s magic, a dull-bronze electric-fence feeling in her mouth, but she hadn’t been strong enough to see the spell. She’d tried to get closer, but the woman’s power had hit her like a tidal wave.
Overwhelmed, Harper had collapsed outside a bodega. She’d opened her eyes to the awareness that her left elbow had landed in something worryingly squishy. She tried to sit up.
You look very bad. Stay where you are.
An elderly Russian woman was squatting down next to her. She fished around in a cloth bag, then handed Harper a plastic bottle of orange juice. Drink this.
Did you see her?
Harper asked. She had been so close—her mouth still tasted like electricity.
See who? Someone did this to you?
The woman looked around sharply.
No, no. No one did this. I just thought I saw someone. Someone important.
Her rescuer wouldn’t have seen the woman though, not unless she was in the Unseen World, in which case she’d never tell Harper about the woman.
Did you hit your head? Is that why you see things? Do you need a doctor?
Eyes narrow, mouth pursed.
No, this is enough. Thank you,
Harper said, in between gulps of the juice. She could feel her blood sugar perking back up, her hands growing steady.
Are you going to fall down again?
the older woman asked, in a tone that implied that Harper ought to make better choices than keeling over on a sidewalk.
No, ma’am. I feel much better. Here, let me get you some money for the juice.
She swatted Harper’s hand. What kind of manners did you learn? You don’t pay someone for kindness. You say thank you.
Thank you. Truly.
Harper picked herself up off of the sidewalk, peeled the remains of someone’s cream-filled doughnut off of her arm with a shudder, and walked in the direction she had last seen the magician, toward the great bronze doors of Trinity Church.
Nothing. Not even a hint of magic remained, not that she had expected otherwise. If a magician didn’t want to be seen by mundane eyes, they wouldn’t be. And for all Harper had brute-forced her way into the tiniest bit of magic use, she was definitely mundane. She turned in a circle once more, looking carefully, just in case, then walked down the steps to Wall Street station, into the rattle and roar of the subway.
Close. She had come close. If she could just get a little bit closer, then she’d be able to find her way into the Unseen World. Then she’d be able to keep her promise.
• • •
As Sydney crossed the threshold of her building, the veil of magic she had draped herself in sloughed off, and she was again visible to the world around her. Any messages, Henry?
she asked the doorman.
Not today, miss.
She smiled her thanks and took the elevator up to the seventh floor. Sydney lived in a mundane building on purpose—no one from the Unseen World would think to look for her there. The snobbery was as useful as it was predictable—she had set up a series of wards when she’d first moved in six months ago, and they’d never even been tested, much less crossed.
She closed her door, locked it behind her, and stepped out of her shoes, rolling the aches from her arches. Pulled her phone from her pocket and texted her acceptance to Laurent.
Done.
Barefoot, Sydney walked to her kitchen island and poured a glass of dark red wine. She had set the wheels turning. Not Fortune’s Wheel—she had little enough patience for the trappings of the Unseen World—but her own.
She drank, savoring the curl of the liquid down her throat, enjoying the richness of it. Being able to indulge in pleasures, even ones as small as a glass of wine when she wanted, was still something new. Something she’d worked hard enough for that she still luxuriated in the indulgence of it.
Working with Laurent would be good. She’d wanted a candidate House, hoped for an outsider. Someone unestablished, less likely to have accepted all of the Unseen World’s dirty little secrets as gospel. Someone who might come to see things as she did, might even be an ally.
She planned to drag all those dirty little secrets out of the shadows and into the light, and if necessary, the light would be cast by the flames she had lit as she burned the Unseen World to the ground.
She raised her glass, toasting its destruction.
Tremors racked her. The wine sloshed over the rim of the glass, spilling drops as red as blood. A dull knife of pain took up residence in her wrists and shoulders, and she felt herself hollow out, as if she were caught in the grip of a fever. Sweat beaded up on her skin.
This was the price for today’s magic.
Sydney set her glass down and breathed into the shaking, the ache, the hollowness in her bones. She centered herself in it until she was steady, the pain not gone but acknowledged. She was used to acknowledging pain. It had become, over time and trial, rather a specialty of hers. She raised her glass again, held it steady, her hand unshaking.
She drank.
CHAPTER TWO
At 12:01 a.m., her celebratory toast nothing more than a glass upended on a drying rack, Sydney stood on the southern shore of the Central Park Reservoir. She lit matches with the flick of her thumbnail. One, two, three.
Before the smoke of the last had faded, a wooden boat rose through the dark water. Old and worn, it seemed as if a touch might scuttle it. The boat bumped gently against the shore, waiting.
Sydney stepped on board. It creaked and swayed beneath her feet as it moved across the water.
She rode standing. The magic that propelled the boat did not extend to drying the seats, and she didn’t like using her own here where the House might notice. And the House would notice. The House noticed everything.
The darkness thickened before her and resolved itself into the House of Shadows. Low and secret, it sat on the water like a toad, crouching upon an island made of bones and misery, hulked atop a place that should have never been. That place had been her home from the day she was given to pay someone else’s price until the day she had grown powerful enough to open its doors and walk out of them.
Sydney hated it.
The boat fetched up against its steps, and Sydney went inside.
Cold. The kind of cold that seeped up through the soles of her shoes and sank into her bones until they ached. She could use no magic the House didn’t permit while she was inside its doors, not without fighting the House for the privilege, and she had learned long ago that it would deny her comfort. It had become a matter of pride not to ask. Back straight, head up, she refused to let herself shiver. No weakness.
She would give the House nothing it did not take, and it had taken enough already.
Dim lights flickered on the walls. Fireflies underwater, luminescence below glass. The only sound the muted echo of her footsteps.
The House could have brought her to Shara directly. Could have arranged itself so that she stepped into a warm, well-lit room. Could have done any number of things to make Sydney’s life easier.
Of course, it could also hold her here, behind its doors, rearranging itself like a labyrinth until she dropped dead of exhaustion, could open its floors over an oubliette and seal her in it, could offer any number of other fatal unpleasantries. It could make her walk past the rooms where magic was extracted from the less-lucky residents of the House, the ones who would be used up and cast aside, who would never leave. Could make her listen to the screams, the sounds made by throats torn raw, the pleading. Could bring the scents of blood and fear to her nose. Could force her to stand and watch, to see and feel again