The video went live as Marie and her father pulled up to the commission building. One moment, she was scrolling mindlessly on her phone as they listened to music together, the next, Luc was there on screen.

  Gadget, actually.

  Her rival.

  Showing her up with the bees, capturing them with such effortless confidence. The video showcased that perfectly, showing her build her tools and walk through the field of bees without fear.

  In the background, Marie caught sight of herself and tensed. She hadn’t posted any of her drone footage from the day before because she’d been so ineffective compared to Gadget.

  Her slogan only rubbed that in. Always prepared.

  That was her slogan. Simple, to the point, and so aggravating.

  “Is there something wrong, dear?” her father asked.

  Marie dropped her phone, letting it fall into her lap as she forcefully released the tension in her fingers. “No! Everything’s okay.”

  “Good,” he said, opening the car door. “I’m headed up to my office now.”

  “I’ll join you!”

  One might have thought a mage commissioner would have a better office, but her father’s office was far from glamorous. It was cramped, dark, blinds drawn shut.

  The first thing Marie did when she walked into the room was open up the blinds. Her father barely noticed, talking to someone over the phone, discussing a new magical girl the next state over.

  She listened for a moment as she continued around the room, opening up blinds and cracking windows, doing her best to air out the dust. Despite not spending much time here, he somehow managed to fill it up with boxes, files, loose papers. Now that she was a magical girl employed by the company, she shouldn’t have been here, but nobody stopped her.

  Her father raised an eyebrow as she began to straighten up, moving boxes and putting away files, driven by an incessant itch. It had always kind of been there, only getting worse once she’d manifested as a mage and her ability made itself known: perfection.

  Physical perfection, in that superhuman, advanced strength sort of way. Enhanced reflexes, perfect balance that would have served her perfectly if she’d stuck with ballet instead of mage work. A conscious awareness of her body every time she was transformed, every breath, every flex of her muscles, every blade of hair. Things she’d normally never notice, except now, even when not using her power, she was aware of it, rotating her body just the right amount to get around a box without bumping it, flipping her wrist just the right way that the paper went into the file like butter.

  Part of it was practice. She’d practiced her perfection, day after day, for months and years on end as she prepared for her debut as a magical girl. The more perfect she was, the better she could utilize her magic, pouring that energy into her tools.

  Her father’s voice petered off, silence filling the room for a moment. “What are you doing, Marie?” he asked. “It’s Saturday. You should be out with friends.”

  Marie bit her lip, glad she wasn’t facing him at the moment. Because he didn’t know. He didn’t know that she’d given up her friends to practice with her powers. That when she’d finally given up ballet, she’d lost the last of the people she actually spent time with, aside from him and Nice.

  And Nice didn’t even count, because he was a dog.

  “I was actually thinking of doing some magical girl work today,” Marie said, pitching her voice up. While she was planning on going to the Mage Academy after finishing up high school, she was grateful for the freelance style nature of magical girl-and-boy work.

  “Oh, that’s good,” her father said. “The faster you can build up your experience at the company, the sooner we can get you better jobs. Bigger jobs always bring in better views, and it will make your standing better for the Academy.”

  Marie nodded and brought a smile to her lips, well practiced at activating the specific muscles to make the expression look genuine. Her father was just worried about making sure she could fulfill her dreams, that was all. She was grateful for that. He just didn’t understand how lonely it could be.

  Or maybe he did.

  “Actually,” she crossed the room, leaning on the front of his desk. “Is Gadget active right now? I could go see what she’s doing, and continue our little rivalry.”

  The smile that curled across her lips was genuine, and unstoppable. Maybe her father didn’t fully understand how lonely she was, but he’d gotten her a rival, and that was just the same as a friend. More or less. Maybe less, right now, but she’d get through to Luc eventually. They’d barely spent any time together at all, and that was a problem she could solve.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “Hm, let me check,” her father said, opening up his laptop. Marie leaned against the desk, tense with anticipation as she waited for his response. This was one of the perks of her father being a mage commissioner.

  “It does look like she’s active right now,” he said, “though she’s not on a job.”

  “Then why is she active?” Marie asked, leaning over to get a look at his laptop.

  “I’m not sure,” he said. “It says she’s at a farm…”

  “Oh!” She’d been at a farm the first time they met too, trying to deal with a monster outside of both of their job rankings. A quick peak at the computer screen confirmed it was the same place. Why was she back there? “I’m going to go see what she’s up too.”

  “Have fun, dear,” her father said, looking up from his computer and flashing a smile. “Will you still be able to make it home for dinner?”

  “I wouldn’t miss it,” Marie assured him before taking off. She raced through the building, gracefully sliding around people in the halls and on the stairs until she hit the lobby. She waved at Mrs. Oscar, a woman she’d known practically all her life, and slipped out the double front doors.

  The moment her feet touched the sidewalk, she transformed. Swan wings unfolded from her back. Her drone lifted out of them, flying out ahead of her as she lifted off the ground and sped toward the farm.

  It didn’t take long for her to reach the farm and spot Gadget down below, and Marie froze. It should have been easy to dive down, see what the girl was doing and if Marie could tag along, but she couldn’t. Because Gadget wasn’t alone.

  Luc was with someone. A boy, by the looks of it. That wasn’t her boyfriend, was it?

  Not that it mattered, of course.

  Marie didn’t care.

  But perhaps she would wait and see before going down there.

  She lingered above the treetops of the apple orchard, wings beating silently as she watched them talk.

  At this distance, she couldn’t hear what they were talking about. If she moved any closer, they’d probably notice her, but perhaps she could risk it.

  She didn’t get a chance before the imp sprang out of the grass, lunging straight at the little open-topped vehicle.

  Gadget jumped into action immediately, swatting the thing away and leaping out of the vehicle in one swift motion. She kicked the little creature out of the road, sending it flying into the grass before turning her attention back to the boy in the car.

  Luc didn’t see as the imp started to climb back up the hill, but Marie did, and she swooped down to intercept it.

  The imp didn’t stand a chance as Marie landed and threw a punch, the magic-fueled force rippling through her body enough to send the thing into pieces before it vanished back into the ether.

  It caught her off guard for a moment before she shook the feeling off, refusing to let it stun her in front of Gadget. Gadget never lost her cool, and Marie couldn’t either.

  “I thought your whole thing was being prepared, Gadget?” Marie asked, turning to face her with a grin. All the while, her heart beat like it wanted to jump out of her chest.

  What is she going to say?

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” Luc snapped, without a hint of humor or excitement in her voice. Marie’s wings wilted at the tone, tucking in around her as she sucked in a breath. “There’s no job for you to try and steal this time.”

  Marie stared at her for a moment, trying to work out Luc’s tone. Was this just a part of the game? The rivalry they’d both been feeding into?

  “I don’t remember stealing any job,” Marie said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Just saving your ass. Twice now, actually.”

  Luc opened her mouth but before she could speak, the boy jumped in.

  “Thanks for that,” he said. “Though I’m pretty sure Luc could have dealt with that… weird bug.”

  “Imp,” Marie and Luc both said together.

  His eyebrows drew together, nose wrinkling. “The fuck is an imp?”

  “It—doesn’t matter,” Luc said, crossing her arms over her chest and climbing back into her seat. “And I would have dealt with it, if you hadn’t jumped in.”

  “Be prepared next time,” Marie said with a shrug. “I find it kind of surprising you don’t have any tools on you.”

  “Well, some of us don’t have money to just throw around,” Luc said. “What are you doing here?”

  “I wanted to see if I could make myself useful,” Marie said. “After all, being a magical girl is all about helping the community.”

  “I’m well aware. I actually help my community. You, on the other hand—”

  “Actually, we’d be happy to have your help!” the boy jumped in. “You’re strong, aren’t you? It would be nice to be able to fix the fence and clean up the orchard before my parents get home.”

  “Happy to help!” Marie said, jumping in before Luc could push her away again.

  “Awesome! Hop in.”

  The boy motioned to the bed of the vehicle, ignoring Luc’s pointed glare. Marie ignored it in kind, flapping over and landing in the back before he took off, speeding back toward the farmhouse.

  A nearly matching pair met them as they parked out front, one that Marie recognized from the day before.

  “Oh! Marie, what are you doing here?”

  Marie blinked, caught off guard for a moment. She didn’t remember ever actually introducing herself to anyone. “How do you know my name?”

  “Oh, I recognized you from Mercy West,” the boy said. “Sorry, probably seems weird. I’m Tobias, you know Luc, and that’s my girlfriend Maisey and her brother Mason.”

  “Hi.” Mason waved as Tobias motioned at him before tucking his hands back into his pockets. “Does this mean you don’t actually need more help?”

  “Absolutely not,” Maisey said, snagging him before he could walk away. “We’re going to need all hands on deck to clean up the farm and help Luc shield it.”

  Marie tried to make eye contact with Luc as the girl looked anywhere but her.

  She couldn’t ignore her forever, and Marie would make her see that.

  She clapped her hands together. “Where do we start?”