Page 42 of Geoffrey the Very Strange
"I'm going to have to, since I'm not setting one hoof any closer."
Drez looped the string around the sack's neck to fasten it tighter and heaved it out toward the street. The weight of the sack of bones nearly took Theo off his feet and Aspic off his back, but they recovered and, between the two of them, managed to set it in front of Aspic on Theo's back.
They each took a bone from the sack—thankfully dry and clean and not straight from the abattoir floor—and Theo shot a questioning glance back at Aspic.
"Do we taunt to get their attention?"
Aspic shrugged. "I suppose if it makes you feel better?"
Theo threw his beef bone at the horde so it bounced off and landed in the street. "Come and get it you… you… stupid… shells!"
"Wow. You are really bad at that." Aspic snickered, but his amusement only lasted until the shells reacted to the new offering.
They swarmed, bouncing off the side of the house and descending on the beef bone. The bivalve shells had the easiest time biting at it, leaving scratches and grooves in the bone, and even the chunks of rock developed seams to create faux mouths and bit down hard. That one bone wasn't enough for the entire horde, though.
"Start backing down the street, Theo," Aspic murmured as he dropped another bone at the centaur's hooves.
"Shit," Theo spat out as he danced back. "Warn a person."
"Sorry. We have to keep it up until they're focused and following us."
The first bone creaked and jerked upright in a horrid display that reminded Aspic of a bad marionette show. After a few unsteady bounces, it joined the horde as the newest zombie. Aspic dropped another bone, and more of the horde followed.
Unfortunately, now they had the horde's attention, and while some of the zombies concentrated on turning each dropped bone, the rest…
"Theo. I think we need to go!"
The horde charged, and with a whinnying cry, Theo whirled and broke into a gallop toward the square. Aspic dropped bones. Theo ran. The horde followed. Not all of it at once, but as soon as the hindmost group finished making another zombie, they would bounce along at full speed to catch up to the main body. Without a doubt, the weirdest and most dreadful game of leapfrog Aspic had ever witnessed.
The lure was working, but the unhappy consequence was they were creating more zombies along the way. Theo kicked out in panic when a shell caught his back fetlock, nearly throwing Aspic, but he clung tight, and Theo put on an extra burst of speed. The square was just ahead of them as they crested the hill with the pile of bait and Geoffrey standing nearby.
Almost there. Then Geoffrey had to make this work.
"They're coming!"Clover bellowed from his post at the edge of the square.
All around Geoffrey his cloud seeders were landing. It was time. He closed his eyes and raised his arms to the sky, doing his best to ignore thetiptiptipof the approaching horde growing louder and louder.
For this, he needed no words of power, no wand. For this, his native magic, he needed only to reach inside. The last time he'd called a storm had been the night Dandelion had died, and that had been wild and uncontrolled, driven by his grief. This had to be controlled. Precise. Contained.
The wind picked up. His connection to the clouds prickled along his skin. Before the storm took him, he shouted above the wind, "Don't look up at the rain!"
His awareness split, as it often did with weather magic. Part of him remained in the square, watching from above, unable to interact with those around him but able to observe. The other, greater part of him, melded with the clouds, and here, he could focus on the smallest droplets in the clouds. Perhaps he was small, too, and that was why. He'd never been certain.
Among the water drops, he found the magically charged vinegar suspended. It was the work of moments to spread it evenly, to change the consistency of those clouds, to concentrate the vinegar until it was stronger and the water so much less.
Not so strong that it would harm the townsfolk in the square. Perhaps it would irritate skin, and it would sting badly if someone let the rain fall into their eyes. But not lasting harm.
Down in the square, Aspic and Theo had arrived, galloping frantically toward the bait pile. When they reached it, Aspic upended a bag of bones atop the pile. The zombie shells and their cohorts fell upon that augmented pile, the entire horde concentrated there.
Time to make it rain.
Geoffrey condensed his altered droplets quickly, and the skies opened, pouring acid rain down onto the square, onto the people, many of whom covered their heads or sought shelter. But a few—Clover, Ryu, Dire Talondon, Aspic, Theo, Geoffrey's grandmother, who had joined them at some point, Heliotrope, and Timms—stayed to surround the bait pile and kick, hammer, or club, according to their natures, any zombies back into the pile that had dared to stray.
In that company of brave zombie fighters, Geoffrey's body looked frail and small to him as he stood there inert, with his arms raised and his eyes closed in his upturned face. Probably would've been a good time to have those purple-lensed glasses, but it couldn't be helped. His heart warmed with gratitude when Cecil stretched into a shadow umbrella to protect him.
One by one, the zombies began to exhibit pinholes and pitting. Those most exposed fell off the pile and lay on the cobbles, unmoving and leaving the next layer of their fellows more exposed. More layers fell and more. He didn't expect them to dissolve. That would have taken more vinegar and more time than he had. What he had hoped, and what was now happening, was that the acid would penetrate the surface of shell, limestone, and bone, and break the necromantic spell.
Distantly, he was aware that his hands and his face stung, his muscles trembled, and he swayed. From somewhere far away, he knew that Ryu swung his hammer and roared while he smashed the unzombified things to pieces. Aspic waded in to kick apart the bait pile and expose the last remnants of the zombie horde.
