A faint rustle awoke Skye.

  Worms squirmed in his shirt. Filth stank in his pants. Flies walked across his face. But he didn’t care about such meaningless things anymore.

  Transfixed, he stared at the sight of Ritsy’s almost-bony corpse being dragged up the anthill.

  “No, no, no!” he cried. “Ritsy, look out! They’re takin’ you under. Wake up, Ritsy!”

  The dead rat remained still as thousands of coalants carried its body to their little hole.

  Skye turned to the skeletons. “Guys! Dee, Jay, Bob! Help Ritsy. He’s being kidnapped.”

  They didn’t answer. Silently, they sat, offering no rude remarks, or snark jokes. Jay’s spider remained still atop its web, watching intently.

  “Redeyes,” Skye called, eyes darting up to the sleeping bat. “Wake up! they’re takin’ Ritsy! You have to help him, please. Everyone, wake up!”

  His chains kept him in place. His empty stomach churned as if someone had punched him, and he heaved but nothing came out. Watching Ritsy slowly approach his final grave, he screamed till he was out of breath, but to no avail.

  “Speak to me!” he howled.

  Angrily, he grabbed a pebble with his toes and hurled it at Dee. It struck his skull, toppling him sideways with a clatter. His bones scattered like broken pottery.

  Skye gasped. “No, no, no, I didn’t mean this. Dee! Speak to me! What have I done!”

  “Regret doesn’t undo the crime,” Redeyes said, glaring from above.

  “I-It was an accident,” Skye said, searching for some means to set Dee straight. Ritsy was almost gone. “Redeyes, please. Help me save him. We’ll fix Dee later.”

  “Why?”

  “They are taking him into their hole!” Skye shouted, hating how obvious it was. “It’s dark and cold in there. And there’s no one to speak with. No one to remember him. It’d be too cruel. Too cruel.”

  “That’s debatable,” Redeyes said. “Perhaps this is exactly what Ritsy deserves.”

  Skye gritted his teeth, balled his fists. Things couldn’t end like this for Ritsy; he couldn’t abandon him.

  “If he’s taken down there, he’d be gone forever,” he hissed. “It would be as if he’d never existed. As if his life never mattered.”

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  “I know,” Redeyes replied.

  “And you still won’t help?!” Skye cried in disbelief. His chains jingled.

  He grimaced, trying to keep his face straight. His heart grew heavy; the dam he’d been holding for so long was cracking, crumbling. A tear ran down his filth-covered face, then another. He couldn’t hold it anymore.

  “I’m sorry!” his voice cracked. “I’m sorry I wanted to see the sky. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to everyone’s advice. Sorry I abandoned my team and let them die. I’m sorry I couldn’t help even though I made it out alive.”

  Redeyes groomed itself, saying nothing.

  Skye coughed between sobs. He turned to the skeletons. “I’m sorry I ignored you guys. I’m sorry for what I did to get cursed. I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry I’m still alive when everyone I love is about to die. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

  Helpless, choking on his own tears and snot, he watched Ritsy’s tail vanish into the earth. It was over. He was permanently, irrevocably gone.

  “Don’t let me end up like that,” he sobbed. “Don’t leave me alone. Someone… speak to me, please. Anyone.”

  Stretching his malformed wings, Redeyes flew through a small hole in the cave wall, ignoring Skye’s calls.

  He couldn’t save Ritsy. Couldn’t break free. Lift his curse. Or stop the wardens. Couldn’t save anyone. He’d failed every time it mattered, and now he was back alone.

  His head dropped in despair.

  “Oh, stop yer sobbin’, ya overgrown toddler. Yer givin’ me a skullache,” Dee said.

  Skye jerked upright. “Dee!” he cried, a grin breaking painfully across his face. “You’re alive!”

  “Nah, I’m as dead as dead can be,” Dee said. “But yeah. I’m here.”

  “I’m so sorry I ignored you. I won’t do it again,” Skye babbled. “I’m sorry I tipped you over.”

  “Don’t be. It’s more comfortable like this. Ya don’t know how many years I’ve waited to lie down.”

  “I wanna lie down too,” Jay said.

  “The way your bones are scattered… you look like a work of art,” Bob said, blowing a kiss. “A masterpiece.”

  “Jay! Bob!” Skye beamed. “You’re here too!”

  “We can’t leave our friend alone, can we?” Jay asked.

  Skye laughed, a full, chest-shaking laugh. He wasn’t alone. His friends were with him. Everything was alright.

  “Wanna hear a joke?” Dee asked.

  “Sure!” Skye said.

  “What do ya call a ship rodent that only steals pastries?”

  Skye frowned, thinking. “I don’t know.”

  “A pie-rat!”

  Skye roared in laughter. The wounds on his face cracked open as he scrunched his face, his chest wheezed with the effort. “A pie-rat,” he repeated, chuckling.

  “I’ve got one too,” Jay said. “A rat arrives late for its shift at a gemfarm, and the fore-rat be furious. Says: ‘This be the third time you be late this month. If you give me another ridiculous excuse, you be fired’. The rat, havin’ witnessed wardens kill three rats in the Deeps and create an elexos, scrunches its nose and says: ‘I’ll see myself out.’”

  Again, Skye giggled, imagining the rat growing frustrated, not knowing how to convince anyone of what it’d seen.

  “My turn,” Bob said. “What did the rat say when they dragged it into its grave?”

  “Ritsy didn’t say anything, ya silly goose,” Dee snorted.

  Bob assumed his high-pitched tone. “It said ‘I’m sorry! I don’t want to see the sky anymore!’”

  For the third time, Skye burst out laughing, his body shaking, rubbing his many stings and wounds against the stiff fabric of his clothes. Everyone laughed with him, the skeletons, the ants, even mean Redeyes who swooshed to gulp down the skeletons, bone by bone. Quickly, the bat’s body changed, twisting, morphing, and burning until it became a gigantic pyroxos dancing madly.

  In the dark dungeon, laughter sounded, rising louder and louder. Covering the rattle of chains, the grinding of teeth, and the echo of screams.