Kansas City Warlock Weekly

My name is Levi and I swear I didn't kill her. Sure, I was the only person found at the scene of the crime, and maybe her blood was literally on my hands, but I can explain all that. I'm a journalist writing for Kansas City's magical community-it's not that I'm nosey, digging around in other people's business is my job. So when I suspected that a woman had been cursed, it's only natural that I went to learn more. I couldn't have known she'd be dead before I arrived. Seriously, I write headlines about bridge trolls and solstice events, not murder. The Wizard's Council thinks I did it, and I'm going to have a hard time convincing them otherwise. Who are they going to believe, an autistic journalist with a smart mouth and a rap sheet, or the mountain of evidence I left behind when I fled the scene of the crime? I have to solve the murder. The killer is still out there, ready to strike again so long as they aren't caught. To crack the case with the Council on my tail, I'll have to move fast, stay low, and find a way to cover my tracks. If I can't, the real killer will go free, and I'll take the fall. I've been to the Council's prison once and if I go back I know I'll never make it out alive.

Even when I'm not chasing kidnappers, I don't keep normal hours. I'm a journalist, late nights, burnt coffee, and energy potions come with the territory. When I get lost in a story or deep in pre-publication crunch time, I can't quit just because the sun's been down for eight hours. So when my best friend called me well after midnight to say she was being followed, I was already halfway out the door before the call could be hexed. I wasn't fast enough. By the time I arrived she was gone, vanished from within an impenetrable magical ward. Now I'm running out of time to discover who took her and why. There's no time for sleep: The clock is ticking, my leads are thin, and the few confidants I've got aren't playing straight with me. The monsters and thugs scurrying around the city won't make clue gathering any easier. At the start, I was afraid that if I didn't find her fast, she'd wind up dead. Now I know that if I don't get her back in time, her death will just be the start.