Luc screamed as the huge owl wrapped its talons around her arms and lifted her into the air. Each beat of the bird’s wings brought them higher into the sky, cold air whipping around Luc’s body as her screams disappeared into the night. Nobody would be able to hear her up here. Nobody would be able to rescue her.

  She stopped screaming, breaths coming in short gasps as she struggled against the talons holding her in place. No matter how she writhed against its grip, it didn’t budge. She wasn’t Marie, she didn’t have the strength to burst free from monsters. And even if she was, all breaking free would result in was a fall to her death.

  Marie saw, Luc thought desperately, the only thing she could do. She had to have seen. And if she didn’t…

  If she didn’t, there were other magical girls in town, but how fast would they get to her?

  If they could even find her.

  The town passed by beneath her as the owl circled over the city, casting shadows over the streetlights below, it turned and left the suburbs behind, setting its sights on an empty stretch of highway and deep forest.

  Nobody would ever be able to find her out here. And even if she was able to get away from the owl when it set down, where would she go? She didn’t know her way around the wilderness. She’d never even gone camping.

  She had to do something. Build a beacon. A siren. Something to catch someone’s attention.

  Luc stopped struggling, going limp in the owl’s grip. It continued to fly steadily onward as Luc directed her focus at her pocket space. She’d never try to open it while moving before, and wasn’t certain it would work, but it needed to.

  She imagined it directly ahead of her hand and willed it open. Her open palm landed on the pocket knife she’d dropped in exchange for her raygun, fingers going tight around it before the pocket space closed.

  With one finger, she flicked the blade open and rotated the blade in her hand. Using as much momentum as she could, she jammed the blade into the owl’s foot and prayed it didn’t drop her entirely.

  The owl screeched as the blade sunk into its foot, pulling back sharply away from her. The other foot continued to hold on, and the entire weight of her body slammed onto her shoulder as the thing’s grip kept her from falling.

  Something in her shoulder screamed, and Luc grit her teeth against the pained shout threatening to leave her lips. Pain didn’t matter, not until this was all over.

  Pushing past it, Luc’s free hand dropped to her utility belt and pulled out her flashlight. It wasn’t strong enough to catch anyone’s attention, not yet, but she could fix that.

  Handing it off to her confined hand, she fished into her utility belt again, pulling out spare pieces she could use to power up the flashlight.

  Each wing beat jolted her as she began to work on the flashlight, desperately struggling not to drop anything. Teeth gritted, the managed to screw everything back together, and instead of switching it on, forced every bit of magic she could grasp into it.

  The beam lit up the night sky, shining out like the darkness itself had split to reveal the power of the sun.

  Luc breathed out a sigh of relief. Someone had to be able to see her now.

  ******

  Marie flew above town in search for Luc, debating going back to the school despite knowing she wouldn’t be there, when a light split the sky in the distance.

  Luc.

  Marie took off toward the light without a second thought. If anyone could build a light like that, it was Luc, she had no doubts.

  She pushed herself faster than she’d even flown before, the wings at her back straining as she willed them faster and faster. The wings weren’t meant to go this fast, but she’d deal with the consequences of that later.

  She had to get to Luc.

  The massive owl continued to fly toward the forest as Marie closed in, squinting against the beam of light. It swung to the right, and she got her first look at Luc and the relief that filled her face as their eyes met.

  Her stomach fluttered as Luc smiled.

  The corners of her lips switched to return the expression before she locked it down. She was here to rescue Luc, and nothing else.

  “Be ready for me to catch you!” Marie shouted, and broke off from the owl. She flew to the right, swooping around and angling to come at the owl from the side.

  It glanced her way as she came in fast, barely managing to turn its body before she slammed into it with her first punch.

  It screeched and rocked to the side at the force of her blow, wings sending huge gusts of wind at her as it tried to right itself.

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  She punched again, this time striking the side of its face and shattering the hard bone of its beak.

  Luc screamed as it released her.

  Marie let herself drop, folding her wings up to her back and plummeting fast. The air whipped past her as she dropped, forcing tears to her eyes as she looked around for Luc.

  The owl swooped down after them.

  Luc flailed as she fell. Marie shot after her, tightening her body and turning herself into a bullet as she shot toward her ex.

  Their bodies slammed together, knocking all the air from Marie’s lungs as she wrapped her arms around Luc. Her wings popped open, rocketing them both upward as the owl shot past them. It slammed into the treeline below with a snap and crack of bones and wood.

  Not trusting that the thing wouldn’t somehow pick itself up and come after them, Marie turned and flew back toward town. Her wings began to whine under the weight of them both.

  “Marie?”

  She grew tense at Luc’s voice, refusing to respond.

  “That’s your wings, right? Set down, let me take a look at them.”

  She hesitated, wing beats slowing. There was a fight to get back to at the school, but she couldn’t fly all the way there on her wings like this. Luc could fix them, and they could both get to the fight. She just had to make it through a few more minutes without talking to Luc.

  She set down near the edge of town, landing in the parking lot of a church, empty at the late hour. She opened her arms, releasing Luc, the girl slowly unfolding herself from Marie’s body.

  The moment Luc let her go, she took a step back, turning away from her and pulling the wings off her back. She couldn’t stand here and look at Luc, not when it would be too easy to fall back into old patterns when they were a team.

  Luc took the wing backpack from Marie’s hands and dropped into a crouch, pulling out her tools to begin her work. Marie watched her from the corner of her eye, and flinched when Luc began to speak.

  “Thank you for coming after me,” Luc said without looking up. “I wasn’t sure you would.”

  Marie bristled, heat flushing her skin. Did Luc really think so little of her? “Just because I stopped being a magical girl doesn’t mean I could just let you die.”

  “That’s—” Luc sucked in a breath. “That’s not what I meant. Just that I didn’t think this plan would actually work.”

  “Plan?” Marie asked, raising an eyebrow.

  Luc winced, gaze flicking up through her hanging bangs to look at Marie. “I wanted to talk to you, and I couldn’t figure out how, but Maisey had a plan… It kind of went off the rails.”

  Marie stared at Luc as her blood pressure steadily rose, a roaring in her ears. “You planned this?”

  “Yes.” Luc sighed, then stood, holding the wings out to her. “These should work now.”

  Marie snatched the wings back, shrugging them on. Willing magic into them, the wings unfolded, flapping easily, the whining gone.

  She turned, lifting her eyes to the sky, wings ready for lift off.

  “I know you don’t want to talk, but will you listen?” Luc asked. “I need to say something.”

  Her voice broke, and Marie wavered. A glance back revealed Luc staring at her intently, pain etched across her face. How could she stare at her like that when she’d never cared?

  “Talk,” Marie forced out.

  “I know I messed up,” Luc started. “And if you never forgive me, I-I will find a way to live with it, but I had to say I’m sorry. I said things I didn’t mean because I was hurt, and I’m sorry. I wish I’d told you that your father was paying me.”

  “And how would that have made a difference?” Marie asked, shaking her head.

  “Because then you’d know that it never made a difference. Not after I got to know you. I hated you at first because you had everything I never could, but you’re so much more than that, Marie. You’re smart, and funny, and an incredible magical girl. Better than me.”

  Marie scoffed, looking away. This was too much. “I’m such a terrible magical girl that my father had to pay you to make me look better.”

  Luc shook her head. “He didn’t need to. Everyone would have seen it the moment you started working. You are the sun, Marie, not the moon. You never needed anyone to make you shine. I’m sorry I made you think otherwise. I wish… I wish that I hadn’t been stupid and selfish and realized what I had before it was too late.”

  Marie fought to keep her face neutral as she stared at Luc, chest heaving. This was everything she wanted to hear, and she wanted to listen. God, she wanted to listen. But she couldn’t.

  “Why should I believe you?”

  Luc opened up her hands, palms empty. “Because I love you, Marie. And I’ve never told anyone that.”

  Something inside Marie cracked at the words, fears that had built up into a shield falling away at the words. Worries that Luc had never cared for her, that everything she’d done had been a lie. None of it was true. Luc loved her.

  Tears welled in her eyes, breaking free from the careful control of her power, the perfection she wielded as a weapon. “I’m sorry too,” Marie choked out. “I shouldn’t have lied to you, or gone behind your back. I love you too.”

  Luc took half a step forward, and Marie closed the distance, Luc’s head tilting back in that familiar way to meet her lips. Her hands found their place on Luc’s back, pulling her in, drinking her up for the first time in weeks.

  She’d missed this.

  Her lips tingled as she pulled back, resting her forehead against Luc’s, unable to stop smiling.

  “Did you really create a monster attack just to get me back?”

  A groan slipped from Luc’s lips at the question, and Marie threw her head back and laughed.

  “You are going to be in so much trouble.”

  ******

  Rainbow Blade streaked down from the sky in her bubble of garish rainbow light, landing with her blade extended inside the football field. Beverly watched her and rolled her eyes. There was a reason Rainbow Blade had never become anything more than a magical girl, while Beverly had gone on to become a mage. No subtlety there, no skill.

  She let the magical girl tackle the low level monsters inside, searching for something far more interesting. Someone had changed the magical charge of the area itself, summoning all these monsters.

  That shouldn’t have been possible.

  Opening up her senses, Beverly allowed them to guide her until she reached a small device at the edge of the field. A metal base, and a glass dome, magic gathered and pulsing inside it. Kneeling down, she ran a finger over the glass, and a tingle ran from her fingertip up her arm.

  With a simple, practiced movement, she cast a spell and cut off the device’s connection to magic. The energy inside it sustained for a moment before crackling and dying, the glass dome itself cracking down the middle.

  That was a disappointment, but easily rectified, she just had to find the one who’d built this.

  Picking the device up, she carried it toward the baby mages they were rescuing from this mess. Either they’d built this, or they knew who had, and Beverly wouldn’t leave until she had answers.