A Different Kind of Deadly Read Online Free PDF Page A

readied his
explanation.
    "This happened way back when the Houses were
formed. It's called the Dollhouse Incident. We dabble in bodies,
right? Transplants, grafting, that sort of thing."
    "Right."
    "Well, a Doll is basically a soul transplant.
In order to make one the necromancer and the candidate need to
draft it in paper."
    "So a Doll Contract is a physical contract?" I
asked.
    "You got it." Leo waved a fork at me. "It can
have any number of clauses and stipulations, but once its agreed
on, the Contract can't be amended. But it requires a vocal
component -both parties have to agree to the conditions
aloud."
    "Okay. I'm still not seeing a
problem."
    "The problem," Diana interrupted,
"is that a Doll Contract only recognizes an agreement, which means
that someone can scream 'no' all they want, but it'll take just one
'yes' to seal their fate. A number of necromancers took advantage
of the critical flaw. In the worst cases, they raided the surface
to drag people beneath the sands, where they extracted
cooperation."
    I swallowed hard. "You mean that we...
tortured people?"
    Diana lowered her head. "It was a dark time in
our history, Marvin. All Contracts shared some commonalities.
First, a Doll couldn't speak unless they had a Contractor. Second,
if one Contractor kills another, then that Contractor owns the
Dolls of his opponent. The conditions of previous Doll Contracts
continue to apply, or in the case of conflict, the condition will
change in favor of the new owner."
    "Wow," said Leo. "I didn't know
that."
    "Naturally," Diana scowled. "I eradicated
every Contractor left in Nethermount."
    My eyes bulged to the size of
saucers.
    "But Diana... The Crone said you formed a Doll
Contract. How can you do that if you're a Doll?"
    "My Contractor died, Marvin." She closed her
eyes. I heard the springs of her joints winding taunt as Diana
squeezed her fists against the earth. "It made me a Rogue Doll. I
could choose to make anyone a Contractor without their agreement by
pledging myself to their service. Unlike the Contract made when
creating a Doll, this kind of vow has only one condition: the Doll
and her Contractor share one life, and all its
consequences."
    She turned her head at Leo. "Could you ask
your bird to peck my cheek?"
    "Sure." Leo fanned Tully off of his head.
"Give her a smooch."
    The parrot skeleton hopped up Diana's arm and
perched itself on her shoulder, doing as it was asked.
    Somehow, I felt its beak against my face at
the same time.
    "So if I die then you die as well?"
    "Correct." Diana smirked. "Why do you think
Mahlah sent us down here on this fool's errand? Killing you would
be the only way to kill me."
    "Then why didn't she just cut him down back in
the Hall?" Leo asked before I could pose the same
question.
    "Because anyone I chose to be my Contractor
would be the Inheritor," Diana explained. "The equivalent of
becoming Inval's heir. If Marvin wanted, he could abolish the
Houses, disband the necromancers of Nethermount; ban the act of
raising the dead altogether."
    Leo scoffed. "That's barbaric. Marvin is too
cultured to do something like that."
    Diana and I exchanged concerned
glances.
    It was because I was cultured that I would do
something like that.
    "Hold on." I shook my head. "If that makes me
Inval's heir then was your Contractor..."
    Leo and I stared at Diana for a
long moment. I saw memories swimming in her eyes. The humanity of
her features added a haunted element to her expressions. Her smile
only reached half her face, and for the first time, she looked as
fragile as the pale porcelain she was made of.
    "Yes." The dark lashes framing her eyes fanned
down to the floor. "I was sickly, you see. I caught an illness that
for all his effort, Inval couldn't cure. He said that he sensed a
new power in the East, and he was convinced that it would hold the
answers he didn't have."
    "So he made a Doll Contract, to preserve you
until then," I finished.
    "But the Houses were newly founded. Its
necromancers were