The swish of something heavy rushed through the air behind her. Sloan dove aside, rolled to her feet, and manifested her machine gun, swinging it to face Delaney and firing. The moment she squeezed the trigger she saw her mistake. A large, red bubble had affixed itself to the end of the barrel. It lit up as streams of Sloan's light magic bounced inside, filling the bubble until it burst and the accumulated magic erupted in every direction. A beam sliced a chunk from Sloan's leg and another pierced her lung. The breath whooshed out of her as she struck the ground.

(Chapter 6)