Sid dropped into a crouch directly in front of the skeleton, blue light blazing in his sockets.
His jaw hung open.
“YOU’RE ALIVE!”
The words detonated through the cavern.
YOU’RE ALIVE.
YOU’RE ALIVE.
YOU’RE ALIVE.
Sid recoiled and clapped both hands over his mouth.
A moment passed.
“Well… sort of alive?”
Pink light burned inside the other skeleton’s sockets.
It stared at him.
“AHHHHHHHHH!”
The scream ripped through the tunnel.
Sid grabbed the sides of his skull.
“OH GOD, PLEASE STOP DOING THAT—”
It scrambled backward, limbs skittering wildly across the stone.
“A TALKING SKELETON?!”
Both hands flew over its face.
Sid stared.
“Oh. You speak English.”
“LEAVE ME ALONE!”
A woman's voice hammered through the cavern.
Sid winced.
“Right. Okay. Fair response.”
One trembling hand emerged and pointed directly at him.
Sid looked at the finger.
Then at himself.
Then back at her.
“…Do you already have a name?”
The skeleton stared at him.
Sid scratched the side of his skull.
“Because I called you Tiffany before you woke up.”
Her jaw dropped.
Sid lowered his gaze.
“Yeah.”
He stood and tucked the crystal shard beneath his crude hide cloak.
The skeleton’s attention shifted away from him and into the surrounding darkness. She turned one way, then the other, taking in the endless tunnel.
“What is this?”
“I’unno.” Sid shrugged. “A cave? Labyrinth, maybe?”
“No.” Her voice trembled. “WHY am I here?”
One hand flew instinctively to her throat.
Clack.
Her fingers struck bone.
She stopped.
Slowly, her hand moved lower.
Across her clavicle.
Her sternum.
Then between the exposed ribs.
“…Why is my ribcage…”
Her gaze dropped.
Both hands were nothing but bone.
“…Why am I bones?”
Silence settled over the tunnel.
Sid shifted his weight.
A moment passed.
“WAIT, DO YOU EVEN HAVE A NAME?”
The thought exploded through the passage.
Dust sifted from the ceiling.
The skeleton flinched.
Pink light flickered inside her sockets as she slowly raised her head.
“…Kaya.”
Sid pointed at her.
“See? Kaya is way better than Tiffany.”
A long pause.
Kaya looked down at herself again.
“AHHHHHHHHH!”