Emery was bouncing on her heels as they made it to her favorite back lot. The old beaten up trash cans had been replaced with shiny new ones. Those would be a lot of fun to play with.

“Battle Aurora, activate,” Emery declared, her staff and outfit materializing around her. She’d had time during recovery to find a name for her powers.

Spinning around in her bubble dress, she told Keaton, “This is where I do all my practicing! This is so exciting! I can’t believe we’re going to actually train together!”

“I’ve never actually seen your powers in action,” Keaton reminded her. “Only on shaky video footage.”

“Yeah, we really need our own camera teams. Carina, is that something the bureau can do?”

Carina explained, “The bureau does keep internal records of fights for analytic purposes, but it’s closer to holograms than any technology you have and the bureau has no interest in disseminating that info.”

“Shame, really.”

“Wolf,” Carina said, “since you don’t have the training I do, I’ll take point on this one.”

“Alright.”

Keaton looked down at his buckler shield and asked, “So, how do I use my powers?”

“Mostly on instinct,” Carina explained. “Close your eyes, center yourself. Funnel energy into your… weapon… and feel the way it wants to manifest.”

Keaton took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

“Try to aim for the trash can,” Emery said very helpfully.

The buckler started to glow a little, starting with the tiny inscribed shapes before progressing to the whole thing. Emery had to shield her eyes. After a moment, the light shot out in a burst and hit the bin, knocking it into the air.

They tried a few more times. It always seemed to take a moment for the energy to actually fire. As far as weapons go, it felt a little lackluster.

“We should spar,” Emery said. “If you’re going to fight, I kind of want to see how well you do. And I need a bit of practice as well. I’m a little out of shape after my vacation.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t. I trust you.” She grinned. “Besides, we heal quickly.”

Keaton chewed on his tongue for a second, then nodded.

They took positions on opposite ends of the back lot, their pixie companions sitting off to the side. Keaton was moving around, trying to stay loose. Emery twirled her staff in her hands.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Ready.”

Emery fired a red lance, aiming at his flank. With an almost supernatural grace, Keaton swiped with his arm. The buckler absorbed the blow, glowing slightly for a moment before it dissipated. A yellow swipe was next. Keaton positioned his shield in front of him, but the blow was enough to send him staggering back for a few steps.

He tried to return fire with a concussive blast, but Emery was able to sidestep it and cut the distance between them easily. She created a green ax around her staff and swung it at Keaton. It bounced off the shield and Keaton took a few steps back. Keaton tried to ready another blast of energy, but indigo light wrapped around his ankles and pulled him into the air. Emery readied her staff to swing at Keaton’s unarmored side.

Then she was there, a few steps ahead of herself. A translucent figure of Emery was swinging at Keaton. She stepped forward and followed through with the attack, eyes wide in surprise, but Keaton was able to twist himself in the air and block the hit.

“What was that!?” Emery asked, letting Keaton down slowly.

“I don’t know, but it was cool!”

Emery stretched and took a deep breath.

“That took more energy out of me than I thought it would,” she admitted. “I’m a little winded.”

“Emery…”

The shield had begun to shift, becoming the image of a half moon instead of the sun. The moon waxed a little, growing slightly more full, and Emery blinked in surprise. She felt completely refreshed.

“How did you do that?” she asked. “I feel great.”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I just wanted you to feel better and it happened automatically.”

“Curious,” Carina said, floating over with Wolf. “It’s not just sun powers, then.”

A chirping sound caught Emery’s attention. She pulled out her phone. There was an alert: a planar invader had been spotted in town. In her old high school, no less.

“Are we going?” Wolf asked. “That isn’t far, right?”

Carina shook her head and insisted, “Someone else will handle it. You two need more practice to get into top shape.”

“Still,” Emery said, “we should go just in case they need backup.”

Wolf cried out, pumping his fist into the air, and exclaimed, “I am so ready for this!”

The only thing anyone needed to know about Hoover Preparatory was that the whole campus was surrounded by a high stone wall that prevented any undesirables from even gazing upon the school. The magical defenders simply phased through the front gates with help from their pixies. It was a little surreal to be walking down the halls again.

“The invader is definitely in that direction,” Carina said, pointing down the east wing. “We seem to be the first one’s here. Emery, are you okay?”

Emery shivered, goosebumps all across her body.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she lied, turning away from the school’s logo embedded in the floor tiles. “If nobody’s here, we should probably move in closer.”

“We need to be cautious,” Carina warned.

“We should probably try to prevent more collateral damage than necessary,” Keaton said. “As much as I’m not a fan of this place, if the school is wrecked it’ll make life difficult for a lot of people.”

Wolf nodded, adding, “We’ll just contain the problem until someone else shows up.”

They ran, getting closer to the growing sound of chaos. When they turned a corner, everyone skidded to a stop. The creature was clearly too big for this hallway. A mass of black feathers and a long straight beak turned to face them, its six limbs and long claws smashing into the lockers on either side of the wall. Two large, feathery wings struggled to fit into the remaining space.

It let out a deafening bellow and started crawling toward them.

“Carina, any idea what we’re up against!?” Emery asked, turning and dragging Keaton away by the hand.

“It’s… uh… It’s… uh… A Guilty Talon!” Carina cried. “Sharp beak, sharp prehensile tongue, and—no surprises here—really sharp talons! Water is like acid to it!”

“There’s a pool building we can lure it into!” Keaton suggested, and Emery nodded before turning down a different hallway.

They were followed by a cacophony the entire way. The school was going to be completely trashed by the time they were done. When the two burst into the pool room, they went in opposite directions.

“Stay back!” Emery told Keaton. “Provide cover fire.”

The Guilty Talon burst into the room with a roar, its long snakelike tongue writhing wildly. Emery fired a few shots its way, singing its feathers and getting its attention. It started to lumber after her just as Keaton launched his own energy blast, colliding with the creature’s head.

It took all of Emery’s focus to duck out of the way of the creature’s many talons. Three or four came for her at once. Any moment where her shield was up was a moment where she wasn’t fighting back. The Guilty Talon brought its beak down hard against the shield, cracking and piercing it just a little. The occasional blast from Keaton bothered the creature, but not enough for it to take its attention away from her.

Emery was already breathing a little heavily. If she could just knock the monster into the pool, this would be all over. But how was she supposed to—

Keaton was running around the pool, coming at the creature.

“Keaton, no!” Emery cried, jumping back away from the Guilty Talon. “Stay back.”

Instead, he raised a fist and slammed it into the creature’s hindmost leg. It squawked in surprise and pain as a solid crunch rang through the air. Keaton followed up by a swift stomp on the monster’s claw. When it swung around, swiping at him with another large claw, Keaton’s little shield somehow managed to deflect it.

The buckler shifted to its lunar side and the area around Keaton grew dark. Emery’s heart seized up and her breath stopped. It was here! Night Terror was here!

“Keaton!” she cried, but he jumped back out of the shadows with ease before they dissipated.

The Guilty Talon was searching everywhere for Keaton. By the time it had seen him, he’d already switched to the solar side. A specter of the creature appeared, halfway into an attack with its beak. Emery saw her opportunity and fired a red lance. When the creature attacked, it moved too fast for Emery to follow, but the beak bounced harmlessly off the shield just before the red lance hit it in the eye.

The creature croaked and squawked, throwing its weight around blindly. Emery focused on the water in the pool and tried to move it with her indigo light. A patch of the water started to glow a dark blue, but only bubbled indignantly. She could only manipulate solid objects.

Instead, Emery shifted to green light, creating a long hose half in the water. Focusing her energy through her staff, Emery squeezed the hose. The spray came out as a lance of water that knocked the creature off balance and into the wall, where it began to shriek. Its feathers started to fall off, smoking and fizzing.

Using the distraction, Keaton brought his fist down on the creature’s beak with a heavy thwack. A crack spread out across the beak. The creature thrashed and Keaton was forced back. The long tongue snaked out like a rope, wrapping itself around Keaton and squeezing.

“Keaton!”

Emery started running over, but her movements slowed, her breath slowed, and the creature slowed. Then, suddenly, everything but Emery was moving in reverse. Keaton was free from the creature. Time returned to normal and Keaton ducked out of the way just in time to avoid the creature’s tongue.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Emery cried, releasing a yellow slice that cut up the monster’s slithery appendage.

“I don’t know what happened,” Keaton admitted, breathing heavily. “I just panicked and it happened on its own.”

“Do you think you can make time go slower?” Emery asked.

“I can try.”

“Then I have an idea.”

The monster had righted itself. Emery fired an orange blast at its feet, causing it to leap into the air to dodge. Keaton activated the buckler and the creature started to slow. Emery saw her target and raised her weapon, firing another orange blast at the creature’s flank before time returned to normal.

The two collided and the Guilty Talon was knocked to the side. The Guilty Talon landed badly on its legs and crumbled, its whole body falling into the pool. Water went everywhere, flooding the rest of the room.

Emery had to grimace as the creature shrieked and writhed. She stepped back and Keaton covered her eyes before she swatted him away. After a few seconds, the movement stopped and the Guilty Talon started to fade away.

With a sigh, Emery fell to her knees, soaking her dress.

“Hold on, I’ve got you,” Keaton said, kneeling down and placing a hand on her shoulder.

This time, Emery got to watch as the slightly waning moon filled up a little and she felt completely refreshed.

“The moon gets smaller when I reverse time and larger when I recharge people,” he said. “I think the two balance each other out, somehow?”

“Interesting quirk,” Emery said, standing up. “How about we head to the Silver Saucer and relax for a bit?”

It was getting a little late in the afternoon by the time they got to the cafe. Even in their civilian outfits, people still took notice of the two and their pixie companions. Emery ordered something small before leaning back and folding her arms.

“This was a job well done,” Carina said.

“There was a lot of collateral damage,” Keaton reminded her. “Won’t that be held against us?”

“Probably inevitable given the circumstances,” Wolf said. “Besides, I’ve done paperwork for so many cleanup crews. The bureau will make sure everything is alright.”

Carina asked, “Emery, are you alright? You’re sulking a little bit.”

“I’m not sulking,” she lied.

“What’s wrong?” Keaton asked.

Emery sighed and said, “I’m just… a little disappointed that you seem to be so much more powerful than me already. I thought it was Night Terror holding me back, but I haven’t gotten any stronger since we expelled it.” Her vision was a little blurry. “What am I doing wrong?”

“It’s alright,” Keaton assured her, placing a hand on her arm. “We’ll figure it out. And besides, strong or not I wouldn’t have been able to do any of that without your help.”

“You’re strong enough to fight on your own.”

“Honestly, I’ve always preferred to play support characters.”

Emery nodded and wiped away her tears, admitting, “I am excited that we get to work together from now on. The spotlight isn’t always easy, though.”

Keaton moved his hand to hold hers and assured her, “If we’re working together, it’ll be worth it.”

Heat rose to Emery’s cheeks and she asked, “So… what does this mean for us… as a couple?”

“I don’t know.” To Wolf, Keaton asked, “Is it against regulation or something for us to be dating?”

“Hardly,” Carina said. “Jada and Coraline are basically a couple by this point.”

“So…?” Emery asked.

Keaton said, “I had been hoping that we could wait until this business with Cynthia was over and emotions weren’t so high, but it seems inevitable that we’re going to get together now.”

Emery’s heart leapt.

“Can I kiss you again?” she asked.

“Yes, you can.”

She leaned in and softly pressed her lips against his. How could Emery have ever thought she didn’t want this? Kissing Keaton made everything she’d been through as a magical girl worth it.

When she pulled away, Emery sighed. Cynthia was still out there, and in one more day the magical girls were going to come up with a plan to stop her. Things were coming to a head, and then the greatest source of stress in Emery’s life would be gone.

“So, after Cynthia is dealt with, do you want to go on a date?” she asked.