While everyone else got dressed up for Halloween, Luc helped Mama Barnes decorate her car for Trunk or Treat. It wasn’t the trick or treating she’d done as a kid, but it made her job easier by far. A parking lot was a lot less area to patrol than an entire town.

  The only problem was, if monsters did decide to spawn or attack in the middle of Trunk or Treat, the crowd was a lot more concentrated.

  Luc cast a glance at a crate inside Mama Barnes’ minivan, double checking it was still there. Amid crates of carefully made decorations was a single crate with Luc’s tools, ones she’d actually spent time constructing beforehand. It limited her options, compared to her car full of supplies, but the only way she’d be allowed to have her car at the event was if she set up a Trunk or Treat station herself. She’d much rather help out Mama Barnes than need to decorate her car and hand out candy.

  Luc attached the huge, gangly legged spider to the top of the trunk and glanced at Mama Barnes. The woman strung huge, fake spiderwebs around the car to the table in front of it. It reminded Luc of the spiders she’d saved the farm from a few weeks ago. At least these weren’t magical.

  “Thank you for helping out,” Mama Barnes said as they finished. “With Ted working today, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get it all set up in time.”

  “I’m sure Tobias would have helped,” Luc said.

  “Oh, he would,” Mama Barnes said. “But I really didn’t want to bother him. He does so much for me already.”

  “Aww, you know I love to, Ma,” Tobias said, appearing from around the side of the car. He swaggered into view, all too full of himself in the Han Solo costume, and kissed Mama Barnes on the cheek. “And I’m here to help anyway. Plus, I bring candy.”

  “And I bring Halloween spirit!” Maisey pranced up in her long white dress, hair done up into matching buns on either side of her head. Though she was blond, she was also clearly Princess Leia, with Luke Skywalker accompanying her. Mason’s outfit was far more intricate than Maisey’s, complete with a lightsaber hanging from his belt.

  “Where did you get your outfit?” Luc asked with genuine interest, her eyes on the lightsaber. It wasn’t the typical plastic piece of junk she saw and picked up on occasion at the thrift store.

  “I made it,” Mason said with a shrug.

  “You made it?” Luc’s eyes went wide, taking in the outfit again. “How?”

  “I sew.” That was it. No more explanation.

  “You sew. First you can hotwire cars, and now you can sew?” Luc asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Mason kept everything so close to his chest, but with each new detail Luc learned about him, she only had more questions.

  “Yup. And I thought you promised to dress up?”

  “I am dressed up,” Luc said, motioning at the pair of cat ears perched on her head. The rest of her outfit was different as well. Black skirt rather than blue, and a plain black shirt to match, completed with a pair of black shoes she’d probably buy for real when Halloween was over. They were sturdier than the pair of running shoes she’d incorporated into her outfit.

  “That hardly counts as an outfit,” Mason said, the judgment clear in his voice. “Does Marie know that’s what you picked?”

  “She was there when I picked it,” Luc said, crossing her arms over her chest. Just because she didn’t go all out like the rest of them didn’t make it a costume. She didn’t normally go around dressed as a cat, so that meant it counted as a Halloween costume.

  “Don’t worry, Marie picked something appropriate,” Maisey said, smirking as she glanced at Luc.

  A frown creased Luc’s lips together. Marie hadn’t mentioned what her costume was going to be, even going so far as to kick Luc out of the staging room at the commission. It was meant to be a surprise, or so she’d said. Luc didn’t care much, but the look Maisey gave her made her wonder if she should be worried.

  No, Marie wasn’t going to do anything crazy. At the very least, this was a family friendly event and she knew well enough to wear something appropriate. Then there was the fact that Marie couldn’t seem to do anything less than perfect. A side effect from her power, maybe, but her outfits were always on point. Her instincts were most of the time as well, so long as they weren’t in the bedroom.

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  Luc shoved the thought aside before it could take hold, focusing on the matter at hand. Keeping the Trunk or Treat event safe all night.

  “Are you doing any magical girl work tonight?” Luc asked, directing the comment at Maisey. While she had her suspicions about Tobias gaining magic at some point, Maisey was the only one of them currently with any powers.

  “Nope,” Maisey said, smiling as she said the word. She leaned up against Tobias, grin widening as his hand slid around her protectively. “Just hanging out with my boyfriend tonight. And my friends, of course.”

  Luc nodded and scanned the parking lot. The sun was just beginning to dip in the distance. The event would start soon, but Marie would be here by then, so patrolling would be no problem. Any magical monsters would be able to be nipped in the bud before causing any damage.

  Leaving her friends at Mama Barnes’s car, Luc did a quick walk of the perimeter, scanning for anything out of the ordinary. The number of decorations didn’t help anything, but there wasn’t anything that stuck out at a glance, no budding magic she needed to be worried about.

  The sight of Marie’s pink car slipping into the parking lot across the street from Trunk or Treat made Luc pick up the pace. She made it back to Mama Barnes’s car only a few minutes after Marie reached it.

  She paused at the sight of Marie’s outfit, and resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

  Abandoning her usual wings and soft pinks and whites, she wore a dark, layered dress torn in all the right spots, the black fabric layered enough it was hardly noticeable. On her head was a tall, pointed witch’s hat, enough to complete the simple look.

  “Really?” Luc asked, planting her hands on her hips. “A witch?”

  Marie’s face lit up at the sound of her and she dropped out of conversation mid-sentence, letting whatever she had to say fall to the wayside. “It just makes sense,” she said with a hint of the haughty attitude that had driven Luc up the wall the first time they met. “I’m a witch, and you’re my black cat. Want to sit on my shoulder?”

  She winked, in what may have been an attempt to be seductive, and Luc laughed. “No, thanks.”

  Marie pouted in disappointment, and Luc shook her head. They didn’t have time for flirting or shenanigans, not when the event was starting.

  “You take the left and I’ll take the right,” Luc said, taking a few steps away from the car. “I want to cover as much ground as possible to keep magic from getting the wrong idea.”

  “Magic doesn’t get ‘ideas’,” Marie said with a roll of her eyes. “If it happens, it happens. Why don’t we hang out in the middle and hand out candy? It’s good optics.”

  “Better optics is making sure no magic appears to disrupt the event,” Luc pointed out.

  “Best optics is standing in the middle and handing out candy, and then handily dealing with any magic pests that arrive so everyone can see how competent we are,” Marie said. “Just trust me on this. Plus, I really don’t want to be away from you the entire night.”

  Luc hesitated before biting out the word: “Fine.”

  “Thank you,” Marie said graciously. “Now, Dad gave me a bunch of candy to hand out. Will you help me grab it?”

  Luc nodded and silently followed Marie back to her car, choosing not to point out that the girl with super strength absolutely didn’t need help transporting a few bags of candy. Apparently, practicality didn’t mean a thing to Marie.

  Keeping quiet about her reservations, Luc stood beside Marie with an open bag of candy, doing her best to smile at kids and their families as they arrived and hand out pieces of candy to anyone who approached.

  The sun set, and the lights kicked on overhead, bright enough that nothing really got spooky. It was all too stationary for Luc’s liking.

  “Maybe I should go patrol again,” Luc said, taking a step away from Marie. Her bag of candy was almost empty, and it seemed like as good a time as any to do a quick scout around the exterior of the parking lot.

  A little girl darted past, the only thing keeping her from walking away. A pair of feathered wings bounced on her back, accompanying an all too familiar leotard and skirt.

  Luc stopped moving and smacked Marie’s arm, pointing after the little girl as she skipped happily by. “Look, it’s you.”

  Marie followed the line of her finger before her eyes landed on the little girl, and a smile exploded across her face. “It’s me!”

  “Looks like you’ve had a bigger impact than you thought,” Luc said. She’d always known Marie’s fears were unfounded. Even if the community didn’t like her, she doubted that Marie’s father would let that come in between her and getting into Mage Academy.

  Marie shook her head. “That’s just the power of branding,” she said. “If you wore anything distinct, I’m sure there would be a dozen little yous running around.”

  Luc opened her mouth to protest before catching herself, the idea taking hold like a worm into her brain. As much as she hated it, Marie was probably right. The outfit she wore when doing magical girl work wasn’t distinct enough that anyone could have guessed it was her by the outfit. It was just a school girl’s uniform, close enough it could have been from the local private school.

  “Maybe you’re right,” Luc admitted begrudgingly. “Maybe I should stick with this from now on.”

  She adjusted the cat ears on top of her head, and Marie snorted. “As if. No, if you want a new costume and better branding, you have to let me do it right.”

  Luc let out a sigh and slumped into Marie’s side. “Fine.”

  Marie yelped in joy and swept her into an overpowered hug, snatching her right off her feet. “You’re going to look so hot!”

  Luc managed to choke out a few words as Marie did her best to squeeze her to death. “I’m regretting this already.”

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