I froze. Black dots swam before my eyes.

  Death. Literal death. Walking, rattling, and heading straight towards me.

  “Aaaaaaaaah!” I shrieked, flailing like a damsel in a low-budget horror film — and a burst of violet magic shot from my palms, slamming straight into its ribcage.

  The skeleton stopped. Then… changed its expression. As much as a skeleton possibly can.

  Its jaw dropped. And then, incredibly, it began to look at me… reverently. Which is, frankly, the strangest reaction I’ve ever received from someone I’d just blasted in the chest.

  “Oh, my goddess!” he thundered, sounding like he’d escaped straight out of an ancient temple. “Such brilliance! Such otherworldly beauty! Your radiance illuminates this realm and gives purpose to my existence!”

  Finn and Elvira stared at me. Then at the skeleton. Then back at me again.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Something in the room had clearly gone very wrong.

  Finn was the first to recover. He sighed and shook his head.

  “Yarson,” he said flatly, “are you wandering around naked again? Honestly. Where’s your robe? Have a bit of dignity.”

  “Yes, do,” Elvira added, failing miserably to hide her grin. “There’s a lady in the ward, and you’re parading about like this is your personal crypt.”

  The skeleton froze.

  If he’d had skin, he would’ve gone bright red. Instead, an embarrassed little glow flickered in his eye sockets, and his skull dipped slightly, as if trying to look anywhere except at me.

  He hurriedly tried to cover himself, pressing his bony palms over his pelvic area, as if that could possibly save the situation, then shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot, clearly having no idea where to put himself — or his limbs.

  “My deepest apologies, oh radiant lady,” he murmured, attempting to look away, insofar as empty eye sockets allow. “I… ah… seem to have misplaced my robe.”

  Still clutching his pelvic area in a valiant but entirely pointless attempt at decency, the skeleton spun on his creaking heels and retreated from the ward. We listened as his bones rattled down the corridor, presumably on a frantic hunt for clothing.

  Finn watched him go, then turned back to me, eyebrow raised.

  “So. And what exactly was that? What did you do to Yarson?”

  “To who?” I croaked, still very much in shock, looking between them like I’d missed an entire episode.

  “To Yarson,” Elvira whispered, staring at me as though I’d just taught the dead to salsa. “He’s our skeleton nurse. Ward assistant. And he is absolutely not usually like that.”