Book 3: Chapter 12 (1/2)
“In the end, we really spent the night at a stranger’s house,” Alice said with a sigh. She stared out the window, sunlight pouring into her eyes through the gaps between the trees. The skeleton by her side didn’t respond, causing her to frown. She knocked on its skull with her knuckles. “Hey. At least snore when you sleep so I know you’re not dead.”
“What are you talking about?” a voice asked from the doorway leading into the room.
Alice raised her head. A skeleton was leaning against the doorframe with a book in its hands. Alice’s eyes widened before she let out an ear-piercing scream. “What the hell!?” She kicked the skeleton lying beside her, launching it into the wall and causing it to shatter on impact. “Nate! You! What—, gah! Was that a real skeleton!?”
“Uh, no,” Mr. Skelly said as he placed the book onto a nearby table. He used his feet to sweep the broken bones into a neat pile that he shoved into a corner of the room. “Of course not. You must’ve been imagining things.”
Alice’s eyes flashed with a yellow light as the rune on her forehead lit up. Translucent golden fangs sprouted from her mouth as she leapt out of bed, landing on all fours. With a roar, she pounced forward, knocking Mr. Skelly to the ground. A few bone-breaking moments later, Alice’s rune disappeared as she stomped out of the room, leaving behind a disassembled, shattered skeleton.
In the bathroom, which surprisingly had running water, Alice rinsed off her face and dried it with a cloth towel. She stared into the mirror above the sink and sighed. “Am I too harsh on him?” she muttered to her reflection. “He did say fooling people was one of the greatest joys in life for him after becoming an undead…. Ugh. But if he wants to prank someone, why does it have to be me?” She shook her head before taking in a deep breath. “Maybe I should help him start that war he was going on about. But wouldn’t it be wrong to start a war just to please him? Yes, it would. And that’s why you”—she pointed at herself in the mirror—“need to gather evidence of the king’s wrongdoings.”
“Ms. Alice? Who are you talking to?”
Alice flinched as her face flushed red. She scratched her neck as she opened the door to the bathroom. “I was just clearing my throat,” she said to the woman standing outside. By the woman’s side, there was a little girl that had the same face as the little meatball. Alice ruffled the little girl’s hair. “How are you doing? Feeling better?”
The girl shook her head back and forth, her short hair whipping against her cheeks. “The skeleton is scary.”
Alice’s face darkened. “Right? He might look really scary, but he’s actually even scarier once you get to know him as a person. For your own good, you should stay away from him.”
“What? How rude; I’m the definition of a gentleman,” Mr. Skelly said, popping his skull into the hallway from the bedroom doorframe.
The little girl trembled and opened her mouth, bawling out loud as tears fell from the corners of her eyes. She ran into the bathroom and slammed the door shut with a bang. The woman glared at Mr. Skelly before sighing at Alice. “Why don’t you take your companion and go outside for a bit?”
“I’ll do that,” Alice said, speaking towards her feet. She raised her head and narrowed her eyes at Mr. Skelly, drawing a line across her neck with her thumb. “Stop terrifying children, alright?”
“Then it’s okay to terrify adults?” Mr. Skelly asked as Alice pulled him along, dragging him out of the house. “You should be more openminded. Children should receive the same treatment as adults. They have every right to be terrified by skeletons too.”