Liam Morningstar longs for life. He’s been waiting in the darkness for the one person that can see him for what he once was, not the skeleton he has become. But how can the undead return to life? Can he be forgiven for all horrors he committed?

Excerpt
“Liam,” she began. “I’ve been thinking. Tell me about this skeleton. Are there any stories about it?”

He stared at her in silence for a little while as if he were trying to place where he was. He rubbed at his metallic eyes with his now human shaped hands and took in a long, deep breath.

“The skeleton comes out at night and takes away the children,” he whispered. “It was a story to keep them close to the fire or in their camps instead of wandering off into the forest. I don’t know of any way to stop it, or kill it. I was only told how to avoid it.”

Rainee took up his hand. She liked the closeness of him though he appeared to be half human and half monster. She touched his cheek with her other hand. “You say that you long to die, but last night you said that the skeleton longs for life.”

He turned his head slightly to the side as if contemplating her words. “Do you have any more blackberries?”

Her brow lifted a bit at the strangeness of his question. She found the last bunch of berries she had picked and passed them to him. They were wrapped in a handkerchief. He pushed the berries into his mouth in quick motions, chewing them and swallowing as though food were a new treasure that would soon be taken from him. The tiny, golden lights spread up from his body, and his form increased. His arms thickened, his torso broadened.

“Liam,” she said in awe. “Does it hurt when that happens?”

He stared up at the lights that were disappearing into the ceiling. His lips, which had previously appeared dried-up and thin, were now full and moist with berry juice. “No, it feels good. Like the rays of the sun on my skin in midwinter when the world is frozen.”

She stepped back when he smiled. His teeth were no longer pointed. She hesitated to tell him, but felt he must already know as he did not try to hide his grin.

“I would like to feel the sun on my skin again,” he said.

Rainee was overcome by sadness. She felt his time was ending, that she was helping him die.