“Oh, bleep!” Astrid swore. “That looks like Fracto.”
“The wild cloud?” the child asked. “Part of Xanth’s legend?”
“The same,” Astrid agreed. “We have brushed with him before. Let’s hope he doesn’t see us.”
But the cloud had already spied them. It loomed close, expanding.
“Or recognize us,” Astrid said.
A whirling gaseous eye formed, glaring at them. Fracto recognized them.
“He’s a two-bit troublemaker,” Ease muttered. “A real airhead.”
“Or hear us,” Astrid said, concerned.
A blast of cold air blew down on them. Fracto had heard. Now they were in for it. Already the water was getting choppy.
When Astrid had encountered the violent cloud on the water before, she had pacified him by using her female wiles. She feared that would not be enough this time.
“Maybe if two lovely women addressed him,” Fornax murmured. “Or three, if the third doesn’t actually do anything.”
It was worth a try. “Face the other way,” Kandy told Ease. “So you won’t freak out.” The man signed and turned around to face to the rear. One might almost have thought he wouldn’t have minded freaking out for a good cause.
Astrid removed her clothing, which was bound to get soaked anyway. The board transformed back to Kandy, minus her apparel, as happened when she changed. She took her place in the center of the canoe, next to Astrid. Fornax floated to her other side, similarly bare, and even more voluptuously formed. The three of them gazed up at the angry cloud.
“Wow!” Squid said. “When I grow up, I’m going to make myself look like that.” And of course she would be able to do it, with her powers of mimicry. She would make some young man deliriously happy just before he freaked out.
“We apologize most humbly,” Astrid called to the glowering Fracto. “Please forgive us.” The three of them inhaled.
The cloud considered. Then he sent down another chill blast, making them shiver. But he didn’t swamp them.
Then a stiff wind blew from the rear, pushing the canoe forward. It fairly raced across the water.
Astrid was not easy about this. Before, Fracto had blown them straight into mischief. He was one ill wind.
“Land ahoy!” Squid called. “And it’s right where we need to go.”
Had that niceness been intentional on Fracto’s part? Astrid still didn’t trust it. But she assumed her most positive stance. “Thank you, Fracto!” she called.
The cloud floated away, evidently pacified.
Then Squid reconsidered. “Or maybe not.”
“Not?” Kandy asked.
“It’s along the line, but maybe not there yet. It’s hard to tell. The direction’s right, but maybe not the distance.”
“You know, I saw something,” Ease said. “I think it was a honeypot. It made me hungry.”
“Yet. It’s along the line,” Squid said.
He shaded his eyes, looking. “Well I’ll be!”
“You’ll be what, dear?” Kandy asked.
“It is a honeypot! A big one.”
“Nothing is as it seems, when spoken by an innocent,” Fornax said. “I may not say more.” She faded out.
“Gimme the paddle.”
Kandy became the board, falling into his hands. He paddled vigorously toward the little island.
Except that it wasn’t exactly an island. It was a small mountain in the shape of a huge bee, from whose mouth poured a river of golden honey that landed in a pool-size pot. The honeypot.
Then Astrid got the rest of it as she put her dress back on. Ease had said “I’ll be.” And it turned out to be “Isle Bee,” a bee the size of an island, filling a pot of honey. Fornax had warned her.
But why had Fornax then faded out? That suggested that she was in danger of saying something that would constitute Demon interference, so she had removed the temptation. So maybe there was more to this situation.
Was that honey safe to eat?
Ease paddled up to the pot. He fetched a dipper from the canoe and used it to dip out some honey. Before Astrid could say anything, he tasted it. “Perfect!”
Now she just had to hope it was. In any event, they needed to know more about this.
Kandy reformed. She took the dipper and tasted the honey. “Lovely.”
Too late again. Was the honey safe, or was it not what it seemed? She didn’t want to alarm anyone unnecessarily. “Squid, let’s you and I wait a bit,” Astrid said to the child.
Squid considered. She had heard Fornax, and had learned caution. “Okay.”
“Good girl.” Astrid knew the child was eager for the honey. “Maybe you should swim around the island to see what you can see.”
Squid shaped herself into her natural form and plopped into the water.
Meanwhile Ease and Kandy were dipping and eating more honey. “This is the best honey ever,” Kandy said. “You should try some.”
“I will, soon,” Astrid agreed, gazing at the bee-shaped mountain. It was amazingly realistic. It was almost as if a real giant bee had been frozen in place, except for the flowing honey.
Then an unwilling notion pushed into her mind. Almost?
Suppose that was a real bee, that could reanimate at any moment? Suppose the honey contained a sleeping potion. There were no flowers here in the sea to provide nectar for the bee to feed on; what did it eat? That honeypot could be a deadly trap.
Squid reappeared. “There’s something funny about that island,” she said. “It’s tied to a rock below. It has bee legs.”
“It’s a bee,” Astrid said.
“Oh look! Aunt Kandy and Uncle Ease are taking a nap.”
As Astrid had feared, the two were slumped in the canoe. “I think there is sleeping potion in the honey. I didn’t warn them in time.”
“They didn’t get caught in Storage the way we did. They’re not par—par—”
“Paranoid,” Astrid said. “So it’s up to us to get us away from here.”
“How? There’s nowhere else close enough to go to.”
“And we don’t even have a paddle,” Astrid agreed. “We’re in trouble.”
“We need Aunt Kandy awake so she can be the paddle.”
“We do.”
“Why did Aunt Fornax fade?”
Observant child! “She must have seen something that she could not warn us about directly, lest she be guilty of intervening. So she faded to stop herself.”
“The way she acted to save me?”
“Yes. So in Storage she didn’t dare act. Or here.”
“I like her.”
“So do I.”
“She’ll act if she has to, to save us. But then she’ll be in trouble.”
“That’s the way I see it,” Astrid said. “We have to save ourselves if we possibly can.”
“Maybe I can ask the bee.”
“It is hard to talk to a stone creature.”
“She’s not all the way stone, ’cause she’s making the honey. Maybe she’s got a mind inside. Maybe I can Commune with her.”
“I fear that could be risky.”
Squid considered. “Maybe if you take off your glasses, Aunt Astrid, and back me up, I can do it. So that if she comes to life—”
“I can Stare her,” Astrid finished. “Maybe that would work.”
“I need to touch her to Commune.”
“We’ll try it.” Astrid took the rope that had moored the boat before, and tied it around a rocky outcropping so it wouldn’t drift. Then she and Squid stepped out onto the island beside the Pot. They made their way to a spot directly in front of the Bee, overlooking the Pot and the stream of honey. Then Squid moved forward, around the Pot, while Astrid focused on the Bee’s closed front eye.
Squid assumed the likeness of a much smaller bee. She touched the face of the big Bee. She Communed.
The Bee’s eye flickered. Astrid watched it, but di
d not Stare. She didn’t want to do anything she couldn’t undo.
Squid broke contact and made her way back to Astrid. “Wow!”
“What is it?”
“She is a Bee. A small d demon caught her and tied her here to produce honey for him. He comes once a day to collect it, replacing the Pot. He’s mean; we don’t want to be here when he comes. Especially grown women.”
“We’ll try to get away before he comes,” Astrid said, not discussing why. “What else did you learn?”
“Her name is Busy Bee. She hates being caught here. But her feet are tied and she can’t move. So she just sort of sleeps, and heaves honey.”
“Could you dive down and untie her feet?”
“Oh, sure.”
“Then go back and offer her this deal: we will untie her feet so she can escape, if in return she will carry us to the island we are going to.”
“Okay.” Squid went back to the Bee’s face.
Astrid remained alert, just in case.
Soon the child was back. “She says okay!”
“Then let’s do it. Untie her feet and get back to the canoe quickly. We don’t know when the demon is coming.”
“Soon,” Squid said. She changed form and dived into the water.
Astrid put her glasses back on and made her way to the canoe. She hauled on Kandy and Ease to make sure they were secure within the boat.
The mountain shook. The Bee’s eyes opened. Her mouth closed, cutting off the stream of honey. Her wings spread out, extending far over the water.
Squid reappeared and heaved herself into the boat. “Hang on!” she panted.
Kandy stirred, little planets swirling around her head. “What’s happening?”
“The honey is drugged,” Astrid said. “You’ve been asleep. We’re about to be carried a distance. Hold on to the canoe!”
Kandy grabbed on as the planets cleared. Ease slept on; he had eaten more of the honey.
The Bee’s wing-beat revved up. She lifted out of the water, leaving the Honeypot behind. She hovered, then lowered down toward the canoe. Her feet took hold of the sides in four places. Then she paused.
“Oops!” Squid exclaimed. “The demon!”
He came, looming like a dust storm, swelling up to horrendous size. “FEE FI FO FUM!” he roared. “SOMEBODY’S TRYING TO GO OR COME!”
“We have to stop him!” Squid cried. “Before he ties Busy up again.”
Astrid thought frantically, but all she could think of was the way they had flashed Fracto Cloud. Well, the demon was male, wasn’t he? “Flash him!” she screamed, ripping off her dress.
Kandy joined her in nudity. Then Fornax appeared. “As long as you two are sunning yourselves, I might as well join you,” she remarked.
“Feast your ugly eyes on this, smokeface!” Astrid called. Then all three beauties faced the demon and inhaled.
The demon froze, transfixed. He did not completely freak out, but neither did he move. He was wholly distracted by the scene.
Busy Bee unpaused. She lifted into the air, carrying the canoe. She flew rapidly forward, leaving the demon behind. By the time he reacted, it was too late; they were out of his reach.
In hardly more than a moment, the boat dropped back into the water with a splash. The Bee lifted high, freed of its weight, and ascended into the sky.
“There it is!” Squid said. “That’s where we’re going!”
So the Bee had honored the deal, delivering them to their stop.
“Oh, bleep,” Kandy said. “That’s the Island of Doctor Moribund.”
Astrid recognized it now. They had been here before. Oh, no! That was the worst sort of mischief.
Or maybe not. They had managed to set the evil doctor up with a nice composite mermaid partner, who might have tamed him in the interim. Could this actually be the adoptive couple? Similarly amazing things had been known to happen in Xanth.
“Maybe we should get decent,” Fornax said as clothing formed around her. Astrid and Kandy hastily dressed.
Ease finally woke, seeing them complete their dressing. “Bleep! I guess I missed the greatest show in Xanth,” he grumbled.
“Of course you did, dear,” Kandy said, kissing his ear. “But I’ll make it up to you when I can.” That seemed to cheer him somewhat.
“Who the bleep are you?” a voice called from the water. It was an ugly mermaid.
Astrid oriented on it, and recognized her. “Maddy! It’s me, Astrid, and Kandy, and Ease. You remember us. The basilisk and the board. We helped you get your tail.”
“Oh, yes,” Maddy agreed. “You freed me to kill myself, only then I changed my mind.”
“How’s it working out with Frank?” That was Frankenstein, a man assembled from pieces of other men.
“Great! He’s my kind of man, and he loves me.”
“That’s wonderful.”
“We’re here this time on business,” Astrid said. “Is the master of the island still here?”
“Of course. Frank is serving him now. But Mexine really runs the show.”
“They get along well?”
“Very well.” Then she reconsidered. “Except for one thing.
“Yes?”
“The stork won’t answer her signals.”
Astrid exchanged a look with Kandy. This was fiercely relevant. She tried to add things up in her head. How long had it been? “They haven’t been together all that long.”
“It’s faster with mermaids. They’ve been signaling like mad, but the stork hasn’t shown its beak around here.”
“Then they should be interested in our visit. We have a child in need of adoption.”
“Wow! I’ll call Frank to lead you in.”
“Thank you.”
Maddy put her hands to her mouth, forming a megaphone. “Meat for brains! Get your backside over here!”
In hardly more than a moment the composite man appeared. “Vot’s up, dear?”
“We have visitors. Remember Kandy, Astrid, and Ease? They want to see Dr. Moron.”
“Me love it when you talk dirty!” Then he yanked his eyes off her. “Velcome, visitors! Ve have not forgotten you.”
“Nor we you,” Astrid said.
“You’re the lovely basilisk. Come this way.”
They followed him along the winding path to the great old mansion. A shapely young woman in shorts and a halter emerged to meet them. “Kandy! Astrid!” she exclaimed. “I knew you were coming.”
“Mexine!” Astrid said. “I didn’t recognize you for a moment. You look so—”
“So human,” she said, laughing. “You remember me naked, with the damaged tail.”
“Yes,” Astrid said, modestly embarrassed. She was the former mermaid with a talent for seeing the future. “I gather that your new life has been good for you.”
“Yes it has. I love the sheer mobility that good legs give me, and the magic of panties. I have been empowered. And I owe it all to you folk, who set up the deal. Everything’s great, except—”
“Maddy mentioned the stork,” Kandy said.
“That’s it. I feel my transition is not complete until I make a family. So we’ve been signaling the balky bird several times a day, but there’s been no response. I’m afraid that they have a thing against my composite body.”
“But they bring babies all the time to crossbreeds,” Astrid said. “You’re really a human/mermaid crossbreed, just not done the traditional way.”
Mexine shrugged. “It’s been less than a year. There’s hope yet. Meanwhile, what brings you here?”
Astrid plunged in. “We have a child who needs to be adopted into a good family.”
Mexine gazed at her, then at Squid. “This one?”
“Yes. But there are a couple of things you need to know about her.”
“She’s older,” Mexine said.
“Six years old.”
“If that’s the only problem, it’s not a p
roblem. She’s cute.”
“She’s alien.”
“What, from Mundania? No magic talent?”
“From another planet. Her magic is a different kind.”
“I am intrigued. What can she do?”
“Show her, Squid,” Astrid said.
Squid changed into her natural form, with eight tentacles.
“A shape changer!” Mexine said.
“Not exactly. She’s a moctapus. A creature who can mold her tentacles into arms and legs, and change colors to resemble clothing. She’s a very special girl. We got in trouble on the way here, and she enabled us to get out of it.”
“Trouble?”
“There was a—a bee the size of an island, with a pot of honey.”
“Don’t go there!” Mexine said. “That honey’s drugged.”
“You know of it?”
“Yes, it’s a sad story. A demon captured the big bee and tied her to a rock under the water and makes her make honey for him. We’d free her if we could, but we don’t know how.”
“We freed her.”
“You freed her?”
“Squid dived down and untied her feet. Then we adults flashed the demon so that he couldn’t catch her again.”
Mexine nodded. “He’s male, so he freaked out.” That covered that aspect. She turned to the child. “You’re some girl, Squid.”
Squid reformed as a human child, complete with apparent clothing. “Thank you.”
“And you want Dr. Moribund and me to adopt you?”
Squid fidgeted. “I guess.”
“You’re shy,” Mexine said. “Well, come meet the doctor.”
Mexine led them to another chamber, where a professorish-looking man was studying a manual. “Heh?” he asked, looking up as they entered.
“Dear, we are considering adopting this child,” Mexine said briskly. “I thought you should meet her first.”
“She looks like a fine child. Heh. Do what you think is best.” He returned to his manual.
“Not so fast, dear,” Mexine said. “If we adopt her, she’ll be our child. You’ll have to train her in biology. You need to be sure you’re compatible.”
Moribund sighed. He had evidently learned not to try to balk his wife. “What can you do, child?”
“I can change my appearance,” Squid said. “I’m a moctopus.”