Gunmetal Magic: A Novel in the World of Kate Daniels

list.”
    —
LoveVampires
    “Andrews…demonstrates her mastery at balancing dark humor, clever mystery, and supernatural jeopardy. Andrews is the total package!”
    —
RT Book Reviews
(4½ stars, Top Pick)
    MAGIC BITES
    “Treat yourself to a splendid new urban fantasy…I am looking forward to the next book in the series or anything else Ilona Andrews writes.”
    —Patricia Briggs, #1
New York Times
bestselling author of
Fair Game
    “Andrews shows a great deal of promise. Readers fond of Laurell K. Hamilton and Patricia Briggs may find her work a new source of reading pleasure.”
    —
SFRevu
    “Andrews’s edgy series stands apart from similar fantasies…owing to its complex world-building and skilled characterizations.”
    —
Library Journal

Ace Books by Ilona Andrews
    The Kate Daniels Novels
    MAGIC BITES
    MAGIC BURNS
    MAGIC STRIKES
    MAGIC BLEEDS
    MAGIC SLAYS
    The World of Kate Daniels
    GUNMETAL MAGIC
    The Edge Novels
    ON THE EDGE
    BAYOU MOON
    FATE’S EDGE
    eSpecials
    MAGIC MOURNS
    MAGIC DREAMS

GUNMETAL
MAGIC

    ILONA ANDREWS

    ACE BOOKS, NEW YORK

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
    Published by the Penguin Group
    Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
    375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
    Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) • Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) • Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) • Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
    Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
    “Magic Gifts” was previously published on www.ilona-andrews.com .
    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
    GUNMETAL MAGIC
    An Ace Book / published by arrangement with Ilona Andrews, Inc.
    PUBLISHING HISTORY
    Ace mass-market edition / August 2012
    Gunmetal Magic
copyright © 2012 by Andrew Gordon and Ilona Gordon.
    “Magic Gifts” copyright © 2011 by Andrew Gordon and Ilona Gordon.
    Fractal series illustration by Ilona Gordon.
    Cover illustration by Tony Mauro.
    Cover photograph of rusted metal © Péter Gudella/Shutterstock.
    Cover design by Judith Lagerman.
    Interior text design by Laura K. Corless.
    All rights reserved.
    No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or
electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of
copyrighted materials in violation of the authors’ rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
    For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,
    a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
    375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
    ISBN: 978-1-101-58519-1
    ACE
    Ace Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,
    a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
    375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
    ACE and the “A” design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
    PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
    10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1
    If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is
stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the
authors nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
    ALWAYS LEARNING
    PEARSON

To the fine people of Texas,
who have taken us in and treated us as their own

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    At the core,
Gunmetal Magic
is a book about a deeply damaged person finding her place in life, and in the beginning stages, it was also a very damaged book in need of help. We would like to thank Anne Sowards, our editor, for once again making it better, and our agent, Nancy Yost, for invaluable