CHAPTER 9: SKELETON DANCE

When Jill entered the movie room, she saw that it was quite the hit. The room was smaller than most, with a widescreen TV on one wall, and a shelf full of spooky movies. Several chairs and a couch were occupied by students, all of them with their eyes glued to the screen. The movie was currently showing a pumpkin that was slowly rotting—stop-motion effects were used rather than CGI. The pumpkin rose up, with a knight's body underneath it.

"The Pumpkin Knight," Jill whispered.

"There ya are, Jill!" Grim called over. "Thought ya were never gonna show up!"

"Shhhh!" someone hissed from the back.

Grim jumped off his original chair, Jill took that seat for herself, and Grim climbed onto her lap.

"Looks like I didn't miss the best part," Jill whispered. "Now comes the part where the Pumpkin Knight kills the first victim!"

She glanced over to see Idia and Ortho Shroud next to her. With their flickering fiery hair, the brothers were pretty hard to miss. She waved happily at them; Ortho returned her wave while Idia just raised his hand shyly.

"Jill Bones, thank you for adding a movie room," Ortho whispered to her. "It's a great place for my brother to relax."

"Not many people appreciate this classic," Idia said. "The Pumpkin Knight was ahead of its time!"

"I know! I love stop-motion, too!" Jill giggled. "Thanks for giving this movie to me on my birthday."

Idia usually wasn't one for socializing, but when he was prompted to go out, he did sometimes see eye-to-eye with Jill. It was hard to find something in common at first. Much to his dismay, Jill wasn't interested in comics or anime—she didn't dislike them, but she simply didn't have a lot of exposure to them. While Jill did have a Gameboy and a Playstation at home, she didn't consider herself a gamer. And she also didn't know a thing about the latest technologies or how to fix a broken appliance.

But when Ortho gave Jill the Pumpkin Knight movie, she gushed about it to both the Shrouds, and that prompted a lengthy conversation about movie effects and ghost stories and artistic expression. It was the most Idia had ever spoken to Jill without using his phone's AI voice as a shield. Ortho promptly gave Jill more horror movies, hoping to strengthen Idia's friendship with her.

Idia also was the one who gave Jill the widescreen TV—Jill had originally scrounged her money to purchase a small TV set on a table. When Ortho visited Hallowgrim and mentioned the TV to Idia, the Ignihyde housewarden promptly went to Hallowgrim and replaced the set with a widescreen. "I hate seeing underleveled tech," he'd complained at the time. "Since you don't have the skill to increase your stats, I'll do it for you. Hee hee, be grateful to me!"

He'd used some parts from the old TV as well as some parts from his own dorm to create the widescreen set. Grim was making a list of other things Idia could fix up around the place, while Jill simply thanked Idia for his generosity. She had treated Idia to pumpkin bread and apple cider, and while he'd lapsed back into silence for the most part, Idia seemed to enjoy his stay. That was the last time Idia had visited Hallowgrim, and Jill was hoping that he could overcome his anxiety and see her more often. She didn't know why he usually stayed in his room all day.

"Of course, we could use a popcorn machine," Grim mused. "Ya can't have a movie without snacks!"

"It wasn't in the budget," Jill shrugged. "Maybe next time."

"That would be fun… even if I can't eat it," Ortho said.

"Shhhhhh!" someone hissed again from the back.

Idia flinched. "Sheesh, who's lacking manners, again?!"

The rest of the movie ran as usual. By the time the movie was halfway over, though, Jill was feeling antsy. This wasn't a usual day where she could kick back and watch movies—this was her party, and she needed to be more involved. But she had checked nearly all the activities so far, and there didn't seem to be any problems…

"The dance floor!" she whispered. "I haven't checked it out yet."

"You wanna dance?" Grim asked. "Sure! I'll go with ya!"

"Dancing? Ugh, that's such an extrovert thing," Idia mumbled, hunching in on himself. Ortho seemed torn—he did like to dance, but he wanted to stay by his brother to support him.

"Sorry. I'm half-introvert and half-extrovert, you know," Jill said. "I'll return later."

She picked up Grim and carried him through the corridor. The music had shifted to "Magic Dance" from Labyrinth, and even though it wasn't the song that Jill was hoping for, she still wanted to move. She'd been building up a lot of nervous energy inside her, and it was time to let it out.

The dance hall was the largest room in the mansion. All the furniture and decorations were moved aside to make way for the dancers, and Jill's phone sat neatly on top of a large table in front. It was hooked up to a speaker, and Jill's personal mix tape was set on shuffle. She had charged the phone to full, and hoped that the battery would last until the end of the party.

Just as she was trying to find familiar faces in the crowd, two Scarabian boys approached her.

"Jill! Grim!" Kalim Al-Asim cried. "I finally found you!"

"Kalim's been looking everywhere for you two," Jamil Viper said apologetically.

"Oh, sorry! I didn't realize you were looking for us…" Jill said. "Is there something you need?"

"Well, this is your first dorm party, right?" Kalim replied. "I wanna dance with you guys to celebrate!"

"Yeah, now we're talkin'!" Grim leapt out of Jill's arms and busted out his best dance moves. Kalim took Jill by the hand and led her into a graceful spin; she was nearly taken off her feet by the sudden movement. As soon as Jill regained her balance, she noticed Jamil watching the three of them.

She smiled and offered her hand. "Well, Jamil?"

"I can't refuse the hostess," Jamil agreed, and he led her into a short waltz, with Kalim and Grim dancing to their own tune.

Jill hoped that things were better in the Scarabia dorm. Jamil was still at Kalim's side as his vice housewarden and full-time assistant, though Jamil resented Kalim for being forced to be his servant. Jamil was so desperate to overthrow Kalim that he had hypnotized the young heir into being a tyrant, and even made Jill into his puppet to further push the Scarabia dorm against Kalim… and Jamil had even overblotted…

After Jamil was cured of blot, Kalim promised to set the Viper family free of servitude when he took his father's seat as the head Asim. Although that wish hadn't been granted yet, the two seemed to get along well enough during Al'ab Nariya, so maybe things would turn out okay. At the very least, maybe today would be okay. Jill had been hypervigilant, looking for any ripples in the party, but there were none. Maybe Grim was right, and Jill was worrying too much…

As the song ended, Jill dropped her hand. "Thanks for the dance."

Jamil nodded and smiled. "I have to say, it's kind of fun not knowing what sort of song to expect."

"Yeah, I like your music too! It's fun!" Kalim said. "We have to copy it so we can play it at one of our parties!"

"Good idea! Jill, get on that!" Grim ordered.

"Grim, I don't know how to do that!" Jill protested. "We would have to—"

But then the next song began. There was a door opening with a loud creak, and footsteps that echoed across the dance hall. The dancers looked around in confusion. Jill grinned as a jolt of energy shot up her spine. "Yes!" she cheered. "This is the song I was waiting for!"

"What's this one called?" Kalim asked.

"Oh, you'll see." Jill's grin stretched from ear to ear. "You've seen me dance to your songs before… but now it's time you boys learned how I dance."

She stepped back until she was in the center of the room, and just as the music peaked with two loud beats, she performed Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Back when Jill was in middle school, she had a sudden growth spurt that rendered her a complete klutz. Her mother tried to teach Jill how to dance as a way to control her new limbs, but it took a while to take effect. Jill tried learning ballet via Youtube videos, but after she mastered the basics, she gave up out of boredom. But when she saw Thriller for the first time, Jill wouldn't be satisfied until she practiced the song to perfection. And while she was no King of Pop, Jill thought she did a pretty good job. The Night Raven students all stared at her, and soon, they all joined in to the best of their ability.

By the second chorus, Jill had an array of practiced zombies dancing behind her. How exactly did they adapt so quickly to a song they've never heard before? Jill chuckled to herself. Disney logic, she guessed.

When the dance ended, and Vincent Price's laughter faded away, Floyd grabbed Jill's phone.

"I want to hear that one again!" Floyd said, and started up Thriller.

"Again?" Jill asked.

"Yeah, that one was the best!" Ace said from her right side. "Of course, I have a knack for copying, so I think I can now do those moves better than you can!"

"If Jill can do it, anyone can do it!" Grim agreed.

Jill laughed. "You boys will all be the death of me!"

And so the party went on. Jill lost track of how many people she danced with. After a couple more Thrillers, things began to die down. Students excused themselves from the party, thanking Jill and Grim for the event. Food was eaten and packed up, Jill's phone ran out of juice, and the duties of tomorrow started to loom on the horizon.

The party was ending… and Jill's true nightmare was only beginning. She just hadn't realized it yet.