“What were you even doing here?! Why didn’t you run away?!” Pretty Spark shouted at Jessica as she sat on the ground.

“Erm… just hanging around? I didn’t think things would explode and stuff…” Jessica replied whilst awkwardly scratching the back of her head.

She felt mortified at how things turned out but did her best not to show it on her face. She had been overconfident and she’d paid the price. Cody had definitely been right about her being way too reckless.

She should probably tell them she was the double agent demon who had left the note for them. But how could she, right after she had screwed up so badly? She would seem like an absolute idiot!

Pretty Flame then gripped Jessica’s shoulders. “Listen here! I know that you probably feel all heroic after last time, but a simple pepper spray won’t always work!”

Despite herself, Jessica grinned. “You remembered me! Awesome!”

That only prompted a glare from her idol.

“Uh… sorry,” Jessica said whilst looking away. Her eyes landed on the little iceberg seal housing Hecate… right next to the giant sinkhole filled with the now dormant obelisks. Frost and Bloom were still hanging around it, checking it.

Well, alright. Maybe messing around with the big scary magic obelisk had been reckless, and nearly killed her, but it had done the job, damn it! One more general down and Jessica could proudly say that she had played an essential role in it!

“Next time, hide and just leave the rest to us, alright?” Flame said, looking into Jessica’s eyes. The genuine concern was evident in her expression. It made Jessica once again regret her participation.

Ah, dammit. That was the reason why Jessica had a crush on her in the first place. Only someone like her would care about every random civilian to such an extent.

“Right… sorry…” Jessica said. Part of her was screaming to tell them about her demon army infiltration, but another part of her wanted to wait for a better moment. It wouldn’t do to come across as an irresponsible idiot rather than a cunning double agent!

“Everything alright?” Bloom asked as she and Frost walked approached, leaving the sealed general behind.

“Yeah, just telling this reckless one off,” Spark said while pointing a thumb back at Jessica.

Bloom nodded to her teammate before turning to the reckless one in question. “Let me heal you then.”

“I’m fine! Just scraped my knee. Not a big deal,” Jessica waved her off.

“Come on now. No need to be shy!” Bloom smiled.

“Errr, alright…” Jessica gave in.

Bloom smiled again and squatted near Jessica to work her magic.

In the meantime, the other magical girls had a discussion off to the side, only barely audible by Jessica.

“So, any idea what happened?” Flame asked.

“Hmm, seemed to me like the magic suddenly malfunctioned. And I think I found the culprit,” Frost said whilst pulling out a tiny diamond-shaped gem. It was pitch black now. “I’m pretty sure this is what disrupted her setup.”

Jessica did her best not to react, but inside, she was shocked. She hadn’t expected the gem to still be intact, much less them to find something so tiny in all the rubble. Also… it had changed color. Had it absorbed that much magic? And without breaking? Jessica’s knowledge was clearly still lacking.

“Huh? Did she mess up? Or did someone else put it there?” Flame wondered.

“Who knows…?” Frost shrugged before leaning in and whispering something to the others.

“Huh…? Really? Here? I didn’t see anyone though?” Spark spoke out loud.

Jessica pretended to wonder what they were talking about. In reality, she already knew they had probably figured out this had been the work of their mysterious double agent demon helper. It just wasn’t quite the time for the reveal yet…

“Jessica,” Flame said as she and Frost approached her. “Have you seen any demon minions around?”

“Uh, no? Doesn’t Hecate mostly work without them?” Jessica said, pretending to be ignorant.

With her injury fixed up, Bloom stood up and joined everyone as they stood in front of Jessica. 

“Well, yes. But we have a suspicion there could have been a stray minion running around here somewhere.”

Jessica shrugged. “Didn’t see anyone,” she said, keeping up the charade.

With every passing moment, that nagging part of her grew stronger though. She really should just tell them. What the heck was she even playing at? She had nearly offed herself this time, what if next time there won’t be anyone to save her from her blunders?

“I see… Well, too bad. Must have missed her,” Frost said with a frown.

A beat passed in silence before Jessica finally made up her mind.

But a moment after she opened her mouth, she stopped in her tracks.

Right there in the background, behind all the magical girls, the iceberg seal stood, holding Hecate. But when Jessica looked at it, something seemed off about it. Hadn’t they just checked on it? Why was–

The snowflake symbol on the iceberg cracked and then shattered into particles of light, prompting everyone to turn around.

“Wha–?!”

A moment later, the whole iceberg burst into pieces, only leaving behind an icy mist.

“Psych!” the familiar childish voice resounded from within the mist. “I’m back! You thought something like this could hold me?!”

“No way! She broke out?!” Frost yelled in shock.

The mist subsided, revealing the princess knight standing there, her demon sword in hand. Other than some scratches and wrinkles on her armor dress, she didn’t seem to be harmed at all.

“Time for round two, magical girls!”

“Crap! Everyone, get ready!” Flame shouted before glancing back at Jessica, who was already fully healed. “And you! Don’t stay around again! Run!”

Jessica was momentarily stunned by the sudden turn of events. “R-right!” But she quickly picked herself up and ran as fast as she could.

It dawned on her that her help amounted to nothing. She had failed.

She clenched her teeth.

Even as she ran, she tried to untangle the jumbled mess her mind had become. Frustration from her failure, shock from nearly getting buried alive, slight glee that Flame genuinely seemed to care about her wellbeing, regret that she hadn’t told them the truth…

Through it all, she began to formulate a new battle plan. She couldn’t do this half-heartedly anymore. Not only could it very well spell her doom the next time she messed up, but also, she didn’t want to disappoint her idols.

It pained her but… This summer, she would have no time to hang around and relax.

This summer, she would fully plunge herself into the role of a double agent demon.

BottledChaos

Next time: "Fifth one!" or "What do you mean this tiny gem is a bigger deal than it seems?"

 

Fun fact: Scribblehub shows the average of ratings only up to one decimal point. So in theory, about 80 five-star ratings would be enough to outweigh 1 one-star rating and make it still display 5.0. Cool, huh? I wonder if that ever happened. Wouldn't that be neat if that happened? I think that would be neat.

Anyway, that aside, here are the usual links to my patreon and discord if you're into that. I hope you have a nice rest of your day! ^^