"One question each? No problem, but Priest, does anything count as a question? Even if I accidentally say something like, 'Why is this year's weather so terrible?'"
"Yes. These souls are controlled by something else. Their intelligence is low, and they only retain instincts, so you must ask carefully."
Shade and the Doctor both covered their mouths. Once they were ready, the Priest poured some ash from his unlit pipe and scattered it over the remains. Then he swung his right arm, making the gesture Shade remembered so clearly from Chapter 440—
His palm struck the corpse's face.
"Return!"
The corpse began trembling like it was convulsing. After Shade and the Doctor pulled the Priest out of the grave pit from either side, the corpse also sat up, dirt and sand continuously rolling down from its body.
A barely noticeable dark green flame ignited in the skeleton's eye sockets, but the corpse looked blank and foolish, as though it possessed even less Wisdom than Little Mia.
The Priest coughed and asked first:
"Your soul is not free. Do you know what controls you?"
The corpse, sitting upright at a ninety-degree angle, answered in a stiff voice:
"A book. It is held aloft by souls. It can plan our Destiny."
"Looks like the Detective was right, but I've never heard of a relic like that."
The Priest said this to Shade and the Doctor, taking particular care to phrase it as a statement, then gestured for the two of them to ask their questions.
The Doctor was eager to try, so Shade let him go first. Doctor Schneider indeed asked about the subject both men had been interested in just now:
"I heard you had eight sons. Did you have some special method?"
"There was no method. Our family has always