"You can't shoot magic," Winter replied simply, tilting his head, then frowning to himself. "And I may not deserve this danger, but I am the cause, I think. ...The warning came from a shadow of my past. The man who once kept me as his."

Winter rocked slightly from side to side, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"I need cake," he decided. "I think better on a full stomach."