Emery was pacing the back lot, gnawing on her knuckle. A door opened and someone stepped out with a trash bag. They made eye contact as he placed the bag in the dented up trash bin before slipping back inside. Then Emery went back to pacing.

“It’d be nice if there was a more private place for us to practice,” she told Carina.

“At least it’s a nice, central location.”

It wasn’t much longer before they heard footsteps. Coraline and Jada, with their pixies in tow, came walking out of the alley. Huh. Emery was under the impression that Jada didn’t like hanging out with other magical girls.

“Are we the first to arrive?” Coraline asked.

Birch, floating behind her, said, “See? I told you we’d be fine.”

They stood quietly, Emery and Carina on one side and her guests on the other. It was a few more minutes before Liv arrived with her own red pixie. Linette looked annoyed and was mumbling to herself.

“Why are we here?” she demanded, folding her arms. Liv gave her an annoyed poke. “What?”

Emery’s stomach was turning, so Carina explained, “We’re still waiting for Amira.”

From the nearby roof, a magical girl in a flower dress dropped down.

“We’re here,” she said, her pixie clutching her hijab tightly. “This is the first time all of us have been in the same place, actually.” To Jada and Coraline, she said, “Though I did see the footage of the three of you working together.”

“Right, exactly.” Emery clasped her hands together. “That’s actually why I brought everyone here. I want the five of us—”

“Ten of us,” Carina interrupted.

“—to team up. Cynthia Peterson, the dark magical girl I told everyone about: she’s a threat. Now that we know her name, there’s nothing stopping us from tracking her down and taking her out.”

A few people looked away. Others hardened their expression. Amira sighed.

“Look, Emery,” Jada said, “training you is one thing, but magical girls just… our personalities are too big for us to get along like that.”

“Really?” Coraline asked. “After everything you said before?”

“Hold on!” Jada cried, throwing up her hands in defense. “I just meant on a large scale like she’s talking about.”

Thunder asked, “There’s no harm in trying, is there?”

“It used to be much more common,” Carina reminded them.

“There must be a reason it changed, though,” Coraline said. “We weren’t given our powers as a group, we were given them individually. There must be a reason for that.”

Birch pushed out his chest and added, “We’ve all got to be strong enough to stand on our own, anyway. Leaning on each other just invites weakness.”

“No it doesn’t,” Emery insisted. “I’ve gotten a lot better with everyone’s help.”

“You’re going to have to learn to stand on your own feet eventually,” he retorted.

“So what?” Jada asked. “Are you saying that I’m just wasting my time training her?”

Liv waved to get Emery’s attention, then started sighing. Linette translated, “I’m sorry about before, when I still thought that you were a boy. I’m so used to boys demanding special privileges and I was worried that might be the kind of person you were. If I’d known you were a trans girl all along, I would have been more welcoming.”

“Thank you.”

“That being said,” Liv continued. “I agree with the yellow pixie. Teaming up risks only making us weaker. We have to be strong enough to take down any threat individually. That’s what the job requires.”

“It doesn’t have to,” Emery said. “And we don’t have to stay a team. We just have to take down Cynthia. She’s the real threat.”

“If she’s dangerous,” Linette said, no longer translating, “then the strongest magical girl will take her down. Either Amira or, more likely, Liv. Don’t worry about things that don’t concern you, Emery.”

Carina darted forward and butt heads with Linette, growling, “Don’t you speak to her that way!”

“Enough!” Everyone turned to stare at Amira, who glanced upward to her own pixie. “Nellie, what do you think we should do?”

“Oh, um…” Nellie started fidgeting. “Teaming up definitely has its ups and downs. Combining our power levels would allow us to take down nearly any threat. But it also means we can’t stagger our rest periods. And even if it’s only a one-time thing, we don’t know how to balance our attacks off of each other and would need a lot of practice to figure it out. No matter what, it’s a significant time investment if we want it to pay out.”

“And until then,” Amira added, folding her arms, “the strongest of us would have to compromise our own fighting abilities to focus on keeping everyone else safe. I’ve always worked alone and I don’t want other people holding me back like that. Emery—” Emery perked up. “—while you’re stronger now that you know you’re a girl after all, you’re still the weakest out of all of us. You should be the person furthest away from this situation.”

“But I’m the only one who knows anything about her!” Emery whined.

“If she becomes a threat, you can advise, but until then we’ll let the bureau investigate and decide whether someone should act or not.”

She turned and leapt all the way up to a nearby roof. The others watched her go, then Liv and Linette started walking away without another word. Emery’s shoulders drooped.

“We have to work together,” she pleaded.

Liv paused, then signed something to Linette, who translated, “Things will work out, Emery. Don’t worry too much about it.”

She continued walking, leaving Emery and Carina alone with Jada, Coraline, and their pixies.

Jada sighed and said, “I’m sorry that things didn’t work out. I think a short-term team-up might actually work, but I think we need Liv and Amira to pull it off.”

“You heard Liv, though,” Coraline said. “Things will be fine.”

“It’s for the best,” Birch added.

“Disappointing,” Thunder finished.

“I guess we’ll see you later,” Jada said, turning away.

She and Coraline left together. Carina and Emery were on their own. It was a while before either of them spoke.

“Are you okay?” Carina asked.

“Fine,” Emery replied curtly.

“You’re fuming, Emery.”

“Of course I am.” She held out her hand. “Magical girl power, activate!”

Now in her dress and heels, Emery jumped up to the nearest roof and started scanning the horizon.

“Patrol should help us decompress, after that,” Carina agreed, floating up next to her.

“I’m not going on patrol,” Emery replied. “I’m hunting.”

She took off running, Carina in her wake.

“Emery! You can’t do this!” she cried. “You’re not ready.”

“I’m stronger now!” It wasn’t even hard to talk while she ran. “You don’t know what I can do!” She leapt to another roof. “If they don’t want anything to do with me, fine!” Her eyes were stinging and she had to squeeze them shut. “I’ll do it on my own.”

“I’m only telling this because I care about you, Emery, but this can only end bad!”

Emery perched on the edge of the roof and closed her eyes to focus. Cynthia was somewhere in this city. They’d fought before. If she concentrated, Emery might be able to pick up the hint of her magical trail.

“That way,” she said, turning her head a little.

“Emery, don’t—”

She’d already taken off. Carina was only barely able to keep up with her. Emery leapt from rooftop to rooftop, moving at a speed that would have terrified her just a few weeks prior.

When she got to a church, Emery climbed up the jagged steeple and closed her eyes. She could feel a presence coming from her right. Without waiting for Carina to say anything, Emery leapt off the building and hit the ground running.

They ended up just outside a squat, wide gray building. The sign read “Doyle Technology.” This was the place. Cynthia was inside.

“This is reckless,” Carina said, getting right in Emery’s face. “If you go in there—if she’s even in there—you’re going to get yourself killed.”

“No, I won’t,” Emery insisted, pushing her aside and walking through the doors.

“Miss,” a guard said. “Miss—Sir! Sir, you can’t be in here!”

He grabbed for her arm, but Emery just tossed him aside. The guard stumbled but didn’t fall. She took off running before he could call for backup. Emery has a fix on where Cynthia was; all she had to do was drag her out of the building.

Down one hallway, then another. Scientists stared, bewildered by Emery’s presence in their workplace. She didn’t pay them any mind. Carina continued to scold her.

“I am going to go to the bureau,” Carina grunted as she pulled Emery’s collar, “and I am going to demand that they come up with a way for me to shut down your powers temporarily.”

“By then, this will be all over,” Emery assured her, turning and pushing a set of double doors wide open.

“Cynthia!” she cried, scanning the room. “I know you’re in here!”

The scientists at their desks seemed stunned at the sudden outburst. This was a big lab and there were half-finished machines everywhere. There was no telling what Cynthia was here to steal.

“Miss, you can’t—” someone began before the lights cut out.

There was still enough light from the windows to see the swirling mass of shadows in the center of the room. Scientists scrambled for the doors and Emery summoned her staff to light the room, sending a ball of light into the fixtures above and causing them all to burst to life.

From the swirling liquid mass of shadow stepped out Cynthia in her black bouffant dress and boots, her hair in twintails. Emery tightened her grip on her staff. Seeing her again cinched it. This was definitely Cynthia Peterson.

“I was just going to wait until everyone was distracted and snatch what I want,” Cynthia announced, reaching into the shadows and pulling out a black staff similar in shape to Emery’s. “But now, I suppose someone might actually get hurt.”

Scientists were still running for the door.

Emery stepped forward and pointed her staff at Cynthia, demanding, “What are you doing here? What is your plan? What goal could you possibly have to justify this?”

“I suppose it’s time to introduce you to my patron,” Cynthia said, cracking her neck. “It doesn’t have a name, but hails from another dimension.”

Suddenly, Emery was back in her nightmare. For just a moment, the same feeling of dread filled her and she could swear she was back on that empty gray plain. Something was watching her from every direction. She couldn’t breathe.

“Emery.” Carina was tugging on her sleeve. “Let’s go.”

“Night Terror,” Emery said.

“What?” Carina asked just as Cynthia asked, “What was that?”

“This… Night Terror,” she said again. “That’s what it is.”

Cynthia cocked her head to the side for the moment, then shrugged and said, “It’s as good a name as any.”

Emery grit her teeth and charged forward, letting out a primal yell. The lights above her burst and went out, but Emery’s staff was illuminated. She swung, green energy covering the end of her staff in the shape of an ax blade.

“Emery!” Carina cried out in horror.

Cynthia raised her own staff in one hand and slammed it against the blade, shattering it and stopping Emery’s momentum altogether. The vibrations ran up Emery’s arm, threatening to shake the staff right out of her hands.

“You’re stronger,” Cynthia said, raising an eyebrow, “but not strong enough.”

The shadowy mass behind her flattened and stretched all across the floor and up the walls, blocking out the windows. Emery leapt back and fired an orange blast at Cynthia, who blocked with with a sweep of her hand. A red lance shattered against a shield of shadow, and a yellow slash left only a shallow cut in her outfit.

“Emery! We have to leave!” Carina was crying, but it was so far away.

Cynthia gestured toward Emery. Something slammed into Emery from behind, knocking her to the ground and the staff from her hands. The whole room was covered in dark as something ripped at Emery’s outfit and skin. It was tightening itself around her limbs and neck. Through the darkness, Emery could start to see little colored spots.

She gurgled and her body started to glow with light. There was a sizzling sound and some of the shadows loosened, but did not let her get free. Emery struggled, though, the glow from her body growing brighter, and the shadows fizzled more.

With a guttural roar, Emery pulled herself free from the shadows and grabbed her staff. She swung it like a baseball bat at Cynthia, who parried effortlessly with her own weapon. As Emery stopped to take a breath, Cynthia snapped her fingers and something grabbed Emery by the back of the collar, lifting her into the air.

Cynthia stepped forward and slammed her staff into Emery’s stomach. Emery grunted and a bit of vomit filled her mouth. She tried to spit it out, but it only dribbled from her lips.

“What even is your goal?” Cynthia asked. “You’re only a magical girl for the attention. Why do you care what I’m doing?”

The grip released Emery and she hit the ground. It was a struggle to prop herself up by her arms. None of her injuries were healing. Why weren’t they healing?

“Stand up!” Cynthia barked. “Defend yourself!”

Somehow, Emery found the strength to stand. Her staff was limp in her hands. Why was she doing this? She wasn’t a fighter. Cynthia was going to kill her if this continued.

Emery dropped her staff and tried to raise her hands in surrender.

The blow to the head knocked her right to the ground. It was quickly followed by another. Then another.

“You want to know what I’m doing, Emery?” Another blow. “Night Terror gave me this power in exchange for opening a portal to our world.” Another blow. “It wants to reshape everything, to make the world into a place of true equality where everyone is the same and people like me—” Another blow. “—aren’t excluded from power structures like the magical defenders!”

Another burst of pain as the staff slammed into Emery’s skull.

Somehow, she managed to lift her head enough to ask, “You mean… wealthy… cishet…” Every word was torture. “…white girls?”

“I petitioned the bureau to let me become a magical girl and they refused. As if I weren’t worthy. As if I haven’t struggled too.”

Suddenly, a small point of pink light illuminated Cynthia, who had raised the staff high over her head with a scowl on her face. Carina had positioned herself between Cynthia and Emery, her arms spread wide and wings flapping weakly. Slowly, Cynthia lowered the staff.

“I won’t let you hurt—!”

A backhanded smack was enough to send Carina flying away.

Emery cried out, but the most she could do was twitch on the floor.

“No matter,” Cynthia said, pushing a few stray hairs from her face. “I got what I came here for.” Shadows retracted from the walls and windows, letting light into the room as they pulled in around Cynthia. “Don’t make this mistake again.”

The mass of shadows swallowed her, then sank into the ground where it dissolved. Carina was laying still on the ground just a few yards away. Emery tried to move, but every part of her body screamed out in pain. She was stuck, helpless, in a pool of her own blood.