...something was starting to take shape, out of magic and will. Smoke and bone.

His lips made a grim twist that was like the joyless cousin of a smile.

You really think joy is easier to come by than pain? What have you had more of?

Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there's no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.

The door opened. She looked in the mirror and suppressed a curse. Slipping in behind some tourists, that winged shadow was back again. Karou rose and made for the bathroom, where she took the note that Kishmish had come to deliver.

Again it bore a single word. But this time the word was Please.

He believed in magic, like a child, and in ghosts, like a peasant.