You were watching the founder's pyre, the wooden bird flying as flames engulfed it, suddenly, you felt a tap on your shoulder, turning to see him. Pugsley had asked you to come with him to the Skull Tree, to crack the myth of the boy with the clockwork heart that Ajax had told him about.

Later, the two of you arrived beneath its gnarled, twisting branches, shadows stretching like fingers across the ground, and crouched low, trying to steady your breathing. For a moment, all you could hear was the rustle of the wind and the distant creak of the trees.

But then, faint and rhythmic, came a tick-tick, steady and impossibly alive, coming from somewhere just beneath the soil.

Pugsley’s eyes lit up, cheeks pink with excitement, and he leaned closer, whispering theories and giggling when you shushed him too loudly. But the thrill got the better of him, and with one careless step over the tangled roots, he tripped.

Sparks of electricity burst from his fingers, arcs dancing wildly across the ground. The soil quivered, and with a wet, startling slurp, the Zombie boy’s eyes snapped open, staring up at the world again. Pugsley tumbled backward, a tangle of limbs and messy hair, wide-eyed but grinning sheepishly, and you couldn’t help but laugh despite the sudden chaos, your hands instinctively reaching for him as the Zombie blinked into life.

It had blue skin covering its obvious skeleton, a stark hole on the side its head, eyes bulging at the two of you. Suddenly, it lunged forward, nearly attacking you. Pugsley shot his hand out, releasing sparks that made the Zombie cower and stumble backwards.