Luc drummed her fingers against her arm, all too aware of Marie’s body pressed against her own as they sat at the lunch table together. It kept her from eating, a distraction from everything, including the ongoing conversation.

  When Marie had kissed her, she hadn’t been expecting it. She wasn’t complaining, but she hadn’t expected it. She also didn’t expect the girl to stay the night, curled up in bed around her like they were, what, girlfriends?

  Luc shot a glance at the girl, their shoulders pressed together. The sudden urge to bite it struck her, to sink her teeth into Marie’s arm and let her know exactly how she felt. Emotions she couldn’t even begin to describe.

  She looked away, accidentally making eye contact with Mason. He raised a blond, nearly invisible eyebrow, the freckles across his face scrunching together. There was a question there, one Luc couldn’t answer.

  Marie nudged her from the side and stared expectantly, clearly expecting some sort of answer.

  Luc coughed awkwardly, and realized the whole table was staring at her. It made her skin prickle. People had been staring at her all day, in no small part due to the way Marie had been hanging off of her all morning. From requesting to change seats in class, to finding her in the hallway between every class period. Thank god she hadn’t tried to kiss her yet; Luc probably would have imploded on the spot.

  “Sorry,” she said, forcing herself to uncurl slightly. She shifted in her seat, giving herself a bit of space between herself and Marie, though that only made her brush against Tobias. Why did they always try to squeeze around the smallest table in the cafeteria? The table outside was so much better. “What are we talking about?”

  Maisey rolled her eyes. “Too distracted by your new girlfriend to pay attention?”

  Luc’s eyes narrowed at her, even with the teasing tone of her voice. They weren’t girlfriends, or at least, Marie hadn’t asked to be her girlfriend. Luc wasn’t sure what she’d do if that happened. She doubted Marie would. Luc wasn’t the type anyone wanted to date.

  “I was just thinking,” Luc said. “What is it?”

  “There’s a mage coming to Mercy West to talk about Mage Academy on Friday,” Marie said. “It’s not an actual school event though, so every hopeful mage is invited to come. I was already planning on going, and Maisey wants to as well. I was wondering if you’d want to come too.”

  The look on her face was so hopeful, practically shining, that Luc felt bad frowning. “Why would I? I don’t plan on becoming a mage.”

  Marie’s face fell. “You don’t?”

  “Why would I?”

  Mages had always confused Luc. She didn’t understand the difference between them and magical girls. They both worked under the mage commission. They both kept the world safe from magical monsters. The only difference she could think of was that mages dealt with villainous magic users, and magical girls generally didn’t fight people. What was the point of Mage Academy?

  “Because you can do so much more as a mage than as a magical girl! That’s what I plan on doing, if I can get in. I bet you’d have an easier time than me, you have so much more experience.”

  “I doubt that,” Luc said with a rueful shake of her head. The commission had made it abundantly clear that they didn’t think she had any true potential beyond being a level one magical girl. Even Marie’s father thought the same; she wasn’t good for anything but killing pests and making Marie shine.

  No wonder he’d been so willing to pay her to make Marie look better. He wanted his daughter to become a mage, and Luc was just a stepping stone.

  “I’m the one who really has no shot,” Maisey said as Marie opened her mouth to argue with Luc. “Doesn’t mean I’m not going to go. Just come with us.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Luc lied. There really wasn’t anything to think about there. She didn’t know what her future had in store for her, but she doubted it was magedom. She’d be lucky if she even had good enough grades to get into college—and even if she did, she wouldn’t have the money for it.

  She’d probably have to start thinking about her future soon, but she’d already accomplished her most pressing goal: get out of her mother’s house. Whatever came after that… She’d figure it out.

  The bell rang before Marie had a chance to argue with her any further, and Luc leapt out of her seat. “We have a class to get to,” she said, shooting a look at Mason as the others raised their eyebrows at her sudden exit.

  Mason nodded and stood from his own seat. “We do. Mr. Yoshida is a stickler about being on time.”

  Luc fell into step beside Mason as they left the cafeteria, fleeing Marie before she could interrogate Luc any further.

  They reached the classroom early, and Luc dropped into her seat and let out an exhausted sigh. If this was any other class, she’d be able to sleep, but Mr. Yoshia definitely wouldn’t let that pass.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Mason slid into the seat beside her. “Blink twice if you’re being held hostage.”

  Luc stared at him for a moment before letting out a long, low groan and slumping onto the desk. She let her eyes fall shut, holding them that way for a moment.

  She wasn’t tired. Surprisingly, she’d slept well with Marie, so well they were both almost late for school. It wasn’t good. Marie had said it herself, she planned on going off to college at the end of the year, and Luc was even helping her get there. Whatever this was, it wasn’t going to last long. She couldn’t go and get attached.

  “You can just tell her you need space, you know,” Mason said. “You can tell all of them that, honestly. Maisey and Tobias mean well, but they can be a bit much. Marie seems the same.”

  “Yeah,” Luc said. She could see how they all meant well, even if she didn’t always want to, but she needed a chance to just breathe. “I guess.”

  “I can help you slip away if you want,” Mason said, leaning back in his seat.

  “Oh yeah? Going to cause a distraction while I duck and run?”

  He shrugged. “Why not? Though I was thinking more, I tell everyone you have a job you need to do and couldn’t wait around to chat.”

  Luc didn’t even need to consider it. “That works for me,” she said, and it wasn’t like it would be a lie. She did have work to do. In addition to needing to take more jobs, she had the mage dorm to look after and start repairs on. Better to start that now and stay on top of it than risk anyone thinking she wasn’t fulfilling her end of the bargain.

  When school ended, Luc stuck around just long enough to grab her things from her locker before slipping away, ducking into a classroom for a moment to avoid Marie.

  Guilt wormed its way into her stomach, but she couldn’t deal with Marie right now. She needed time to breathe, process everything that had happened, not to mention the job she was contracted for.

  She managed to avoid both Maisey and Tobias on the way out of school, making it to her car without issue. The drive to her new apartment passed without incident and she pulled into the near empty parking lot behind the building, narrowing her eyes at the second car on the concrete slab, parked halfway over one of the painted lines.

  The parking lot was empty when she left in the morning, as barren as the rest of the dorm. It was possible that someone had decided to park here rather than parallel park on the street, but she eyed it warily just the same.

  Maybe they’re coming to check up on me. Her heartbeat spiked at the idea. She hadn’t gotten a chance to fix anything up yet, or even do a walk through of the building outside of her apartment. They couldn’t expect her to be making progress already, could they?

  She curled her fingers around the straps of her backpack as she pushed inside, peering warily down the hallway. Her apartment was all the way at the back, tucked behind a staircase that stretched up to the second floor.

  A figure stepped into the top of the stairwell, cloaked in shadows.

  “Hello?”

  The voice that responded to her was clear and strong, full of a power that resounded in Luc’s core. “You wouldn’t happen to be maintenance, would you?”

  This has to be a mage. Luc looked up at the figure and swallowed her awe. “I am.”

  “A little young, but okay,” they said with a shrug. “Can you open my door? It seems stuck.”

  “Yes.” Luc dropped her bag at the base of the stairs and scurried up and past the mage, shooting a look at them as she passed.

  The mage was a tall woman, carrying herself with earned, easy confidence. A brown leather coat hung down nearly to the tops of her boots like a cloak, hiding a rather mundane outfit of jeans and a long sleeved tee.

  “Which room?” Luc asked, passing the landing and glancing back at the mage.

  She found the mage staring at her strangely, eyes narrowed and head tilted to the side. She shifted awkwardly, and the mage blinked, then pointed. “There.”

  Luc spun around and hurried to the indicated door, kneeling down in front of it. She worked rapidly on the doorknob as the mage walked up behind her, hesitating only for a moment before making her transformation. Mages had to find magical girls silly, but Luc couldn’t avoid it. She needed her utility kit.

  She unclipped a small screwdriver and began dismantling the doorknob. Something had rusted inside the thing and would probably need replacing, but Luc could fix it well enough in the meantime to be usable. As for the room itself… they’d find out when they got inside.

  “Sorry about this,” Luc said, glancing up at the mage. “I just got this position yesterday. I haven’t had a chance to fix anything yet.”

  “No need to be sorry,” the mage said, her words crisp. Silence stretched for another beat before she spoke up. “You wouldn’t happen to be related to Penny Hill, would you?”

  The floor might as well have gone out from beneath her knees. She stared at the door, handle growing hot in her hands, slick with sweat. How the hell did this mage know her mother?

  “If I’m wrong, forgive me, but I grew up here and you look familiar.”

  “I am,” Luc said slowly. “Penny is my mother.”

  “Ah,” the mage said, sucking in a breath. “I remember that. She got pregnant with you in high school, didn’t she?”

  “Yup,” Luc said, trying to keep the tone from her voice.

  “Ah. Are you in high school?”

  “Yes. Senior year,” Luc said, forcing herself to start working on the doorknob again.

  “What are your plans after graduation?”

  Luc shrugged, unable to come up with a decent response. Why did everyone expect her to have a plan today?

  The mage leaned against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest. “Do you want advice?”

  Luc grunted something unintelligible. She doubted the mage would stop talking even if Luc asked her to.

  “Get out of this town,” the mage said. “If you stick around after graduation, you’ll get stuck here. I’m actually in town to talk about that, amongst other things.”

  “Yeah, I heard,” Luc said, unable to keep the words from slipping from her mouth. She slotted the doorknob back into place, quickly screwing everything back into place and getting the door open.

  “That’s good,” the mage said with a nod, and stepped through the door. “I hope I see you there.”

  Luc dusted off her hands, stepping back to allow the mage into the room. She really had no intention of attending the talk, even less knowing this mage knew her mother from high school, but the woman was also right. Luc couldn’t stick around in this town after school was over. “I’ll think about it.”