Free Codex Born by Jim C. Hines Page A

sparked and popped. Lena hissed in pain, but when I pulled the book away, she said, “Don’t stop. It’s working.”
    I cooked the insect until Lena confirmed it was dead. I didn’t want to linger too long in one spot, as the microwaves could also boil the water in the tree, drying and cracking the wood. Lena touched the tree again, luring a second insect to the surface.
    “They’re burrowing,” Lena said.
    I aimed the book skyward while I waited for her to bait the next. “You said they couldn’t get to the heart of the tree.”
    “They’re not going deeper. They’re trying to get out.”
    She pointed to where the first insect was emerging, and I cooked it in place, but they were digging free on all sides. I got two more, and then they were flying toward me. I stumbled back, trying not to trip over the pumpkins. For someone who rarely ate vegetables, she grew an awful lot of produce. I moved the book back and forth, trying to blast insects out of the air. A miniature lightning bolt jumped between two of the bugs, and both fell like tiny burning meteorites.
    A beetle landed on my arm. Pincers dug through my shirt and the skin beneath. Another attacked the back of my hand.
    Lena’s bokken hummed through the air. Nidhi tried to grab the bugs off of my skin, but for every one she ripped free, three more found me. Others landed on the book and began chewing through the cover and paper.
    I ended the spell and flung the book to the ground. Lena joined Nidhi, and crushed several of the things in her bare hands, but by the time we tugged the last one off of me, the rest had returned to the tree.
    They had bored numerous holes through
Why Sh*t Happens
. The spine had suffered the most damage. When I picked the book from the dirt, half of the pages tore free.
    “How many?” I asked.
    “I can feel nineteen crawling around.”
    I picked a metal horsefly from the ground. The microwave had been a little too effective, warping and melting the delicate metal.
    I headed back toward the house. “I need something I can dissect.”
    Once inside, I pulled
The Demon Trapper’s Daughter
by Jana Oliver off of the shelves. I had cataloged this book for the Porters several years ago, and I knew exactly which scene I wanted.
    My hands tightened around the cover as I recalled the opening pages of the story, in which the protagonist tried to capture a Biblio-Fiend, a small, mischievous demon who liked to urinate on books. No way in hell I was letting
that
into my living room. But later on, when she faced the larger demons…
    I flipped to the chapter I needed, shoved my hand into the story, and pulled out a glass sphere the size of a softball. “Let’s see what happens if we freeze them.” Looking at the hole where the ladybug had vanished, I added, “Assuming we can find the damn things.”
    “They go after magic, right?” Lena jammed her bokken into the ceiling and gripped the hilt with both hands. Her fingers sank into the wood. Tiny spikes split away from the blade, sprouting buds that uncurled into small, waxy leaves.
    I hefted the sphere. I didn’t have to wait long.
    “Get ready.” Lena flinched. “That stings,” she muttered, then yanked hard. Chunks of plaster ripped free, exposing broken slats and insulation. The end of Lena’s wooden blade had grown like a bonsai tree on superfertilizer. The ladybug was burrowing into the wood, but as I drew back to throw, it took flight, swirling erratically toward the back door.
    Lena yanked her tree—sword—whatever it was now out of the way, and I hurled the sphere at the fleeing bug. Glass smashed against the doorframe. Magic spread like liquid nitrogen, creating a white cloud. The door frosted over, and a web of cracks spread downward.
    Lena stepped back and brushed a shard of curved glass off of her arm. Tiny slivers shone in her hair and clothes.
    “Are you—”
    “I’m fine,” she said. She pulled a piece of glass over her hand to demonstrate. The shard dented her