Excerpt of Broken Blade by J.C. Daniels

Most bills had gone electronic decades ago, but the United
States Postal Service wasn't totally defunct. A lot of high
magic users didn't totally trust E-shit of any kind so they
stuck to traditional methods, like mail or courier—that
wasn't a bad thing. Courier work had kept me fed for quite a
while.

Another business enterprise that still relied on the USPS?
Junk mail. A couple of flyers, a request for my presence at
a very important seminar for small business types. Junk,
junk and more junk.

Then something that burned when I touched it.

High magic in the mail wasn't an unusual thing. Since you
had to be human to work in most government jobs outside of
Banner, sending stuff like this wouldn't even catch the
attention of a postal worker, but it seemed a little weird
to waste a spell of this caliber when a courier would have
gotten it to me quicker and made the spell unnecessary.

"What's that?"

Justin had caught the magic coming off it already, moving my
way as I leaned back to study it. The envelope looked like
something out of another century—like two or three of them
past. The handwriting was a broad, elegant scroll and
totally unfamiliar. Tapping the edge of it against my desk,
I met his gaze.

"It would appear to be an envelope," I said.

"Ha-ha." He held out a hand.

"I know how to handle my own mail." I reached inside a
drawer and pulled out a thin strip of leather. On it were a
series of beads. It was one of the charms I'd bought from
Green Road over the years and like most of the inactive
spells, it didn't do anything until it sensed my touch.
Magic lasted longer when it wasn't constantly wasting its
energies. Colleen crafted most of the spells and charms I
used and she keyed them all to my touch. Once I touched it,
the magic in it hummed to life.

"Too much magic in that thing to rely on a charm," Justin said.

I shot him a look. "Justin…this isn't how I work…letting you
do the job for me." I waited until he backed off before I
did anything else.

If I was getting a bad vibe from it, I'd let him handle it,
but I wasn't.

There was plenty of power pulsing from the thing, but it was
neither malevolent nor harmless. It just…was. Odd as it
seemed, the thing just pulsed with power, like it wanted
nothing more than to get my attention.

I placed the charm over it and waited.

The beads on it glowed as the magic within flared. Finally,
the beads flashed green, signaling it should be safe to
proceed. If magic of the nasty, dark kind had been sensed,
the beads would have gone black. Scooping up the charm, I
dumped it back in the drawer and reached for the envelope.
Justin stood close by and I could feel the tension crawling
off him. "Tone it down," I muttered. He was freaking me out
and wasn't I messed up enough already?

Slipping my knife under the top edge, I broke the seal. Then
waited.
Nothing but that steady pulse of magic. Okay. I sliced it
open and set my knife aside, blowing out a breath. "I feel
like an—" I started to say as I reached inside to pull out
the document inside.

I never managed to finish the sentence because magic
shrieked, splitting the relative quiet of the morning with a
wail like a dying banshee.

Hurling the thing down, I shoved back from my desk and
braced myself. Magic built around us, harder, higher,
hotter. Tighter--somehow, the feel of the magic grew
tighter, wrapping around us like a bubble. Oh, hell, I hope
that bubble didn't pop with us inside.

I put myself at Justin's side, noting yet again that the
silver on his sleeves had started to spark. His dreads
whipped around in an unseen wind. "What the hell is this?" I
asked, but my voice was lost in the magic maelstrom.

"Old magic," he shouted. "Not felt anything like it in a
while. Just stay by me."

I felt the odd, static warmth of his magic wrap around me—it
had a strange, metallic sort of feel and made me think of
blades clashing, shields flashing in the morning sun.

The two magics built and built—that foreign presence that I
didn't like at all and Justin's familiar magic, like a giant
warrior mantling over us, shield lifted and ready.

And then, as abruptly as it had started, it died. It didn't
fade; it just ended.

Justin cut a dark look my way and snapped, "Next time I tell
you there's too much magic to trust to a charm, will you
listen? You know blades. I know magic and--"

I put a hand on his arm.

Somebody was coming.

I could hear her.

Felt each footstep like an echo on my soul.