"They are all of a hive-mind," Claudia answered, absently, before returning the paper to him. "It is like a fungus. A sprawling network of roots, deeper and more widespread than mortals guess at. These that fly, and the...dogs. And those which walk. But they are stupid, as animals are stupid. They can be deceived, and they do not hunt the dead."

She sat still and without fidgeting, an unnatural state for anyone who looked as young as she. "But they did not devour your flesh, nor use your body to feed new fungus. How peculiar."