TITLE: Secret
GENRE: MG Secret
"Emily is hitting me with that stupid shin bone, again." Oliver glared at his younger sister when she popped back up into her chair on the other side of the long dining table.
"Young lady!" Mother's stern disapproval swiveled from Emily to the skeleton drowning Mother’s flapjacks in syrup, and she pressed a fingertip beneath the pitcher to lift its edge. The Bones moved toward Emily's plate and Mother's stare followed, fixing on its original target. "Eat your breakfast."
Through the Bone's bare ribcage, Oliver saw Emily's head disappear once more below the table. With no one to stop the skeleton, syrup crawled over Emily’s eggs and sausages, encasing them in amber, like the resin-coated tarantulas in Father's study. Something cracked hard against Oliver's knee.
"Mother!"
Emily scrambled back into her seat. Her tongue poked through the hole in her front teeth and her nose scrunched up at the bridge, "It's just a tiblia."
Paranormal
ReplyDeleteParanormal - I think?
ReplyDeleteParanormal
ReplyDeleteparanormal
ReplyDeleteFantasy
ReplyDeleteA skeleton doing things and magical syrup. It's lovely.
Fantasy.
ReplyDeleteA mysterious and slightly confusing world. Is Mother's stare controlling the skeletal syrup dispenser? Does the syrup harden?
Paranormal animated skeleton
ReplyDeleteFantasy. I found this a little confusing. The word tibia says Contemporary, but the formal Mother and Father seem more like Fantasy language. Also, a living skeleton at the breakfast table.
ReplyDeleteFantasy/Humorous
ReplyDeleteI'm just guessing because it sounds humorous to me, and I'm not sure if paranormal can be humorous, so I'm thinking an animated skeleton, an Addams Family type family . . . must be fantasy.
CONTEMPORARY FANTASY
ReplyDeleteThe breakfast-table setting seems contemporary, but there seems to be something quite unusual (that's all I can tell about it at the moment) going on with an animated skeleton. The age of the characters makes me think not URBAN FANTASY.
paranormal?
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit confusing, but a living skeleton ...
Paranormal?
ReplyDeleteBut it's confusing. I'm not sure if the skeleton's a toy or is actually at the table.
Paranormal or magical realism
ReplyDeleteBut hard to understand. The moving skeleton makes me think paranormal, but the contemporary setting and characters who seem to accept the moving skeleton make me think magical realism
Fantasy
ReplyDeleteThe skeleton pouring syrup is not part of the world we live in! But I also feel like there is a sub-genre that I'm not getting, adventure or horror, maybe.
I don't know...
ReplyDeleteBased on your world building, I lean toward fantasy but it would be contemporary because the skeleton might be animatronic...
Fantasy. An animated skeleton at the table. Though I was confused about whether Emily controlled the skeleton with magic or physically (since she went under the table)
ReplyDeleteParanormal but leaning towards horror perhaps?
ReplyDeleteFantasy, since there's apparently an animated skeleton?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the guesses everyone! This one is Fantasy. The skeleton is controlled with magic.
ReplyDeleteI loved this!
Delete