Luc drove home in silence, the hum of magic through her car’s engine the only noise filling her ears. Lights glared on the streets, streaking into stars before her eyes. She squinted through them to pay attention to the road, no longer the child who could stare out the window for hours and watch the pretty lights go by.

  She pulled up in front of a silent house and turned off her power. The car settled beneath her, like a set of old bones laid to rest.

  It should have been easy to climb out of the house and head inside, but it wasn’t. She stayed in the car, hands resting on the steering wheel, just staring. There were no lights on in the house. Everything that could be unplugged had been, just to lower the electric bill the tiniest amount.

  She would have to pay it, and probably the rent soon. God knew her mother wouldn’t. Or at least, she wasn’t thinking about it, and she probably didn’t have the money anyway. If she actually managed to make money, it went right back into the business. No matter how much money it bled, Penny would just keep trying.

  Luc couldn’t pretend she was okay with it anymore.

  She forced herself out of the car, slammed the door shut, and set her gaze on the front door.

  Rather than head in the front, she strode around the side of the building, staring up the siding at her bedroom window above, as dark as the rest.

  How the hell did Tobias climb this? she asked herself as she began to climb, hand over hand until she pulled herself onto the roof. From there, it was easier, and she crawled over to her window, easily cracking it open and sliding inside.

  She climbed onto her bed, settling down onto the ancient mattress and sighing. Maybe it was ridiculous, but she couldn’t handle looking at the rest of the house right now. It was a prison, one she couldn’t escape. Every penny she made went toward keeping a roof over her head and the heat on. She never had the chance to save money, to put some aside to one day get out of this place.

  She needed to fix that.

  She needed to make things right with Marie, commit to the rivalry properly. She couldn’t afford to screw it up with her own bad attitude. Plus, Marie wasn’t all bad.

  I’ll make it up to her next time I see her, Luc decided, though she had no idea what that would entail. Apologizing, probably.

  She sat up, forcing herself out of bed and across the dark room to flick on the light. Her room was a mess, clothes strewn across the floor, a milk crate full of gadgets she’d been working on, and a desk covered in textbooks and homework she still needed to complete.

  Well, most of it was done. She could afford a few minutes to do something just for herself.

  Luc grabbed one of the green yuri books she’d gotten from the library, dropped onto the bed, and began to read.

  Peace and quiet. No one demanding anything of her. Nobody crawling through her bedroom window, forcing their way into her life. No favors that needed to be repaid. Just silence and a good book, the tension in her shoulders finally releasing.

  So of course, her phone started to ring.

  She hesitated to grab the phone. If it was her mother, she wasn’t interested in hearing it. If it was Tobias or Maisey, she also wasn’t interested in hearing it, not tonight. They could talk to her at school on Monday. Mason probably wouldn’t call her. Was it Malachi?

  Turning the phone screen over, she frowned at the unknown number. Not Malachi, then.

  She let the phone keep ringing until the call ended, then turned back to her book.

  It started ringing again.

  They were just going to keep calling until she answered, weren’t they?

  Marking her spot in the book, Luc answered the phone call.

  “Hi! I know this seems totally weird and honestly it probably is, but I convinced my dad to give me your number so I could talk to you! I really should have asked you but it completely slipped my mind.”

  The person kept rambling as Luc lowered the phone from her ear, looking at the number again. Who was this?

  “Who is this?” she asked, putting the phone back to her ear.

  “Marie?” She sounded uncertain, as though questioning her own name.

  Luc squeezed her eyes shut. Why the hell was Marie calling her? Why the hell was the mage commissioner just giving out her personal number? Maybe Marie was his daughter, but that wasn’t okay.

  “Do you realize how stalkery this is?” Luc demanded, but there was no bite to her voice. Just exhaustion.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  The line was silent for a moment. “Yeah,” Marie said finally. “I’m sorry. Can I make it up to you? Let me buy you ice cream or something.”

  “Ice cream?” Luc muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose. Did Marie think that would make it all better.

  “Yeah,” Marie said. “I’m already out and—”

  “I swear to god, if you are outside my house right now I will kick your ass,” Luc said.

  “I’m not that much of a stalker,” Marie said, and Luc could almost see her rolling her eyes. “I just took my dog for a drive.”

  “You took your dog for a drive.”

  “I did. He likes ice cream too. So, ice cream? I can come and pick you up.”

  Luc stared at the phone for a moment, resisting the urge to hang up. No, she didn’t want to go get ice cream with Marie like they were friends and everything was fine and dandy. But she did need to apologize to Marie, and she had no idea when she’d see her next.

  “Where are you?” Luc asked, sliding off the bed. “I’ll meet you there.”

  “I’m down at The Old Fashioned Scoop,” Marie said.

  “Be there in a minute.”

  She hung up, shoved her phone into her pocket, and took off back out the window.

  Luc didn’t bother taking the car this time, she just walked. The Old Fashioned Scoop wasn’t that far from where she lived. For that matter, neither was Lucky Penny’s Diner, the lights still on behind locked doors.

  She forced her gaze away from it and picked up the pace, tucking her hands into the pockets of her jeans as a brisk wind nipped at her.

  Sure enough, Marie’s car was sitting outside of the drive up ice cream stand, and she wasn’t alone. While she sat in the driver’s seat, another figure sat beside her, curly hair sticking up in an afro around it.

  It wasn’t until Luc stepped into the parking lot and the figure swiveled around did she realize it was a dog. A black poodle who seemed to think of itself as human, sitting upright in the passenger seat.

  “Does he have his own ice cream cone?” Luc demanded, looking at the car’s dashboard, where a bowl of vanilla ice cream sat in front of the dog.

  Marie jumped, turning towards Luc’s voice, her face lighting up. Luc’s stomach did a little flip at the smile that beamed at her. She’d never had anyone look so excited to see her before.

  She quickly squashed the feeling.

  “I told you he likes ice cream,” Marie said, undoing the driver’s seat and stepping out. The poodle whined but remained in his seat. “And he’s been such a good boy lately. Isn’t that right, Nice?”

  The dog wagged his tail enthusiastically in answer.

  “You named your dog Nice?” she demanded. That was a strange name for a dog.

  “He’s named after a character from a show,” Marie explained, though that begged the question, why was there a character named Nice? It wasn’t exactly a name.

  “Right. So are you buying me ice cream, or what?”

  “I am,” Marie said, still beaming. “What do you want? I love their strawberry ice cream here.”

  “You would like strawberry ice cream,” Luc muttered.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing.” Luc turned her attention to the small menu, unable to fully ignore the girl standing beside her. Her presence was that of a blazing star, blinding even when not looking directly at her. There was warmth, too. It pressed against Luc’s body, tickling over her skin. She couldn’t focus.

  “I’ll just take chocolate,” Luc said, ducking her head and stepping away. There were a dozen different more interesting flavors, but she couldn’t decide, and didn’t want to keep standing there beside her.

  Except even after they got their ice cream, she wouldn’t be able to leave.

  The lone worker inside the ice cream stand handed over their bowls of ice cream, offering them down through the window to Marie.

  “Here,” Marie said, walking over and offering one of the bowls to Luc. “Your ice cream.”

  Luc pulled her hands out of her pockets and accepted the bowl, cold against her fingers. “Thank you.”

  Marie stared at her for a moment, eyes twinkling like stars. “Are you just going to stand there?”

  Luc shrugged. “What else am I supposed to do?”

  “Sit in my car with me?”

  “Sit in the back seat while you and the dog sit up front? No thanks.”

  Marie laughed, snorting as though Luc had just said the funniest thing. “Of course not, silly. I’ll get Nice to move to the back seat!”

  “So generous,” Luc muttered, but followed her over to the car.

  Marie coaxed the dog into the back seat, allowing Luc to hop in, shifting uncomfortably on the pristine leather seats. They were pink, like the rest of the car, without a scratch or tear on them, unlike Luc’s own. She shouldn’t have been sitting on something this nice.

  Luc glanced over, barely moving, and caught as Marie slid a spoonful of strawberry ice cream into her mouth. Some of it coated her lips, glistening in the overhead street light.

  She looked away before Marie could catch her staring, stirring her spoon through her bowl of chocolate ice cream.

  “I have to admit,” Marie began. “I was kind of surprised that you actually came out with me.”

  “Yeah, well, ice cream.”

  Marie snorted. “Now that I’ve learned bribery works on you, I’ll be unstoppable.”

  Luc shook her head, the corners of her own lips tilting upward as she finally took a bite of ice cream.

  As it melted on her tongue, she thought over her plan, the reason she’d left the house to hang out with Marie in the first place. She was supposed to make things right, repair any of the fractures in their deal she might have made.

  “I’m sorry,” she blurted out, not looking at the girl. “For how I treated you earlier. I…” What could she even say to defend herself? “I was having a bad day.”

  “Seems you have a lot of bad days,” Marie mused.

  “You don’t know the half of it,” Luc said with a shake of her head. “What I’m trying to say is I’m sorry for my attitude, and I want to make things right. We should be able to get along, for the sake of our rivalry at least.”

  “This seems like a good first step to me,” Marie said, grinning at her. “You have no idea how happy this makes me.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yeah, because I have some exciting news for you,” Marie began, her smile only widening. “I’m transferring to your school!”

  Luc’s stomach dropped and she looked away, cursing her lucky stars. “I take back everything I just said.”

  Marie giggled in delight.