Air Apparent Read Free Page B

Mother Gorgon?”
    “Could this be a Demon involvement? Capital D?”
    The Demons were to ordinary demons what sphinxes were to ants: immeasurably more powerful. The whole of the magic of the Land of Xanth stemmed from the mere radiation leaking from Demon Xanth as he rested deep below, or dallied in the Nameless Castle. Their ways were obscure but infinitely potent. If a Demon were involved, the case was hopeless. “It can’t be,” Wira said. She meant not that it was impossible, for nothing was impossible to a Demon, but that her whole world depended on it not being the case.
    “Then it must be something less,” the Gorgon agreed. “Someone or something with a special talent, maybe of conjuring himself places, and a handful of stolen spells. In which case the Book can identify him, when.”
    “I can’t wait for when! Hugo’s gone.”
    “I know, dear,” the Gorgon said sympathetically. “That’s why we shall have to solve it without the Book.” Then she paused. “Oops—I thought of something else. Who would have been in the cellar, to kill? It’s an odd place.”
    “Someone stealing some Rhed Whine?”
    “That would hardly be worth it, considering the difficulty of getting into this castle. The stuff’s not valuable.”
    “Could the—the murder have been done somewhere else, and the body conjured to the cellar?”
    “Then why abolish Hugo?” the Gorgon asked sensibly. “Why not leave him to discover the body, as you did soon after? No, the murderer had to be there in the cellar. Which puts us back to who was the victim.”
    “But it hardly makes sense! One person sneaking into the cellar, another sneaking in to murder him, then doing something to Hugo to conceal his identity.”
    “And bollixing the Book of Answers,” the Gorgon said. “Which suggests he knew where he was and what he was doing. I suspect we understand next to nothing at all.”
    “Next to nothing,” Wira agreed, hating it.
    “All the more reason to act. You got some clues.”
    “Just random names, like Cumulo Fracto Nimbus. He wouldn’t have done this; in fact he couldn’t have done this. He’s a cloud!”
    “Then you will have to go question him. Maybe he knows something about this. That’s what Clues are all about. Once you have run them all down, you’ll be able to assemble them and draw a Brilliant Conclusion.”
    “I’m not that smart,” Wira protested.
    “Nonsense. You’ll be as smart as you need to be. But just in case, you can take some Eye Queue elixir along.”
    “You forget. I’m blind.”
    The Gorgon considered. “Yes, we’ll have to deal with that. You’ll need a Companion.”
    “A what?”
    “Don’t play Demoness Metria with me, girl! Someone to travel with you, to be your eyes. You’ll need something to ride, too; walking all over Xanth would be too tedious.”
    “But I don’t know anyone outside the castle, and I have never ridden an animal.”
    “Details to be addressed. Meanwhile, there’s another problem: there’s a querent coming tomorrow. How is Humfrey going to answer her, with the Book bonked?”
    “We’ll have to send her away.”
    “We can’t. The Challenges are all set up, and if she makes it through, she’ll expect her Answer.”
    “We’ll have to go out to intercept her, to explain.”
    “By no means! If we do that, everyone will soon know of the fix we’re in. It would ruin the Good Magician’s reputation for inscrutable expertise. Also, if word gets around that we’re looking for a murderer, what do you think will happen to Hugo? We need the murderer to think that he’s gotten away with it, and no one is investigating.”
    That froze Wira. “We must keep it secret,” she agreed. “But how can I question people, then? That will quickly give it away.”
    A bulb flashed over the Gorgon’s head; Wira felt its brief heat. “You’re blind!”
    “That’s not exactly late news.”
    “But you must have been longing all your life for sight. To recover the