(Sample) Chiral: Book I of the Affix Trilogy

Chapter 1

It feels as if I'm carrying the weight of the world on the coin that I am balancing by its edge on my thumb. I've been holding it there for about a minute now. The pressure of the load has been steadily increasing. It would be even more intense if I had drunk any of the Thaum in my holster, rather than just using whatever residue has built up in my system.

My face is beaded with sweat that has started dripping down my nose and shaggy black hair, nearly falling into my eyes. The spring's night breeze washes through the trees that stand along the cliffside I'm sitting on, as well as the edges of the valley below. The wind feels like a cool river even with my black reinforced overcoat on and my cowl wrapped around my neck. I'm grateful for the relief, even though I almost lose my composure as the coin starts to wobble in the breeze. I force myself to breathe calmly and slightly adjust the positioning of my finger so the coin is parallel to the wind, minimizing the chance it will fall.

A few seconds later, I feel like I can't hold the load anymore.

"Heads," I say, and flip the coin in the air.

The coin disappears into the night sky, and for a brief moment I worry about whether or not I have to catch the damn thing for this to work. Then, I see the coin shimmering in the moonlight as it falls back down to me, spinning so fast it looks like a miniature moon.

I catch it slightly to the right of where I had flipped it and slap it down onto the back of my left hand. Trembling, I move my right hand back to reveal the coin.

Tails.

"Slag me," I curse under my breath.

"Ha!" Breth laughs as he sits next to me. My cousin is also sweating in his overcoat and cowl, the top part of his undercut brown hair plastered to his broad face. Even though he's smiling, his brow is twisted in concentration as he holds two magnets just apart from one another. "Told you that wouldn't work."

"Fifty-fifty chance, boyo," I say as I pretend to roll my tight shoulders and stretch behind me. As I do so, I partially open the switchblade clipped to the back of my belt and run my forefinger along the edge, creating a shallow cut. I quickly clean the blade on the inside of my overcoat and then reach out and touch one of the two rocks resting on the edge of the cliff in front of my cousin and me. I make sure to press my blood to the side of the stone Breth can't see, and I immediately feel my mental connection to the stone amplified to be even greater than during my previous attempt. Once I feel my focus anchored there and have directed the stone's potential energy out over the cliff, I sit back, re-balance the coin on my thumb, and channel a little more Thaum into it.

Breth snorts. "You must be desperate, if you're actually bloodmarking it."

"Hardly," I reply. "You've bloodmarked your flips innumerable times. I'm just evening out the playing field."

"Mmm. Fair enough. I still say it's crazy to use a 'flip' that you actually flip,' Breth says and narrows his brown eyes, intensifying his focus between the magnets and the rock in front of him, causing the air to almost crackle with the tension. For a few more moments, the pressure continues to build in the air, as if the world were starting to bend ever so slightly toward the line between his flip and the stone.

Then, Breth lets the magnets click together.

The stone in front of him arcs into the night, shooting out over the cliff. It takes about seven seconds before I hear it thump onto the dirt road near the middle of the valley below.

"Not bad," I say as I continue to focus on the coin. The first attempt took a lot out of me, but that will just make the look on Breth's face all the more satisfying when I succeed.