Bags of candy spent and the night coming to a close, Marie sighed and leaned back against Luc. Everything was right with the world. Halloween had passed without incident, Luc had agreed to let her change her outfit, and there was at least one little girl out there who saw her as a role model.

  It was everything she could have asked for, and more. By far, the best Halloween she’d had in… Ever.

  She tilted her head to the side, letting it fall against Luc’s shoulder. It was a bit uncomfortable, with Luc being several inches shorter, but it gave her a great view of Luc’s eyes. They were grey, which was a bit of a funny color, but they reflected the lights really well, showing off the odd flecks of color hidden in their depths.

  Luc’s eyes flicked downward, squinting around the edges with thought. Marie still hadn’t quite figured out how to read what was behind those eyes, not all the time. Exasperation was clear, but that wasn’t what this was. This expression was softer, more open than usual. Honest, Marie decided. Curious, maybe. “What’s that look for?”

  “Just enjoying my time with you,” Marie said, grinning in anticipation. Sure enough, Luc rolled her eyes, unable to deal with the slightest bit of vulnerability or expression of affection. She was getting better, at least. She didn’t pull away from Marie when she rolled her eyes.

  “This wasn’t a date,” Luc said, glancing away.

  Marie’s eyes left Luc for a moment, skating over the parking lot. Everything was quieting down. There were clumps of older kids trading candy, and younger kids proudly showing off to their parents as they were carted off. All the businesses, families, and churches that had set up their cars to hand out candy were slowly packing away their decorations. There wasn’t a thing out of place.

  “Might as well be,” Marie said. “I told you everything would be quiet.”

  A groan slipped from Luc’s mouth at Marie’s words, their bodies separating. “Why did you have to say that?”

  “What?” Marie laughed. “It’s true!”

  A scream split the night on the other side of the parking lot.

  Marie spun toward the noise, heart slamming into overdrive. That wasn’t the scream of someone who’d just had a lighthearted scare, the type expected on Halloween. There was genuine terror in the tiny voice, and it nearly rooted Marie in place.

  Luc, on the other hand, jumped into action with a curse. She spun on her heel and sprinted before the movement ever stopped, racing toward Mama Barnes’ mini van.

  She vaulted over the table in a display of athletics Marie had never thought she’d see from the girl, landing on the other side and all but diving into the car.

  Luc pulled back out with a crate in hand, promptly dumping its contents onto the still open folding table. She grabbed what looked like a gun and took off, sprinting past Marie, still frozen in place.

  Marie choked down a breath and forced herself to move, catching up with Luc in no time with her enhanced strength. She hated herself for being a step behind. The first time she’d ever heard someone scream in real terror, and she froze, where Luc just jumped in and got to work.

  There was a reason Luc was the better magical girl.

  There was a reason she’d begged the girl to be her rival. Marie just needed to hold up her end of the agreement and prove herself worthy of standing side by side with Magical Girl Gadget.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  She shoved the thoughts aside as they reached the edge of the parking lot, skidding to a halt behind the terrified little girl.

  Marie grabbed the girl under the arms and swung her off the ground and onto her hip while Luc dodged around her. She aimed her tool like a gun, pointing a thick plastic barrel at the creature climbing out of a crack in the earth.

  Light glowed from behind its triangular eyes, flickering inside its open maw. The giant, pumpkin headed creature tilted its head to the side, clearly seeing them despite not having pupils.

  “This is what you get for opening your mouth,” Luc muttered, the words barely audible before she pulled the trigger on her gun.

  A plume of flames shot from the mouth of the gun, lighting up the night and baking the living jack’o’lantern on its spindly, cracked feet. The distinct, buttery scent of baking pumpkin filled the air, followed on its heels by a wave of heat.

  “Oh, shoot—” Marie just barely stopped herself from cursing as she darted away, getting the little girl safely away from the wave of heat. Fire lit up the night behind her as she rushed the girl into the middle of the parking lot, her worried parents waiting with open arms.

  “She’s okay,” Marie said, pressing the girl into her father’s arms. “Just scared, but not hurt.”

  “Thank you,” her mother said, grabbing Marie’s arm and stopping her from racing back to help Luc. Just because they’d only seen one monster didn’t mean there weren’t more, and anything that big wasn’t something they should be dealing with. Anything sentient was grade two or above. Luc and Marie shouldn’t have been dealing with it, but Luc didn’t seem to care about that, and the only thing Marie could do was support her.

  “I don’t know what we’d do without you here,” the father said.

  “That’s why we’re here,” Marie said, fighting the need to be diplomatic as she pulled herself free of the mother. “I’m going to make sure the monster is gone, okay?”

  Marie spun around and sprinted back toward Luc, the roaring flames shooting out of her gun beginning to sputter and spark as though out of fuel.

  “Fuck!” Luc shouted, uncaring of the amount of tiny ears all around as she dropped the gun like it was hot. Sure enough, the plastic began to melt into the concrete. How had Luc managed to hold on so long? “Is it dead?”

  Marie’s eyes must have adjusted before Luc’s, because she saw it first. With limbs smoldering like charcoal, deep, white hot lines cut onto them, and a head so cooked it had begun to shrink and shrivel and turn dark, it climbed to its feet.

  “No,” Marie said, rolling up the long sleeves of her witch’s dress. “But it will be.”

  She leapt forward, putting so much strength into legs it cracked the concrete, and shot off the edge of the parking lot. She landed in the grass with a thud, fist wound all the way back, and let the blow fly.

  The flat of her fingers struck against the molten hot pumpkin head with such force it exploded in a spray of flesh and seeds.

  Marie danced back as the creature dropped, its body crumbling into ash only magic had been holding together. She bit back a yelp of pain, shaking bits of cooked pumpkin off her hand as it continued to burn into her.

  Just how hot had Luc made that flamethrower?

  “That was hot.”

  Marie narrowed her eyes as she stared at her girlfriend. Either it was an intentional joke, or Luc actually thought it was hot when she fought monsters. She really wouldn’t be complaining if that was the case, but she wanted to know for sure. “Was that a pun?”

  Luc shrugged noncommittally as Marie stepped back onto the concrete slab, carefully stepping around the hunk of melting plastic. She had no idea if it was hot enough to melt her shoes, and had no interest in finding out.

  “Now I really want to go check on the jack’o’lanterns at my house,” Marie said, shaking her head. “Who would have seen this coming?”

  “Me,” Luc said, the word flat as she glared up at Marie. “I saw it coming. And then you decided to go and open your mouth. This is why we don’t tempt the magic forces.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I can see that now,” Marie said, shooting a glance at the remains of the magical pumpkin. Luc really had warned her not to say anything; was it possible that the creature had only emerged because she said something?

  Probably not. Marie didn’t believe in that sort of thing. But Luc certainly did, and didn’t seem at all happy with Marie about it.

  She set her own beliefs aside and turned her full attention to Luc. “I’m sorry.”

  Luc huffed out a breath, deflating slightly. There wasn’t any anger in her voice when she spoke. “Thank you.”

  “Want to go make out now?”

  “Oh my god, shut up. There are kids around. Don’t you have any sense of decency?”

  In response, Marie swept an arm around Luc and pulled her in close, kissing her shamelessly in front of the crowd.