Marie—Magical Girl Limit—smiled mockingly as Luc’s new friends grouped around her, looking at her like she was the answer to all their problems. Maybe she looked more like a magical girl than Luc did, with her expensive gear and flawless uniform, but that didn’t make her any more competent.

  “Where do we get started?” Marie asked, clapping her hands together.

  “We wanted to fix the fence and clean up the orchard—”

  Luc spun away, marching back toward her car as Tobias began to explain just where Marie could help. Because of course he couldn’t just tell her to go away. He’d accept all the help he could get.

  Just like he’d done with Luc. He wasn’t her friend. None of them were. She was just some magical girl who could help, and clearly Marie could do that better than her. Nobody needed her here.

  “Maisey, can you show Marie the fence? I’ll be right back.”

  Footsteps ran up behind her as she reached her car, swinging the driver’s side door open. He caught up to her as she climbed into the front seat, catching the door with one hand.

  “Hey, where are you going?” he asked.

  “I can’t put a barrier up around the farm so you clearly don’t need me,” Luc said, staring straight ahead. “You have her now so I’m just going to get out of the way.”

  “What are you talking about? She offered to help so I’m letting her. But if you really want her gone, I can tell her to go. I thought it was just part of the game, though.”

  “The game?”

  “The rivalry thing?”

  Right. Because it was all fake, wasn’t it? Or was it. She didn’t know. She couldn’t figure it out.

  She groaned and dropped her head against the steering wheel, screwing her eyes shut. Tobias didn’t move, his shadow a weight over her as she laid there, struggling to sort out her thoughts.

  “You don’t need to worry about the farm, if that’s what you’re stressed about,” Tobias said. “It was never that serious, Luc. Mostly just suggested it because you have issues accepting kindness from others.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  “Yeah, you’re welcome,” Tobias said. “It’s not a big deal, all right? I just wanted to do what I could to keep the farm safe for the harvest festival, but if I have to accept magedom or whatever you call it to do that, I’ll do that.”

  Luc blinked and slowly raised her head off the steering wheel, tilting her head just enough to look at him. “Why don’t you?”

  He shrugged, the movement uncomfortable. “I don’t know. It’s not that I hate the idea of becoming a mage, or whatever, but I’m just not interested in doing that right now. Maybe in the future, but I want to finish school and play sports and I can’t do that if I have magic. I don’t know how you handle all that you do, because I couldn’t.”

  She chuckled. “I’m not sure you could say I’m handling it.”

  “Eh.”

  “Thanks for that vote of confidence.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Hey!” Maisey ran over, joining them at the car. “What are we doing? Are we going somewhere?”

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  Luc stared out the windshield before releasing her grip on the steering wheel. “No,” she sighed. “I’m just… thinking through what we’re going to do to keep the farm safe long enough to get through the harvest festival.”

  “Oh, is that all?”

  Luc tensed as Marie landed on the front of her car, kneeling on the hood.

  She leapt out of her seat. “Get off of my car!”

  “Sorry.” Marie fluttered off, wings tucking themselves to her back as her feet touched the ground. “I couldn’t help but overhear—”

  “—because you were eavesdropping—”

  “—and if your goal is to keep the farm safe, why not just buy a mage security system?” she finished, ignoring Luc’s glare.

  “Because even once you buy one of those, you still have to pay the mage commission,” Tobias said. “And quite frankly, I trust Luc more than I do some rando they might send.”

  Luc’s smile lasted until Marie’s dropped. “But Gadget isn’t ranked for the type of threat we saw the other day.”

  “And you are?” Luc demanded.

  “No,” Marie said without hesitation, shaking her head. “We got lucky.”

  “We didn’t get lucky,” Luc said, crossing her arms over her chest. “If you hadn’t stepped in, I would have dealt with it myself. I’m ready for more, if the commission would ever give me a chance to prove it.”

  “I guess I need to step up my game then,” Marie said, smiling. Luc might have been mistaken, but it looked genuine, her dark brown eyes gleaming with excitement. “Can’t let myself fall behind.”

  “Yeah, because that would be a crime,” Luc muttered, unable to look at her anymore. Every glance the magical girl shot her was full of an intensity Luc didn’t know how to match or handle. She was a blazing sun, and Luc couldn’t stare directly at her unless she wasn’t to go blind. “Why don’t you go help out with the fence like they asked?”

  “Or I could help you.”

  “Not necessary,” Luc said. She slammed the car door shut and walked around to open up the trunk. “I have a plan, and you’re not a part of it.”

  “Ah.” She seemed to wilt, the tips of her wings drooping until they brushed the ground. “I guess I’ll go work on the fence then.”

  Marie turned, trudging away, chin dipping once she no longer faced them.

  “That was a little mean, don’t you think?” Maisey asked.

  “She’ll live.”

  “Now, that was mean.”

  Luc ignored them, digging into her trunk in search of the tools she’d need. She couldn’t think of a way to set up a barrier, but Marie had given her an idea. A barrier may not be possible, but an alarm system certainly was.

  “I do need someone to help me with some strings though,” Luc said, finding what she was looking for. A ball of yarn that she’d bought at a yard sale in a big basket of odds and ends. Five dollars, and a pile of tools she could repurpose.

  “If you needed help, why did you send her away?” Maisey asked. “She could help you.”

  “She can also help you with her super strength.”

  “She could help you with her wings,” Tobias pointed out. “Why are you so insistent on pushing her out? She doesn’t seem bad.”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “No, I’m serious,” Tobias said. “She could help you, wants to help you, and it’s not like you have an abundance of friends.”

  “She’s not my friend. We’re rivals.”

  “There’s a difference between having a rival and having a nemesis,” Maisey said. “She’s not your enemy. Let her help.”

  “You’re not going to let this go, are you? We’re just going to ignore that she’s a job stealing, nepo baby.”

  “So she made a bad first impression. You’re familiar with that.”

  He grinned as Luc shot a glare at him. “I’m just not interested in spending time with her. I’m literally being paid to be her rival. It’s just a job.”

  “I guess.” Maisey shrugged and stared after her. “She just seems kind of lonely.”

  “Not my problem.”

  “You really are mean.”

  Luc opened her mouth to fire off another snarky comment, catching the look on Maisey’s face before she could. Maisey wasn’t amused, wasn’t just playing along like Tobias. She actually thought Luc was being mean.

  “Really? I’m mean? She hasn’t said a single nice word to me—”

  “And you have?” Maisey asked, cutting her off.

  Luc bit down on her tongue. That might be true, but she didn’t want to admit it. It wasn’t like she was purposefully being mean. She just wasn’t required to act like being paid to make Marie look better was her idea of a good time.

  “Fine,” Luc snapped, then raised her voice. “Marie? Do you still want to help?”

  The girl stopped walking, spinning around and lighting up. “Yes!”

  Luc turned to Maisey. “Hope you’re happy now.”

  “Oh, I am. Have fun!”