He took her back. Only when she was safe in her sterile chamber did the sneezing abate. “I’m so sorry for ruining it!” she sobbed.

  He would not let her take any blame. “Not your fault. Had I been more alert you would not have had to suffer this mischief. I apologize again. You danced beautifully.”

  “Oh, Benny!” she exclaimed, overcome by gratitude and regret. Then she burst into tears.

  He picked her up, carried her to the bed, and laid her down on it. Then he sat on the bed beside her and stroked her hair until she stopped crying and fell asleep.

  Vinia did not see Benny again. He was of another residence, Caprine Castle. Slowly her crush subsided. There had not been any substance to it, anyway. She did not try to attend another dance, not wanting to risk another disaster. She entertained herself playing card games, using her talent to move the cards. It wasn’t much of a life, but she knew it was her own folly that had gotten her into it. A year passed.

  And now she was at the next nexus with Apoca. She was alone in her room when an equine crossbreed knocked on her door and informed her that she had visitors.

  There were the paths before her, now apparent to her future self. The green one led her to a waiting chamber to meet her visitors. Benny was there. “Hello, Vinia,” he said, as if they had parted only yesterday. “This is Ion, who as you can see is unable to walk, so—”

  The green path led right to him. “Oh, Ion! I can help you stand and walk.” She did so, using her telekinesis to power his legs.

  “And that was it,” Vinia concluded. “I didn’t know Ion was a prince and a Magician. I didn’t care anything about him, except that I could help him, and I wanted to, and I did.”

  “And the path had led you there,” Apoca said. “That is your real talent, Vinia. Your telekinesis is your secondary talent, the way my man-melting kiss is mine. My real one is my woman-strengthening kiss.”

  Vinia realized that it must be true. “But why did it hide itself from me?”

  “I remember a story about a man long ago whose talent was that he could not be harmed by magic. But if others knew it, they might harm him by physical means. So the talent hid itself, because if another person wanted to harm him, he would naturally try magic first, unless he knew that would not work, so would try something else. In that devious manner, his own talent might harm him, were it known. So it kept itself secret. I think that’s why it is best that others do not know my private talent; better to let them think I have an elixir.”

  “I’ll never tell,” Vinia said impulsively and saw a flash of green around her.

  “Similarly, your talent might be fouled up if others knew. So it hides itself, letting folk think that telekinesis is all you have. Only here in the neverland were we able to discover it.” She smiled. “I’ll never tell, either.”

  “Oh, Apoca, I want to be your friend!”

  “And I yours.” They hugged each other, and the green was all around them, some from Apoca’s hair, some from Vinia’s path.

  “But we still have a problem,” Vinia said. “Thanx needs your help, but I see why you can’t leave your Lips tribe, and I can’t tell anyone else why.”

  Apoca’s hair turned blue. “We have a problem too. The Volents are pressing us hard, and I fear that in time they will prevail, and the Lips realm will be no more. Were our situation less dire, I would visit Thanx and help you get rid of the virus.”

  “There must be an answer,” Vinia said. “If only we could find it.”

  “Maybe we can.” Apoca’s hair became yellow green. “Surely there are paths. Your talent can show the right one.”

  “But my paths focus on me. I sympathize with you, maybe love you since you kissed me, but I see no paths before you.”

  “I wonder. We are friends now. We each want what is best for the other.”

  “True. But that’s not enough.”

  “Unless my problem becomes your problem. Then you will be able to see paths for it.”

  Vinia remained perplexed. “How?”

  “If the Volents overrun our redoubt, and I am reduced to be the submissive mistress of King Vladimir, how will you feel?”

  “Awful! I don’t think I could be your friend anymore.”

  “Would you feel as if a part of you has been lost?”

  “Yes!” Vinia agreed, dismayed.

  “Then let’s try together.” Apoca came to her and put her arm around her, drawing her close. “Picture my problem as your problem, too. I want to help Thanx; you want to help the Lips. Is there any way to do both?”

  Vinia pictured the joint problem. How could they help each other?

  Then the paths formed, in all colors, radiating away from the two of them. One was green. “This way,” Vinia said. She stepped forward to the green path.

  “I see it,” Apoca said, stepping with her.

  And there it was. “You and your tribe must come to Thanx, to stay,” Vinia said. “There you will be safe, because we have friends defending us. And you will be able to privately kiss the princesses, driving the virus out. Our enemies won’t even know you’re there, but they won’t be able to make any progress against us, because the princesses will be nervy again, and the Lips will kiss any men who get through our perimeter.”

  “I see it,” Apoca agreed. “This will save us all. But how can we get there without being ambushed by the lurking Volents?”

  “Our flying carpet is big, and Sorceress Hilda can sew it bigger. It can take all of you. The Volents won’t be able to intercept it in the air.”

  “And the path is green,” Apoca agreed, her hair matching that color.

  They hugged again, pleased.

  They walked back the way they had come and soon reached the place of multiple reflections. They walked through that and emerged before the two mirrors.

  “You disappeared!” Ion exclaimed. “Where were you?”

  Vinia smiled. “In neverland. It’s complicated. But now I understand why Queen Apoca couldn’t help us before. That has changed. We have worked it out. She can cure the Lips who get caught and dosed with the virus. She can do the same for our princesses.”

  “How?” Ion asked.

  “Apoca and the Lips will return with us to Thanx,” Vinia said. “Where Apoca will privately interview the princesses and enable them to fight off the virus with her secret technique. The Lips will become another portion of the queendom. Hilda can enlarge the carpet again, to carry them all, because we need to do this soon.”

  Ion and Hilda exchanged a glance. “Of course,” Ion agreed, as if it had been obvious all along.

  “We knew you could do it, Vinia,” Hilda said.

  Vinia laughed. “You had more confidence in me than I did.”

  “I will start sewing,” Hilda said.

  Chapter 14

  Home

  “It will take me two days to sew the carpet amendment,” Hilda said. “Fifty people is a lot to carry.”

  “Let’s go sightseeing, Benny,” Ion suggested.

  “Sure,” Benny agreed.

  Hilda frowned, knowing they would be looking at the buxom Lips girls, whose clothing did not necessarily cover everything of interest, but she was not able to protest.

  Vinia saw the green path. Now she could view it whenever she wanted to, and it gave her significantly increased confidence. “We can use the time to assemble the Lips tribe here.”

  “Yes!” Ion agreed a bit too readily.

  She concealed her annoyance and turned to Apoca. “We need a private room for a very private conference.”

  “This way,” Apoca said as her hair turned green. She led the way to the topmost chamber of the wicker castle. “I gather you have something special in mind.”

  “Yes. I am following the paths, now that I can see them, thanks to you. We may need an hour alone.”

  Tarzana and Jane were guarding it. “Protect this room from visitation,” Apoca told them. “Spread word: all Lips to assemble here tomorrow with their belongings. We are about to move to a new location. But do not allow any but Lips to hear that. The Male Volents must not learn, lest they interfere.” Which could be deadly.

  The two nodded together. Then Jane departed, the hem of her skirt curling up naughtily, while Tarzana stood at parade rest facing the stairway below. No one would pass.

  Alone in the chamber, Vinia explained. “I thought of alternative courses, and the paths led me to this. I will summon the Demons Grossclout and Demesne here. You can kiss Demesne and cure her of the virus. That way she will know that it is true and will arrange for the princesses and other infected females to be kissed. They will rely on her even if they don’t yet know you.”

  Apoca’s hair turned blue. “But I prefer to keep my secret. Demons can be mischief.”

  “And I prefer to keep mine. But these two can be trusted, and they have the authority to act. I am thinking that Prince Ion should have an elixir that prevents anyone from speaking the secrets elsewhere.”

  Apoca nodded, green again. “That would do it.”

  “My paths also indicate that they should bring a nonroyal friend to help you orient and meet the others. I was surprised by her identity, but I can’t argue with the green, now that I can see it and know that it is not my wild guessing.”

  “A friend?”

  “Nimbus. I got to know her during the one-day war. You can kiss her after you kiss Demesne.”

  “Nimbus? She must be a special woman.”

  “She is special, but she’s not exactly a woman. She’s a nickelpede.”

  “You mean she’s excruciatingly nasty?” Apoca’s hair was doubtful yellow. “Why would you choose her?”

  Vinia laughed. “I mean a literal nickelpede. She’s a nice girl when you get to know her. She won’t gouge you but will gouge any person or critter who attacks you. We’ll need a translation spell, and an accommodation spell for the kiss, but then it should be fine.”

  Apoca gazed at her, her hair light red. “You’re not joking.”

  “I am not joking.”

  Apoca went to the chamber entrance, her hair now a neutral gray. “Ask Prince Ion to come here.”

  Tarzana give a directive. Soon Ion appeared. Vinia explained briefly, and he produced two vials. Vinia took them and pocketed them. “Thanks, Ion.”

  “Do I get a kiss?”

  “Of course.” She kissed him, flattered that he wanted one in public. Then he departed, satisfied.

  “He loves you already,” Apoca said wisely, her hair gray green.

  “And I love him. We may still be children, but we know.”

  “Sometimes that is the case.”

  Vinia spoke to the ring. “Professor Grossclout, please.”

  In no more than two-thirds of a moment the Demon professor answered. “What are you up to now, wandering girl?”

  “As you know, we plan to bring Queen Apoca to Thanx, along with the Lips tribe. But we need to make some arrangements. If you and Queen Demesne can come here to speak with Queen Apoca, we should be able to work it out.”

  “Demesne is unfortunately indisposed.”

  “By the virus,” Vinia agreed. “Bring her here. Apoca will cure her. But the process is private.”

  “You are up to something, Vinia.”

  “Yes. And please bring Nimbus with you, if she cares to come.”

  He digested that. “We’ll pop over in just over a moment.”

  “Thank you.”

  Right on time the Demon, Demoness, and the nickelpede appeared in the chamber. Vinia hastened to introduce them to each other. “Queen Apoca, these are Professor Grossclout, Queen Demesne, and Nimbus Nickelpede perching on Demesne’s shoulder. Professor, Demesne, and Nimbus, this is Queen Apoca Lips.”

  “Evocative name,” Grossclout remarked. “It smells of the destruction of a world.”

  Apoca smiled, her hair turning green with red curls. Vinia had not seen that before. But of course these two had known each other from the School of Magic. This might be a form of flirting. He had after all taught her how to use her kisses. “The end of patriarchies, perhaps.”

  The Demoness and nickelpede were meekly silent.

  “What happens here must stay here,” Vinia said. “If it got out and around, our enemies could use it to mess us up.”

  “Got it,” Grossclout said, and the Demoness and nickelpede nodded obligingly.

  “First I must explain that my mysterious good luck is actually a hidden talent that I prefer to keep hidden,” Vinia said. “I can see the paths to the near future, and some are better than others. That’s why I asked you three to come here; it is the most promising path.”

  “Ah, that explains a lot,” Grossclout said.

  “I have a vial of translation elixir,” Vinia said, opening it. The vapor puffed out. “Hello, Nimbus.”

  The nickelpede clicked her pincers. “Hello, Vinia.”

  “And a vial of accommodation elixir,” Vinia said, opening the second one. The vapor emerged and spread.

  “Queen Apoca’s kiss can render men her love slaves, as can that of any of the Lips tribe,” Vinia said for the benefit of Demesne and Nimbus. “But she can also kiss women, and that is her hidden power. It renders them independent, curing the submission virus.”

  “Oho!” Grossclout said. “Not an elixir, but a kiss.” This, too, was for the benefit of the others, masking his prior knowledge of it. He had kept the secret well.

  “Yes,” Vinia said. “Now, if you will, Queen Apoca, kiss Demesne and Nimbus.”

  Apoca went to Demesne, embraced her, and kissed her on the mouth.

  “Oh, my!” the Demoness exclaimed. “It’s gone! I can be assertive again.”

  “Yes,” Vinia said. “But her secret must be kept.”

  Demesne turned to Grossclout. “And you will cease your flirting forthwith, you lecher. I don’t care what your relationship with Hot Lips was before; you’re mine now.”

  “Yes, dear,” he said meekly. Then they all laughed.

  Apoca leaned down to kiss the nickelpede on Demesne’s shoulder. It was now feasible, thanks to the elixir. “Oh, thank you!” Nimbus said. “I am my vicious self again. With the virus I couldn’t even gouge male prey.”

  “Please,” Vinia said. “Join Queen Apoca, Nimbus, and stay with her so you can introduce her to the others of all species at Thanx.”

  “Gladly,” Nimbus agreed. “If she doesn’t mind having a nickelpede for company.”

  Apoca laughed, her hair green. “I kissed you, didn’t I? Now that I understand you, and Vinia speaks for you, I can handle it.” She extended her hand, and the nickelpede climbed onto it.

  “I will protect you from any noxious vermin that appear,” Nimbus said. “So that you may sleep securely in the wilderness.”

  “Including the human male kind?”

  Nimbus laughed. “Their flesh tastes best.”

  “Then we should get along,” Apoca agreed.

  Vinia turned to Grossclout. “Are you satisfied about the nature of Queen Apoca’s power, and her need for secrecy?”

  “Oh, yes. I can feel the radiating independence of my beloved.”

  “That’s good,” Demesne said. “If you goose me in public, I will slap you.”

  “I know it and love it.”

  “And Queen Apoca will kiss all the submissive ladies of Thanx, in due course,” Vinia said, “Then the queendom will be restored to its original vigor. That may take a while, as she can’t do it in public, but soon it will be accomplished, and she will be there to counter any future virus infestations.”

  “Then I think we are done here,” Vinia said.

  “We are,” Demesne agreed. She turned again to Grossclout. “Now I will show you how a truly nonsubmissive woman treats her man.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  “You won’t have to. We’ll do it as we travel.”

  The two vanished, leaving a cloud of sulfurous smoke in a conformation that Vinia suspected would have freaked her out had she been old enough to understand what it was.

  “Wow,” Nimbus said. “That makes me eager to find a male of my own.”

  “Me too,” Apoca agreed, her hair a mottled yellow. “And not a love slave. That relationship requires dominance in both parties.”

  Vinia couldn’t wait until she grew up.

  Then she got a peculiar green notion. She went to Tarzana, still on guard. “Do you have a man?”

  “No. Men aren’t interested in tough women like me, and I don’t want a love slave.”

  “Would you like an independent one?”

  The woman laughed. “Sure. Even a Volent, if he behaved. But what’s the use? I’m a warrior, not a lover. Loving is for women like Jana. I can only dream.”

  Jana. Vinia’s mental name of Jane was pretty close, coincidentally. Or was it coincidence? Had her path guided her even there?

  Then Vinia got another idea, a wild one, but that path was green. She could hardly believe it, but she had to trust the color. “There might be one for you.”

  Tarzana laughed. “One who finds me sexy?”

  “Yes.”

  “Bring him here. I’d play easy to get.” She thought she was calling Vinia’s bluff.

  Vinia went to Hilda. “You still have the little carpet Ion uses when I am not with him?”

  “I have two of them, so that when I need to repair one, he can use the other.”

  “May I borrow them?”

  “What for? You’re not lame.”

  “I want to go pick up Vol.”

  “Who?”

  “The Volent guard we rescued from likely severe punishment.”

  Hilda stared at her. “This is green?” She had picked up quickly on the colored paths.

  “Yes,” Vinia said. “I find it hard to believe myself. But the green path is to pick him up and take him with us.”