"...Who..." gasped Lwon.

Blue eminated from behind. Lwon kept facing the door as the stranger answered.

"Who me? I'm the one asking questions here bub, thats me." He retorted. "Who are you?"

Lwon thought for a moment how he could escape. It seemed the only way to go would be down since the newcomer blocked the way up. Of course, he could always knock him out.

"..I got lost.. Could you help... with my map?" Lwon replied, gripping his makeshift club.

The blue light faded a little. "Bones. Look, you REALLY expect me to believe you're so stupid that you think that excuse would work. I mean, your head is empty, so maybe you are." Gusts of hot air blew through Lwon's skull.

Lwon bided his time. Something felt off about how this person spoke.

"So your name is blank. Ok, fine. Your master has a name, right? Or is his name blank too?" The stranger said, trying to get inside Lwon's head.

"..Lwon is my name.."

All he wanted to do was get his belongings and go. Masters? Who cares? 

The 2 candles closest to the skeleton burst into a deep blue. "Ok Lwon, and you want to tell me why you're here on a night like this? A carefree stroll perhaps, or maybe something more..."

Lwon felt an aching sensation at the presence of magic, and 

He decided to run.

"...None of your business!" Lwob shouted. At the same time, he threw his cloak in the direction of the voice.

Yellow candlelight reappeared on the sides, seeming to move in tandem as the blue wisp began to laugh.

"HA HA HA PHEWWW! You're just one, one oversized chewtoy huh!" He rumbled, toying with the idea.

"..Not sure I like being called... chewtoy." Lwon saod, burying his face in his hands.

"Yeah... I know which dog you're talking about. Didn't want it to be caught in the rain so I let it inside for the night." The light whispered.

The candles dimmed while little wisps of light formed a trail leading inside the room.

"Get your arm, then go." The light blew.

Opening the door In front of him was a place that smelled musty. Well worn books covered the mahogany shelves, giving a certain lived in feeling. In the middle was a string of coloured flames leading to a small nook in the bookshelves.

Lwon paused. There was a certain aura here that unsettled him.

 "Go on. Don't dawdle, we're not on a sightseeing trip." It chided.

Lwon obeyed, not willing to take any chances. The atmosphere had definitely warmed up, and thankfully not in a bad way.

He didn't want to think about how he'd fight such a creature. After recent events, Lwon could infer he had some skill in fighting, but he wasn't sure he could knock out a wisp.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

Whenever Lwon passed a floating light, it would disappear and another would appear farther down.

His apprehensiveness only grew, with his feeling of dread only became larger and larger.

Lwon reaches the cubby where the dog slept. A dim flame sat next to it, releasing a gentle heat.

The arm bone was right there.

Lwon sighed in relief. The sooner he could get out of this place, the better.

After reattaching arm to body and hand to arm, Lwon felt queasy.

Just as Lwon motioned to leave...

THUD!

Whatever was upstairs, was coming down.

Above, the sound of footsteps reverberated through the staircase. The light was freaking out.

"Shit! SHIT! I thought she wouldn't notice! We are so fucked!" The flame faltered as though a large bucket of water had been thrown on it.

A shadow emerged from the top of the staircase.

"Wi–iiiickk? What did I say about being in the study?" The shadow called out in a beautiful sing–song voice.

"...What... IS THAT!" Lwon glanced at Wick, who looked about ready to snuff out.

The shadow walked onto the light, revealing a 30 year old woman with mid length red hair. She was very pretty, but the look on her face seemed almost a little too... cheery.

"So, Wi–iickk? You even brought friends? Why didn't you invite me too?"

Wick replied tentatively "..The dog–" 

"I'm not done talking!" She snapped. "HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU not to go in this one room. You can go in any other room EXCEPT THIS ONE. NOT. THIS. ROOM."

"Well.. uhh.."

"Don't go in the study. NOT. THE. STUDY. NEVER THE STUDY!" The woman looked exasperated. "Now, what's so important that it made you forget the number one rule?"

"Well.. the study is.. the most comfortable. I saw a dog in the rain and said 'hey, thats not right' so I let it in. Don't worry, He didn't track any mud or..." Wick trailed off once he saw the look on her face.

"..if you're gonna blame anyone, blame him!" Wick formed an arrow pointing to the skeleton, who was desperately trying pretend to be a coathanger.

Glancing at the skeleton, she spoke.

"Let him speak for himself." She turned to Lwon. "So? Why are you here?" She asked, sizing him up. She didn't seem so fazed that the other was a skeleton.

There was something about this woman that frightened Lwon to his very core. He didn't dare to forget the slightest detail of how he awoke, lost his arm, and broke in.

She paused to intake what he had just told her.

"Ok. Okay! You do know that what you did was a crime?" She said, smirking.

Lwon nodded.

She continued.

"In this world, crimes deserve to be punished. Example, for the crime of entering the study–"

She waved her hand at Wick. Suddenly, a raincloud appeared over the wisp's head, with the rain seemingly never touching the ground.

"–you get a bad day." she said bluntly.

"UGHHH WHYYY!" Wick flared.

He settled down after a quick leer from the woman.

She used magic. The feeling of danger Lwon got flared up as the spell was cast.

She walked up to Lwon.

"And now, your punishment. For breaking and entering into my home, AND ruining my beauty sleep, i sentence you to–"

Lwon braced himself.

She sighed, then without much fanfare, simply held out a couple of envelopes.

"–deliver my mail."

...

In shock, Lwon cautiously examined them, waiting for any hidden traps to pop out.

...

"Are you gonna take them?" She asked. "Or would you prefer something else?"

Three pairs of pen and paper flew out of a nearby bookshelf. After writing all three letters at the same time, she motioned to the envelopes in her hand. She then brought out her signet ring and stamped hot wax to seal them.

Lwon hurriedly waved his hands, grabbing the 3 envelopes..

"Oh, and Wick is coming with you. He'll know where to send those envelopes to." She said offhandedly.

"UGHHHHH........" groaned Wick, growing dimmer as he saw the names on the envelope. "UGHHH! Does it have to be Petes- ok ok not talking anymore!"

Thunder rumbled from the small cloud, interupting his grievances.

"All in all, I think I'm being quite generous, wouldn't you think?" she said.

"..Yes Mam!" Lwon replied.

She gave a dirty look at Lwon.

"Don't call me Mam, it makes me feel old." She glared. "Call me Miss."

"Thank you, Miss." He corrected.

"Good! Now get out of my house." An invisible hand plucked Lwon and the dim wisp, dragging them up the stairs, through the door, over the courtyard, right to the front gates. 

The two landed with a thud. By magic, the gate had been locked again.

"Great." Said Wick.

Back at the manor, the Miss was currently sitting on her bed, deep in thought.

"I never thought I'd see another crow again." She murmured.