2012 modern fantasy novelette in the Kate Daniels series. Julie,
Kate's ward, is living with her in Atlanta after having been thrown
out of her last school. Kate takes her to look at a new one… but it
turns out that this is also a request for help, because one of the
students has gone missing.
In other words, Julie gets to have her own adventure, rather than
just cause more problems for Kate. It's a bit of a force to put her
into the school under cover, but (in an Andrews signature move) she
promptly ignores the cover to get on with the job more directly.
Naturally, this is a school where everyone has some kind of magical
power, as well as the usual level of control and good thinking
associated with adolescents.
There is an actual mystery here, of the "probably this person" type
rather than "only they could have done it", but it's fairly
straightforward and this story is mostly to show off Julie – who
manages to have a voice separate from Kate's, as well as a different
investigative style, while clearly having some aspects of her
personality in common. Some other characters may return in future
books, though as far as I know there are no more stories with Julie as
the protagonist.
For paper purchasers, this is in An Apple For the Creature, edited
by Charlaine Harris and Toni Kelner, or in Andrews' Small Magics
collection, or at the end of Magic Breaks.
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