Since Marie had gotten her the mage commission app, Luc had only gone to the commission building in order to support Maisey’s venture into the world of magical girls. Despite her protests, everyone followed, clumping behind her like a herd of lost sheep as she approached the wary Mrs. Oscar.

  The woman stared at the five of them as though their very presence was making her hair turn grey. “Yes?”

  “I took the dorm maintenance job,” Luc said, holding out a hand. “I’m here for my keys.”

  Mrs. Oscar didn’t miss a beat, reaching beneath the counter and pulling out a small box. She slapped it down onto the countertop, pointedly ignoring Luc’s outstretched hand. “Is that all?”

  “You really don’t miss me at all?” Luc asked, turning her voice mocking as she picked up the box. Something rattled inside, and her heart leapt just holding them. These were her keys. Keys to her very own apartment.

  “Without you, my counter is peaceful and my snack counter stays stocked,” Mrs. Oscar said with the air of something who’d been through war and back.

  “Just for that, we’re raiding the snack bar,” Luc said, flashing a grin at the woman and spinning around, smacking straight into Marie.

  Marie caught her, hands flying to Luc’s arms, before she froze, eyes flitting away. “Sorry.”

  “Uh…” Luc found herself at a loss for words as she stared at the taller girl, all too aware of Marie’s fingers against her skin.

  She stepped out of the girl’s grip and darted toward the snack bar, grabbing something halfheartedly. Maisey raised her eyebrows suggestively, sending a flush of heat straight to Luc’s face. What was she making that face for?

  They made it outside beyond the bounds of Mrs. Oscar’s domain before bursting into noise.

  “Show us the keys!” Tobias said, grabbing onto Luc’s shoulders and shaking her.

  “That eager to get rid of me?” Luc asked with a roll of her eyes, unable to get any sort of bite into the words with a huge smile splitting her face.

  “Of course not. You know I’m happy to have you around,” Tobias said, squeezing her tighter around the shoulders.

  Luc managed to get her fingers to stop shaking long enough to work the tight lid off the paper box, revealing a set of two, shiny silver keys inside. Cold metal warmed against her fingertips as she lifted one out, turning it over in her hand reverently.

  This was hers. Her house. A place of her own.

  Tears sprang to her eyes, and she cursed at herself. “Fuck me.”

  “I mean, if you want,” Maisey said with a shrug and a wide smirk.

  Luc pulled her eyes away to stare at the girl, doing her best to parse out whether it was a joke or not. The more Maisey repeated it, the more Luc wondered just how serious Maisey was about it.

  “Are you sure she’s joking?” Luc finally asked, turning around to look at Tobias.

  He shrugged, as unbothered as ever. “We’ve already talked about it, so really it’s whatever you’re comfortable with,” Tobias said, finishing the sentence with an exaggerated wink. Maisey snorted in laughter at the expression as Luc rolled her eyes.

  That seemed to catch Marie off guard, the smile fading from her lips. She stepped forward, and the air seemed to charge, setting Luc’s skin to prickling. “Wait, you’re serious? I thought you were joking.”

  “Uh oh, someone’s jealous,” Mason muttered.

  “Don’t be jealous,” Maisey said, batting her eyelashes at the taller girl. “I’ll still flirt with you too. I’m an equal opportunity flirter.”

  Luc broke away from the conversation, gripping her new keys in her palm so tight they bit into her skin. The whole conversation, the flirting, even Tobias’s joke, left her off kilter. They were just fucking with her, teasing her like they always did. None of them were serious.

  If they were…

  Luc didn’t have to deal with it, because they weren’t serious. Maisey had said it herself earlier in the day. Magical girls did this sort of thing for views, nothing else. Tobias did it because Maisey thought it was funny, and he liked annoying Luc. Even Marie was just flirting with her to make their rivalry better.

  “I’m going to check out my new apartment,” Luc declared. Nobody let her get too far before catching up with her, the five of them piling into her and Marie’s cars to make the trek across town to the mage dorms.

  These specific dorms were actually run by the town, rather than the mage commission. Considering the commission was technically a private company with contracts with local, state, and federal government, it made sense to have a few mage dorms that weren’t owned by them. However, Luc suspected the commission’s dorms were far nicer than these.

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  The building looked as though it hadn’t been touched in years, sitting just a few blocks shy of city council. Luc couldn’t remember the last time they’d had an official mage visit.

  No wonder they wanted someone to live here and fix it up. Even aside from the mundane damage to the space, there were clear signs of magic decay and infestation. Luc would have her work cut out for her.

  “That’s a lot of cobwebs,” Marie said as Luc led the way inside, one key letting them through the front door. She glanced down at the tag hanging from the second key indicating which apartment was hers, and remained on the bottom floor, dodging past a sketchy flight of stairs to reach a solitary door near the back. The key fit into the lock without issue, the hinges creaking as she pushed the door inward.

  The door opened into a dust filled apartment, light streaming through a window in the corner to reveal the cramped space. It was thankfully furnished, which was good because Luc didn’t have any furniture of her own, but the walls were kinda busted, the light fixtures cracked. None of that mattered. This was home.

  Luc would make it home.

  A grin stretched across her face. “I love it. I’m going to go get my stuff.”

  “Not going to clean up first?” Mason asked, then stifled a sneeze. Luc supposed the dust was pretty bad.

  She hesitated, body tight with the urge to sprint back to her car and race back to Tobias’s house to get all her things over here as soon as possible.

  “We can stay and clean it up,” Marie volunteered. When Luc turned to her, she rolled her eyes. “Don’t you dare get mad about the offer. You won’t let me do anything else. Let me clean your apartment so you can move in sooner.”

  Luc let out a sigh, breathing out a cloud of dust. Marie had been surprisingly subdued since Luc’s outburst, and really, she hated cleaning.

  “Fine. Just this once, I won’t argue with you about it.”

  A smile slid across Marie’s lips at the concession. “Well, you could argue,” she said. “You’d just have to let me win.”

  Luc rolled her eyes and turned away from the girl to hide her own smirk, then grabbed Tobias’s arm. “Come on. You’re going to help me get my things.”

  He didn’t protest as Luc led the way out of the building, Mason tagging along with them for the ride back to the farm. Luc hadn’t unpacked much, just enough to get a change of clothes and find her school things, but they had moved her boxes inside just to keep them from getting damp at night. Luc made quick work of loading everything back into her car, more than eager to get back to her new apartment and figure out just how everything was going to fit.

  ******

  The moment Luc left with Tobias and Mason in tow, Marie wheeled on Maisey, her eyes narrowed. “Why are you flirting with her?”

  “Because it’s fun?” Maisey said, raising an eyebrow.

  “Stop,” Marie said. When Maisey had first brought it up at lunch, she’d played along, but suggesting something between Fold, Gadget, and Limit was a lot different than suggesting something between Luc, Maisey, and Tobias.

  “Why? Afraid of a little competition?” Maisey asked, her tone mocking. When Marie didn’t laugh, she let out a sigh. “Don’t get jealous. Just make a move on her.”

  Marie let out a breath, relaxing slightly. So Maisey wasn’t actually going after Luc, not if she was suggesting Marie make a move herself.

  “Shouldn’t she make a move on me?” Marie asked, and took a beat to transform. Brand new wand in hand, she began to funnel magic into it, using it to clean the apartment. “I asked her the first time.”

  “Coward,” Maisey said, rolling up her own sleeves. Her help wasn’t necessary, with Marie’s wand making quick work of the dust and cobwebs, leaving behind a clean but bare apartment. “What are we going to do about this? It’s so… heartless.”

  “I actually came prepared for that,” Marie said, giving the apartment one last once over with her perfection magic, making sure to clean the bed and couch thoroughly. She tucked the wand away and found herself under Maisey’s expectant stare. She shrugged. “I might have dropped by last night to see what we’d be working with.”

  Maisey stared back for a moment before sighing. “That’s pretty smart, I like it. What did you get?”

  Marie led Maisey out to her car, opening the trunk to reveal a box full of supplies she’d put together the night before in preparation of Luc getting the apartment. Strings of tiny lights that would twinkle white when plugged in. Thick, plush blankets and silk pillow covers. A set of sheets. Not much, but enough to start turning the place into something liveable.

  Maisey gave the box an appraising nod. “Let’s get this up before they get back and Luc insists she hates all of it.”

  Marie lifted the box out of the trunk easily and shut the door after it, careful not to close it too hard with her enhanced strength. “Do you actually think she’ll hate it?”

  “No,” Maisey said. “She’ll just act like she does.”

  “Right.”

  They went to work the moment they got back into the apartment, setting it up as best as they could with Marie’s supplies. Lights strung along the ceiling and walls, turning it from eerie to cozy. Curtains hung over the windows. Sheets put on the mattress, blankets layered on top of them.

  Marie barely finished setting up the bed when the door swung open at the other’s return.

  She turned in time to catch Luc’s eyes go wide, before narrowing and landing on her. Her heartbeat quickened in anticipation, warmth flushing across her skin. Here came the fight.

  Luc lowered her box to the floor then faced Marie, planting her hands on her hips. “What’s all this?” she demanded.

  “Obviously, I had to do something so you wouldn’t forget me,” Marie said with a little wag of her head. The reason was ridiculous, but it was the only thing she could think to say in the moment that wouldn’t give away more than she wanted to let slip.

  “As if I could forget you,” Luc muttered.

  Marie’s heart did a flip, but she did her best to keep her cool. The last thing she needed to do was send Luc running again.

  “Was that flirting?” Maisey asked from the other side of the room. “Are you allowed to do that, Luc?”

  “She is, but only with me,” Marie said, shooting Maisey a sharp smile. She turned her attention back to Luc, expression softening at the shorter girl’s curious expression.

  “Only with you? Really?” Luc asked. She crossed her arms over her chest, stepping closer to Marie with a crooked grin. “Why should I do that?”

  Marie sucked in a deep breath, steeling her nerves before speaking again. There were only inches between them, Marie’s skin practically aflame at the proximity. “Because you’re my rival,” she said, and closed the distance between them.