xanth 40 - isis orb Read Free Page A

jumping up to embrace her.
    “Um, I wouldn’t,” Hapless warned, too late.
    Eli rocked back, staring wildly around. “Monsters! Earthquakes! Volcanoes!” he exclaimed, as if beset by all three at once. That actually might have been the case, in his hallucinations.
    “They’re not real!” Hapless shouted. “Just ignore them!”
    Then Eli came out of it. “What was that?” he gasped, disheveled.
    “Cylla has the power of hallucination,” Hapless explained. “You surprised her and made her react. I’m sure she didn’t mean to upset you.”
    “The bleep I didn’t,” Cylla snapped. “You had no business pawing me.”
    Things were off to a bad start.
    “I apologize for being too familiar,” Eli said. “You were just so lovely I couldn’t help myself.”
    “Well, keep your hands to yourself,” Cylla said, determinedly unmollified.
    Hapless tried to change the subject. “Eli has a most interesting talent that is also his curse. It manifests in a different manner each day of the week, except today. Yesterday he was so bright he could start a fire. Tomorrow—” He paused, having lost track.
    “Tomorrow I’ll see two of everything,” Eli said. “But I’ll be twice as effective. The day after I’ll get rained on, but will be able to help others quench their thirst.”
    “And of course you’re going to see the Good Magician so you can get rid of your curse,” Cylla said.
    “Why yes; how did you know?”
    “I just knew you were bad luck.”
    It occurred to Hapless that Cylla was as annoyed as he was about the addition of a third person to their company. But it really wasn’t Eli’s fault. So he tried to change the subject again. “Let me show you my box. It is supposed to contain a thing that is wrong for the one who opens it. We’re not sure it’s always accurate, though.”
    “That sounds interesting. Let’s see it.”
    Hapless brought out the box and passed it across. “Just open it. It seems harmless.”
    Eli opened the box. “Spectacles?” he asked, lifting them out.
    Hapless spread his hands. “Do you have a problem with your vision?”
    “No.”
    “So you don’t need them. Maybe that’s why they’re wrong.”
    “Maybe,” Eli agreed dubiously. “Unless there’s something else about them.” He returned the box and tucked the spectacles into his pocket.
    There was a silence that threatened to become awkward. “Let’s see about something to eat,” Hapless suggested. He didn’t mention sleeping arrangements, which were now also a problem.
    “Why don’t I just move on,” Eli suggested. “I can see that the two of you don’t want company.”
    “But you were here first,” Hapless protested. He really wanted to spend the night alone with Cylla, but fair was fair.
    They looked at Cylla. “Oh, stay,” she said with grumpy grace. “We’ll manage.”
    The two men went out to forage for pies and milk, while Cylla set things up inside. When they returned, Cylla was just changing dresses, and her panties were showing.
    “Snap out of it,” Eli said, snapping his fingers. “We must have returned too soon.”
    “I freaked out,” Hapless said ruefully. “But you didn’t?”
    “My father was Mundane,” Eli said. “He faded out before he developed magic. He was immune to panties, and I guess I inherited that though I do have magic. Panties are just clothing, to me.”
    If Cylla was aware she had been seen, she gave no sign of it. She had a table in place for the food, and they ate the pies.
    As dusk closed in, Cylla and Hapless walked around the campsite, admiring its features. “I thought I’d freak him out for an hour so we could tryst,” she murmured. “But he’s immune. Now I really don’t like him.”
    So the flash hadn’t been accidental. Too bad.
    They slept in the shelter, each rolled separately in a blanket harvested fresh from a blanket bush. Hapless was sorry they weren’t alone, and that Cylla had been unable to flash Eli into unconsciousness. But