A Skeleton Boy Meets a Skeleton Girl

Before she could answer, she throws the clothes at the man’s head. Confused, but with no cruel response, the man puts on the clothes, and the woman relaxes.

“My name is Honey Dewless… Did you not hear that voice earlier?” Honey decides to ignore that question for the moment. She looks around and does her best to feel for another presence.

Only she, this man, and Thancred exist in this area.

The man’s cold stare is quiet but full of something Honey is unsure of. She doesn’t want to press him and keep him waiting too much longer.

“No, never mind… This might be a second chance for you.” She looks at him, bravely though terror controls her movement. Her fingertips still hurt but the bleeding already ended. “I do not know where you came from but welcome to the world of Lopki, Summoned Spirited! I have clothes for you to wear so feel free to put them on! It’s a bit chilly tonight.” Honey stands tall even as this demon disguised as a man continues to silently stare at her and she avoids looking at his naked body. “They may be a bit big on you – I apologize. I wasn’t sure who I was summoning.”

The man doesn’t respond but silently puts on the clothes before him. He remains on the ground and continues to stare at her with his devilish red eyes – ready to kill, ready to devour.

“Are you sure about that? I’m a criminal, after all.” He finally says.

“I’m the daughter of a crime lord.” Sheltered, she could hear Thancred say in his usual joking tone. “Your types don’t scare me one bit.” Honey crosses her arms and does her best imitation of her older brother’s – Eraldo – whenever he questions an underling.

The man continues to stare at her and slowly blinks at her. Watching her every moment, Honey does her best not to move. Though she’s a woman in her early twenties, she hates it when her childish side comes out under duress. However, she was the first member of her family – living or not – to summon a Spirited and successfully at that.

“Are you sure about that?” he repeats himself. But the next words out of his mouth are what stops Honey cold. “I’m a murderer, after all. I was set to die after killing my family.”

She shouldn’t be shocked; she’s the daughter of a crime lord after all. The underworld should have always been her playground and she hates it when Thancred was right. Her mother did her very best to keep both her and her younger sister out of that world but failed with Eraldo at her cruel father’s insistence. Though, what shocks her the most is what comes out of her own mouth.

“That’s perfectly fine. You may need to murder people to protect me.”

The man chuckles and though it was nice to hear, Honey still shivers from hold cold it was. She knows that’s the cold laugh of a murderer and she even feels the ice-cold wind of her magic heating up in protection.

If this man attacks her and attempts to murder her, while Thancred could have trouble getting in, she always had her magic to protect herself. And she would freeze a man if she had to.

However, he hadn’t gotten up and instead stares at her with his red eyes.

Every time she looks into that man’s eyes, she shivers so she does her best to avoid eye contact.

Just until she becomes braver.

“Why do you need me then? I could murder you, you know. Whatever a Summoned Spirited is, how can you be ensured your safety from turning my tools against you?”

“That’s precisely why, actually! Because I summoned you, you have to listen to me and no harm will come to me as long as I’m retaining control of you!”

“So, you’re controlling me?”

Honey picks up the book from the ground and points to it with a healing finger.

“You have free will but you cannot harm me or allow harm to come to me. Because I summoned you with my blood, you have to listen to me so I’m ordering you to protect me.” She breathes and hopes he couldn’t read the Common Language yet. She had heard Summoned Spirited people could either take time to adjust to this world or they could never read it at all.

“The rules sound very skewed. But if I have no choice to not harm you, then so be it.” He doesn’t look around and continues to stare perfectly into Honey’s light-grey eyes. Honey sighs as she motions to silence him. Aiden didn’t need to be told twice about it as he watches her.

On cue, knocks echo on the other side of the door and Aiden understands he’s to stay silent as the voice echoes following the knocks.

“Honey, are you okay? I heard another man’s voice.”

Soon, it dawns on Honey how loud the couple had been and how could she have forgotten about Thancred’s sensitive ears.

“What? Are you dreaming about your ex-boyfriends again, Thancred?” She responds as ‘normal’ as she could. Desperately, she hides the nervousness in her tone. “Oh, you’re such a romantic!”

“None of my exes murdered their entire family.”

“That’s a very specific dream…”

The man sighs behind the door.

“Whatever. Never mind. Like your father would allow you to meet a man without meeting his expectations. Carry on. I’ll see you in the morning, Honey.”

Heavy footsteps pause but soon tread down the wooden, stolen hallway and Honey makes Aiden stay silent until she was sure he was gone. Years of having him next to her door taught her well to recognize how many steps it takes until he makes a left. Years of listening to determine whose footsteps think they’re sly and sneaky and angry and brash. Once Thancred makes it to the usual left, Honey releases the silence and sighs with relief.

“Why couldn’t you use that guy to help you leave if it’s so dire? Why bring me to this world?”

“Because that guy is loyal to my father more than he ever will to me.”