Once Upon a Curse by E. D. Baker

shoulder shrieked with pain.
    "Why?" asked Li'l. "You've almost reached the floor, anyway."
    Eadric tightened his grip on my legs. "It's all right, Emma. You aren't going to fall."
    "Tell that to my fingers."
    "I'll help," said Li'l. Fluttering closer, she nipped my little finger.
    "Ow!" I said, more surprised than hurt, and my hand jerked away from the rope. I was relieved when I fell into Eadric's arms.
    "Got you!" he said, planting a kiss on my lips. "Now are you glad I came?"
    "Yuck!" said Li'l. "Do you have to do that in front of me?"
    Eadric laughed. "We're practically engaged, Li'l."
    "That doesn't matter. You humans do the strangest things."
    "And bats don't?" Eadric asked.
    "Not like that!"
    "Eadric, put me down," I said. "I have work to do."
    "Fine," he said, setting me on my feet. "But you have to admit that I'm handy to have around."
    The room was roughly eight feet wide and ten feet long. While one end was dry, I saw gaps in the wall at the other end where stones had shifted, letting water from the moat trickle in. A single skeleton lay sprawled against the driest wall, its legs extending into the middle of the room. However, it was the two corners filled with piles of bones that interested me most. Someone had sorted them neatly, stacking all the skulls in one corner, the rest of the bones in the other. Glancing at the whole skeleton, I decided that he'd probably been the last occupant of the room and the one who'd piled the bones.
    "Poor fellow," said Grandfather, hovering above the skeleton. "Even his ghost has abandoned him."
    "I don't like this place," said Li'l. "It has a bad feeling. Can we go now?"
    "Not until we find what we came for," I said. "Let's start over here." I was picking up an arm bone when a skeletal hand wrapped its fingers around my wrist.
    "Not so fast," said a skull in the other pile.
    "What do you think you're doing?" asked a second skull.
    "Thief! Grave robber!" shrieked a third.
    Setting his hand on Ferdy's hilt, Eadric said, "Emma, step back and let me handle this," and drew his sword from his scabbard. Ferdy began to sing.
    I can fight an ogre
    I can fight a troll
    Plain old bones don't...
    "That's enough, Eadric," I said. "I can take care of it."
    Since skeletons don't have muscles to give them strength, it was easy to pry the bony fingers off my wrist. The hand twitched when I set it on the pile and some finger bones reached up, trying to pinch me while another hand plucked at my sleeve. I sighed and tried not to lose my temper.
    The sound of gnashing teeth made me glance up. "All for one and one for all!" hollered a skull with a bad overbite. "Don't let her take a single bone!"
    "I don't want any bones," I said. "I just want to borrow a medallion."
    "What kind of medallion?" asked a skull with a cracked jaw.
    "It's for bravery, and I think it's made of silver. It belonged to Hubert, who worked in Grunwald the third's stables."
    "Oh, that medallion!" said a skull.
    Another skull grunted. "What do you mean, that medallion? There's only one here!"
    Something clattered behind me. "Look out!" shouted Li'l, and I turned to see the skeleton clambering to its feet. Tottering on wobbly legs, it raised its arms, its shaking hands reaching for my throat.
    "Oh, stop it!" I said and gave the skeleton a shove. It fell against the wall with a thump. Its skull must have been loose, because it fell off and rolled across the floor until it bumped into the opposite wall.
    "Serves you right, you big bully!" shouted a skull halfway up the pile.
    "You always thought you were special just because you had all your parts!" shouted another on the bottom.
    "I never knew you felt that way!" said the skull on the ground. The skeleton patted the stone floor until it located its head, then set it in place on its neck before turning its back to the other skulls.
    Putting my hands on my hips, I glared at the skulls and said, "I'm here to do a job, and I'd appreciate it if you'd let me get on with it."
    "Maybe we