"It’s been too long since we've eaten here. I'm glad we came." Mr. Harris said. They had decided to dine out for Amber's first meal back. She had slept until three in the afternoon, and hadn't been hungry when she'd awoken. Now though, her stomach was audible.
"Yeah, Le Joyise is the best. But I'm starving. Feels like I haven’t eaten in a month." Her mother sighed, but Amber grinned at her own joke.
"Well, I've decided to splurge. You can order whatever you want." her father said decisively. They were seated and Amber looked at the menu. Despite being ravenous, nothing she saw looked very appetizing to her. It was weird.
Her stomach growled.
"Hmm. I guess I'll start with a salad-" Suddenly, when the waiter opened the door to the kitchen, a tantalizing odor wafted out, a scent that was too enticing to pass up. Her eyes widened and her nostrils flared, trying to drink it in. She rose, as if in a trance.
"Amber honey, what's-" Mrs. Harris said, but Amber was off, shooting into the kitchen faster than anyone could realize. When they caught up to her, the cooks were shouting and Amber was shaking, trembling at the sight of all the raw meat being chopped up, oozing blood and glistening in the light. She licked her lips.
Then, a new smell hit her. The raw meat was tempting, but the new smell was heavenly perfection. She could no more resist the call than the inexorable pull of gravity. She raced through the kitchen and out the rear door.
Her parents followed of course. When they went through, she had disappeared. However, there was movement in a nearby empty dumpster. Amber popped up, savagely gnawing on a half-rotted steak, looking very worried, though not as hungry.
"M-Mom, Dad, I think I'm in trouble.”
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"Okay, all we have to do is cast the spell again, and it should be good." Scott said, checking the design on the floor of the warehouse. Cross stood nearby, this time equipped with a spare set of clothes for Bess.
"Are you sure this will work?" Bess said, eyeing it warily. Scott spread her ashes in the circle.
"He already did it yesterday." Cross said.
"Yeah, everything worked perfectly." Scott said, when Amber burst through the door.
"Scott! Explain!" she thundered, still chewing a strip of green steak. He blinked at her.
"What? What's wrong?"
"What's wrong is I apparently refused a five-course meal at Le Joyise in favor of dumpster diving for rotted meat!" She held up the steak. There was mold on it. "It's delicious! And I feel so much better after eating it! Why am I eating garbage? Why does it taste so good?"
Scott, eyes bugged out in shock, opened the Necronomicon to the page concerning resurrection.
"I don't understand, I did everything perfectly-" He stopped. He turned the page and read it. He turned back. Then slowly, hands shaking, he separated the pages that were stuck together. He read, then took a deep breath.
"Okay. Remain calm. This is easily fixable. Totally my bad, and I am very sorry about this."
"About what?" Amber implored.
"I seem to have...resurrected you as a ghoul."
"WHAT!" she screeched.
"It's a good thing we found this out before I revived Bess." he muttered, hand on his chin, and the ghost somehow paled.
"So what are you going to do about this?" Amber said, trying to keep calm. Scott considered, then nodded his head.
"We should start dating." he said plainly. Amber's eyebrow twitched.
"And why the hell should we?" she ground out.
"So I can introduce you as my ghoulfriend! Eh? Get it? Eh? Eh?" Eye twitching, Amber reached out and grabbed the nearest blunt object. It happened to be a refrigerator. She hefted it up easily with one arm. "Kidding! Kidding! It was an accident! I'm sorry! I can fix this no prob! Eep!" He let out a squeak as she sighed and brought it down next to him.
"You're lucky you're my friend. And luckier you're the only one who can undo this." Amber said, shaking her head.
"So no smashy?"
"No smashy."
"Good." he sighed.
"But you do get a smack." she said dryly, and lightly smacked him on the shoulder, as she had before, when he deserved it. This time he was launched into the air and hit the ground, the world spinning.
"Wow. You got a good arm." Scott said, dazed, as she rushed over horrified.
"Ohmygosh I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" Cross sighed as the newly minted ghoul fretted worriedly over the necromancer.
"Ugh. Teenagers." she muttered, planting her head in her hand.