5 Chapter 5 The Doll

Ebony and Silas made their way down to the basement after Brom made his departure. The basement was dense and old, cement floors and walls with a wooden ceiling, it smelled of musk and old mothballs. There were boxes and bins stacked against the wall along with other odd end things, such as an old bike, camping things and random spray cans. Off to the side was an old metal heater. It didn't look like any Ebony had seen before, it was box shaped and it had a small square door with a smaller circular door in the middle, it was red with rust. Ebony could see some cellar spiders crawling around among the many cobwebs, though she didn't mind them. "Are you ok?" She called after Silas. He had been practically completely silent since Brom left. "After, y'know, seeing your Grandfather again?" "Yeah, I'm ok." He paused, his voice slightly lowered. "Just surprised. I was wondering when he'd visit after he passed. Guess he was just waiting for the right time." Silas walked to the back of the basement and started shifting through boxes, Ebony would've offered to help though she doubted she'd be much of any. She decided to drop the conversation about his Grandfather until later. Eventually, Silas spoke up. "This must be it." His voice strained as he spoke and lifted a large box out of the clutter of the others. There was nothing written on the box except "Seal for Protection" written in smudged, faded black ink. "That's it?" Ebony asked Silas, moving to the side as he set the box down on an empty table nearby. "Seems to be." Silas motioned to another set of letters, Ebony didn't notice, on the side written in the same old ink. It read "The Doll".

Silas opened the box all the way and pulled out a leather bound book, Ebony could see writing and symbols on it though she did not know what it meant. Silas set the book on the table and reached back into the box. He huffed as he pulled a body out of the box, a woman's body with long brown curly hair and fair skin, she was wearing a simple sleeveless white dress. Silas sat the life-like doll on the table. "This is kind of creepy.." Ebony said as she walked closer to look at the doll. Her face was relaxed and her eyes half closed, they were an almost unnatural blue hazel color, a gold ring surrounding the iris. A smile seemed to play at the doll's lips, almost as if the doll already had life of its own and was just waiting to jump up and surprise them. Ebony shuddered. "The book says once the ritual is done, it will be nearly impossible to tell that you are not of the living world." Silas said aloud, startling Ebony at the sudden sound interrupting her thoughts. She looked to see the leather bound book in his hand, his hand big enough to hold the book in one and adjust his reading glasses with the other. He looked up from the book and at the doll sitting slumped on the table, the edges of his mouth turned down slightly. "I suppose we'll figure out the details after we get you in there." He flipped to the next page of the book.

"What details?" Ebony wasn't just going to hop inside the creepy life-like doll until she knew what was all going to come along with it. She hoped the book Silas had would answer all the questions in her head. "Well for starters," Silas began still scanning the book. "After we get you in there, we'll need to make you an alias and a story on why you're staying with me." He paused and looked above his glasses at her. "Assuming you are staying here." Ebony allowed a slight smile to appear on her face. "I searched for 3 days to find you, I don't think I'm leaving anytime soon." Silas gave a kind smile back.

"Alright, well once you're in this body you will experience fatigue like a living human would." He returned to the book, reading it off. "So, you'll have to sleep, it'll recharge the doll's ability to house your soul." His brows furrowed slightly. "Though it doesn't clearly state how it is able to.. slightly concerning.." He continued reading silently, making Ebony become more curious about this thing. She glanced at the doll again, it hadn't moved but it made her feel like she was being watched, even though she knew only Silas could see her currently. She looked closer at the doll, her fingertips were ever so slightly chipped, like they were used roughly. Ebony leaned in closer and noticed the cracks looked like cracks in pottery or porcelain. "Not to complain, but won't people eventually notice the small cracks and such?" Ebony pointed to the doll's hands as she looked back at Silas, there were other extremely fine cracks, Ebony noticed, along the doll's face. Silas, who was still skimming the book, looked up and examined the doll's hands where Ebony was pointing. "Well," He began. "The book says that when you rest and eat, it recharges the doll, allowing it to somehow repair damages, while you sleep." He glanced back at the book and flipped back a couple pages. "I'm not sure how you'll be able to eat or how any of it works exactly but it says as long as you care for it like you would a living body, it'll be fine." His eyebrows were furrowed and he stared intently at the pages, trying to uncover its secrets. "So.. I'll be able to live like a normal person again? Just in this doll's body instead?" Ebony looked at the doll's face, it was eerily beautiful. Silas took a moment to reply, still flipping through the many fine pages of the bound book. "From what I can tell, yes. You'll be able to eat, drink, sleep, shower, go to the restroom, etcetera and.." He paused, not looking at Ebony as he cleared his throat. "Other... More inappropriate things.. if you catch my meaning." Ebony caught on quickly and her jaw slackened. "Wait. What? Are you serious?" She started to laugh. Silas' face turned red as he quickly looked up at her. "I'm just reading what the book says! I'm not implying anything!" "Sure you're not." Ebony laughed with a wink, his face turned an even darker shade of red. "Why'd they make a doll that can do all this?" She tried not to think how sex would work while she was in the doll body.

Silas cleared his throat again, the red in his face slowly diminishing as he regained his composure. "I'm not entirely sure, I remember in school they briefly covered the doll's in class but it wasn't talked about a lot. Grandpa only told me that shamans used them in the war. If they used them in the war, I suppose they wanted them to resemble humans as closely as possible." He paused, his eyes slowly widening in realization. "I think the shamans resurrected the dead, like we're doing now and used the doll's for the war efforts. Maybe to infiltrate or keep the rebel numbers from lowering." He looked down at the book and whispered. "That would explain why so many people dislike the shamans now.. The public would hate that idea." His face was a mix of emotions, Ebony couldn't make them all out but she could tell he was definitely upset by this realization. Ebony walked closer to him, going to comfort him but pausing, not wanting to startle him with her cold aura. Instead, she spoke softly to him. "It does explain a lot. But let's not focus on that right now, we got a lot to do yet tonight." Silas shook his head lightly and looked at her apologetically. "Right, sorry. We should get started. I found the ritual Grandpa told us about in here."