“Magic comes with a price, are you willing to pay?” Manny still remembered these words, though they felt distant now, having lost some of their weight perhaps. There was a time when the words screamed through his ears with each price paid, with each loved one given—only when necessary, of course. Most magic was free, but not the good stuff; the good stuff was never free. He thought back to when he first found the book, he and his son….He was digging through the garage all by himself when he found it. The spell requirements all started out simple—sacrifices, still, but isn’t everything a kind of sacrifice? When he was alone, the book began to speak: “kiss your spouse, share with her, for in your mouth the blood of a screaming mouse.” Manny thought this was odd, seeing as he didn’t have a spouse, but he did it anyway because somehow he knew it would work and, of course, do something quite splendid too. The next morning, he woke in a much bigger house for him and his 2$?d@u)4537, $0n, and ^^i£€. The book then sang out, “your wife, kill that cheating whore with her own fucking knife.” The book made some fine points. So Manny did; it’s not like he had a wife to begin with, and she probably was a cheating whore sometimes. That’s when Manny first heard those words! It sounded like the voice of the book but deeper, sadder, aching. Manny killed the only woman he ever… Manny killed another loved one and knew something quite splendid would ensue.