Page 24 of Any More Questions for the Corpse?

“Thank you,” Mal said. “See, Des agrees.”

“Hell no,” Des said. “You should be studying.”

“What?!” Mal said, echoing the rest of the group’s sentiment.

“You have this tool with you whether you want to or not,” Des said. “Pretending you’re not carrying isn’t the same as not carrying. I’d rather you know what you’re doing with your power than only pulling it out in emergencies and setting it off willy-nilly.”

“Now that is a good point,” Yu said, nodding.

“But,” Mal said, “what if using it makes me … y’know …”

“Studying in a safe environment is different to going out and digging up corpses,” Des said, half laughing. “How about this, if you start looking lich-y, I’ll track you down and stop you myself.”

“You got a deal,” Mal said, nodding to Des. “To the ends of the earth?”

“To the ends of the earth,” Des said, returning the nod.

“Count me in,” Hala said. “I don’t want you bringing any more of those things back. The fact you’re thinking about this at all is a good sign. You have to just hold yourself accountable, otherwise you’ll get out of control …” Her words trailed off and Mal caught her staring as if lost in thought.

“I guess I’m studying then,” Mal said. Fuck, Mal thought. They weren’t wrong, but was now the best time to do it? Now might be the only time he had left to do it. He picked up the book and cracked open a random page.

CORPSES. Open and decorated, filled every page. Entrails and esophagi, lungs and limbs, vertebrae and ventricles. He turned to the first page and read the title: The Dances of Flesh: A Cannibal’s Cookbook. He threw the book down in disgust. He should study—but maybe from a different book. He threw the book back to Yu, who did the same thing he did—after some retching. Yu thought it best Mal find another book too. Mal went away for a moment, and returned with a book called Necromancing the Bone. He thought that even if it was useless, it would at least be more comical. When he returned he saw that Hala was still deep in thought. Mal couldn’t tell if it was their situation or something more. Thinking it better to ask than to ignore her, he found himself saying:

“You okay, Hala?” She snapped out of her gaze. Mal thought he caught a look of annoyance from Des.

“Yeah,” Hala said. “I’m okay. Been better, obviously.” She gestured to the world, as if to say, You can see where we are. “Just wondering how I got myself here.”

“I hope I don’t upset you by asking,” Mal said, “but, why are you here?”

“Trying to do some good, I guess,” Hala said, sighing with defeat.

“But, why?” Mal said. He spotted Des looking over; even Yu looked up from their book.

“Because I’ve done a lot of not good,” Hala said, very matter-of-factly. “It’s complicated.”

“We’ve got time,” Mal said, gesturing to the room with his eyes.

“I used to get … caught up … in my thing. My powers. I still do sometimes. You’ve seen it, I’ve used it on you guys already.” Mal nodded. Des nodded too, but quieter.

“Your power’s not evil though,” Mal said. “It’s insightful.”

“I know that,” Hala said. “There’s nothing wrong with the power. The problem’s me. I feel like I can’t control myself sometimes. I get so carried away. Even now, I want to use it. I can’t switch it off.” She took a deep breath and pushed down her shoulders. “I don’t like who I become when I use it. I’m not present enough. I should be using it to help people. Do some good.”

“That’s why you wanted to help?” Des said.

“Yes. Doing this, it felt good. I could put them to use, make up for things.”

Mal understood completely. He’d felt much the same way about the investigation and his powers. But a question presented itself that Mal couldn’t help but ask.

“Make up for what?” Mal said.

“For what I missed.” Hala got up as she spoke. “Now, I’m going to do something useful. Does this place have a handbook?” She looked to Mal, who seemed bewildered. “Something about the rules of this place?” Mal was still confused, but Des seemed to understand.

“You want to see if there’s a loophole?”

“Yes,” Hala said, “or at the very least, I want to figure out how this Order works.”

“I think I saw a few books on the Order’s history over there,” Yu said, pointing to a bookcase in the corner. Hala and Des left and returned with several books. Des took The History of the Order, while Hala took a book on the Order’s operational procedure. Mal cracked open Necromancing the Bone and turned to a random page in their absence.