Luc wasn’t sure how long they stood in the cold as she cried, only that she was freezing when the tears finally stopped. She sucked in a breath, lungs hitching as the tears threatened to start again, even though she’d run dry.

  “Sorry.”

  “Nothing to be sorry for,” Tobias said, running his hands along her arms as she took half a step back. His eyebrows knit together in concern as he stared down at her. She looked away, unable to meet his wet brown eyes. “Are you okay?”

  She moved her head, halfway between a nod and a shake. How could she answer that question? Nothing was okay.

  “Yeah, that’s probably a bad question,” Tobias said, sucking on his teeth. “Let’s go inside. It’s cold out here.”

  Luc nodded and let him lead the way inside. The burst of heat from the front door only made her colder as she realized just how numb she was, her face stinging. Tobias closed the door behind them as she walked through the kitchen, ducking her head as Mama Barnes glanced her way.

  “We’re going upstairs,” Tobias said to his mother, pressing his hand to Luc’s back. “And Luc’s staying for dinner, if that’s okay.”

  “I’m always happy to have Luc for dinner,” Mama Barnes said, her smile clear in her voice as Tobias pushed Luc toward the stairs. She stomped numbly upward, moving for the room she’d stayed in last time before he nudged her toward his own room. With no energy to protest, she stepped inside and dropped onto his bed, tucking her knees up to her chest.

  She pressed her forehead into her knees before sucking in a deep breath. It rattled around in her lungs, hitching before making its way back out.

  The mattress sank as Tobias sat down beside her. “What happened?”

  Luc squeezed her eyes shut. The answer was right there, the fear she’d finally allowed herself to let go, but she couldn’t let it out. Why couldn’t Marie have just told the truth? It wasn’t hard to just stay out of it, let Luc do things on her own without interfering. If she’d just done what she said, none of this would be happening.

  But she’d messed it up too, hadn’t she? Marie hadn’t known the commissioner was paying her, or at least, that’s how she acted. Was that the truth, or just another lie? There was no way to tell with her face.

  If she was telling the truth… Luc had fucked up. Said terrible things she couldn’t take back.

  Not that she wanted to. Marie had lied to her for months, and hadn’t cared enough to ever listen to what Luc wanted.

  “Marie and I are done,” Luc forced out, the words clipped as she tried to keep her voice steady. “She’s been lying to me. She got me the apartment. I haven’t earned any of it.”

  “You have,” Tobias said, the words firm. “No matter what she was meddling with, you’ve been working hard this whole time. You’ve more than earned what you have.”

  Luc lifted her head from her knees, eyes narrowing as she stared at him. “Did you know?”

  “No,” he said with a shake of his head. “I just don’t really see how it matters if she meddled or not.”

  “Because she’s a liar,” Luc said. “She thinks she can just throw money at things to get her way.”

  Tobias nodded slowly even as his eyebrows creased. “Weren’t you being paid to be her rival?”

  “Yeah, but she knew that,” Luc said, even as doubt crept in. It whispered to her, a horrible voice telling her what she’d done was just as unforgivable. She closed her eyes, shutting it out. “Can I stay here? I can’t go back to that apartment, and my mom—”

  Her voice broke, but Tobias didn’t make her finish the sentence. “You can stay,” he said. “Don’t even worry about it.”

  “Thank you.”

  Luc sucked in a deep breath and dried her face, then sat upright. She leaned back against his headboard, resting on it as she stared up the ceiling.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have seen this coming, so I don’t know why I’m crying about it.”

  “How were you supposed to see it coming?”

  “Because everyone just wants to use me for their own ends. Nobody actually loves me, or even really likes me.”

  Her dark thoughts were interrupted by a solid thunk against the side of her head. She looked up in shock as Tobias pulled his hand back from her head.

  “Did you just flick me?” she demanded.

  “Don’t talk about yourself like that,” he scolded. “You’re my friend. I love you, and so many other people do too.”

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  He leaned forward, kissing her in the same spot he’d just flicked.

  “What’s this?” came a voice from the doorway. “In bed together, and you didn’t even invite me?”

  A groan slipped from Luc’s lips as she looked to find Maisey in the doorway, a grin tilted across her face as she stared at them.

  “Now’s not the time,” Tobias said, giving his head a slight shake. “Marie and Luc broke up.”

  The smile dropped as Maisey’s eyes went wide. “They did what? Why?”

  “Because Marie was lying to me,” Luc snapped.

  “Apparently, she paid for Luc’s apartment or something and lied about it,” Tobias offered by way of explanation.

  “Oh, well, she didn’t pay for it,” Maisey said with a wave of her hand.

  Luc stared at her, heartbeat ticking steadily upward even as Tobias let out a groan.

  “Maisey, what did you do?”

  “Well… We just wanted Luc to have somewhere to live, so Marie asked her father if there was anything we could do,” Maisey said. “She’s not paying for the apartment or anything, it really was a job listing. It just wasn’t going to be approved because the city didn’t want to pay anyone to fix up the apartments, but the commissioner made an exception. For you. It’s really not as bad as you think.”

  Luc shook her head, climbing off the bed and walking over to the window. She couldn’t look at her. Maisey too? Was everyone in her life lying to her?

  “Did you really have to meddle like that?” Tobias asked. “You could have just told Luc about the apartment. I’m sure she would have understood.”

  “Would she? No offense, Luc, but it’s not like you’re the most reasonable person when it comes to accepting help.”

  “Because I don’t want your pity!” Luc threw up her hands, unable to keep the words in. “I know what everyone thinks of me. That I’m capable of nothing more than living off of handouts and working dead end jobs. But I’m capable of so much more. So no, I don’t want your handouts, I don’t want your pity. And I don’t need it. I can do it all myself, without help, no matter what anyone else thinks.”

  “Nobody thinks that, Luc,” Tobias said, holding out a hand to keep her from running out of the room. “Do you think that of the people you offer help to?”

  Luc opened her mouth, then shut it again. Tobias and Maisey waited for her answer, and Luc could hardly look at the blonde girl.

  “No,” she said finally.

  “Then turn it around the other way,” Tobias said.

  “We just wanted to help you, that’s all,” Maisey said. “Promise. Marie knew you wouldn’t accept help from anyone, so we arranged something. Is that really that bad?”

  “It sounds like this is all just some big misunderstanding. Talk to Marie, figure it out.”

  Guilt flashed through her mind again. Luc crossed her arms over her chest. “No. I don’t like being lied to.”

  “I’m going to check in with Marie,” Maisey said with a slight shake of her head. “Hopefully she’s being less stupid.”

  She walked out of the room. Tobias followed her to the doorway before turning and glancing at Luc.

  “Just calm down, then try and talk to her,” Tobias said. “Or think about it.”

  He left the room, following Maisey and leaving Luc alone with her thoughts. As the events from dinner flooded back through her mind, she wished he hadn’t.

  ******

  Luc slipped out of the Barnes’s house early in the morning, before the sun rose, and drove back to her apartment before school. No matter what Maisey said about how the apartment was arranged for her, she still expected the commissioner to kick her out somehow. He could, if he wanted. Would he punish her for hurting Marie?

  She could all but kiss her Mage Academy recommendation goodbye. That was fine. She couldn’t imagine going to Mage Academy without Marie. She’d just… stick it out as a magical girl. There was nothing wrong with that.

  At least grade two magical girls made more money, though it would probably end up being about the same as what she made now, once the commissioner’s bonus went away.

  Her body ached as she pulled into the parking lot behind the building, burdened with the weight of everything as she climbed out and headed inside. She didn’t have time to pack everything up now, just to grab a change of clothes for school. Hopefully, the locks hadn’t changed yet.

  Pulling out her keys, Luc found they still worked, and let herself inside. Nothing had been touched, dishes where she’d left them, bed unkempt from her last night with Marie.

  She stuffed the thought aside, refusing to give it ground to stand on. Ignoring the bed, and any lingering ghosts of Marie, she grabbed her things and ducked into the bathroom to change.

  She left the apartment, locking it back with a distant hope that the locks wouldn’t change while she was at school, and made her way back to the car.

  Another car had parked alongside her own, sleek, black, and shiny new. Her steps slowed as she spotted the man waiting for her, his greying hair just visible over the roof of the car.

  Why is the commissioner here?

  Swallowing down the bile rising in the back of her throat, Luc marched forward, each step uneven. At the sound of gravel crunching underfoot, the commissioner turned, and instead of the anger she expected to find, she came face to face with the picture of desperation.

  “Miss Gadget—Luc. I need your help.”

  “You, what?” Luc shook her head, unable to make sense of the words.

  “Marie won’t speak to me. I can’t get her to leave her room. Whatever you want, a higher bonus, a recommendation to Mage Academy, I’ll give it to you if you’ll make up with her.”

  Luc’s heartbeat sped up as she stared at the man. Was he really trying to bribe her to make up with Marie?

  It tempted her for a moment, before disgust reared its head. This sort of thinking, the idea that throwing money at a problem could solve every issue, was exactly how they’d ended up here. Luc didn’t want any part in it anymore, and she wouldn’t lie to Marie. Not again. Even if it didn’t matter anymore.

  “You can’t pay me to make your daughter happy,” Luc said, walking to the car’s front door. “Maybe try something other than throwing money at your problems to make them go away. And I’ll be out of the apartment by tonight.”

  “Don’t bother,” the man murmured, running a hand over his face. “Nobody else wants it.”

  Luc nodded once and slid into her car. She watched the commissioner in her mirrors as she pulled up the street, his head in his hands as he leaned against the car.

  She put him and Marie out of her mind as she pulled onto the street and set a path toward school. That was the only thing she could do. Find a way to move forward, without her.