Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden

It was a few months after that whole mess with the White Court, or I guess the latest mess with the White Court? Ugh, freaking vampires, man. Anyway, it was the morning, and I was waiting for grasshopper to get out of school so we could work on her training more. 'What's that?' you may be asked, 'How does magic superstar Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden not having anything to do?' Well, first off, where did you learn my Name? And second of all, I'm kind of a boring guy. I was between cases, and trust me, I don't have a lot going on socially. With nothing else to keep my mind occupied, I went on a little walk.

People are too down on Chicago, if you ask me. Sure, it's dirty, and crowded, and the mob's got their fingers in way too many pies, but it's home. And, not three blocks from my hole-in-the-wall apartment, there was a thrift shop. It was a great place to find paperback books, my favorite hobby, and the owner's a swell guy. Just as I'd picked up a full load of books and was heading to the register, I saw a couple of old coins sitting on a shelf. My heart stopped for a second, but after I checked it was clear neither was an ancient Roman denarius I picked them up. They had inscriptions on them...Become What You Seek...Shape What You Were...they sounded magical to me, and with that in mind I reached out a little with my mystical senses, and quickly felt the thrum on some heavy duty mojo. I bought the coins and took them back home with me, before sitting down with my old pal Bob the Skull and asking him, "What in the hell are these?"

After a few minutes of inspection and indignant snarking, the knowledge spirit living in the skull turning its orange eyelights to me and replied, "I don't know, boss." That threw me for a loop: Bob knew a lot, which meant these things were either really obscure or recently created. "I can tell you this: there's nothing immediately dangerous waving a red flag at me, so I'd say experimenting with them is the best idea."