Skeleton Key

by Piers Anthony

  “He was treating you like an abused girl! Ula won’t stand for more of that. You should have slapped his face.”

  Squid laughed ruefully. “Not in a public dance. The audience couldn’t see his hand, but they would see mine.”

  “Well, when Ula mentions it again, as I’m sure she will, you can say ‘Me too,’ and that should warn him off.”

  She nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “Meanwhile, I had my own reactions to kissing those girls. I’m a girl myself, as you know. But they acted almost as if it was real, and I almost felt, well, the same. It’s weird.”

  “Weird,” Squid agreed. “Maybe they forgot, or don’t really understand about you. You look like a boy, so that’s how they treat you.”

  “Maybe. But my point is that just as you reacted, to your surprise, to real kissing, so did I. The male body has its own reactions. It likes kissing girls even if I don’t. The mask sometimes becomes real.”

  “We are well matched,” Squid said. “We both understand about pretending.”

  “It feels like a kind of dance. A dance is not real life: it’s a kind of artistic pretense, but it does have its rules and its pleasures.”

  “We’re dancing around the monstrous threat,” she said. “We can’t say it so we have to glide around it, but maybe the artistry is there.”

  Larry hesitated. “I, this may seem crazy, but suppose we, well—”

  “I think I know where you’re going. The Nirvana conference made a difference. Let’s try dancing as if we mean it.”

  “You do understand.”

  They came together and embraced. Then they danced a few steps, marvelously coordinated though there was no announcer calling out the moves. He held her as though he were a man, and she matched him as if she were a woman. Then they paused, gazing into each other’s eyes. Then they kissed, holding it. Then Squid caught his hand and put it on her bottom. That broke them both up laughing, and they split apart.

  But the dance had meant something. So had the kiss. Their public kisses had been fakes, but this one was real.

  Did that mean their relationship was becoming real, too? Squid shied away from the thought.

  Next day Fibot sailed to the chain of islands called the Keys. There was Caprice Castle sitting on an island the shape of a human skull. That would be Skeleton Key.

  Picka and Dawn Bone were standing outside the castle. They came to join Dell and Nia, shaking hands and embracing like old friends, as perhaps they were. Then Magnus and Jess joined them. The assembled children just watched. It seemed that the skeleton relatives would join them after the Sometime Island phased to wherever it went when not in Xanth Proper.

  “Be good, kids!” Nia called as she waved.

  “We’ll try,” Ula called back, speaking for all of them.

  Then the six adults entered the castle. The children boarded the boat. Win took her place at the helm, Data beside her, and blew at the fire sail Firenze raised; the craft angled into the air.

  Squid took Larry’s hand, nervously squeezing it. She saw Ula and Myst and Noe doing the same with their companions, and even Win’s free hand was holding Data’s. They all knew that something much worse than a week on their own was about to happen. But all they could do about it was dance.

  The boat hovered above the island. Then the island faded out. It did not move, it simply ceased to be there. It was gone, and Caprice Castle and the six adults with it. They would return in a week, but their disappearance was eerie.

  Squid shuddered.

  Chapter 6

  Crisis

  They got together with Tata Dogfish and the peeve. “We need to be sure we’re on the same page,” Santo said. “Do you two know what is going on with us children?”

  Tata’s robot screen flickered. “We know that something big is in the offing,” the bird said. “But we can’t get a line on what it is. You kids have been coupling up and dancing up a storm, but we think you’ve been hiding something.”

  “I think that now the adults are gone, we can be more open about it,” Santo said. “Something huge is set to happen, and we need to know what it is, but it is hiding from the adults. So it is up to us children to tackle it, because it is important and we can’t afford to just ignore it. We are peripherally aware of it, but don’t know who or what is behind it.”

  Tata’s screen flashed. “That is consistent with our information,” the peeve said. “What else?”

  “Squid is the protagonist for this story. She is also the most important person in it.”

  Both dogfish and peeve were startled. “But she’s not even human,” the peeve protested.

  Santo smiled. “And the pair of you find being inhuman objectionable?”

  Everyone laughed.

  “Okay, you got us there,” the peeve said.

  “So at this point you two will probably learn about this matter when we do,” Santo said. “Stay alert. We don’t know from what direction it will come, but it’s incipient.”

  “We will.”

  But nothing happened that day. They practiced their dancing, shoring up any weaknesses they found, then had the dinner that Nia had programmed for the Fibot scullery, and retired.

  “I hate this,” Squid said as she shooed dust bunnies out from under the bed. They hopped away, annoyed. “I wish whatever it is would just happen and be done with it.”

  “So do I.”

  “I know we’re not really a couple, but would you hold me while we sleep?”

  “I am nervous too. Your nearness comforts me as much as mine comforts you.”

  “Thank you.” They held each other and slept.

  Next day they practiced line dances, which required no partners except when they split into couples for spot demonstrations. Tata Dogfish flashed instructions, and the peeve translated them. Some lines required high kicking; both boys and girls did it, but the assumption was that the audience would watch mainly the girls because of their flaring skirts. There were intricate foot motions: in some, like the pot-te-bah, the feet hardly seemed to touch the floor. They did intricate steps perfectly synchronized, knowing that more than their magic talents had been quietly upgraded. They were becoming remarkably sophisticated performers.

  No threat manifested. Squid was almost disappointed. “Where is this huge danger?”

  “It’s lurking,” Larry said. “I can feel it.”

  “So can I. But it doesn’t strike; it just sits there and torments us.”

  “Maybe it wants to wear us down, so it will be worse when it does strike.”

  “We must not let down our guard,” Santo said. “It may strike when too many of us cease to be concerned about it.”

  Next day, they practiced couple dances. There were a number of these, and some of their motions were intricate, with the boys lifting the girls high and slinging them around so that their skirts flared and their legs showed. “We’re going to be terrors when we grow up into big girls,” Noe said, satisfied. “We really know how to show off our legs.”

  It was true. They were already close, and the dances brought them right to the verge of the Adult Conspiracy. But what was the larger point of it? Squid wondered. How did dancing relate to the monstrous unseen threat? How did it make her, Squid, so infernally important? She still was not finding much, if any, sense in it.

  “I envy you the ability to look innocently sexy,” Larry said. “If I had my female body, I would age it into young maturity and flash the whole audience into a freak.”

  “More fun,” Squid agreed.

  “I am counting on the Good Magician delivering. I want to use what I am learning to flash the whole world into submission.”

  “What. Even the women?”

  “Myst’s magic panties can do it. Why not mine, then?”

  “Good point.”

  “But I just
want to have the body, even if I never flash it. I just know it will be more comfortable.”

  “Maybe it’s dangerous to relax,” Squid told Larry one evening. “But I’m tired of being constantly afraid. How about this: we take turns. One night I worry while you relax, and next night you worry while I sleep?”

  “You are making sense,” he said. “Sometimes I almost regret that we can never be a true couple. You are dismayingly practical.”

  So they alternated nights, and that helped. Squid still didn’t like the constant tension, but she was learning to handle it.

  On the seventh day Santo had an announcement. “Class, we have graduated. We are making a thing of beauty that should delight all our audiences. Tata will now do a projection, so we can see it through an audience’s eyes.”

  They sat in a big circle, and the dogfish robot projected a magic picture called a holograph to the center. It was them, with their three, four, and five couples, dancing the several types. Squid saw herself, and knew that each of the others saw themselves as others saw them.

  They were indeed beautiful, individually and in groups. The dances were phenomenal. The loveliness of the whole was an emergent property, greater than its parts. It was the kind of show no one would ever forget.

  When it finished, they burst into applause for the performance, even though it was themselves. Participating in it, they had not seen its larger glory. Now they knew.

  Yet, where was the hidden menace, the threat that their dancing existed for, in the sense that it was a pretext for them to stay together so they could deal with it? Their week was over, and nothing had happened. Tomorrow the adults would return and it would be over.

  “Maybe we were sufficiently alert,” Larry said that night. “That kept it at bay.”

  “Do you really believe that?”

  “No.”

  They both laughed, but there was no humor in it. Something was, if not wrong, still waiting.

  “Hold me.”

  He did. Their togetherness helped push back the surrounding dread.

  “If we were not what we are,” he murmured, “I think we’d be perfect for each other.”

  “A transgender victim and an alien cuttlefish,” she agreed.

  Then they kissed. There was no passion in it, but considerable comfort.

  Next day, the fire boat hovered, waiting for the sometime island of Skeleton Key to reappear. Squid didn’t care to say it, but she was quite ready for the return of the adults. Only when they resumed stewardship of Fibot would she feel free to truly relax. Whatever story she was supposed to supervise as protagonist would sink into oblivion, a washout. That would be fine with her.

  There was a shimmer on the water, and the skull-shaped island formed. It was back!

  But something was missing. “Where’s Caprice Castle?” Squid asked.

  All of them stared. The island was there, but not the castle.

  The boat descended to land on the sand. They got out to walk on the land. It was firm enough. But empty.

  Then two skeletons approached, a male and a female. Their genders were clear despite their lack of flesh. The male was larger, and the female had broader hips. She also had one more rib. “Hello, children,” the male said. “We are cousins of Marrow Bones. We fear we have unfortunate news.” He had no lips, but the sound emerged from his hollow skull. There might have been a time when Squid was spooked by walking skeletons, but that was before she came to know them.

  “Where is the castle?” Squid demanded rudely.

  “That is the problem, dear,” the female said. “We had a wonderful week of visiting, and we toured the marvelous traveling castle. Then one day it was gone. We thought the flesh folk had remembered another appointment and departed, though we were surprised that they left us no word and did not bid us farewell. In fact we were surprised that it could depart our domain, as we are in another shade of existence and travel between the frames is difficult. That was why we rendezvoused during a normal transition. But if you did not see Caprice, then it did not rejoin you. We fear it is lost.”

  The children gazed at each other with dismay. “It did not reappear here,” Santo said after an uncomfortable moment.

  “Then we do not know where it went, or why,” the female said, her posture exhibiting her regret. “We are sorry we can’t help you.”

  “Could it be hiding elsewhere on the island?” Santo asked.

  “No,” the male said. “We searched. An edifice that size would be difficult to conceal, and we found no magic screens or invisibility spells. We left no tern unstoned. It is not on Skeleton Key.”

  Another glance circled the group. Now they knew: the disaster had come upon them. It had not struck them personally, it had struck the castle.

  “Do not remain on the land,” the female said. “Unless you wish to stay with us. The duration of our visits varies, and this is a brief one. We are about to fade out from Xanth proper.”

  “Thank you,” Santo said. Then they hastily scrambled back aboard the boat and lifted clear of the land.

  Just in time. The island faded out, and the water of the bay replaced it.

  “So much for our dancing exhibitions,” Data said dourly.

  Indeed, there would be no tour without Magnus and Jess organizing it. But that was the least of their letdown.

  They went below. “What now?” Squid asked. The others seemed too stunned to speak.

  “Let’s get an analysis,” Santo said. “Tata, Skeleton Key returned, but without Caprice Castle. The skeletons don’t know where it went. We’re pretty sure the people in it would not have simply deserted us. What is your opinion?”

  The robot dogfish cogitated a moment. Then the screen flashed. “Agreed,” the peeve translated. “They would have returned on schedule unless prevented. They would not have deserted the children. The castle and its occupants were probably somehow abducted and either destroyed or are being held captive.”

  Squid knew she wasn’t the only one who felt a cruel chill. She knew that Piton and Data were especially affected, because their parents were missing.

  Santo kept his cool. He was good at that. “Who or what could do this?”

  “Only a dwarf Demon or equivalent.”

  There was a shudder shaking the children as they heard the capital D. They had expected trouble, but not of this nature. It might explain the involvement of Fornax, because it would take a Demon to catch a Demon. “For what purpose?” Santo asked.

  The screen flickered again. “Caprice Castle is valuable for travel and storage,” the peeve said. “As is Fibot. It may be the initial stage of an invasion of the Land of Xanth.”

  “Assuming they are captive,” Santo said, “how would they be used for an invasion?”

  “They might be useful as hostages to gain concessions from the existing government of Xanth. But in the absence of demands, this seems less likely.”

  Squid saw that Santo was carefully avoiding reference to the other alternative: destruction. “What is more likely?”

  “Conjecture: that a collector is active.”

  “A collector of what?”

  “A collector of valuable artifacts, such as a traveling castle or flying boat.”

  Squid felt an ugly additional chill. “You mean they might be after Fibot too?”

  “That seems likely, now that Caprice is secure.”

  “Why didn’t they just grab us when we landed on Skeleton Key?”

  “Conjecture: they do not wish to operate in public, as that could stir an immediate backlash. They prefer to collect things when unobserved. Alternate conjecture: they are orienting on things one at a time. Fibot might be the next target.”

  Santo took it in stride. “What is your advice?”

  “Take immediate evasive action for Fibot. Prepare a counter-stroke.”

  Santo nodde
d. “Tata and Peeve, proceed with random evasive action for the boat. We children will ponder a counter-stroke.”

  “Win,” the peeve said.

  “Right,” Win agreed. She and Data headed for the tiller.

  “Firenze.”

  “Right,” Firenze said. He and Ula headed for the sail. The others would not feel it, here below-decks, but the fire boat was about to make erratic course changes so that no one outside would be likely to predict where it would go next. Squid wasn’t sure how effective this would be if there was Demon involvement, but what else was there?

  Santo glanced at the remaining five. “Now what can we come up with to mess up a possible Demon collector?”

  Squid and Larry closed in on him. So did Myst and Piton. Noe was already there. They were the war council of the moment. The crisis was upon them.

  “I think it is important that there be no hint of any possible Demon participation in our actions,” Santo said. “It must be only children, with children’s limitations.”

  The others nodded grimly. Fornax had to remain hidden. However, some of these children had Magician caliber talents, or close to it. They were far from helpless.

  “I wish we could know for sure what happened to Caprice Castle and the adults in it,” Myst said. “I mean, it makes a difference if they’re alive or d-d-dead.”

  So now the forbidden subject had been introduced. “I agree,” Squid said. “Is there any way we could somehow sneak into the Sometime Islands and look? Without involving any adults? Because I suspect that the adults are being watched, while the children are not. That could be why they missed Fibot, this time: no adults aboard.”

  “Smart girl,” Noe said. “That must be it.”

  Santo glanced at Tata. “Is there a way to sneak and peek?”

  The robot screen flashed. “Ion and Hilda, the nine-year-old children of Prince Hilarion and Princess Ida, travel regularly between the sometime realm and Xanth proper, using a route only they know and can traverse. They would likely cooperate, if asked.”