“Brace yourselves,” Gina called from above. “I am about to start striding at speed.”

  Nolan found himself jammed next to Apoca as the glass swooped forth and back with the motions of the giantess’s hand. “Go ahead; put your arm around me, for mutual stability.”

  “Stability, of course,” he agreed as he did it. Was she flirting? Yet Vinia and Gent were holding on to each other as the glass rocked, and they certainly weren’t flirting. It was hard to keep one’s footing because the surface had no handholds. Only the four-footed llama was steady on her own.

  “And if it is flirting, why the heaven not?” Aurora asked. “You both know where you’re heading, emotionally.”

  Meanwhile, the woman’s shapely body against his was a delight, regardless.

  “Thank you,” Apoca said. “You’re not bad yourself.”

  Oops! Of course Aurora was relaying his thoughts to Nimbus, who was reporting to Apoca. At times he forgot he was bugged.

  “It doesn’t require ants or nickelpedes to pick up on a man’s thoughts, regardless,” she said. “I saw you looking for the reflection.”

  “Sorry,” he said, embarrassed for a different reason than the vac scene side effect.

  “Next time maybe I’ll stand with my legs apart.” She paused half a moment. “For steadiness, of course.”

  “Of course,” he agreed weakly. Now she was teasing. It was devastatingly effective. He had seen her bareness from the vac scene side effect, but the idea of covertly seeing up under her skirt was electrifyingly naughty.

  Then the giantess made a misstep and flailed her arms, and the two of them were flung into the mesh cap. Apoca was plastered against him from neck to knee, marvelously soft in all the right places.

  “Kiss her,” Aurora said. “She wants it.”

  Trusting the ant, he found Apoca’s face and kissed it. She didn’t try to protest. She kissed him back. She did not use her power, but it hardly made a difference; he was near the end of his fall into love.

  “You are achieving immunity,” Aurora said. “When natural love is complete, the kiss enslavement loses its power.”

  “That’s what I wanted for you,” Apoca said, evidently advised by Nimbus. “I don’t want an ensorcelled man for romance.”

  “You wanted me free?”

  “Free of love slavery. Not of love.”

  “But what of yourself? I have been trying to give you leeway. I want you to join me of your own free will.”

  “When I kissed you before, that was power-free. But perhaps I miscalculated, because the backlash from that kiss smote me. This one nearly finished the job.”

  This was an amazing confession. He was courting her, but had thought he had not yet made much of an emotional impression. She was not even pretending to play hard to get.

  “Um,” he said, out of sorts.

  “I am not much for pretense.”

  “Maybe then we shouldn’t kiss again, at least until we’re sure.”

  “And maybe we should just go for it.”

  “But—”

  She kissed him. This one had its own power. He reveled in it.

  “Look! They’re floating!” Vinia said.

  Startled, they broke the kiss and looked about. They were indeed floating in the glass, while the others were sitting on the bottom beside the standing llama. The two of them had somehow forgotten that they were not private; all else had been tuned out.

  “Floating. I thought I was the only one here who could do that,” Ghorgeous said. “Next thing they might even start holding hands.”

  Everyone laughed. Nolan and Apoca slowly settled to the bottom. There seemed to be no further need for distancing.

  Apoca took his hand. That was its own delight.

  They looked out, admiring the passing scenery. It seemed that the giantess knew where Squid lived.

  “Not exactly,” Aurora said. “She is in mental touch with other invisible giants, and they know where things are.”

  “But—”

  “I am relaying the green path to her,” Vinia said. “Via the bugs.”

  That was right; he had forgotten. They would get there.

  A vast crack in the landscape opened up below. “What is that?” Apoca asked, startled.

  “That is the famed Gap Chasm,” Nolan said, privately gratified that he knew a detail she didn’t. “For a long time it had a forget spell on it, so few folk even knew it was there, but now it is generally known.”

  And there above it floated a small boat with a fiery sail. Aurora was turned on by the sail, being a fire ant. But that was it? It was hardly big enough for four people to sit comfortably.

  Two people were in it, a young man and a lovely woman. The woman waved as they spied the traveling glass. She had lustrous dark-brown hair and pearl-gray eyes, together with a body so eloquently slender as to make Apoca seem slightly heavyset. Nolan didn’t even notice what the man next to her looked like.

  “Those are Lydell and Grania, Dell and Nia for short,” Dolly said. “They co-captain Fibot. She is older than she looks.”

  “She looks about twenty-five,” Nolan said, fascinated.

  “Physically, yes. But in life-span she is sixty-five. She got rejuvenated when she had to swim through a pond of youth elixir. It’s a separate story. Dell really is twenty-five.”

  “And they are a couple?” Apoca asked skeptically. As a general rule, men preferred to have the advantage of age; older women were not sought.

  “A successful one. She has both the youth and the experience to keep him happy. They know each other well and have no illusions about age. It was integrity that brought them together.”

  So the man preferred character. That spoke well for him.

  Apoca nodded. “That will do.”

  The giantess brought the glass to the boat and slowly tilted it so they could walk on its side. She popped the mesh off.

  “Welcome to Fibot!” Dell called. “Do come aboard.”

  “Um, is there room?” Nolan asked cautiously, eyeing the tiny craft.

  Nia smiled brilliantly. “It is larger than it looks. This way, please.”

  Nolan and Apoca stepped onto the small deck, now holding hands for reassurance rather than romance. They followed the other couple to an open hatch in the center, near the fiery sail. “Beautiful!” Aurora said, staring at the sail.

  Dell descended, then Nia. Nolan was amazed, because there should not have been room for such depth.

  “You first,” Apoca said.

  “But if you descend above me …”

  “No reflection needed.”

  That was beyond even a tease. He descended to an amazingly capacious chamber below, then watched as she followed. He saw her shapely legs under her skirt then …

  She jogged his elbow. “Snap out of it, Nolan.”

  They were standing beside each other on the lower deck. “What?”

  “You freaked out,” Aurora said.

  A panty freak. Well, he shouldn’t have looked. But he knew he would do it again if he got the chance. It was a liability of masculinity.

  Nia laughed. “I do that to Dell. He has finally learned not to look, at least not in public.”

  “This way,” Dell said, seeming amused. Maybe they made a game of it, pretending accidental exposure. A young man who liked to look, and an old woman who liked to show it off, now that she had it again. And why not?

  Somehow they were in a sizable ship with many halls and chambers. How could this be?

  “The Fire Sail Boat is larger on the inside than the outside. It is known magic,” Dolly said, startling them. They had been so distracted by the phenomenon that they hadn’t realized she had followed. How had she navigated the ladder? Beside her were Gent and a lovely, strange woman, together with a small green bird and what appeared to be a mechanical fish on legs.

  “I carried her down,” Gent said.

  “You’re not speaking in puns!” Apoca exclaimed.

  “The boat has a counter-hex spell. My curse will return when we leave it.” He turned to the woman beside him. “And this is Gina. Tata brought her an accommodation spell so she could become small and visible and tour the boat.”

  “Tata?” Nolan asked.

  “The robot dogfish.” The screen on the front formed the word HELLO. “And this is the pet peeve.” He indicated the bird.

  “They largely run the ship,” Dolly said. “They are the crew.”

  Oh.

  They came to a larger stateroom, where another couple stood to greet them. The girl had dull brown hair, gray eyes, and was an unimpressive teen. The boy had black hair and eyes and was a similarly unimpressive teen.

  “Squid and Larry,” Dell said.

  Nolan was amazed. He had expected a sort of octopus dressed up to vaguely resemble a human girl, and some sort of scintillating companion. These two were so ordinary as to be almost Mundane.

  Squid laughed. “I really am an alien cuttlefish, but I am good at emulation.” She lifted one arm, and it separated into two twined tentacles, then re-formed as a human appendage. “I think of myself as a human girl, most of the time. I certainly have human passions that annoy the Adult Conspiracy, because I’m not technically bound by it.” She turned to her companion. “And Larry is the male form of my friend Laurelai.”

  The boy changed form to become a girl in male clothing, which was clearly awkward because of her full-blown figure, then reverted to male. He still looked distinctly ordinary, though his clothing now looked somewhat bent out of shape.

  “Larry is the human host for Demon Chaos,” Dolly explained. “Normally the Demon doesn’t show it, as he is still observing the local ways of mortals and prefers to be mostly anonymous.”

  Oh, again. Nolan had not before appreciated how a couple with more sheer magic than any other would not want to be the handsomest and prettiest of all, but it did make sense. They preferred to disappear into the crowd.

  “Let’s go tour the ship while these two couples handle their business,” Nia suggested.

  “Much as we would prefer to snoop,” Gina said regretfully as she followed their hosts.

  The peeve hopped to her shoulder. “You’re an amateur anyway. Nia’s the prime expert on snooping,” it said with Gina’s voice, for all that she had not yet spoken. “Her talent is to make floating eyes that can peer into anyone’s private business.”

  Nia did not comment, but a pair of eyes formed in the air that stared broodingly at the bird for blabbing her secret. The peeve hunched as if iced. More games among friends.

  In a generous moment Nolan and Apoca were alone with Squid and Chaos, apart from the ever-watching baton. And Aurora and Nimbus, who were maintaining complete mental silence. “We understand you have a problem with the Dwarf Demon of Talents,” Squid said, “who seems to be neglecting his job.”

  So word had gotten around, or maybe they had a private source of information, like the outernet. “Yes,” Nolan said. “Every baby is now delivered with the same talent. We need a favor from you in that connection.”

  “You wish to exchange favors, per BLURB?”

  “We think so. But we have no idea what favor we might render for folk of your powers.”

  Squid angled her head in a perfectly human manner. “There just might be something.”

  Nolan feared he wouldn’t much like it, but he kept his mouth shut. They did need the favor.

  Apoca cut to the chase, as was her wont. Nolan liked that word, because it seemed either negative or misspelled, yet wasn’t. It meant custom. “What something?”

  “Well, I’m only fourteen, in human terms. I’m not supposed to know about Conspiracy things like summoning the stork. Actually I have had some experience because we visited another timeline where I was adult, but I hardly remember the details.” She glanced sidelong at Larry, whose expression changed subtly. He had quietly become Chaos. “He remembers, but isn’t supposed to tell me.” She made a brief cute mad face.

  And Chaos, who had existed for billions of years, was honoring the local code, Nolan realized, because he was trying to learn mortal ways. He was playing the role of his host, a teen boy.

  “And?” Apoca asked.

  “And I’m alien, however girlish I may look or feel. So Chaos has never kissed an adult human woman, though we are seriously dating.”

  Where was this leading?

  “And?” Apoca repeated.

  “I’d like him to have that experience.”

  Apoca’s face remained neutral, but Nolan began to see a green path forming, for all that Vinia was off exploring Fibot with the others. “And?”

  “You are adult,” Squid said seriously. “And reputed to be a pretty good kisser.”

  Nolan had to laugh. “Her kiss can enslave a man!”

  “Not Chaos.”

  Suddenly it was clarifying. “You want me to kiss Chaos?” Apoca asked,

  Squid was young, and alien, but now she managed a fair blush. “Yes.”

  “When Prince Nolan is courting me?”

  The blush continued. “Yes. So Chaos can finally know what a real mature, womanly kiss is like.”

  Apoca turned to Nolan. “Would you object?”

  He was shaken. “I don’t govern you!”

  “You did not answer my question.”

  He pondered it for a good half a moment. How did he feel about it? Then he realized he was curious. How would her potent kiss affect the Demon? “We are both experienced lovers elsewhere, from before we met. You kissed Gent twice. I kissed Nimbus and Aurora in their dream forms. No, I don’t object.”

  “Then I will do it.” She smiled. “Squid pro quo.”

  Both Nolan and Chaos smiled, sharing a trace of male appreciation. Apoca clearly had experience and mind, signals of maturity.

  Squid turned to Chaos. “This is a fair exchange, BLURB-style. You guarantee that Dwarf Demon Talents can’t cheat. That should not be considered alien Demon interference in the Demon Xanth’s domain. You are merely preventing the Dwarf Demon from interfering. In return, Apoca will kiss you with her full power, so you will get a hint of what my kisses will be like, once I get there, except I’ll have less potency. Okay?”

  Chaos made a small twitch with one little finger. It was a minor gesture, but Nolan felt the power of it rippling outward. Something in the universe had changed. The Demon had done his part.

  Now Apoca did her part. She stood and approached Chaos, who stood to meet her. “Put your arms about me, gently. Lower your face to mine. Be prepared for Xanth’s most potent kiss.”

  Nolan knew she was not exaggerating. He had seen its effect and felt its potential when she kissed him while stifling her power. Even her stifled kiss had had a profound effect on him; her powered kiss would be phenomenally stronger. The Demon would know he had been kissed by a mistress of the art.

  The two came together and kissed without further ceremony. They merely stood there embraced, touching mouths, but the power radiated instantly and irresistibly outward. The very air seemed to shimmer.

  Nolan had no awareness of walking across the chamber but discovered himself kissing Squid, who was kissing him back. It was clear that she had no reservations. She might be technically a child, but she did know how to do it. Both of them were committed to others but were compelled. Yet it was more than that. There was an environment, an awareness, that encompassed the whole of the ship. He was picking up on it and knew that Squid was too. Dell was ardently kissing Nia; no real surprise there, as they were a married couple. Gent was kissing Gina. That was a surprise. He knew that out beyond the ship men were suddenly kissing women, who were not objecting at all. In fact, they moved to intercept the approaching men while getting into the correct position. They were not mere passing pecks; each smooch was passionate. It was in fact Xanth’s biggest kiss-off. The child Vinia and the ghost Ghorgeous were looking on with unconcealed envy, being too young or too insubstantial to participate, besides having no males to partner with. What a demonstration of the Demon’s peripheral power!

  “That’s only the beginning,” Aurora said. “Nimbus is relaying the essence. Here it is.”

  Then Nolan, and Squid, felt what Apoca was feeling. They were in her mind. She had normally had complete control over the male response to her kisses, but she had never before kissed a Demon. Especially not this one. If a normal Demon was a galaxy, this one made a galaxy seem like a grain of sand. Chaos was indeed the most powerful of all the Demons, regardless of the mortal shell he was borrowing at the moment. Apoca’s power was hardly a ripple in the merest electron of his being. He was half the universe, literally.

  More than that. The Mundanes knew of four fundamental forces: Strong, Weak, Electromagnetic, and Gravity. In fact the Demons animated them, with Jupiter the local representative of Strong, Venus the Weak, Mars Electromagnetic, and Earth Gravity. But there were five. The fifth was Magic, represented locally by Xanth. The Demon Chaos was the master of all of it, the raw stuff from which reality was fashioned. It governed the actions of the other five forces, and of the others like Dark Matter, represented by Nemesis, and Mass/Energy, represented by Neptune, and Antimatter, represented by Fornax, and the several Dimensions, represented by Saturn, and of course the myriad Dwarf Demons. All of them were incidental compared to Chaos.

  Apoca’s mind was stretched in obscure ways that she could not begin to understand, let alone handle. Her feelings were an incomprehensible mishmash. This was one thing that she, as a mortal person, had that the Demon did not: human feeling. He was learning it from Squid and now from Apoca. His abiding curiosity was coursing past her lips and on into her heart. Into her gut. Into her very most private crannies of existence, her secret self. She was being stripped naked in ways that would have appalled her had she even understood them.