“Was it something I said?” asked the older woman who Marie could only assume was related to one of the other teens in the room. They all watched the door slam shut as Luc left in a hurry, without so much as a goodbye. All because the woman had insinuated they were dating.

  Marie tried not to let that go to her head. They barely knew each other, it was a little bit weird to suggest they were a couple. Luc’s reaction was reasonable, she supposed, even if it hurt. It wasn’t like Marie would be a bad girlfriend.

  Well, she didn’t think she’d be a bad girlfriend. She’d never actually had a chance to find out. She’d been too focused on training her power and becoming a magical girl worthy enough to become a mage someday. And cute girls were kind of hard to talk to.

  Except for Luc, who was hard to talk to in an entirely different way.

  Not to say she wasn’t cute. She was.

  “No, Ma,” said Tobias, giving his head a shake.

  “Was it something I said?” Marie asked, still staring at the door. The energy that had been filling her chest since she first reached the farm and laid eyes on Luc began to ebb. With nothing to replace it, it became an aching, hollow pit in her chest.

  “No,” Tobias said again with a sigh. “She’s just like that.”

  “Yeah,” Maisey said, leaning up against him. “I wouldn’t take it personally.”

  “Except it’s you, so maybe I would,” Mason added with a shrug.

  Maisey reached over to swat at him. “Don’t say that!”

  “Hey! It’s probably true. No offense. I don’t really know you, so I have no opinions.” Mason shrugged and offered Marie an apologetic smile. “You seem not bad, as far as I can tell.”

  “Thank you?” Marie said, unsure how to take it. It sounded a little bit like an insult, even though he meant it as a complement.

  “Ignore him,” Maisey said, flashing her a reassuring smile. “Though, he is right. You’re not bad at all, especially when I thought you were terrible at first.”

  Marie narrowed her eyes. That was definitely an insult. “Why would I be terrible?”

  Maisey shrugged. “I don’t know, probably because you go to Mercy West.”

  “And because you’re a job stealer,” Tobias added.

  “I didn’t steal anyone’s job! All I did was try and help.”

  “Yeah, it just didn’t look like that. Luc was trying to end the thing to prove to the commission that she could take bigger jobs.”

  “That’s really not how that works,” Marie said. “There’s a test you have to take to start taking bigger jobs, because the commission can’t endorse you without full confidence. Just like there’s a test if you want to start acting as a magical girl.”

  “There is?” Maisey asked. “I didn’t know that.”

  “Really?” Marie asked. She’d met Maisey for the first time, sort of, when Luc dragged her along to the commission and got her registration papers. “Usually they go over it when you register.”

  “I haven’t turned in my paperwork yet,” Maisey admitted sheepishly. “Though I did decide on a name!”

  “So why not turn it in?”

  “Because I haven’t decided if I’m actually going to do magical girl work,” Maisey said. She kept talking before Marie could jump in, nearly going breathless as she rushed to explain. “And I know I don’t need to do magical girl work if I register, I’d just like to make a decision before I do. I hate being indecisive. I’m usually so good at making decisions, you know? But this time I’m not, because isn’t it a little bit scary? I mean, you could get hurt doing magical girl work, and I just make little paper golems.”

  “My power is perfection, and that’s less useful than you think,” Marie said with a dark chuckle. “Any power can be useful, no matter how it seems. I would know. I’ve seen countless people go through the commission. There’s a magical girl out there whose only power is to communicate with fish, which doesn’t seem that useful of a power but it turns out it is. And there’s a big shot mage my father deals with personally who can only control those little green toy soldiers. He’s terrifying.”

  “Oh, Army Man Steve,” Tobias said, snapping his fingers together. “Yeah, I’ve heard of him. He made his army men dance to this one song…”

  He trailed off as everyone turned to stare at him.

  “What?” he demanded. “It was funny!”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “Yeah, it was, but that’s not my point,” Marie said. “My point is, you should register and I think you should do magical girl work. It’s fun, and it looks good on a college application.”

  “Never thought about that,” Maisey said. “I guess I should. Once I do, I have to take a test? What then?”

  “If you pass, you then buy whatever gear or mage clothing you want to wear, and you can start taking jobs.”

  “Oooh, magical shopping. That sounds fun.”

  “It is,” Marie agreed. “Oh, you should let me come with you. I’ve seen my dad design so many mages, I think I’m pretty good at it too.”

  “Hmm, maybe,” Maisey said. “Did you design your own brand?”

  “I did,” Marie said. “Though my dad gave some feedback. Do you think Luc would let me adjust her outfit?” The idea came to her in a flash, bringing a smile to her lips. Getting to design Luc’s outfit would be so much fun. She had so much potential, potential squandered by her generic uniform and mismatched gear.

  “Probably not,” Tobias said. “She doesn’t like help. The only reason I’ve been able to do her any favors was by asking for favors in return.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, she’s a tough nut to crack,” Maisey said. “Though she’s great once you get to know her!”

  “How do you get to know her?” Marie asked, doing her best not to sound too curious. “It seems like everything I say is the wrong thing. What did you do?”

  “Climbed through her window,” Tobias said.

  “Out stubborned her,” Maisey said.

  When Marie looked at Mason, he just shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m kind of just here. They drag me along everywhere.”

  “You would just sit in your room gaming otherwise,” Maisey said.

  “Yeah, gaming with my friends,” Mason said pointedly. “It’s not as lonely as you think.”

  “I don’t think any of those would work for me,” Marie said, letting out a sigh. That was usually how it went. The ways other people made friends didn’t work for her, which meant this would be just another situation where she only saw Luc for magical girl work and they never talked outside of it. It didn’t matter that Luc might be one of the few people who might be able to understand her; Marie would never be able to make her see that.

  “Well, that just means you need to find her own way,” Maisey said, smiling. “It’s not as though Luc is lacking for friends. It’s too bad you don’t go to school with us; we’ve started bullying her into eating with us.”

  “Yeah, that would make things easier,” Marie said. She stared off into space for a moment, her brain working at a mile a minute before she snapped back into the moment. Pulling a smile onto her face, she met Maisey’s gaze. “You should let me know what you decide about the magical girl thing, and if you want my help.”

  “I will,” Maisey said. “Are you leaving?”

  “Yeah,” Marie said. “I need to get back, and get out of your hair.”

  “Oh, well, we don’t mind,” Maisey said. “You should join us more often.”

  “I think that would upset Luc,” Marie said.

  Maisey rolled her eyes. “Everything upsets Luc. It’s good for her. Like exposure therapy!”

  “I don’t think that’s how that works, Maisey.”

  “It totally is. I’m taking psychology.”

  “Hmm, all right,” Tobias said skeptically.

  Marie shook her head at them and waved goodbye, quickly retreating outside before she could get caught here any longer. Once outside, she transformed and used her wings to transport herself across town. Rather than heading to the commission, she went straight home. Her father would be home soon enough anyway, and she needed to get ready for dinner.

  Nice met her at the front door, tail wagging so fast it would probably be sore tomorrow.

  “Hi, baby,” she cooed, reaching down to fluff his huge top knot. His hair was soft and thick, as curly as her own. He leaned into her touch, pressing his head into her hand. “How was your day?”

  The dog answered with a yip, bouncing off the floor before remembering not to jump and dropping back to the floor.

  Marie laughed and gave him a final pat. “Go find your ball,” she said. “We can go outside and play.”

  Nice barked again and tore off, searching for a tennis ball. Marie took the opportunity to go check in on the kitchen and see what their chef was making for dinner before letting Nice outside and throwing the ball for him.

  She sat on the front porch, throwing the ball and waiting for her father to come home, hoping he wouldn’t be late. He often worked late, and she didn’t begrudge him, but at least once a week, they ate dinner together, and he really tried not to be late.

  Just when she thought he might be, his car turned the curve of the driveway, making the long trek down to the house.

  He pulled up out front, Nice running to meet him before he even opened the door.

  The poodle jumped up on him as he stepped out, ignoring every rule he abided with Marie to greet him.

  “Hello, Nice,” her father said, as though he was a person and not a pet. “You look like you’ve had a wonderful day.” He scratched the dog behind the ears before turning his attention to Marie, a look of concern pinching his eyebrows together. “You never picked up a job.”

  “Oh, no,” Marie said as she flushed. “I actually went to help some… friends.”

  That wasn’t the right word for them, but it was close enough. It would do. And it was easier to say than “friends of my rival.”

  “That’s good,” her father said with a smile. “It’s been a long time since you’ve said anything about your friends, I was starting to get worried.”

  She smiled back at him, grateful for the practice of making it look real. “Yeah, I actually wanted to talk to you about that.”

  “What is it?” he asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

  “I was wondering… Do you think I could transfer out of Mercy West to go to school with them?”

  He opened his mouth, hesitancy clear, and she rushed to continue.

  “The Mage Academy doesn’t care too much about academics, so long as your grades are good,” Marie said. “Transferring won’t affect that, and it’ll actually help me get the mage experience I need to get into the academy because I’ll be able to do more with Gadget!”

  The hesitant look remained until he sighed, and gave her a squeeze. “Whatever you want, baby.”

  “Oh, thank you!” she squealed. “Also, do you think you could get me Gadget’s number?”