Part 11 (1/2)
”By the time you find the one you want to fascinate, you will be able,” Millie a.s.sured her.
”And what about me?” Chex asked with a quirk of a smile. ”I am one of a kind.”
”So is Rapunzel,” Millie replied, ”but she's married now.”
”To Grundy Golem,” Ivy said. ”Which reminds me, when is Snortimer coming back?”
This jump was too much for Chex. ”Who is Snortimer, and what does he have to do with unique creatures finding mates?”
”He's my Monster Under the Bed,” Ivy explained. ”Grundy borrowed him, and never returned him, and now it's awful quiet under my bed.” Then, after the briefest of pauses. ”Awfully quiet.”
”Oh.” Chex was more confused than before.
”There's a zombie monster under Lacuna's bed,” Millie said. ”I think he's lonely, now that she's grown up.”
”Oh, goody! I'll go play with him!” Ivy dashed off.
Millie turned to Chex. ”I presume this is not purely a pleasure visit?”
”It's a coincidental visit,” Chex confessed. ”We were going to Centaur Isle to seek help for the voles, who have a serious problem, but there's such a horrendous smell on the path that-”
”Oops! That must be the sphinx! Jonathan said it looked ill.”
”Jonathan?”
”My husband, the Zombie Master. Sphinxes live a very long time, but on occasion they do die.”
”That would account for it,” Chex said. ”Can anything be done?”
”Oh, yes, of course. Jonathan wants to find that sphinx and make a zombie of it before it's too far gone. Now that we know where to look, he'll go with a contingent of zombies and convert it. The process will take a few days, because a sphinx is a very large creature, but I know he will be grateful to you for the information.”
”But I have a limited time to reach Centaur Isle and return,” Chex said. ”I can't wait a few days. Ivy thought you might know a way around.”
”There is a way, but it is difficult. You would need a guide.”
”I would be happy to have a guide, if one is available.”
”A zombie guide.”
Chex paused. She had not had prior experience with zombies, and was not enthusiastic. ”I would have to carry a zombie?”
”Oh, no, of course not! We can give you a centaur.”
”A zombie centaur?” This did not appeal either.
”Ordinary folk do have some difficulty accepting zombies as legitimate creatures in their own right,” Millie said.
Chex remembered the difficulty some folk had accepting crossbreeds, too. ”A zombie guide will be fine,” she said, making an abrupt decision.
”Very well. I'll ask Horace.” Then Millie raised her voice. ”Ivy! You must be on your way now!”
”Aww!” Ivy called back. ”Zomonster's fun!”
Millie winked at Chex. ”Unless you would like to stay and have a meal with the zombies, dear.”
Suddenly Ivy was running downstairs. ”I'm ready to go, now, thanks all the same, Millie.”
”But we have such really rotten food!” Millie protested, smiling. ”The very best mold, and even a few dead maggots. Are you sure-?”
”Quite sure, thank you,” Ivy said with urgent politeness, ”Perhaps another time, then,” Millie said with seeming regret. She had evidently had prior experience with children. She led the way out.
Horace turned out to be a not-too-far gone centaur. His body was patched where hair had fallen out, and his face was somewhat worm-eaten, but otherwise he was all right.
”Please show Chex the alternate route to Centaur Isle,” Millie said to him. ”And wait for her return. Do you understand?”
”Yesh, Millie Ghosht,” Horace said, speaking as well as he could with a rotten lip and tongue.
Chex helped Ivy mount. ”Thank you, Millie; I really appreciate this.”
”Anything in a good cause,” Millie said. ”It was nice to meet you, Chex.”
Then Horace was moving off, and Chex had to hurry to catch up with him. ”Bye, Millie!” Ivy called, waving frantically. ”Bye, zombies!” Millie and several zombies waved back.
”Millie certainly didn't look like a zombie,” Chex remarked.
”Oh, no, she's a ghost!” Ivy said.
”A ghost!” Chex exclaimed. But then she remembered what Horace had called her: ghosht.
”Well, she isn't really a ghost anymore,” Ivy explained. ”But she was one for eight hundred years, so we still call her Millie the Ghost.”
”Eight hundred years!”
”Yes, and then she won a prize or something and was made alive again, and she took care of Daddy when he was little, and then she married the Zombie Master and lived happily ever after. She's real nice.” Ivy paused.
Then: ”Really nice!” in time with Chex's correction. And a laugh.
Horace turned his head. ”Watsch niche?”
”Millie the Ghosht,” Ivy replied promptly, stifling a giggle.
”Yesh,” the zombie agreed.
”They aren't too bright,” Ivy confided. ”But they really are nice, when you get to know them. They defend Castle Roogna, you know.”
Chex had known, because of the zombie graveyard there. Nevertheless, she was picking up a lot of interesting material from this child.
The path they were following was easy to discern. Chex wondered why Millie had considered it to be so difficult as to require a guide. Then Horace drew to a halt.
”Zragon nesht ahead,” he announced, losing a discolored tooth.