Chapter 5

Emily tugs Victoria along excitedly. She hasn't done this in years, but she remembers how exciting and fun it was when she was alive once before.

"Where are we going, Emily?" Victoria squints, trying to see through her blindfold, but can only see blurry shapes.

"Just a little farther, I promise!"

Emily can barely contain herself. They've since upgraded Glaschester the last time she's been, which includes a multitude of shopping centers. No longer is it a dismal town with little to do; now it is a place brimming with life. She can't believe Victor and Victoria haven't even tried to explore this place before!

She stops in front of a particularly lovely looking shop and reaches around to remove Victoria's blindfold.

"I'm going to take off your blindfold now."

When the cover is taken off her eyes, Victoria releases a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding to find herself standing in front of…

A shopping mall.

"Oh no, absolutely not!" Victoria turns on her heel to walk away. There is no way she is going into one of those dreadful places.

Emily catches her arm before she can leave. "Oh, why not?" she asks. "It'll be fun! Besides, you can't expect me to walk around in this all day." she says, gesturing toward her wedding dress.

Victoria winces as memories flood back to her of endless hours of fitting and occasionally being stuck with a needle, her mother complaining that none of the dresses flattered her non-existent figure. "I'd rather not be poked and prodded, thank you very much."

Emily snickers. "When was the last time you've been to one of these places? This is too modern for silly things like that." When she sees that Victoria doesn't seem like she's going to budge, she softens her expression. "At least come inside with me."

Victoria gnaws at her lower lip, unsure.

"Well, all right then. But I'm not getting fitted for anything!"

— — — — — — —

"Victoria, come out."

"It shows my ankles! And a bit of my knees!"

Emily snorts. After purchasing a casual outfit for herself and something comfortable to sleep in, she had browsed around the shops with Victoria, filling bags with jeans, light blouses, and two pair of flats to modernize her style. This latest outfit in particular, however, is the first to show any "considerable amount of skin", and Emily had insisted that Victoria try it on when she'd caught the woman admiring it.

"Oh, come off it. I want to see you!"

"Mmmph." Victoria huffs, and opens the door.

She looks absolutely stunning. It's a mint green, knee length dress tied with a cream sash, hugging curves that were once hidden beneath layers of stuffy fabric. Her dark hair and eyes are a welcome, lovely contrast to her pale skin and the lightly colored dress.

Victor would have to be mad to ignore her now.

Victoria crosses her arms, clearly nervous. "Well?" she asks.

"Beautiful." Emily simply says. She leads Victoria over to a mirror. "Have a look."

Victoria forces herself to look, afraid of what she'll see.

"Oh…" She reaches up to cup her face. The image in the mirror does the same. "That's really me?"

"Of course it is, silly. Do you like it?"

"Very much."

— — — — — — —

A few hours later Emily and Victoria are walking out of Glaschester. Victoria feels more relaxed than she has in weeks. She wishes she could do this more often. Emily had convinced her to loosen her hair from the severe bun she normally had, and she felt considerably better without the tightness around her head.

As Victoria pulls out her phone to tell Victor they've finished, Emily sees someone strikingly familiar out of the corner of her eye.

Not really knowing where she's going, she follows him, ignoring Victoria when she asks where they're going.

"Excuse me?" she says when she finally reaches him.

The man turns around. It's the Bone Daddy himself: Bonejangles.

His hair is a fiery ginger red, bright green eyes twinkling in amusement lit up from his signature quirky smile. Recognition flashes through them, and his grin stretched a little more.

"Emily!" he says, throwing his arms around her. "You made it too?"

Confusion twists her features. "Made it?"

"Yeah!" He tips his bowler hat towards Victoria, who is standing behind Emily, frozen with shock. She doesn't know how much more of this her poor heart can take. "Hey, Victoria. Anyways, lots of us have been crossing over. We've been finding some random rifts Downstairs, ya know? And a few of us decided to try and pass through, and then this happened!" He gives a little spin, showing off his human body. "Pretty cool, ya dig?"

Emily smiles, but gears are turning in her head.

If Bonejangles is here, who else could have come up here? Could he have accidentally brought…?

No, don't be silly. No sane person would let HIM through.

"Bonejangles, how many of you came through?" Victoria asks, finally having the courage to say something. Too many walking corpses; too many flashes back to that horrible wedding.

Bonejangles shrugs. "Dunno, most of 'em were too scared to try. I think, maybe it was me, and a couple others. None too many, I don't think."

"Where are you staying?" Emily asks.

"I've been bumming around. Just busking for my living, like I did before. Think I'd like to own a pub up here someday, ya know? It's nice up here. I've missed this life."

Victoria's phone goes off, interrupting the conversation. She'd accidentally hung up on Victor while chasing after Bonejangles with Emily.

"Yes, Victor, hello." Victoria pulls a face and puts her hand over the phone. "He thought something had happened to us." She removes her hand and continues talking to him. "Yes, we're finished; we'll meet you at Rosings."

Emily giggles, easily able to hear Victor's frantic voice through the phone's little speaker. Bonejangles smirks.

"Still a frantic little prat, I hear." he says, chuckling. Emily tsks at him, causing him to hold up his hands in surrender. "Oi, I mean that in the most loving way, I promise. Oi, Victoria, put me on the phone." he says, reaching for Victoria's cell.

"Oh, I'm not sure that's such a good —"

But Bonejangles already has the phone in his hand. "Oi, Victor! Stop your worrying, the ladies are fine." Pause, more high pitched stuttering from Victor's end, causing Emily to snicker while Victoria looks fairly concerned. Bonejangles bursts out laughing at something Victor says. "It's Bonejangles, mate! Who else?" High pitched stuttering increases. Bonejangles laughs harder. "It's the 21st century, Victor… I dunno, science? Whatever it is, it's groovy!" Bonejangles holds the phone away from his ear, just in time for Victor to yell that no, the dead walking the earth is NOT groovy, it's strange and we've already had to handle this business once, thank you very much! "Oi, simmer. Simmer. We'll see you soon, okay? Okay?"

Bonejangles hangs up the phone and hands it back to Victoria. "Well, I think I might have given your husband a heart attack, but he should be fine."

Victoria wordlessly takes her phone back, her expression blank, while Emily attempts to collect herself.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go meet him before he passes out in the street!"

— — — — — — —

Barkis scowls. So, Bonejangles managed to get to the surface too. How annoying. Ah, well. He supposes he'll just have to kill him too, and lock the lot of them up downstairs where they belong. And make them stay there. Somehow. He's waited this long. He can wait a little longer. At least he doesn't have to wear that dreadful cloak anymore. A wig, makeup and a pair of sunglasses he'd stolen had seen to that. He looks ridiculous, but all will be worth it.

— — — — — —

Like Bonejangles in this chapter? He was a ton of fun to write in. I'll update as often as I can, but life's been keeping me pretty busy. I'm hoping to finish this before I start school next month, but we'll see what happens. :3