A/N Next chapter's finally here. The easter holidays are coming up so I will try to upload more often then. But in the meantime the uploads will often be quite random because of piles of exam revision and homework.
On a different note this is probably my favourite chapter so far! I've got no idea why because nothing really important happens other than meeting several new(ish) characters. You've met them before but I either didn't put names to them or it was ages ago.
Hope you like this chapter too! And thanks to anyone who favourited, followed or reviewed!
Maisie's POV
As the cracks of sunlight peep through the curtains on the Sunday morning I wake up wearily. I get dressed and pad down the stairs as quietly as I can trying to stifle a yawn. I was up a lot later than normal fighting phantoms. I don't think I made it back until about four.
As I make breakfast I find myself continually glancing towards the door that leads through to the archery barn. A red blush covers my cheeks and I turn away quickly each time. Trying not to reply Jack hugging me yesterday. Telling him I'm a Zombie was supposed to push him away not bring him closer! Admittedly though it was nice to be held though, as if I was the one needed protecting.
The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs jolts me out of my reverie and I turn to look at who's come downstairs. It's Jack and he's holding Jamie in his arms. Upon seeing me Jamie squeals and wriggles in Jacks arms and tries to reach out to me instead. Jack obediently passes him to me which is when I notice that Jack hasn't gotten changed out of his sleepwear yet. Which only consists of a pair of pyjama bottoms. I flush and look away quickly pretending to check the bacon in the oven even though I already know that they need another five minutes before they'll be done.
Another set of footsteps coming down the stairs means that Mr Frost has come down the stairs. He gives us a rushed apology and says that he has to go to some sort of town meeting before disappearing round the door. A couple of moments later he's poked his head around the door and asked me to save him some breakfast. I nod and he disappears again.
Jack sighs. "Another town meeting huh. There's been ever such a lot in the past couple of weeks."
I nod, although not really concentrating as I pull the tray of bacon out with one hand holding Jamie with the other.
"Isn't that hard? To hold Jamie with just one hand. He's quite big now that he's six." Jack asks.
"'Enhanced strength"' I think.
Jack nods in understanding and bends to get some plates for breakfast out of the cupboard.
Soon enough the three of us are digging into bacon sandwiches, a comfortable silence covering the table like a cloth.
After breakfast I grab my purse and head out after saying goodbye to Jack and Jamie to go and buy some food for the next few days.
Outside the sun is shining brightly and the trees offer a welcoming shade. Kyubey jumps off my shoulders to walk along the fencing. Then he stops.
"'This way is shorter"' he says.
I jump on top of the fence to see where Kyubey is saying. It's a back alley, dark and horrible the sort of place any normal person would avoid.
I jump down and set off through the alley with Kyubey right behind me.
Missing the group of teenagers who had just turned round the corner to the street.
Jack POV
I'm checking through the equipment for the archery sessions when I hear someone come through the door. I pick up Jamie who was sat on the floor playing with his Nintendo and hurry through, expecting it to be dad.
Instead Luke, Seth, Tom and Matt, my mates, come through the door and behind them comes Natalie.
"Hey Jack" Seth greets cheerfully.
"We were hoping for another archery session before the contest next week." Luke says shoving Seth out of the way good humouredly.
"Sure" I say "all of you?" I ask glancing over to Natalie. She's never come for archery lessons before.
"Not me" Natalie says quickly. "I was just hanging out in the park not doing much so when Matt said that the guys were coming over here I tagged along for something to do."
I nod in understanding and lead the way through to the storage room to get the bows.
"Hey who's bow is that one?" Tom says after picking up his bow.
"The one with the carvings?" Matt adds heading over to it. "It's really cool"
" Oh, that's Maisie's" I say stretching to reach my own bow.
"Maisie. As in the green weirdo?" Seth says.
I glare at him.
Seth recoils, "sorry mate, I mean Maisie from school."
"Yes it's Maisie's" I reply.
"She does archery?" Luke asks
"Yes" I reply curtly, hoping for a change of topic. I haven't exactly mentioned to them that Maisie's living here for the moment.
"Is she participating in the contest next week?" Tom asks
"Yep" I say.
Seth grimaces "We're going to need to practice then. No way I am Getting beat by a girl."
"Good luck with that" I laugh "You're going have to practice non-stop all week just to get a chance."
"She's that good?" Matt interrupts.
"As good as me" I say with a smile on my face "possibly even better."
"Woah" they all say "You're kidding… right?"
"nope" I say unable to keep myself from laughing at their expressions. "Come on then, might as well practice anyway.
I lead the way out of the storage room and through the to the barn. Natalie is the last to leave, holding Jamie in her arms and she turns around just before exiting to take one last glance at Maisie's bow.
It's fun just to hang out with my mates. I haven't done that in ages because of the exams we had at school. I walk around watching them and correcting them when they go wrong. They can hit the centre of the target on the easy one's but they can't even hit the target at all on the hardest.
Over in the corner Natalie is sat quite happily playing with Jamie and occasionaly looking up to watch one of us make a shot.
The time flies past and when the door leading into the house opens I don't hear the bell. I only notice that Maisie's back when I hear her voice in my mind.
"'Jack where are you? Can you help me unload the shopping? Are you through here?"' and with that the door to the archery barn opens and Maisie walks through.
My mates look up from there archey and look surprised at seeing Maisie with two shopping bags in each hand enter. Maisie looks equally surprised. Kyubey comes up from behind her and I stiffen, wondering if anyone can see him, but as normal he walks right past them and they don't notice. He goes over to Jamie and Natalie and sits back to watch what's going to happen.
"Er, Maisie right? How come you're here?" Matt says, glancing over towards me.
Maisie turns to look at me and at the same time so does everybody else.
"Well Maisie's staying here for a while because of a problem where she was supposed to be staying. I say uneasily wondering how they are going to react.
There's complete silence for a while until, as usual, Seth breaks it. "Cool, can you practice archery with us? Jack says that you're really good but I bet I can beat you!"
A slight frown crosses Maisie's face but she nods and puts down the shopping bags and heads into the storage room.
In a few moments she's back and she stands patiently at the door to the storage room watching for Seth to make his shot. Seth stands at the mid-level targets and takes a shot. It's one of his best and the arrow hits the second circle of the target.
"Well, Maisie try and beat that!" Seth jeers, but it's all in good humour, that's just the sort of person Seth is.
Maisie plucks an arrow out from her quiver and places it against the bow, hooking the notch at the back of the arrow into the bow's string. She lifts the bow and points it straight at Seth before glancing over at me.
"'Don't let them move or this could be dangerous"'
I look over at Seth who fidgeting uneasily. "Stay still" I tell him. Seth sucks in a deep breath and stands as still as a statue.
Maisie, still in her position at the front of the storage cupboard, moves the bow ever so slightly off to the left. Then drawing back the string she fires the arrow, it whizzes past Seth so close that it could have nipped his ear and hits the centre of the target Seth just fired at.
All the boys are gaping at her as she puts her bow down and goes back to pick the shopping up. Before she can get to them though the boys have surrounded her.
"Can you teach me to do that?"
"That was amazing!"
"Do it again"
"I could hear it as it whizzed past my ear!"
I small smile crosses my face at the taken aback expression on Maisie's face.
Soon enough the six of us are all doing archery together, unlike at school where Maisie is mostly ignored, the boys are jostling to get her attention each of them begging her to help them with their archery.
Somehow this is even better than before.
Maisie's POV
I can't believe how fun that was! I don't think that I've had this much fun in well… ever! Just hanging out with… friends. I've had no real friends in years. Now that we finished the archery though I really need to sort out the shopping.
I pick up the four heavy bags with ease and head of to take them through to the kitchen when I hear footsteps behind me. I turn around sharply, surprising Natalie who had been following me.
"I, er, thought you might want some help" she stutters out nervously. I'm not surprised really about the nervousness, I may be a girl and a mute but my emotionless expression that I normal wear gives me that unapproachable aura.
To try and ease her I smile brightly and hold out a hand with a shopping bag. One good thing about being mute – you never have to worry about pleases and thank yous.
Natalie smiles back and puts both hands around the bag and I let go. Natalie stumbles under the weight. I wince, I hadn't wanted to take many bags so I'd stuffed four bags to the point there were really heavy. I pick up the bag Natalie dropped and motion to her to follow me.
Soon enough both Natalie and I are unloading the shopping. There's an eerie silence and I can't exactly break it.
"Do you like Jack?"
The question knocks me out of my thoughts and I hastily turn to face Natalie. She's watching me thoughtfully her ginger hair doesn't seem to suit her shy personality but know I can see that behind her brown eyes that she's a determined character.
But liking Jack…
I've tried to ignore what happened yesterday but any time I think about it a tomato red flush covers my face. The way my heart was pounding so loudly. I hope he didn't notice.
But I'm a Puella Magi. I shouldn't fall in love. Especially as I probably won't live much longer. I almost got myself killed last night, there are simply too many phantoms around. How I wish I had a partner around to help.
I realise Natalie is still waiting for an answer and I shake my head firmly. I mustn't start crushing on Jack.
Natalie glances over at me and raises one eyebrow sceptically at my red face.
"I don't believe you," she stated matter of factly. "But I suppose I can't blame you. After all I fell for him too didn't I?"
I turn to stare at her. I might not have listened to huge amounts of girly gossip over the past few years but I'm pretty certain that you're not supposed to blurt out your feelings to virtual strangers.
"You think that it's weird that I'm saying this don't you?" Natalie said turning towards me with a smile on her face. "Listen, Jack's been the most popular boy at school for years. But until you showed up he never showed any interest in girls. Some of us had begun wondering if was gay. Nearly every girl in our year has asked him out and he's rejected all of them. Then you turn up. Suddenly, Jack's following you around like a puppy dog. I don't hate you ok. But you're a rival."
Natalie grinned "and I'll fight you fair and square for him!" she finished.
Kyubey's POV
I watch interestedly as Natalie chats away to Maisie who is listening to her numbly.
They're talking about love.
The idiot.
She knows that she shouldn't fall in love. I've warned her of the consequences.
There was that girl who saved her crushes life with a wish but when she told him what she was Puella Magi he freaked out and left her. She died shortly after.
There was that other girl too, she died protecting her love from a phantom attack.
There was Sayaka Miki too. She died from the despair at what her wish drove her too.
Never has there been a good outcome of a Puella Magi falling in love.
Natalie though…
She has potential.
A/N Thanks for reading! Please rate and Review.
What do you think of the new characters? And I've pretty much given away who the new Puella Magi is going to be haven't I? But how she becomes one is a dfferent matter... What do you think?
This chapter really came out of nowhere though. You weren't supposed to meet these characters until Maisie went to school. But Natalie insisted on having her entrance earlier. Oh well... I like this chapter so it's fine.