Chapter 26

“First, let’s put off talking about my organization skills for now.”

PFC Carter drove like a madwoman, angling down the Island Highway and weaving between other cars. I gripped the grab handle above my door, knuckles white, while I talked to my operator.

“Sure, Alice, but it really would help you,” Bentley replied. “Could we schedule that conversation for sometime next week?”

“Uh, yeah, sometime next week is fine. Next, if I ask you to shut off your audio and visual feeds, please do so. Bathrooms, and when I’m asleep, always shut them off.”

“Okay, that’s totally fair. Most Operators follow those rules as a matter of courtesy.”

“Great.”

I screamed as Carter whipped the tiny car between two utility trucks; I could read Johnson Electrical on the side of one as we roared by. She swerved onto Admiral’s Road and slammed the brakes behind a duo of much slower cars.

“I’d also appreciate it if you didn’t interrupt casual conversations unless it’s an emergency. I don’t…I don’t think I mind you riding along with me when I’m with friends, but another Magical Girl told me that her Operator drove her crazy doing that.”

“I can do that. I have a couple of boundary questions to ask you -”

“Shit!” The little car surged forward, passenger tires in the shoulder, and accelerated past the two blocking cars.

“I hate to interrupt, Miss - what was your name?”

“Aaaah! Uh, Luciole!” The car’s tires screeched as she braked and swerved around a truck.

“Miss Luciole. You might want to transform out of your uniform. I’ve done this a few times, and most hospitals don’t really want the press that comes with MGs showing up unannounced.”

That…made a surprising amount of sense. “Bentley, can I do my transformation dance in a car?”

“No. I can perform an Operator-assisted transformation, though. It’s slower. Three minutes, and it’ll cause some heat build-up,” Bentley said.

The car screeched to a stop at a red light. I cringed back from the van less than a meter from our bumper. I breathed deeply. “Okay, do it. We’re three minutes out, right?”

“Yes, Miss. Four, if the van turns at Esquimalt like I think he will.” The engine roared as Carter revved it in neutral.

My appearance started changing to leggings, a sweatshirt, and messy brown hair.

As Carter drove, Bentley talked my ear off. “Alice, we should discuss your class schedule while I have you here. Tomorrow, you have -”

“Whoa!” I rocked back in my seat. The car catapulted across a busy road into a two-lane street, then turned and screeched to a halt in front of a familiar building; Saxe Point Hospital.

“I found a shortcut! We’ll sit here until you’re done transforming,” PFC Carter said. She looked pleased with herself, with a smirk on her face.

“- As I was saying, tomorrow you have your baseline exam. It’s a simulated Emergence in the downtown Victoria district, designed to test how well you respond to pressure and work as a team. It isn’t supposed to be winnable. However, Training Team G-3 Greenwich Village completed all secondary objectives before failing on the primary.”

I finished transforming. “Have your Operator message me when you’re done. I’ll pick you up right here,” Carter said as I closed the door.

“Who was on G-3 Greenwich Village?” I walked toward the hospital doors.

There was a typing sound. “Palace Athene, Nirvana, Elysia, and Eye-Spy. They were, it turned out, overpowered in every way for their scenario. In the afternoon, you’ll create your loading room with me.”

“Thanks, Bentley,” I said.

I checked in on the computer. My visual aug lit up a path in thin blue arrows that led to a set of stairs, down a long hallway, and to a familiar nurse’s station. The duty nurse, the same as a few nights before, glared at me, and I looked at my shoes. “I’m here to visit Sora since it’s okay now.”

She nodded grudgingly. “You know where to go. Her doctor is in there as well.”

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Before she could change her mind, I was fast-walking down the hall.

“Hi, hi, hi! Miss Ito is about ready to sleep, but she said a visitor was coming! I’m Doctor Sunny, and you are?” Sunburst winked at me.

“You, uh, don’t have to pretend, Sunburst. I told her already,” I said. I looked at the Pink Magical Girl. She was drowning in her pink scrubs and lab coat. It looked a lot like when Sora had been smothered by her graduation gown. Suddenly, my throat was tight, and visions of finding Sora flashed in my mind. “How is she? Is she going to be okay? Did we hurt her worse by trying to save her?”

“Why don’t you ashk me yourself?” I looked at the bed, and there she was.

She looked infinitely better than the night we’d snuck down to see her. Her complexion was more colorful, and she smiled. Her words were still slurred but less than they had, and her eyes danced brightly. I went to hug her but held myself back.

“It’sh okay. I’m getting better. Just be gentle, Alish.” Sora set her phone down, a game still running on it, and held her arms up. When I hesitated, she made puppy-dog eyes. “I need hugsh, Alish!”

I glanced at Sunburst questioningly.

“You can hug her. Just be careful around her tummy, you dummy!”

I ran to Sora’s side and, gently this time, gave her neck and shoulders a squeeze. Her return hug was so fierce it almost hurt me. As I pried Sora off of me, Sunburst laughed.

“I’ll let you two catch up for a minute or two. If Miss Ito has to use the bathroom, hit the button on her bed. It’ll signal a nurse to come help. She’ll probably have to use it - just remember it’s your fault!” She stuck out her tongue and skipped through the door.

I grinned sheepishly at Sora as Sunburst left. “Yeeeaah, sorry about that. Bentley, can you turn off your audio? Visual is fine.”

“About the goop Overclock put in me? Thank you both for shaving my life!” She reached out with her hugging arms, waving her hands around. “Gimme gimme!”

“Of course, Alice,” Bentley said at the same time.

I hugged her again, this time letting her latch on and stay. “I really am sorry about everything, Sora. I was downstairs in the gym - oof!” She’d squeezed tight enough to drive air out of my lungs, and I could see her wince from the effort.

“Stop it, Alish, you’re making me shad,” she pouted. “We were fine upshtairs until the shneaky machine shtarted hunting.”

“That’s awful.” I squeezed her back. “So, how did you get up there anyways?”

Sora let me go, her eyes squeezed shut as she remembered. “I got pushed toward the shtairsh, and shome Mack wash in the building. We ran to the shtairwell to get away, and the big machine knocked it down trying to catch ush.”

She started shaking and tearing up, so I rubbed her shoulders until she calmed down. “It’s okay, Sora. Let’s talk about something else. Anything else.”

“Okay,” she sniffled. “What’s Overclock like? I bet she’s really awesome!”

“Awesome? She’s the one who filled you full of QuikClot!” I laughed. “Really, though, she’s pretty no-nonsense most of the time. Maybe even a little angry sometimes. She…she got into a screaming match with my dad.”

“She did?” Sora’s eyes widened. She was the only person I knew who’d heard Dad go off on Claire and me. “I bet that was awful. Did she cry afterward?”

“No. She won.”

“She did not!” Sora laughed. “No one yells harder than your dad. So, what’s being a Magical Girl like? I bet you have so much fun at SHOCKS while I’m stuck here in bed.” Her sarcasm slipped, and I could hear the actual jealousy underneath.

“Uh, no, actually. I’ve only been there for a few hours. There are a few other girls I’m rooming with, but they’re not as cool as you,” I tried to reassure her. She looked me in the eyes before looking down at the lumps in the blanket where her feet were.

“More importantly, why are you a Red? I was supposed to be the Red, and you were supposed to be the Pink. Now I’m going to have to heal when we work together!”

I looked away from her for a second before forcing myself to make eye contact again. I tried to make Mme. Baudelaire’s Boutique sound as dull as I could. “Okay, so there’s this dream place Magical Girls can go. It’s a fancy boutique. I picked out an outfit there, and I got my color at the same time. I guess that’s unusual, though.”

“Show me. Show me now! Do it!” Sora was practically falling out of bed with excitement.

I sighed, spun around twice, waved my hands, then turned the other way and raised them. I wasn’t a show animal. Why was I putting on this show over and over?

Then I saw Sora’s face.

Her eyes had lit up, and she stared at me, completely enraptured. “That’s…so pretty!” She said. “What’s your name?”

Sora, I’m Alice,” I laughed. “I’m still Alice, and I’ll always be Alice. But when I’m in uniform, I’m Luciole. You can’t tell anyone!

Sora mimed locking her mouth and handing the key to me. I giggled, accepted it, and into my hoodie pocket it went.

“Sherioushly, though,” Sora started. She yawned. “I’m sho mad you’re a Red.”

“You could be a Red too. You’re big and strong. You could fight the Macks up close while I use magic from far away. We’d still be a team that way,” I said. I tried to smile, but I could feel the distance between us. It hadn’t been that way before, but even if Sunburst used all her mana daily to heal my friend, she had a long recovery ahead of her.

And then she’d have to get picked and enrolled. I just didn’t see any way she’d be joining me.

And it was clear from her expression that neither did she.

We talked briefly about boys from West End and whether we’d have a replacement graduation, but it was all empty. Just small talk. Eventually, Sora held her stomach. “I’m shorry, Alish, but I have to go.” She pushed the button.

“Okay. I have some classes I have to be in, but I’ll text you tomorrow, first thing!”

“Shoundsh good.” She smiled weakly. “Goodbye, Alish!”

I transformed back and walked through the door as the nurse slid around me and into Sora’s room with an annoyed expression. My augment guided me back down to the first floor. “Jame - Bentley, could you call PFC Carter? I need a ride back to SHOCKS.”