“They were in here when it happened,” Kade said, his tone forcedly neutral. Florian was sure the wolf shifter disliked being in here just as much as he did. “Lucky, or unlucky, depending on how you look at it.”
They were decidedly unlucky, Florian thought. For the people in the Blight, it would have been over in seconds, if not less. The best-case scenario for this person would have been if they realized something was happening, started to open the door, got burned, closed it, and died from their burns. If not... Maybe theyhad been trapped in here for days, weeks, until all the ice melted away, or they starved.
“Definitely unlucky,” Florian sighed, then took a few stilted steps closer and knelt down a few feet away from the bones. “Well... Let’s see how well this works. What’s the best way to phrase this?”
He considered for a moment, then settled on, “All this viscera is gone.” The dark sludgy patch vanished in a blink, leaving behind only the bones and ash. Not quite as good as he’d hoped, but it was a start.
“What about this?” he asked nervously, gesturing toward the now mostly clean skeleton. “It seems... disrespectful to just magic it away. You know?”
Kade shook his head. “They’re long gone, Florian. Do what you need to do.”
Florian looked at the skeleton for a moment longer. With all the muck gone, though, he noticed something tucked a bit behind it, as if it had been in its pocket. It was a metal box, like a money box the street vendors along the boardwalk would use. Hesitating, he reached out to touch it; it felt warm against his hands, but not burning hot like he’d feared.
Carefully, he slid it away, then he addressed the bones.
“I’m really sorry about this,” he said softly. “I hope you’re at peace now, whatever happened to you.”
There was, of course, no response. He let go of the thought and murmured, “This skeleton is gone.”
He had been hoping that would just magic away the skeleton, sending it wherever the mess went when he used his magic to clean things. Instead, the bones all instantly crumbled to dust, creating a shallow pile of it on the floor.
“Shit,” Florian muttered, stepping back. Not ideal, but they could at least sweep this away.
Then he realized the pile of dust looked suspiciously like all the other piles of dust they’d seen scattered around the Summer Court, and he thought he might be sick.
“Oh, fuck,” he hissed, clamping a hand over his mouth.
“What’s wrong?” Kade asked in alarm, at his side in an instant. Florian shook his head, trying to tamp down his horror enough to not throw up onto the floor.
“All the dust,” Florian finally croaked, gesturing back toward the sliding stone door. “It’s—it’s bone dust. Where all the people were when it... God, we’ve been walking on bodies this whole time.”
He heard Kade let out a long, slow breath beside him, unsure if it was revulsion or relief that it wasn’t something worse.
“That... makes sense,” Kade replied softly after a moment. “But there’s nothing we could have done, Florian. It’s not like we could just not walk.”
“I know,” Florian groaned, shaking his head. “I know that. But still. This is all so messed up.”
Kade placed a hand on his shoulder, cautiously at first, as if he expected Florian to pull away. But he didn’t, so after a beat, Kade squeezed his shoulder and rubbed his neck.
“Yeah. It is,” Kade said. “But that’s why we’re here. Try not to let it bother you too much. Want me to clean this up?”
Despite how guilty it made him feel, Florian nodded. Kade gave his shoulder one last squeeze before stepping away to take care of all the mess; they didn’t have a broom, but he pulled out one of the smaller panels that they used for their makeshift shelter and used it to scrape the coarse dust along the floor. Florian turned away, busying himself with inspecting the metal box the skeleton had left behind.
It looked exactly like an old-school cash lockbox, but it wasn’t locked and opened easily when he unhooked the latch. Inside was a handful of coins, and a small notepad, like a receipt book.The first several pages were ripped out and words were scribbled along the paper.
To whoever finds this,the first page started,If I’m gone, please find my mother and make sure she’s ok. Rill on Eaglet road, down the hill in the eagle’s district. I am her second daughter Thallia.
The handwriting was neat and concise, but that was still all that would fit on the small pages. This wouldn’t be a pleasant read, Florian thought, so he put the notebook back in the box for now. He would read it after they’d settled in. There was far too much going on all at once to add this on, too.
“I’m opening the door,” Kade called, and Florian nodded. Light flooded the room as the stone door slid open, and Kade scraped the last of the bone dust into the outer room. Florian tried not to think about the thousands and thousands of identical piles through the city as he poked his head out of the room and caught sight of Rune and Koji standing guard near the entrance.
“All good now,” he said. “Come on in and let’s get this set up.”
