Pink hair and a broken heart

Chapter 19. Hero time

{Location: Halfway up Red gorge}(Seliel's POV)

"Come on." I pull myself up with a funky half army crawl I'm barely making work. I can't leave Crystal Pass alone to the Tigers. I won't fail. I pause for a quick five-second break as the sun comes up. I need the light.

Then I hear screaming. I've got to move. I pull and push myself as Jordan cackles like a madman, "Eat this Crystal." A few gunshots make more people scream, "Where's the fuzz when you need them? Oh right, they're locked in the station." Two more shots, "And where's the Phantom Ninja? He's dead." I'm not. That he's weakness but my strength, "Isn't anyone here brave enough to fight me? You can only fight me if you get a Jade Blade. Like what my co-leader has here."

And it just so happens I have a Jade Blade.

Jordan, you're going down when I get up there.

Through a lot of pain and struggles, I make it around the bend, I try turning into the path without ripping open my stitches. Then a red truck pulls up next to me. "Seliel, I've got you, deary." Mrs. Glad. What's she doing here? She picks me up, gently places me on the passenger side then drives off the road around town. "Please don't be dead."

"Mrs. Glad?" I try shift but I freeze as pain shoots up my nervous system, "How'd you find me?"

She honks her horn and put the pedal to the medal, "I was in the next town's airport, Nathan had a flight."

I sigh. I really wish I had packed pain meds in this thing, "What luck then."

"Yes." She looks at my hand with the Jade Blade. "I see you found your mother's gift."

"You know about this?" I hold it up then regret moving my left hand.

"Yes." A smile flickers over her face, "As mysterious as your Mother was, she wasn't cautious of the smaller people in her life." She hits the break, making me lunge forward. "Sorry. To make a long story short, I overheard her at a lunch date with James so many years ago. I kept my eye on them and when she dropped that very knife, I felt like making trouble. I forged her handwriting, hid the knife and forgot about it."

I look at the thing. Why is it so special that Jordan had Victor drop me then start a riot? I stare at it, hoping that answers come out of nowhere.

Then a cute little squeak catches my attention. Julia's here too? She worms her way onto my lap and looks at the knife like it's a toy, "So pretty."

"Julia," Mrs. Glad sighs as she pulls up to my house, "How'd..never mind. Just help Seliel to the door."

Julia nods, opens the car door and gently leads me to the front door. "Is Victor ok? I haven't seen him."

I can't hurt Victor, Julia would see it and Victor would tell her it's all my fault, "Victor will live. Just stay with Mrs. Glad, k?" I lean on the door post. "Just hide and stay out of the way."

Julia plays with her hair. She stands out with her yellow and pink t-shirt with ponies and shorts, "No."

"No?"

"I don't want to hide." She turns and runs to a pole in my front yard and desperately tries to knock down my helmet. I hobble over and take it down then give it to her. She gives me a toothy smile and places it on my hand, "I want to be a hero like you."

She's so sweet. So innocent. I take the helmet off and get back up, "You know who needs a hero? Mrs. Glad. Can you keep her safely hidden from the bad guys?"

"You mean Sarah?" Julia points to Mrs. Glad, who looks more and more nervous by the second, "Totally."

She scampers off as I hobble back to the front door, "Good girl." I stand in front of the door as I lift my hand to knock. I wait. It's happening again. My world is falling apart. Is there anyone else in the world heroic enough to step in a help? The Ninja? No. They didn't come when the robots did, they didn't come when those weird snake came and now they just won't. In the corner of my mind, some tiny scenario plays out where they swoop in and solve all my problems. I straighten up, "Grow up." I twist the knob and step in. Two people and a ghost come out from various hiding spots and freeze. "I'm back to kick butt."