I Was a Teenage Necromancer

Chapter 11-Midnight Run

"So, ahh...how you kids holding up?" Cross asked nervously. Comforting children...this was not her department. Comforting anybody wasn't her forte to begin with. Go out and catch the bad guys, sure. Avenge the fallen, no problem. But emotionally supporting a couple of kids? This was the type of thing she usually delegated to somebody else.

"I'm okay." Amber said in a small voice that said she very much wasn't. Scott, meanwhile, was almost beside himself.

"...who do they take me for?! I mean, yeah I can't throw fireballs or turn knives into snake monsters, but I can resurrect the dead! Only necromancy can do that! Urg." He put his head between his knees and breathed deeply to avoid hyperventilating. "Crap. This is not good. I can't do this. What made me think I could stop them? I'm gonna fry. I'm gonna get everyone fried..." Amber began to sniffle again. Between her bawling her eyes out every five minutes and Scott's incessant stream of consciousness muttering, Cross was at the end of her rope. Amber began sobbing.

"Lousy, rotten, no good magic books, why the hell does she have one...this is nuts. The daemons are going to invade, and I can't stop it..."

"Enough!" Cross roared, and slammed on the brakes. They both stared at her. "I have had it with this crap! I do not tolerate this within my officers, I will not tolerate it from you two!" They leaned back and tried to make themselves smaller.

"But-" Scott started.

"No." Cross cut him off with a glare, then took a breath to collect herself. "Listen, I know this is a tough situation. If I had any choice at all, you wouldn't be involved in this. But as it stands, you're the only two I can really count on right now, so I need you to focus and have your breakdowns later.

"Amber." The ghost girl flinched when Cross turned to her, and she tried to soften her gaze. "Your friend betrayed you. That's terrible, and I sympathize. But she did more than that. She's betraying humanity, and she needs to be stopped. I need you to be brave and stand up to her, for us and yourself. Hell, you get to avenge your own death. If that's no motivation, I don't know what is."

"But...she was my best friend." Amber said sorrowfully.

"So?" Cross raised an eyebrow. "Just because you've lost your friends now doesn't mean you'll never make any more. You're in high school. I forgot half of my old friends at our reunion. Don't treat losing your friends like the end of the world. Having people you can count on is great, yeah, you couldn't get through life without 'em. But if they were the sole reason for your existence...that's not fair to them. Or you. Besides, you've still got me and this guy pulling for you." she said, pointing a thumb at Scott. Amber smiled softly.

"Yeah. I guess I couldn't ask for more than that."

"And you." Cross rounded on Scott. "Calm down. It's not your fault this's happening. You need to pull it together and work with us so we can get through this. We can do this. Listen, we're low on options at this point. Do you know what a bug-out bag is?" He sullenly shook his head. "It's a bag that Special Forces agents have, containing everything they need to survive on the run for awhile. I want you to go home and get one ready. Pack everything you'll think you need, nothing more: extra pair of clothes, toothbrush, any cash you can get together, anything you need for your magic stuff. Keep your cell phone with you, but I can get you a new one, they can be tracked. If worst comes to worst and we fail-" her knuckles went white on the steering wheel "-we need to get out. The girls don't seem like they want to hurt the populace, so the people who know the most about this need to be able to inform others about the situation, and you're the only one who can actually prove this stuff really exists. I don't see them gunning for us tonight, so you should try to get some rest now, while you can. I know it'll hurt to say goodbye to your family, but if you want to save them you'll do what it takes. I can let you guys stay at my place in Nahumville, but we'll have to scram soon. Unless you think we have a chance at stopping them here?" she asked, hoping against hope he had a spell to make it all better.