Zero Sum

My name is Dieter Resnick. I was planning to turn eighteen in May, but I don't think I'm gonna make it. I've just been drafted into a war. And this war isn't usual. It's kinda sorta fought with spells. Six months ago today, I was my high school's valedictorian. Now I'm Elliot College's newest combat-certified mage, and one of the few to survive a Talmax raid. I've got a weft-partner named Rei Acerba, whose hobbies include flaying the skin off her foes and perusing the sunscreen aisle. I've got a tutor named Jules Nelson, who spends her evenings talking to trees. And I've got a friend named Jay Dante, who tends to vanish when I need him most. We're all part of a team called Lambda, and we've been ordered into the middle of a battle between North America's magical factions. The warriors of Talmax are surging up from the South. The Department of Mana Affair's once omnipotent DEA agents have been left cowering behind their wards. Our job is to reveal the enemy's secret weapon--before they take ownership of the entire West Coast.