The Summoning, Part 2

Slumping arms were a dangerous sign. Voluntary, not so much. Involuntary, however, if your arms were trembling, falling, without any input whatsoever from yourself… that's when it gets life-threatening. 

I remembered we discuss this before. Not here, not as a lesson… but as a stern warning bouncing across white porcelain walls as I laid sprawled out against the bathroom floor.

Magical deprivation. Complete depletion of every single ounce of magic still left in your body. The first time I ran out my juices wasn't a deliberate choice, how the hell was I supposed to know that sensing magic equals a high risk of death? 

Not like I had a guideline to follow, did I? No instructions at the back of the box, no manual that came with the package. By all accounts yes, that incident way back when was a total freak accident that by good fortune didn't wound up being my one-way ticket to the afterlife just yet.