The corpses were no longer slow. In fact, they shambled forward at a brisk walk—too quickly for the Chinese boy to stop them. I raced to help as Joseph ran to the popping machine.
But there were too many. Fingers and teeth and waxy flesh were everywhere. I swung and shoved and swung and shoved.
Daniel’s voice howled over the fray, “Now!”
The Chinese boy whirled around, seized me, and lugged me behind a bench. Just before I dropped, I saw Joseph shove his hand directly into the machine’s electricity.
A bright, blue light exploded overhead, and a thunderous boom cracked through the annex. Then came the thud and slap of corpses as they hit the ground.
I craned my neck and peered over the bench. The walking Dead had collapsed where they stood.
It took several moments for me to comprehend that it was over and I was safe. I eased painfully onto the bench. My muscles screamed their exhaustion and had already begun to stiffen from overuse.
The Chinese boy rose from our spot on the floor. He looked down at me. “Thanks for helping.” His voice was high and soft. He poked his thumb at his chest. “I’m Jie.”
“Eleanor,” I answered, gesturing wearily to myself. “Wh-what do we do now?”
“I get people to help us clean before the flies come. You help Joseph, yeah?” He bounded off without a glance back, and with no regard for his feet hitting flesh and bones.
I winced, glad that the roar of the water blocked the sound of his footsteps. The cool mist also kept some of the rotten scent at bay. I pushed myself up and shuffled toward Daniel and Joseph, who both lay in a heap on a bench nearby.
“What just happened?” I asked. “With the machine? And why were you in the fountain?”
“Now’s not the time,” Daniel grumbled. He rose, slid an arm under Joseph, and helped the bedraggled man rise. I lurched forward and added support to Joseph’s other side.
“Mèrsi,” Joseph murmured. His eyes were glassy and his breathing rough.
We shuffled from the pool and benches and approached the first of the collapsed Dead.
“Hold your nose,” Daniel said. “And you probably don’t wanna look down.”
I gritted my teeth and kept my chin raised high. Like Jie, I didn’t—couldn’t—avoid stepping on the corpses. My ankles and heels rolled and sank as we progressed forward.
Daniel tipped his head around Joseph to peer at me. “What are you doin’ here, Miss Fitt? We told you to stay in the lab.”
My heel poked through skin with a rip and a thud. I pressed my lips firmly together and forced my eyes to remain up and forward. “I couldn’t stay,” I said.
Joseph cleared his throat. “There was a spirit.”
“Yes.” I glanced at him, my eyes wide. “How did you know?”
“I could feel the cold.”
“You could?” I asked. “How? You weren’t near.”
“When I stand in water, I can connect more easily to spiritual energy.”
“T-to what?”
Daniel answered. “It’s like electricity. Everything that’s—” He broke off and flinched. His foot was tangled in a corpse’s dress. He shook his leg free, wrinkled his nose, and then continued. “Everything that’s alive has spiritual energy. You call it soul.”
We reached the giant Corliss engine, and though the air still stank of putrid flesh, the ground was clean. Joseph paused our slow trudge forward and straightened. “I can go alone now, thank you.”
Daniel wiped his brow. “Like I was sayin’, souls are made of electricity.”
His words clicked with something Elijah had taught me. “Water’s a conductor,” I said slowly. “Is that how it works?”
“Right.” Daniel flicked his eyes toward me, and I thought I saw a glint of respect. “So when Joseph stands in it, he can connect to the spiritual energy.”
“And so,” I pressed, “when he was in the water, he could control the bodies?”
“Not control,” Joseph said, “but affect. You might have noticed a difference in the corpses’ speed when I stepped from the water. My ability to affect the corpses weakened when I left the water, so their speed and coordination improved.”
Daniel nodded. “We’re lucky the Hydraulic Annex has such a big pool. We’re even luckier the corpses followed us there.”
“Wi. It makes me think we were the target of the attack.”
“I don’t know if that’s good or bad.” Daniel glanced toward the annex. “I should go back and get the machine.”
“What is that thing?” I asked. “It made sparks.”
“It’s called an influence machine. It makes static electricity from spinning the glass wheels. And when Joseph touches the spark, he uses it to blast all that corrupt soul back into the spirit realm. Kinda like a cue ball smashing apart all the other billiard balls.”
“Oh,” I said, not entirely sure I understood.
“But that machine wasn’t easy to make, and it can sell for a pretty penny. So I ought to retrieve it. Jie can help me carry it to the lab.”