“Hello,” Master Cooper nodded to me, while Gnarl poured fragrant herbal tea into thin cups of light red ceramics, “what happened?”

He looked up from his notes, out of the corner of my eye I saw a pentagram drawn on a piece of paper and some symbols. The magician carefully inserted bookmarks into several previously opened books, slammed the folios shut, and placed them in an even pile on the corner of the table, managing not to touch the inkwell even once with the sleeve of his impeccably white house shirt. I've never been able to do that, I must say. The sleeves of my robe were constantly covered in...