Stork Naked Read Free

matter how stupid it is.”
    “Isn't that a rancid kettle of fish,” Surprise's voice said. “Must give you quite an appetite, snake-eyes.”
    Oh, no! The peeve had come along too.
    Sesame frowned at the bird, then coiled like a giant rattlesnake and made ready to strike. It was an excellent emulation, and she clearly knew it was the bird who had spoken. Moat monsters were hard to fool. The peeve fluttered its wings as if ready to fly, but it was obvious that it could not get away fast enough to get beyond the range of the serpent's jaws. “Not that that's necessarily bad,” it said hastily. “I've eaten some very nice rancid fish in my day.”
    Sesame considered, then uncoiled. She had made her point, forcing the bird to back off.
    A woman crossed the drawbridge, leaving the castle. Sesame did not challenge her; obviously her business with the Good Magician was done. “Hello,” she said brightly. “My name's Susan. I just learned my talent. Now I have to inform my family that I'll be away a year serving my Service for the Good Magician. It's worth it.”
    “What's your talent?” Ted asked boldly.
    “I'm so glad you asked,” Susan said. “I can't wait to try it out. I'm supposed to be able to turn spoken words into tangible shapes and colors, which I can then use to make sculptures or paintings. I always wanted to be an artist, but lacked the wherewithal.” She concentrated, then spoke: “Red shoes.” The red shoes appeared. “Blue trousers.” They appeared, dropping on the shoes. “Yellow shirt.” It was there on top of the trousers. “White hat.” It landed on the pile. “Black gloves.” They were there. Then she arranged the items on the ground to form the image of a man. “It's crude, I know, but it's my first effort.”
    “You're right about it's being—” the peeve started.
    “A nice first effort,” Surprise said loudly, overriding the bird's insult.
    “Thank you,” Susan said, pleased. She gathered up the items and walked away.
    Unfortunately Surprise was still stuck with the need to run the Challenges, if she wanted to see Magician Humfrey. It was an awful nuisance, but she couldn't afford to waste time arguing. She would simply have to navigate them. There would be three, and her magic would not avail her.
    “Sesame, I am babysitting the demon children, Ted and Monica. I won't be able to keep a proper eye on them while handling the first Challenge. Please, would you keep an eye on them and the peeve while I'm busy? I know you're a good person, and this shouldn't conflict with your moatly duties.”
    The serpent nodded. She would do it.
    “What do you know about babysitting?” Ted demanded. “You're just a big snake.”
    Sesame oriented on him, assuming the aspect of a horrendously strict schoolmarm. Forbidding authority fairly radiated from her.
    The demon child quailed. “Not that there's anything wrong with snakes.”
    There were things to like about Sesame. But now Surprise focused on the first Challenge. The obvious way across the moat was the drawbridge, which remained down across it. But there was now a small lighthouse at its outer landing, blocking the way. There might be a path around it, but when she tried to make it out, the lighthouse flashed so brightly that she was blinded for the moment. That was no good; she had to see where she was going, or she would fall into the moat instead of setting foot on the bridge, and surely wash out.
    She walked around the lighthouse to check the far side. It was no better; there was hardly room to skirt it to reach the drawbridge. Acute vision was important. But the lighthouse wasn't flashing now, so she took a step toward it.
    The second flash was worse than the first. She had to cover her eyes and wait for her vision to return. This was definitely the Challenge.
    Just in case, she tried her magic, invoking a spell of darkness to cloud around the lighthouse. Sure enough, it didn't work; her magic was null during this exercise. She