CHAPTER 35: BONES

The walls didn’t just scream.

They howled.

Like a chorus of tortured souls, voices blending into a nightmarish wail that made the air itself feel heavier.

Then? The floor cracked.

The bookshelves twisted like they had spines snapping in agony.

Felix, somehow conscious again, bolted upright. "I WANT A REFUND ON LIFE."

Julien grabbed his arm. "MOVE, IDIOT!"

Chairs toppled. The table flung itself backward.

And the Host?

Still seated. Still watching.

Even without a face, I could feel it staring.

And then it stood.

RUN, THE NOTE SAID.

We listened.

BAM. The door flew open.

We ran straight into darkness.

The hallway was gone.

No torches. No walls.

Just endless black.

Leo panicked. "WHERE ARE WE?!"

Julien: "DEAD. WE’RE DEAD."

Felix: "I’M GONNA DIE A VIRGIN."

Mira, still calm: "Not my problem."

Behind us?

The Host floated forward.

Not walking. Not running.

Floating.

Like it had all the time in the world.

The worst part?

The air bent around it.

Everything behind it? Gone.

Like the world itself was erasing.

Julien: "THIS IS WORSE THAN DYING."

Leo: "I DON’T WANT TO BE ERASED."

Felix: "I JUST WANTED TO GRADUATE."

Mira: "I’d rate this experience a 7 out of 10."

I ignored all of them.

Because something was wrong.

I saw it again.

The twisting, curling purple smoke.

Drifting in the darkness.

Moving toward us.

No one else reacted.

Felix would be screaming.

Leo would be crying.

But they didn’t see it.

Just me.

I didn’t say anything.

Because this smoke wasn’t doing anything.

Just... spreading.

Like it was watching.

Or waiting.

The Host flickered.

One moment, it was behind us.

The next?

Right in front.

Felix tripped over his own feet.

Leo screamed.

Julien screamed louder.

Mira? Sighed.

And then?

The Host reached out.

Straight for me.

And everything snapped to black.

We fell.

Hard.

One second, we were sitting at a haunted dinner party. The next? The entire floor vanished beneath us.

Julien screamed like a dying goat.

Leo yelled, "NOT AGAIN!"

Felix? Unconscious mid-air. No reaction. Just flopping around like a ragdoll.

Mira actually laughed as we plummeted.

And me?

I was done with this house.

We crashed into something soft.

At first, I thought, "Oh, hey. Maybe something cushioned our fall."

Nope.

We landed in a mountain of bones.

Felix groaned. "Wh... where are we?"

Julien sat up, took one look around, and turned pale. "Oh. OH NO."

Leo shuddered. "Why is it always something terrible?"

Mira, as usual, was just poking a skull. "Looks old."

I scanned the room. Dark. No windows. Just walls lined with strange carvings.

The only light came from faintly glowing symbols.

And the smell?

Rot.

Something damp. Old. Dead.

Felix suddenly screamed.

We turned.

His hand was inside a ribcage.

Felix: "IT GRABBED ME! I SWEAR IT MOVED!"

Julien: "YOU’RE JUST TOUCHING IT, YOU IDIOT!"

Felix: "NO, IT GRABBED ME FIRST!"

Leo: "OH MY GOD, SHUT UP."

Mira? Still unfazed. "Maybe it liked you."

Felix shrieked and kicked the bones.

Bad idea.

Because the bones started moving.

One by one, the skeletons twitched.

A skull rolled toward us.

A bony hand crawled out of the pile.

Julien: "Okay. No. I’M DONE."

Felix: "I TOLD YOU THEY MOVED!"

Leo: "CAN WE RUN NOW?!"

Mira? Just watching. "Huh. It’s assembling itself."

And she was right.

The bones were forming shapes.

Long limbs. Hollow eyes. Grinning skulls.

Then—they turned toward us.

Felix fainted.

Julien grabbed my arm. "PROFESSOR. ORDERS. PLEASE."

The skeletons took a step forward.

I sighed.

Then I cracked my knuckles.

"Alright, kids. Time for a practical lesson."

The skeletons charged.

And we fought.

Bones rattled.

Skulls clacked.

And Felix? Felix was still unconscious. Useless.

Julien swung at the nearest skeleton with a wild punch. The skeleton didn’t even flinch. Just stood there. Staring.

Julien: "Uh."

Then the skeleton punched him back.

Julien: "GAH—WHY DOES IT HIT HARDER THAN ME?!"

Leo screamed, grabbing a femur off the ground and flailing wildly. "STAY BACK, DEMON SPAWN."

Mira dodged a bony swipe, actually grinning. "They’re faster than I thought."

Felix? Snoring. Completely out of it. A skeleton walked up and poked him. Nothing. It actually hesitated, as if confused.

I, meanwhile, was dodging another set of bony fingers trying to grab me. I grabbed the nearest skull and headbutted it. The thing exploded into fragments.

Julien, staring: "Professor is a menace."

Leo: "Yes, but it’s working. Copy him."

Julien: "I AM NOT HEADBUTTING A SKULL."

Leo: "DO IT, COWARD."

A skeleton lunged at Mira. She ducked, tripping it over Felix’s motionless body. It collapsed, shattering into a pile of bones.

Mira: "Oh. That worked."

Leo swung his femur like a bat, smacking a skeleton’s head clean off. "HA! Take that, you brittle freak!"

The skull rolled across the floor. The body kept moving.

Leo: "Wait. No. STAY DOWN."

The headless skeleton grabbed Leo’s arm.

Leo: "PROFESSOR."

I grabbed the skeleton’s arm, yanked it off its body, and smacked it with its own limb.

Julien: "Did you just—"

Mira: "He really just."

Leo: "I love our professor."

More skeletons kept rising. The bones twisted, clicking together in unnatural ways. Some of them had too many limbs.

Julien: "Oh, come on."

Felix groaned, barely regaining consciousness. "What’s happening?"

A skeleton immediately kicked him in the ribs.

Felix: "AGH—WHAT DID I DO?!"

Julien: "YOU EXIST."

Mira finally pulled out her magic, snapping her fingers. A shadowy force wrapped around a skeleton, yanking it apart piece by piece.

Mira: "Magic works."

Leo: "YOU THINK?!"

I dodged another swipe, then saw it again.

The purple smoke.

It was curling along the ground now, moving through the bones, twisting through the air like lazy tendrils.

Still... doing nothing.

Still... watching.

Julien punched a skeleton. It didn’t even budge. The skeleton punched back.

Julien: "OW—"

Mira kicked a skull. It bit her shoe.

Mira: "Gross."

Leo was screaming at a skeleton missing half its body, still crawling toward him.

Felix? Just got knocked out again.

And me?

I grabbed another skull, crushed it, and sighed.

"Alright. I’m tired of this."

I reached into my coat, pulled out a rune-etched dagger, and slammed it into the ground.

A pulse of energy shot through the room. The carvings on the walls flickered, then—

BOOM.

A shockwave burst out, sending every skeleton flying into pieces. Bones clattered everywhere.

Silence.

Julien, blinking: "Did we... win?"

Leo: "I don’t trust it."

Mira kicked a stray skull. It didn’t move. "Looks dead to me."

Felix? Still unconscious.

I dusted myself off.

"Alright, class. Lesson one: Everything is a weapon if you try hard enough."

Julien: "Lesson two: Our professor is scarier than ghosts."

Leo: "Lesson three: Felix is useless."

Mira: "Lesson four: If it bites, kick it harder."

Felix, weakly lifting his head: "I hate all of you."

The room suddenly rumbled.

Julien: "Oh, come on—"

The floor beneath us cracked.

Leo: "NOT AGAIN."

The entire chamber collapsed.

And we fell.

Again.

Straight into another nightmare.