Chapter 12: 12

Maxine had two things running through her head.

First of all, that look of joy Tori had on her face as soon as that coat became hers. It lit up her entire being. Tori was starry-eyed and sighing, happily, all the way home on the train and even as Maxine walked her to the door and said, "I'll see you some time," with a wink and a douchey salute.

And instead of laughing and calling Maxine a dorky loser, instead Tori turned to look at her with a brilliant smile and said, "Soon," in a happy, breathy voice, eyes heavy lidded.

I could kiss her, Maxine thought, just as Tori stumbled into her flat and slammed the door. And then thought, I guess not.

It was an interesting idea to turn around in her head. A bad idea, but interesting. Tori was good looking in an interesting kind of way, all scarred and sexy, embarrassed by the things she wanted, and fresh off a break up and obviously used to putting up with any kind of crap. Vulnerable in a way that would be easy to take advantage of. Easy to hurt.

Maxine wasn't very good at thinking about consequences, about hurt like that. After all, for her nothing hurt for very long.

But the really big reason it would be a bad idea was that second thing running through the back of her mind, that worry that she really saw someone in the department store who looked like her boss and then didn't, like magic, and what if it really was related to that potential shapeshifter case they took her off.

Maxine swivelled in her computer chair to look at her laptop, her copy of Valour Girls: The Shocking Truth Behind a Reality TV Crime on the desk next to her keyboard, wedged open to the glossy photo section in the middle.

In the past she had looked up all the girls that appeared in their little TV-created magical girl troupe, everyone who so much as auditioned, but she never looked up the villains they were arranged to fight. But now, that old shapeshifting prince was proving hard to find. Not on the electoral roll, not carelessly letting details of his address slip on the internet. All she had to go on were some blurry photos that may or may not be him near a suburban train station she wasn't entirely sure she recognised.

But she had found people in the past with less.

She looked at her phone, then at the book, open to a shiny behind the scenes shot. Sitting still like this was driving her crazy. She slammed the book shut and dialled Tori's number, running straight towards some bad ideas.

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