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purred.
    “We saw a snail,” Umlaut said. “It's bringing letters from Mundania.” He preferred not to mention the misadventure with the Path of Least Resistance.
    Breanna nodded. “That explains why they are so old. I collected them from the dungeon, and some of them go back months. We had no idea they were being delivered here.”
    “I guess a Mundane snail wouldn't know the local Xanth addresses,” Umlaut said. “So it brought them to the nearest castle with a mail slot.”
    “For sure. They are supposed to go to all manner of residents. We'll have the zombies deliver them to the people they are addressed to. It will take a while, but they're already so late it shouldn't make much difference.”
    “Well, I think we'll be on our way now,” Umlaut said. “We want to explore Xanth before Sammy goes home.”
    “But he can't find home,” Breanna said. “I know where it is; I can have a zombie take him there.”
    Sammy jumped from her arms. He wasn't ready to go home yet.
    “For sure,” Breanna murmured, seeing the way of it. “I guess all those wolves get tiresome, and Jenny's signaling the stork.” She looked pensive half a moment. “So am I.”
    There was a swirl of smoke in the air before them. It formed into a vaguely human face. “Salubrious,” it said.
    “What?” Umlaut asked.
    “Greeting, welcome, accosting, addressing, heralding—”
    “Salutation?”
    “Whatever,” the face said crossly, as a voluptuous body extended downward from it.
    “Oh, hello, Metria,” Breanna said. “You know Sammy Cat, and these are Umlaut Human and Drivel Dragon.” She turned to the others. “This is the Demoness Metria.”
    The shape was now fully formed, with a drooping décolletage over a very full bosom and lifting skirt over a similarly full bottom. “You don't look much like a dragon,” she said to Sesame.
    The serpent quickly emulated the dragon, having allowed that to lapse. The demoness blinked. “But maybe I mislooked.”
    “Mis what?” Umlaut asked somewhat stupidly. He couldn't manage an intelligent comment at the moment because his own eyes were locked onto Metria's illustriously heaving bosom.
    “Misinformed, misbegotten, mistaken, misapprehended—”
    “Never mind,” Breanna said somewhat curtly. “What brings you here, Metria?”
    “Oh, that,” the demoness said. “There's a message from Magician Humfrey.”
    “The Good Magician? What's he want with us?”
    “He wants to know what the inferno you said to Demon Jupiter.”
    “What the what?” Umlaut asked, still locked onto her bosom, heave by heave.
    “Hades, purgatory, pandemonium, underworld, perdition—”
    “Blazes?” Umlaut asked.
    “Whatever,” she agreed crossly, taking another heave.
    “Cut it out,” Breanna snapped. “We didn't say anything to Demon Jupiter. All we did was forward a letter to him.”
    The demoness started to fade, finally freeing Umlaut's eyes. “Humfrey will be glad to know that.”
    “Hold up a moment,” Breanna said. “What's with the Demon Jupiter?”
    The fading reversed at the top but continued at the bottom, so that the demoness was visible only from the waist up. Umlaut tried to safeguard his eyes before they fell back into her swelling bosom, but lost. “Him? Oh, just some nonsense about a spot.”
    “Must be the Red Spot,” Breanna said. “He's got one. Why does that concern us?”
    “He doesn't seem to want it anymore.”
    “Doesn't want his Red Spot? Why do you think that?”
    “Because it seems he just threw it at the Demon Earth.”
    “He what?”
    “Hurled, cast, tossed, flung, pitched—”
    “Stop it!” Breanna snapped. “That spot is no tiny ball, it's a huge red storm. And Earth is firmly attached to Xanth. If that thing blots out Earth, it'll blot out Xanth too. This is real mischief! Whatever possessed Jupiter to do that?”
    Metria shrugged, yanking Umlaut's eyes upward with her thorax. “I wouldn't know. Must have been something in that letter you so