Earth magic

I do remember that I came up fighting. The Genoskwa walked over the conference table—he just stepped over it—and covered the distance to me in catlike silence, in three great strides, moving as lightly as a dancer despite the fact that he had to weigh in at well over eight hundred pounds.
I threw a blast of Winter at him, only to see him make a contemptuous gesture and spit a slavering, snarling word. The ice that should have entombed him just . . . drained away into the floor beneath him, grounding out my magic as effectively as a lightning rod diverts the power of a thunderbolt.
I had about half of a second to realize that my best shot had bounced off him with somewhat less effect than I would have had if I’d slugged him with a foam rubber pillow, and then he hit me again.

Skin Game Chapter 22, Page 174


Karrin gave me a thin smile. “That thing you did, with the Genoskwa. You threw magic at it.”
“Yep.”
“It didn’t work, I guess.”
“Nope,” I said. “I hit him with my best shot, something Mab gave me. Just drained off him, grounded out.”
“Grounded,” she said. “Like with a lightning rod?”
“Exactly like that,” I said. “The Forest People know magic, and they’re ridiculously powerful, but they understand it differently than humans do. The one I knew used water magic like nothing I’d ever seen or heard of before. This Genoskwa . . . I think he’s using earth magic the same way. On a level I don’t know a damned thing about.”
“Pretend I don’t know a damned thing about earth magic either,” Karrin said, “and bottom-line it for me.”
“I threw the most potent battle magic I know at him, and he shut it down with zero trouble. I’m pretty sure he’ll be able to do it as much as he wants.”
“He’s immune to magic?” Karrin asked.
I shrugged. “If he senses it coming and can take action, pretty much,” I said. “Which makes me think that he’s not all that bright.”
“Hell of a secret to give away when his goal wasn’t to actually kill you.”
“No kidding,” I said. “Maybe he gave me too much credit and assumed I already knew. Either way, I know now.”

Skin Game Chapter 25, Page 196