ILONA ANDREWS

It depends on which theory you subscribe to. Some people feel that all of the events are intertwined and that everything that happens is a part of a tapestry. Cut one thread and the entire tapestry could unravel. At the very least it will never be the same. Other people feel that the our reality is more like a ball of rubber strings. Pull one out, some things might shift, but the ball will largely be the same. There are simply too many factors acting on each other for any one thing to make a significant difference and if an event doesn’t occur, the underlining forces “snap” the reality back in place like rubber bands.

Let’s say someone prevents the death of Arch Duke Ferdinand. In the first case, WWI doesn’t happen. In the second case, some other political person is killed or perhaps a different act of terrorism takes place and the war still happens. Perhaps not on the same date, but it still does.

The appearance of the serum definitely had an impact. there are key differences between Nevada’s world and ours. For example, significant increase in political power of the Latin American nations. But some events still happened as they would’ve happened in our world

You’ll just have to read and find out. I can tell you that Penelope shares magic with her father. Grandma Frida’s husband was a sharpshooter. Penelope’s sister also has the sniper magic, but a different variation of it. Grandma Frida’s talent skipped a generation and returned in Bernard and Leon. Their computer magic is a variant of Grandma Frida’s bond with all things mechanical.

Those two types of magic are will-based. Think of it in terms of rolling the dice in a tabletop game. You open the door of a dungeon and see a scary monster. You roll a pair of dice. Anything under 6 and the monster overwhelms your will and you run away. Anything above six and you forge ahead and fight the creature. A prime always rolls a 12 but an average will never roll above a 3.

To use your example, a minor magic user and a Prime both create a flower arrangement designed to bring sadness to a person who sees it. A flower arrangement made by a minor magic user might make you mildly melancholy. Perhaps you will feel nothing at all. An arrangement made by a Prime Harmonizer will make everyone in the room openly weep. It will stay with you for days. You will dream of it and cry in your sleep.

By the same principle, every time a truthseeker hears people speak, he or she are performing a will check against that person. If their will and magic are stronger, they get a positive reading. Ab average Truthseeker may discern a lie 25-30% of the time. Prime Truthseeker is able to always tell when you are lying and will have other, broad range of powers at his or her disposal.

Lenora’s powers are arcane.