Excerpt: Valiant Dust

Heat crept through the tall narrow window and clung to the back of Harloyd's neck with sticky fingers of sweat. Even at night, the heat of August in Chattanooga just about laid a body out. He leaned over the grinder, wishing that he could use a cooling spell or a fan or something to relieve the heat, but that would be pure foolishness. Any little thing would get into the spell he was mixing and mess the whole thing up. Fact was, the magick labs were the hottest place on campus in the summer.