Cross’s words rang in his head as Scott absently walked into his house, not even seeing the living room on his way to the stairs. What was he going to tell them? A government agency needed his specialized magical knowledge, so could he be excused from the rest of school to help stop the drug trade? Yeah, not happening.

“Eh-hem.” his mother coughed, and he was jolted out of his reverie.

“Huh? Hi.” His parents were standing in the living room.

“Scott, welcome back, my loving son. Have a seat.” His father motioned to the couch. Scott gulped. This couldn’t be good.

“Scott, we met with Mrs. Talbot today. She was concerned with your performance during class.” Rebecca said.

“I’m sorry, I can do better I know it!” he blurted out. His mom shook her head.

“That’s not what she called us in for. She said she was working on some Copenhagen quantum theory equation or something a couple of weeks ago, and you managed to solve it.”

“Huh? Yeah” he said cluelessly, not even remembering. His parents smiled.

“She said it was unsolvable, she sent it to the university and they’re very excited. How’d you manage to get so good in physics?” Dan said.

“But honey, why didn’t you tell us you were so advanced? Why’d you hide your talent? We could’ve helped you, I know there are special schools for this.” Rebecca said.

“Oh. Oh! Uh...” Now it was coming back to him. He thought it was weird that the question wasn’t on a printout, but he’d been too tired to care at the time. ‘Crap! They’re onto me! Well, at least I’ll finally have my genius recognized…wait, no, I don’t wanna draw attention! If they expect me to be some big-shot physicist, I’ll never get anything done. No, wait a minute…’ A lightbulb turned on.

“Well, I kinda didn’t realize it myself at first. I just though class was boring and slow for everyone. I, uh, figured it out when I was thirteen, just been doing enough to get by since.” he said.

“Okay, but why hide it though?” his dad asked. Scott shrugged.

“I guess I didn’t wanna deal with any of the pressure. I’ve seen some of the guys in the advanced prep courses and stuff, they look strung out and like they’ll be bald before they hit thirty. I’d just rather deal with things at my own pace, right? Besides, who’d believe me? I didn’t think the teachers would, that’s for sure.” he said helplessly. ‘Please buy it, please buy it, please-’

“Oh, Scott.” His mother enveloped him in a hug. “You silly. We never would’ve made you do something you didn’t want to do.”

“All the same, it’s not good to let the opportunities this brings just go by, either.” his dad said, glancing at the worn sofa. “I never want to pressure you, but you’ve gotta take all the advantages in the world you can get.”

“Huh. Thanks, you guys. Love you.” He hugged them both and ran up the stairs. “I gotta call Amber, I’ll be down shortly!”

As they watched him go, Dan shook his head.

“So young, and already so whipped.” Scott didn’t hear, because he sprang into his room frantically pulling gout his cell phone, dialing Cross’s number.

“Hey, detective? Or agent or whatever your title is now, I don’t care.” He chuckled at her growling on the other end. “I think I’ve got the perfect solution to the parent problem.” He grinned.

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Unfortunately, not everyone has a good relationship with their family. Even if a child is close to their parents when young, as they grow up and start to discover themselves, that person may not always be compatible with who their relatives became.

“Yun! Get off that stupid box already!” his mother called from the living room. Yun sighed and closed his laptop, getting up slowly to see what she wanted.

“Yes, mother?”

“Hurry up, we’ve got company in an hour! We need to clean, grab a rag and dust!” she said, bristling with cleaning equipment and a face determined to erase every last speck of grime from the apartment.

“But we just cleaned three days ago.” Yun groaned. She whapped him with the duster.

“You mean only three days ago! I’ve said it before, you always have to look and be at your best when dealing with others, no matter what. That applies to you too, young man. A white t-shirt is nothing presentable, go put on your blazer.”

“But it’s nearly summer, mom.” he said. She rounded on him angrily.

“Enough! When I say put on your blazer, you put on your blazer! Now go!”

“But I-” WHAP!

“You don’t talk back to your mother! I worked long and hard to raise you, you show me some respect! Respect! Respect!” she repeated, eyes blazing as she reached up to smack her son’s head and face.

“Ow! Hey! Ow!” His nose started leaking blood, and she relented.

“You are my son, and you will be respectable! Now go to your room and clean yourself up, look sharp! I need you looking good for these people, just shut your mouth and everything will be fine! Kids these days, I swear, no respect for authority or their parents, either…” she muttered darkly, vacuuming. Yun went back to his room, thinking dark thoughts himself and wiping the tears and blood away.

“This’s fine, this’s fine.” he said to himself reassuringly, popping open a small container and dry swallowing a small red pill. He smiled as his brain tingled, something overcoming his mind, mouthing alien words in a forgotten, forbidden language. He reached under his bed and pulled out a ceramic jar, covered in slips of paper with dark brown scribbles on them. He grinned; the pain had been worth it. He eyed a small centipede crawling on his windowsill. With a quick, precise motion, he snatched it up and held it aloft.

“I’d say don’t be scared, but you should be. If you live, life will be hard. There will be nothing but brutality and death from now on.” He twisted the jar’s lid off, and dropped the centipede into the writhing darkness.

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“Well? How’d the tests go?” Agent Crenshaw asked the technician. She shrugged.

“As good as can be expected, I guess. Blood test, CAT scan, toxicology screening, X-ray, basic physical revealed nothing wrong. She’s a healthy sixteen-year-old girl, no prior or current health issues.”

“And the psychological exam?” Crenshaw pressed.

“Again, nothing amiss.” the technician said, handing him the records. “She’s normally happy and upbeat, Dr. Foster theorizes she’s developed mental resilience from hanging around the necromancy kid. Speaking of which, did you see his eyes? Brrr.” she said, shuddering. When people’s eyes glowed in movies it was kinda scary or cool. In real life it was just…unsettling.

“As long as he acts in our interest, I couldn’t care less.” Crenshaw said absently, looking the reports over.

“Well anyway, according to the tests she’s completely human, 100% normal. However, there was one anomaly.”

“Anomaly? What is it?” he asked, eyebrow raised. The technician hesitated.

“It’s…unusual, and we’re not completely sure there’s anything to be excited about in the first place. We found something unusual when examining her blood. Both the red and white cells had a sort of…pattern, I suppose, or a scar. We compared it to the hair and dead tissue samples we acquired, and they had the same mark as well. This’s on all of her cells.” She pulled an enhanced photo from the latter pages. Crenshaw stared at it, an intricate design, or a splotch like a burn mark. It was hard to tell which.

“Hmm. And is this the only thing you could find?”

“Yessir. Every single cell she has bears this mark. I would’ve thought it might be something sinister, but it’s just an area on a membrane. We tested the meter on her and nothing. We believe it’s a scar from the resurrection process. She seems fine otherwise, so there’s no immediate concern, but…”

“It’s always best to be sure. Very well, since there’s no immediate concern, we can hold off on this issue until later, after we’ve dealt with the Taboo issue. Keep an eye on her in any case.” Crenshaw said, nodding.

“Very well, sir. I’ll message her immediately and-”

“Didn’t you hear me? I said we should shelve the issue for now.” he interrupted. She looked at him questioningly.

“Sir?”

“Cross’s report was correct, that girl’s a stabilizing influence on Scott. I’d rather not have to strain their relationship with us right now. Nothing should distract us from this new drug.” he said coldly. “There are millions of lives at stake. I can’t justify the potential uncertainty of one, versus the very real danger of many. This would easily distract both of them, and this is the first magician we have found that’s willing to play ball. Understand?”

“Y-Yessir.” she said, blinking nervously. “I-I’m just a little concerned about safety, for everyone sir.”

“As am I. That’s why we’re going to discuss it-later.” Crenshaw said with finality.

“Yessir.”

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Connor yawned. His parents let him sleep in during summer, but unfortunately it wasn’t quite there yet.

“Two more weeks, just two more weeks.” he chanted as he opened the door to his room with his drink. He’d said goodnight, and he usually got a glass of water before bed. He was about to climb into said bed when he heard a faint tink.

“Huh?” He glanced at the window. It was dark, but he could make out another pebble hitting the glass. “Who’s there?”

“Pssst! Out here! Over here!” a voice whispered form inside.

“Hmm. Not again.” Connor got out of bed and opened his window. The house was a ranch, so he could make out a girl outside of his hedges, illuminated by the streetlight by the sidewalk.

“Hi there! I’m Riley!” she said cheerfully.” Connor was nonplussed.

“Do you have any idea of what time it is? People are trying to sleep here.” She winced.

“Eh, yeah, sorry. It’s just I finally managed to track you down! I got so excited I couldn’t even sleep!” she gushed. “Sorry for waking you, but you have no idea how long I’ve been looking for you!”

“…you have five seconds to explain before I call dad.” Connor said curtly.

“Well you are Connor McLaren, right?” He nodded slowly. “Great! You’re the guy who had that brain tumor last fall that mircallously healed, right?” she asked excitedly.

“Miraculously.” he corrected, “and yeah? So what?”

“So, I read in the article that it was unoperable, right?” she asked.

“‘Inoperable’ is the word you want. And yeah? It got better all of a sudden. Don’t know why, but I’m glad.” And he was about ready to turn away and call for his father when she ran up to the hedges and grabbed the windowsill.

“But that’s a lie, isn’t it? Didn’t that skull guy have something to do with your recovery!?” she asked eagerly, eyes shining.

“W-What? N-No…” Connor said, caught off-guard. She shook her arms and danced excitedly in place, like Christmas come early.

“Yes! You have no idea how long I’ve been trying to find that Necrysis guy! He saved you too, right?”

“Too?” he blinked. She nodded vigorously.

“Yeah! Remember last Halloween?”

“Uh…we went to the town party because trick-or-treating was cancelled?” Connor said, recalling.

“Yup! But guess what? While everyone was at the party, my sister and I got attacked by this scary monster guy who came into our house!” Riley said.

“Jeez!”

“Yeah, it was terrifying! We tried to run out the back way, but there was a buncha zombies out there. The monster found us, but the zombies busted in and dragged him out’n tore him to pieces! IT was the coolest thing I ever saw ever!” she gushed.

“W-Wow.” Connor said.

“Yeah! Then that Necrysis guy showed up, fighting that vampire dude. And he had real zombies on his side! Real zombies! I bet anything he’s the one who saved us. Since you’ve gotten healed, I figure he might have something to do with it, right? I wanna find him, no matter what!”

“Um, okay…but what do you wanna find him for?” Connor asked, feeling a little overwhelmed. How did this girl have so much energy this late at night?

“Because!” she said, practically vibrating in place. “I’m gonna find him and get him to tell me how to make zombies!”

A moment passed. Connor listened to the crickets chirping as he processed what Riley told him.

“You wanna make zombies yourself? Why?”

“Because they’re the coolest! They saved me from the monster, then they went off to find more bad guys to fight! Zombies are awesome! And Necrysis is awesome! I’m gonna be his apprincetess!” Riley declared, as quietly as she could.

“You mean apprentice.”

“Nope! I’m gonna be a princess and an apprentice! An apprincetess!” Connor sighed.

“Well, strange logic, but a strange choice for a personal hero so I guess it works out. I can see where you’re coming from.” he said. He remembered too well the all-consuming numbness that encompassed him when he’d received the diagnosis. His mother in constant tears, his father fighting to be strong, the constant headache, the bleak feeling of merely waiting for oblivion to claim him.

Then, all that torn apart by glowing eyes and a grinning skull.

For good or for ill, he was their savior. The girl in front of him wanted to be just like the one who saved her. And he himself would be lying if he said he didn’t want to know how that guy had cured his cancer.

“Yeah! So I looked through everything I could get my hands on, but my books, teachers, and the internet weren’t much help. So I tracked you down, and you’re only like three blocks from my house, and I got so excited I couldn’t sleep and now I’m here!” she explained in a rush. “Do you know anything about him? What’d he say to you? How’d he cure a brain tumor? Do you know where he is now?”

“Slow down, one at a time.” Connor said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Sorry, I don’t know who or where he is or how he does his stuff. He threw some black powder on me, my head hurt a lot, and then it got better. Sorry, that’s all I know. They ran off after he cured me.”

“I was hoping to get more than that, but I never play on easy mode anyways! This’s a challenge!” Riley said, folding her arms confidently. “Wait, ‘they?’” Connor nodded.

“Yeah, there was a girl with him. She was blond and in a costume kinda like his, so I guess she was supposed to be an assistant.”

“The plot thickens!” Riley said loudly, making Connor shush her furiously. “Sorry.” she whispered. A light turned on in the living room.

“Cripes, my folks! Listen, I’ll help you find him, tell you everything I know if you leave now, okay?”

“Sure! You go to John Carpenter Elementary too?”

“Class 5-A.

“I’m in 4-C.”

“I’ll look for you at lunch, now go!” Connor shooed her off.

“’Kay!” Grinning wide as a sprite, she took off across the yard and down the street, burning rubber all the way home. She nearly cackled. Finally!