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maturity in decisions before. She strikes me as-well, as a woman who would be worthy of him, in other
circumstances, wings or not."
"No question," Mary agreed, surprisingly. "She's a sensible and generous person. What little I have seen
of her so far, I like very well. But the fact is that they are not for each other, being of different realms
and different species, and Xanth is stricter about babies out of wedlock than the real world is. But as you
say, young passions are strong. How long could they hold out, if we put them constantly together?"
"Fifteen minutes?"
"So what do we do?"
He sighed. "We move Willow in with Karen or Chlorine, and Sean with David. We keep company with
them-constantly. But I'm going to feel like a jailer."
"It is necessary." Then, satisfied with her victory, she kissed him.
"I'll take that as a promise for the time we get alone," he said.
"To be sure."
They returned to the RV. It was crowded, because there were now nine people in it, counting the
demoness, plus the pets. At least the big chick had returned to his governess; they and the dragons
would remain on the mesa until the winds abated. This had been the most remarkable menagerie she had
encountered, even in imagination. She was privately amazed at herself for taking it all in stride. But
what else was she to do? She was a long way from her specialty of archaic Mundane languages.
Jim took the wheel, and she the front passenger seat. The others were arranged all around the main
section of the vehicle. Sean and Willow were holding hands, while David and Karen were eagerly
questioning them about everything, especially love springs. "If David and I fell in a love spring, would
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we fall in love?" Karen asked.
"Yuckk!" David cried.
But Willow had an answer. "I think not, because you are not party to the Adult Conspiracy. But you
might quarrel less."
"Were you naked together in that pool?" David asked.
"Yuck!" Karen said, for nuisance value.
"Yes, naked," Sean answered. "We washed each other's backs. And that's all we did."
That last was for Mary's benefit, she knew. She appreciated it.
"Except for kissing," Willow said.
Jim nudged the RV forward. He circled toward the demon tunnel. The passengers opened the Windows
and waved to the roc and dragons, who napped a wing and snorted smoke or fire into the air,
respectively, in response. It had indeed been a good joint effort, and successful. But there was more to
do.
Mentia floated out through the metal in the unnerving way she had and stretched her arms impossibly
wide to indicate the outline of the tunnel entrance, which was otherwise invisible. Jim steered for it, and
the vehicle seemed to sink into the solid-looking rock. Then the surface of the ground closed overhead,
and Jim turned on the headlights to illuminate the curving tunnel. The demoness, caught by surprise
again (really?), was shown in phenomenally fullbreasted nudity, sans panties, of course, but recovered
after too long a moment and formed a tight dress around her voluptuous torso.
"A man could get to like Xanth," Jim murmured in a tone just loud enough for her to hear.
"Oh?" Mary said in a tone just loud enough for the demoness to overhear. "Suppose she became a raving
monster?"
Mentia obligingly became a raving monster, with spikes at every joint and enormous dripping fangs.
"I've been set up," Jim muttered, as Mary and Mentia laughed.
The drive down was slow but uneventful; the phantasms did not reappear. When they emerged from the
base it was evening. "Do we have time to camp for the night?" Jim called to Chlorine in back.
She checked with Nimby. "Yes, if we don't mind the - madness."
"We'll stay in the RV," he said. "But we'll forage outside for food, et cetera."
"Cetera?" Willow asked.
"He means natural functions," Sean said.
"Isn't everything natural?"
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r r
"Poop," David said, then paused in surprise. "Hey, I got the bad word out! No bleep."
"The madness is overriding the Adult Conspiracy," Mentia explained.
"But don't let it go to your head," Mary called severely.
"Well, I wouldn't want it to go there," the boy retorted.
"What a mess," Karen agreed. "But are you sure your face isn't made of it?"
"What's on my face?"
"Nothing. That's the way you look all the time."
Things were getting back to normal. Mary was pleased to note in the rearview mirror that Willow was
blushing. Definitely a refined creature. If only Sean could meet someone like her in Miami!
Nimby directed them to a reasonable place, and Jim parked the RV. "Pee break!" David cried, reveling
in the newfound freedom from bleeping.
They got out and spread out, accomplishing their various purposes, and Mentia found a good pie tree.
Mary would have preferred something more nutritious, but had pretty much given up on that particular
fight in this realm. Pies were simply too abundant and convenient and popular.
Then they set up the RV for the night, and neither Sean nor Willow made any objection to Mary's
bedding assignments. They did indeed comprehend the risks of doing otherwise. They settled down for
sleep.
Which wasn't ideal. Because of the presence of Chlorine, Nimby, and Willow, their beds were all full, so
that she and Jim had to sleep in the front seats. Jim simply slumped down with his pillow against the
door and zonked out, but it took her longer to settle down. And naturally she heard something.
Someone was stirring in the RV. The sound was slight, suggesting that whoever it was didn't want to
disturb anyone else. Was it a toilet call? The children had been cautioned not to go out alone, because
Xanth really as dangerous, especially at night. The spell on the RV provided considerable security, but
that was no good outside.
Mary was about to inquire, but decided to keep quiet. It wasn't that she was a snoop, but she did want to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]