For Love or Magic by Lucy March

the direction Liv had gone, and then leaned forward, speaking in low tones. “He left her a note. Just a note. ‘It’s over. I’m sorry.’ After two years of living together, practically married, he just— poof ! Gone. All his stuff packed and moved out while she was at work. And you’d have never seen it coming. He adored her. You could tell by the way he looked at her, by the way he talked to her. He loved her. I think the agency he worked for called him away.”
    My entire body tensed, and my stomach went south. “Agency?”
    â€œYeah,” Peach said. “He worked for Allied Strategical Forces. It’s like a magical FBI or whatever, have you heard of them?”
    I put on what I hoped was an impassive expression. “Yup.”
    Addie made a face. “Well, then you know that ASF isn’t exactly the good guys, but they’re not as bad as the other one. RIAS, whatever that stands for.”
    â€œRegional Initiative Action Services,” I said automatically, and Stacy raised an eyebrow at me.
    I swallowed. “My father ran RIAS when I was a kid. Before he caused the disaster in Lott’s Cove and had to resign. I’d bet he’s still got a lot of connections, though.”
    â€œOh,” Stacy said coldly. “Great.”
    â€œRegional Initiative Action Services,” Betty huffed. “What does that even mean ?”
    â€œNothing,” I said absently, putting my picked-over brownie on the coffee table. “That’s the point.”
    Addie touched my arm and lowered her voice, glancing in the direction Liv went. “ Whatever about the agencies. Tobias loved Liv. And I don’t mean he liked her a lot. He loved her.”
    â€œLoves,” Stacy corrected gently, and she and Addie shared a dark, worried look. That’s when I realized that they thought he might be dead.
    Addie turned back to me. “I’m sure ASF called him away on some mission and made him write that note. He would never leave her on his own. He just wouldn’t.”
    Maybe he wouldn’t, I thought. Maybe my father came to town and saw an agency guy, especially one from the opposing team, as a threat. Guilt washed over me, not because it was my fault that my father had likely disappeared Liv’s boyfriend, but that I was too much of a coward to voice my suspicions out loud.
    At that moment, Liv walked back into the room, and we all shut up. She had something red and ceramic curled up in her arms like a pet, and at first I wondered how much of a toll Tobias’s leaving had taken on her. She set the thing on the coffee table between us and I studied it. It was … weird. It had obviously been a red mug at one time, because the tail wasn’t a fluffy bump at the back, but rather, formed from the ceramic handle. I was about to say something kind and nonjudgmental, but then the ceramic bunny wagged its tail and I jumped back.
    â€œWhat is that?”
    â€œThat is Gibson,” she said.
    It waggled back and forth as the ceramic nose sniffed at the table, and the ceramic feet shuffled toward me.
    â€œI made him when I first got my magic,” Liv said. “Kind of accidentally. He’s blind and deaf and a little clumsy, but … I don’t know. I just love him, I guess.”
    â€œOh my god,” I breathed as I bent over lower to study the thing. “You have source magic? That’s rare. I’ve never even seen it before.”
    â€œSource magic?” Peach said, looking up from the brownies balancing on her stomach. “What’s source magic?”
    Liv looked at her. “It’s when you can give life to something independent of you.” It appeared Tobias the Agency Guy had been schooling his girlfriend, which was good. At least there was one of them I wouldn’t have to explain everything to. The rest of them, however, were watching me with interest, so I explained a little.
    â€œThere