Luc raced toward the Barnes’ farm as fast as her car could handle, gritting her teeth at each red light or stop sign as the phone continued to go off in her pocket. The noise filled the car, something that wouldn’t stop until they reached the farm to deal with the threat.

  Maybe it’s something small, Luc hoped, but doubted it. The way magic kept trying to infest that place, she doubted it would be anything small or easy to deal with. She could only hope that together, they would be enough to deal with the problem.

  Marie sat in the passenger seat, tense and leaning forward as though she might spring out of the car at any moment. Just a week ago, she would have been annoyed at her presence, but now… Well, she was grateful to have Marie along. With Marie’s help, she’d probably have time to build a tool while the more physical magical girl either distracted or fought off whatever beast they found.

  “Do you think it’s another werebat?” Marie asked, her voice strained.

  “No idea.”

  “I hope not. I was really looking forward to being able to go to the harvest festival tomorrow.”

  “You’ll still be able to,” Luc said through gritted teeth. She’d promised Tobias that she’d keep the farm safe through the harvest festival, and she intended to keep that promise. Whatever came after, she’d figure it out, but that was her goal for now. Keep it safe so the Barnes could host their harvest festival.

  “Do you want to go to the festival with me?” Marie blurted out.

  “I already told you I’m going.”

  “No, with me,” Marie said, speaking faster than Luc could get a word in edgewise. “I know we haven’t known each other that long but you’re cute and I think it could be fun?”

  Luc’s grip tightened around the steering wheel as her blood pressure shot up. “You’re asking me out?” she all but shouted. “Now?”

  “Yes?”

  Luc jerked the car onto the Barnes’ dirt road and let out a scream as something huge struck her car and splattered across her windshield.

  “What the fuck!”

  She slammed on the brakes, bracing herself against the steering wheel to keep from slamming into it. Marie yelped at the sudden stop, pitched forward and thrown against the seat belt.

  What the hell did I just hit?

  “You could have just said no,” Marie wheezed, unbuckling the seatbelt as she strained to get air into her lungs.

  “Shut up,” Luc snapped. She turned on the windshield wipers, grimacing as green goo smeared further across the window. It cleared enough for her to see what she’d hit, bile rising in the back of her throat.

  A spider.

  A giant, cat sized spider. One of many creeping and crawling over the landscape.

  They were fucked.

  “Oh my god,” Marie said, her eyes going wide. “That’s disgusting.”

  Luc let off the brake, easing the car forward toward the house and wincing each time she ran over one of the spiders and they popped like a balloon. There were so many of them, some already spinning webs and setting up homes amid the apple trees. Not even the house was safe, with the porch quickly being spun into a massive web. How were the two of them supposed to deal with this by themselves?

  “We might have to call the commission,” Luc heard herself say, mind already racing to come up with some tool that would help. She didn’t have anything that could deal with this many magical beasts. Something of this scale would need more magic than what she could provide on her own. They needed mage tech, not her patched together, makeshift tools.

  “Can’t you do something?” Marie asked.

  Luc shook her head. “Maybe if I had some mage tech, but I don’t—”

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  “But I do,” Marie said, cutting her off. She popped the door open, kicked at a spider as it ran at her, and transformed. In an instant, she stood beside the car as a full magical girl, and pulled out a magic wand. “Can you use this?”

  Luc hesitated, staring at the sparkling pink piece of tech. She didn’t want Marie giving her things, but this was different. It was to protect the farm, something Luc had promised to do.

  “You probably won’t be able to use it after I’m done,” Luc said.

  “That’s fine.” Marie flashed her a smile. “I can always buy another one. Now, please, make something cool. I’m going to buy you some time.”

  She slammed the door shut and took off, sprinting across the yard toward the house first. Luc had half a second to wonder what Marie could possibly do with the power of perfection before she wound back a fist and punched the first spider on the railing. It exploded in a shower of green gore, splattering Marie’s pearlescent white wings and staining her flawless outfit.

  Marie didn’t hesitate before punching the next one, laying into the spiders without a single thought about herself, only the farm they were meant to protect.

  Luc tore her eyes away and climbed out of the car, forcing herself not to look back at Marie as the girl fought like there would be no tomorrow unless she personally destroyed each and every one of those spiders.

  The phone that had stopped ringing the moment they reached the property began to ring again. Luc ignored it. Nothing else mattered but this right now.

  A spider rushed at her as she reached her trunk, skittering on all eight legs. Luc kicked out and connected with the creature’s middle, a hollow thunk echoing out and sending it several feet back. God, just how strong was Marie to destroy these things with single hits?

  Wand in hand, Luc pointed it as the spider as the thing regained its bearing. She’d never funneled her magic through a piece of tech like this before and the feeling was a bit strange, not as smooth as she might have expected. It flowed better through her own creations, her tools responding eagerly to her magic.

  Despite the foreign feeling, the wand did its job.

  Magic shot from its tip, striking the spider like a laser beam and evaporating it from the world.

  Yeah, Luc could definitely use this to help get rid of all these spiders, and maybe even to shield the farm entirely. So long as Marie kept buying her time.

  Luc dug into her trunk, pulling out tools and scraps to piece together with the wand, but her eyes kept darting up to Marie. Watching her work, there wasn’t a hint of the entitled, prideful girl Luc had first taken her to be.

  She knew why she’d hated her at first, but she couldn’t keep that up any longer. Marie was so much more than a useless nepo baby. This, at least, proved that.

  She’s still paying you to be her rival, Luc reminded herself, hands working double time to piece what would hopefully be a shield together. The thought barely had time to register before it drifted away, her eyes once more on Marie’s powerful body as she fought against the infestation of spiders.

  Marie tore and kicked and punched, tearing down pieces of webbing, trapping spiders in their own silk. She was disgusting, covered in spider guts and gore, and she had never been more attractive.

  The last piece fit together and Luc leapt to her feet, cradling the thing desperately in her arms as she searched for somewhere to place it. She needed someplace high, so the shield could reach as far as possible when she turned it on.

  Her eyes landed on the red barn quickly being spun white. She took off toward it before she had a chance to second guess herself, running with the bulky piece of equipment in her arms.

  The movement caught the attention of several spiders and Luc redoubled her effort, doing everything she could to outpace the terrifying creatures and their beady red eyes.

  It wasn’t necessary.

  Marie swooped up behind her on a burst of wind, wings spread as she scooped her hands under Luc’s arms and lifted her into the air.

  “Got you,” Marie said. She wasn’t even breathing hard.

  “Can you get me to the top of the barn?” Luc asked.

  “As you wish.”

  Marie took off, flying through the air as though Luc weighed nothing, shooting to the top of the barn.

  Luc’s feet touched down even as Marie continued to hold on. Luc quickly shoved her off, straddling the line of the roof and placing the machine she’d made. It wasn’t perfect, but it would work. Luc was certain of that.

  With a quick push of magic, it spun to life, pieces of metal she’d torn from a whisk spinning around the wand in the center. For a moment, it looked more like Luc was trying to summon aliens than deal with a bunch of magical spiders, and then the first wave of magic shot from it.

  It was so strong it nearly knocked Luc backwards off the roof, only Marie’s strong arms catching her.

  They watched together as the magic tore across the farm, ripping into webs and spiders alike and tearing them into dust.

  A strangled sigh of relief escaped Luc’s lips as she slumped against Marie’s body, just letting the girl hold her as they sat on the roof and watched the magic wipe away any sign of trouble.

  “Are you okay?” Marie asked.

  A laugh bubbled up from Luc’s chest, manic and full of relief. “I should be asking you that. You absolutely demolished those spiders.”

  Marie shrugged as a bashful smile pulled at her cheeks. “Just doing my job,” she said, slowly loosening her grip on Luc. “I know it’s probably a bad time, but about going to the harvest fest with me…”

  Luc pushed away from the girl, pointedly rolling her eyes. “Let me think about it,” she said, making every effort to keep the burgeoning smile from breaking free across her lips.