“Is it true she can kiss a man into love slavery?” Noletta asked.

  “More than that. But she doesn’t do it casually, only when necessary. One reason the Queendom has no problems with men is that Apoca or one of her tribe kisses any that misbehave, and they never do again.” Then the girl pointed ahead. “There she is now, in her privacy room.”

  In barely two and a half moments they were there with the Queen. Nydia realized with surprise that the woman’s hair had changed color. Now it was green. “My paths led us to you,” Vinia told Apoca. “Here are the nymphs.”

  “Her hair changes colors with her moods,” Anthem explained. “Green is positive.”

  “Oh my!” Noletta breathed. “She’s the one!”

  Apoca glanced at her, her hair turning yellow. “Do I know you? I believe I saw you at the dance.”

  “I’m Noletta. My talent is to see the future exactly one day ahead. Yesterday when I looked, I saw us kissing you. But we nymphs never kiss women, only men.”

  The hair turned green again. “Ah, yes, of course. Let me explain about my kisses. I am a Lips woman. Our talent is to kiss men into love slavery. We all have it, though our romantic interest is in independent men. But I also have a second talent, which is to reverse it. I can kiss a man out of slavery, or a woman out of submissiveness. You nymphs are about to embark on an extremely challenging mission where you will encounter several dominating male spirits. You will need protection against that.”

  “But we’re nymphs,” Nydia protested. “Submitting to males is our nature. It’s the One Thing we are good at.”

  Apoca’s hair turned yellow. “Not anymore. You must become fully independent women, good for anything you truly want to be, using that One Thing to control men, not be controlled by them. You will not be able to kiss them into love slavery, but you can fascinate them into doing your will if you manage your assets properly. You will pacify the Elements so that they no longer ravage the countryside. My kiss will enable you to do that.”

  Nydia shook her head. “We are barely learning how to get along in regular Xanth. We can’t control men, let alone these formidable Elements.”

  Apoca’s hair turned green again. “You will by first intriguing them, then captivating them. My power is merely an exaggeration of what every mature woman has. Never underestimate the power of a kiss! It can transform a relationship, especially when it generates little hearts. When the alien child Squid kissed the Demon Chaos, it gave him reason to spare the Universe. When I kissed him, it transformed me. The Elements will have had no experience with it, and will be vulnerable. For them, you will be like me. But I can’t be sure exactly how potent it will be, as they are not normal males. You may have to marry them to complete your control.”

  “Marry them!” Nydia exclaimed. “We’re nymphs! We don’t marry, we merely oblige.”

  “As I said, not anymore,” Apoca said. “The Good Magician messaged me by the magic mirror to make sure you were up to the task. I will do that by kissing you. Then you will understand.”

  “Trust her,” Anthem said. “She’s an honorable woman who truly means to help you succeed in your Quest.”

  “Trust her,” Vinia murmured, perhaps knowing what the ant was telling her.

  Nydia was already coming to understand, thanks to her intelligence and the advice of her companions. She looked at the other nymphs. “It’s to help us, to make us stronger,” she said. “We’d better do it.”

  “Yes,” Vinia agreed. “The green is all around her.”

  Nydia felt a qualm. She drove it away with a fierce denial. She stepped up to the Queen. “Then do it.”

  Apoca embraced her and kissed her firmly on the mouth. The contact was not romantic so much as fulfilling. She felt the power of the Queen infusing her, banishing her former submissiveness, forging her into an amazingly assertive woman. Yes, she could kiss an Element and make it count! Indeed, she was no longer exactly a nymph!

  Nydia stepped back and Noletta stepped forward. Apoca kissed her, too, and her stance straightened as she strode into fulfillment. Then Nerine, with a similar response. They had all been transformed. They felt like complete females, even without souls.

  “Hey, what about me?” Woe Betide demanded.

  Apoca smiled, her hair flashing yellow-green with humor. “What, indeed? Come here, child.”

  Woe came, and the Queen kissed her as she had the others. The child fuzzed around the edges, turned smoky, and finally managed to firm back into place. “Nobody’s going to push me around!” she declared.

  “True, Woe,” Apoca agreed, her hair now plaid. That, Nydia realized with Anthem’s assistance, signaled mixed emotions. Kissing a demon was bound to be chancy.

  Then another thought caught up to Nydia. “Something doesn’t mesh. Noletta saw the kissing before seeing the bedroom, but the bedroom actually occurred first. Her visions of the future are fixed at exactly one day ahead. So it can’t be.”

  Apoca smiled, her hair rippling colors. “Rest your concern, dear. Your futures are constantly developing. Even a thought can do it. You must have changed your thoughts along the way, and unknowingly altered timelines. Times can change as well as events. What counts is that you made it safely through.”

  “She is making confusing sense,” Noletta said. “We did change our futures, and saved our lives. This is minor.”

  Nydia’s head felt halfway knotted inside. “I suppose so.”

  Apoca smiled again. “Time magic is especially tricky because of lurking paradox. Keep practicing until you get used to it.”

  “We will,” Nydia agreed uncertainly.

  Then it was time to go their own ways. “Thank you so much, Apoca,” Nydia said more confidently.

  “Welcome, all of you,” Apoca said. “But wait, I just remembered there is more.” Her hair flashed gray on the way to green. “You will be encountering fierce and powerful spirits. You will need to negotiate with them to get them to behave. To do that requires them to assume human form so you can have a dialog. That means you will need two things. One is human-shaped forms for them to occupy. The best such figurines are made by a woman named Ecstasy who will be glad to cooperate if you show her any appreciation. The other is the magic wand of a long-gone Magician that can summon spirits and transfer them to objects. The only one who knows where that wand is is his ghostly assistant Wanda, who endures indefinitely because she is not alive. Unfortunately, she is not interested in telling anyone where the wand is. Persuading her to tell will be one of your early challenges. Vinia’s paths will lead you to both women.” Apoca smiled. “This is very much a woman’s challenge, which does seem fitting for a party based in the Queendom of Thanx.”

  “Couldn’t a man do it?” Nerine asked.

  A blue flash of hair. “No, for two reasons. Men tend to be hard-headed dominant types relying ultimately on force of one kind or another, and the Elements can’t be dominated or forced. Also, there are subtle qualities of perception and adaptation women possess that should enable them to be sufficiently persuasive.”

  “But we’re not women, we’re—” Nydia broke off. They were no longer mere nymphs. Apoca’s kisses had indeed converted them to something beyond. “Inexperienced,” she concluded.

  “By the time you complete this Quest, you will be thoroughly experienced.”

  Nydia hoped it was so. But she had a question. “You were a Protagonist last time. Can you give me any advice now about that?”

  “Of course, dear. Remember, Vinia was a Protagonist too. You already know that Protagonists are bound to have great adventures, which they are almost guaranteed to survive. They also generally have Romances. What you need to do is to try to conduct yourself in such manner that any other woman who learns your story will seriously want to emulate you. That is the best guide I can give you.”

  “But I’m only—”

  “A dawning woman,” Apoca finished for her. “When the Quest is complete, you and Noletta and Nerine will stop by the adjunct to the Stork Works to pick up the souls you have earned. Then you will indeed be complete.”

  “Uh, yes,” Nydia agreed hesitantly.

  “Vinia will have some tools from Prince Ion and Princess Hilda that you should find useful. Then you will be ready for your Quest.” Her hair returned to green.

  “Uh, yes,” Nydia repeated faintly.

  “That went well,” Anthem said.

  Then they were on their way back to their room. Nydia knew that the other nymphs, or rather, females, were as confused as she was.

  “And here they are,” Vinia said. “A package of vials of elixirs from my fiance Prince Ion, such as Love Potion, Healing Elixir, and Fear Factor. Plus a bottomless bag from Princess Hilda containing an expandable magic carpet she sewed especially for you.” She opened the bag and brought out a small square carpet that was several times as big as the bag. “They want you to succeed too.”

  “Uh, tell them thanks,” Nydia said as faintly as before.

  Then the routine was upon them. They needed to get a good night’s sleep to be ready for the morrow.

  Naturally Nydia found it hard to sleep because of the distractions of the Quest.

  “I can help,” Anthem said. “I can send you sleep vibes.” There was a background of glorious music.

  “That would be wonderful! Can you help Noletta and Nerine too?”

  “Take me to them.”

  She did. The moment she touched Noletta’s hand, the nymph female sank into sleep. Then they did the same for Nerine. And finally for herself, back on her own bed, floating on melody.

  The day was finally done. What an experience day it had been!

  Chapter 4

  Fire

  They set out second thing in the morning, after trying for the first thing and not quite catching it, as a party of six: three nymphs, a demon child, a human teen girl, and a fire ant. “First Ecstasy, the ectoplasm conjurer,” Nydia said. As Protagonist, she was responsible for making most key decisions. She was working on beginning to get used to it.

  “There’s a nice green path,” Vinia said, and set off walking. They now had a magic carpet, but Nydia didn’t want to use it for routine things. Only Vinia could see the path, but they trusted her to have it right.

  “She can show you the path, if you want,” Anthem said.

  That provoked Nydia’s curiosity. “Okay.”

  “Ask her.”

  “May I see the path?” Nydia asked the girl.

  Vinia smiled. “Take my hand.”

  Nydia took it. Suddenly she saw half a welter of paths radiating out from the girl. They were of several colors. She realized that Anthem was enabling her to see them through Vinia’s mind. Green was best, blue was negative, red was danger, yellow was mystery, gray was neutral, and black was likely death. “Like Apoca’s hair!” she exclaimed, belatedly making the connection.

  “Yes, Poca and I are parallel, mostly,” the girl agreed. “We understand each other. She helped me discover my second talent, which I hadn’t known about.”

  The path directly in front of her was solid green. That was indeed the one.

  “Thank you for showing me,” Nydia said. “That’s certainly a useful talent.” She let go of the girl’s hand and the colors faded.

  They walked to the access to the enchanted path network, with the demon child’s crib floating along beside them. Nydia was relieved not to have to worry about trolls or werewolves or nickelpedes on unenchanted paths. They had handled them, but it was really more comfortable being safe. Toward mid-morning, they passed a small shelter containing a desk with several books. A sign said encyclonepedia.

  “Isn’t that misspelled?” Noletta asked. “A couple of extra letters?”

  “It shouldn’t be harmful, here on the enchanted path,” Vinia said. “There’s a yellow-red path leading to it. That means mystery and some danger, but the enchantment will stifle the danger.”

  “I’m curious.” Noletta walked to the shelter. She opened the first book and peered at the page. “Oh my, this is really something!” she exclaimed. “A wonderful fount of information! So many words! So many concepts! I never dreamed there was anything like this! In fact, I never dreamed at all before now. True nymphs don’t dream. What an experience!”

  Nydia opened her mouth to ask a question, but Noletta kept on talking, not saying anything in particular, just making a storm of exclamations. She just couldn’t stop.

  Then Woe Betide woke and caught on. “That’s a cyclone,” she said. Her crib floated up, and she reached out and slammed the open book shut.

  And Noletta’s torrent of words cut off in mid-exclamation. She stood there, breathing hard, as if she had been running.

  Relieved, Nydia inspected the shelter and table. “It’s just off the path,” she said. “Outside the spell. Someone must have put it there to make mischief for unwary travelers.”

  “I couldn’t stop talking,” Noletta said breathlessly.

  “En-Cyclone-pedia,” Nydia said, figuring it out. “A storm of words.”

  “Technically harmless,” Nerine said. “But nevertheless a nuisance.”

  “I’ll know better next time,” Noletta said, her breath slowly returning.

  “We need to get this out of here so it won’t bother other travelers,” Nydia said. But when she tried to push the stand away from the path, it wouldn’t budge. “I’ll have to step off the path to get at it.”

  “Don’t do that!” Woe exclaimed. “That’s what such traps do: lure you off the path so you can be caught by something bad. Metria likes to tease them by pretending to fall for it, then puffing into stinky smoke when the monster grabs her. Sometimes she leaves nothing but smoke-filled panties to freak them out.” She paused. “Though I still don’t see why panties should freak out males. There’s nothing interesting there. Bags of candy would be better.”

  Nydia nodded, not commenting. Anthem was cluing her in on things like this. In due course the child would learn that it was the suggestion of what was inside the panties that turned males on. Males wanted to play Faun & Nymph all the time. Still, the child was proving to be useful.

  “More useful than Metria would have been,” Anthem agreed.

  They resumed their journey, a bit wiser than before. As noon approached, Vinia paused. “The green path veers off here. But it should be safe.”

  Nydia looked at Noletta. “Does your vision approve?”

  “Oh, I’ve been forgetting it.” She stopped to check. “We seem to be back on the enchanted path tomorrow, so I guess it’s all right.”

  Nydia realized that most of ordinary life was dull routine, so unless Noletta checked at exactly the right time, she wouldn’t see anything significant. But her talent remained quite handy for steering them clear of mischief in a general way. When the future stopped showing, that meant trouble within a day. “Keep checking whenever you think of it.”

  They left the enchanted path, following the invisible green one. It led to a rundown old house with a sign saying figurines for trade. This was obviously the place.

  Nydia knocked on the door. “Come in,” a woman’s voice called.

  She turned the handle and pushed the door open. The interior was mainly one big room filled with life-sized dolls or figurines, many of them quite realistic. Most were like people, but there were some ogres, trolls, elves, and, yes, fauns and nymphs. A woman was working on a robot figure, a deliberately crude imitation of a man.

  “Uh, we’re a party of females on a Quest,” Nydia said. “We were told to meet with you. I’m Nydia.”

  “Hello Nydia,” the woman said, glancing up from her work. “I’m Ecstasy; my parents were so thrilled to have me that they named me that. What kind of figure do you want?”

  “We’re not exactly sure. We need ones that can be animated by the Elements.”

  Ecstasy drew back from the robot and stood. She was a halfway portly, middle-aged woman with gray-brown hair and eyes that matched, as most people’s in Xanth did. “I have an Element section.” She gestured, and there was a set of five figures. Three were males, representing Fire, Water, and the Void; two were female, representing Air and Earth. All were dauntingly handsome or beautiful, their elemental powers evident in their stances and expressions.

  “That’s them,” Nydia said, impressed. “We want them all.”

  “And what do you have to trade?”

  Oops. Of course, the woman wanted something in exchange. Why hadn’t they thought of that? Nydia was caught short. “Uh—”

  “Be at ease, nymph. Demon Grossclout messaged me you were coming.”

  “Uh, who?”

  “Queen Demesne’s consort,” Anthem said.

  Oh. “I guess we didn’t think it out completely.”

  Ecstasy smiled. “You’re nymphs. You don’t have much experience. Grossy had a suggestion. Suppose I join your Quest? I’d love to be a significant character for a while, see the sights, have an adventure, be remembered. As a background character I encounter little real excitement in my life. This would fix that.”

  “I—” Nydia started uncertainly.

  “None of that, girl. Grossy said Apoca kissed you. That means you now have backbone. All you need to do is say ‘yes’ with conviction.”

  “Do it,” Anthem said.

  “Yes,” Nydia said with simulated conviction, feeling the rightness of it as she spoke. She had for the moment forgotten her new assurance.

  “He also said you have protection against the Elements.”