An actress in our midst! (web version)

“Well, I was pretty speechless at first because of you being you. But once I calmed down and thought back on it then… I mean, come on! Did you see his ass?”

Jessica glared at her friend. 

“Cody, I swear to god. If you have second thoughts and switch sides at the last moment because of the demon lord’s sexy ass, I’m gonna be royally pissed.”

“What?! Oh, hell no! I’m not that cheap a guy! I’m just saying that I can appreciate a nice ass when I see it!”

Jessica groaned. Why did it feel like the foreshadowing of a really dumb betrayal plot? Ugh, wasn’t she supposed to be relaxing today?

“Oh, hey. We’re here,” Cody said, pointing at Nicole’s house.

They approached the door and rang the bell. It didn’t take long for the sound of footsteps to make it to the other side before the door opened.

“Jessica! Cody!” the red-headed girl on the other side exclaimed with a smile radiating relief. “You’re finally taking a break!”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. it was about time.” Jessica shrugged while grinning at her friend. “Dying from overwork would be pretty dumb. Don’t wanna end up getting a Darwin’s award, after all.”

“Come on in. Everyone else is already here.” Erika stepped aside and ushered the two in.

After taking off their shoes at the entrance, they made their way to the living room, where the two other girls were waiting.

“Heeey! What’s up?” Jessica called out with a wave.

“Hello.” Nicole waved back.

“Ah, it’s our resident workaholic and her caretaker!” Sarah grinned at her from the couch.

“Yeah, yeah! I’m taking a break! You can stop being dramatic already!” Jessica rolled her eyes. 

“Alas!” Cody assumed a dramatic position with the back of his hand on his forehead and his eyes closed. “My mistress nearly died to the horrible beast known as overwork! I thank you, three great fairies, for banishing the beast!”

A round of giggles followed.

“I’m glad you seem totally fine. Erika over there was panicking like a headless chicken,” Sarah pointed at her friend.

“Oh?” Jessica’s eyebrow rose.

“No, I wasn’t!” Erika’s cheeks tinted red. “I was just worried! You kinda disappeared and barely replied to me after… that happened.”

Jessica pursed her lips, remembering that fight with Hecate. It had happened so fast… She had nearly gotten buried if it wasn’t for Pretty Flame saving her… again. She even momentarily thought she was Erika for some reason. The two were just so similar…

“Yeah, sorry about that! A lot just happened to come up at work. There was one project I wanted to finish as soon as possible.” Jessica shrugged.

“So, it’s done now?” Nicole asked.

“Weeell… technically, it is. But I’m not quite satisfied with it. I’ll still keep working on it when I get back.” Erika’s expression fell. “With breaks this time!” Erika gave a small smile again.

“What is your job, anyway? You seem pretty damn invested in it,” Sarah asked.

“Eeeh, like I said, it’s this jack-of-all-trades kind of assistant position.” Jessica waved her hand dismissively.

Sarah frowned. “Still? I thought you got promoted,” she said before glancing at Cody.

“Well, yeah… I mean… I can’t really tell you much about it. You know how it goes… company secrets. Can’t blab or I’ll break my contract.”

Her position was a company secret? Sarah wasn’t a legal expert or anything, but that seemed like a load of bull. Why was Jessica trying to keep it secret so much?

Before she got a chance to dig any further, Nicole exclaimed, “Anyway! Enough about that. Let’s play!” She walked over to the big TV mounted on the wall, opened up a nearby cabinet, and took out a gaming console, before plugging it in and turning everything on.

Sarah decided to leave the topic be. As suspicious as it felt, Jessica probably had her reasons. It would be rude to keep prodding.

“Alright! What do we have here? Mari’s party? Mari cart?” Jessica said, looking over the available games.

They ended up playing some co-op puzzle game with wormhole guns or something. Jessica was surprised that it supported five players.

And while everyone was having fun, trying to figure out the puzzles, pushing each other into pools of dubious liquids, and high-fiving, Erika felt uneasy all throughout.

After all, this would be the perfect moment for the demons to ruin their collective day once again. They had never attacked near any of their homes, luckily, but it could definitely happen.

And while she was waiting for the other shoe to drop, time went on, puzzles were solved, snacks were eaten, and high-fives were had. They ended up playing more games without any sign of a demon attack happening anywhere.

Eventually, they started up a game for only up to four players.

“Eh, I can take a break. Got more cookies around here?” Jessica asked.

“There’s a few more packages in the upper drawer in the kitchen,” Nicole said while pointing.

“Right, I’ll get some then. Be right back!”

Jessica left the room for the kitchen, still wondering how they managed to spend so long on that one, in hindsight, super easy puzzle.

And then it hit her. She was having fun! With her friends! Without any dumb demon attack happening! And this time, she knew for sure

one wouldn’t happen either! Hecate attacked last time, so it wouldn’t be her again, and the only other general right now was Salem, who was planning an attack next week.

Jessica grinned to herself as she made it to the kitchen. Despite plunging herself into the whole demon business, she had really missed this. When was the last time she could just mess around with her friends? Before the whole double agent shtick. Before her little demon conspiracy. Before her mom died…

Shaking off those thoughts, she brought a chair next to the counters and climbed on top of it to reach the upper drawers. She opened them one by one, searching for the goodies. She eventually found the stash, but not without also finding something else.

A piece of paper tucked at the back of one of them.

“Hmm? What’s this…?”

She stopped when she saw it.

The paper had some strange symbols on it. Now, she didn’t have picture-perfect memory, nor did she remember her own code, but the symbols seemed… eerily familiar. But it couldn’t be, could it? No… why would her coded message even be here?

She eyed the paper in confusion for a good few moments, before reaching out to her magic reserves, lifting a finger up, and directing it to light up–

“Hey, did you fi–”

“Whoa?!?!” Jessica jumped at the sudden voice behind her and inevitably fell off the chair, crashing into the kitchen floor with a thud.

“Jessica?!” Sarah came running to her friend.

“Ooow! Don’t sneak up on me like that!” Jessica glared at Sarah with tears in her eyes.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!”

The commotion brought everyone into the kitchen. There was some panicked yelling, but it seemed like Jessica hadn’t broken anything. Just a painful bruise. 

She spent the rest of the gaming night lying on her stomach, waiting for the pain to fade. Nicole even fetched some herbal ointment to rub on it.

She momentarily remembered the culprit of this situation – the piece of paper – before quickly dismissing it. Why would Nicole have her message anyway? So dumb.