Test, test, one, two, three. Is this thing on? Hello, Studmuffin, are you there? I thought at him.

A great burst of magic erupted out of our joined hands. It was so big that it yanked us out of the bubble and flung us backward. I landed in a snowdrift by a dumpster. Boy, if that didn't sum up my day, I wasn't sure what did. At least it had been a soft landing. My muscles only screeched a little when I hauled myself up, and my cracking joints and bones sounded like they were made of ...