An arrow flew out of somewhere. Sloan forgot the fairies and regarded the feather-notched shaft growing out of her boot. The shaft erupted into cold, clear ice, forming a block that encased everything from the ankle down and froze it to the floor.

Bloomington rushed forward in her Magical Girl costume, a plain brown cloak with a hood pulled over her head so only the bottoms of her eyes stood out. In her hands she clutched a crossbow, a new shaft already in place. She aimed at Sloan as the four beams of Woodbury drilled into her.

Sloan pointed her gun at her foot and punched through the ice (and her boot, and her skin, and her bone) with one brief volley. She charged at Bloomington, rolled under the second arrow (her skin went clammy at the subzero chill of the bolt as it sailed past), and slammed her gun against Bloomington's hip.

The steel connected with bone-shattering force. Bloomington's leg caved beneath her. Her still-functional leg remained rooted to the ground in a vain attempt to keep her righted as Sloan wrenched the crossbow from her hands, flipped it around, and fired a bolt directly into Bloomington's skull. Bloomington hit the ground, her head encased in ice, until her magic dissipated and the ice and crossbow disappeared and she became just an unconscious hoodlum with her face against the ground.

(Chapter 16)