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talents some day. I don’t think they’ll be affected.” She pondered half a moment. “Are you three sure you want to tackle this with us? Challenges can be frustrating and scary, and you really don’t need to—”
    “Woof!”
    “Tweet!”
    “Mew.”
    “Thanks, folks. I’m touched.”
    Picka realized that even though she was a princess and a Sorceress, not to mention being outstandingly beautiful for her species, Dawn was nervous about what she faced, and appreciated the moral support. It might come in the form of skeletons and animals, but they were friends, and that was what counted.
    Dawn glanced at him. “I can’t tell much about you, Picka, because you’re not alive, but I have the feeling you understand more than you let on.”
    “I do get bone-headed ideas,” he agreed.
    “They are surely good ones.” She kissed his skull. The effect was oddly pleasant, despite the meatiness of her lips. There was something about a beautiful young princess Sorceress. Maybe in time he would figure out what it was.
    “Let’s get on with it,” Joy’nt said, a trifle tersely. It was almost as if something was bothering her.
    “Indeed,” Dawn agreed. She faced the castle, took a deep breath that momentarily accented the burdensome flesh on her chest, and marched toward the drawbridge.
    The others followed. “Things should get interesting soon,” Picka murmured to Joy’nt.
    “Woof!” Woofer responded, wagging his tail.
    There was a noisy babbling, as if a small crowd of human folk were walking and talking just ahead of them, but there were no people in sight.
    Then Dawn halted. “There’s a wall here,” she said. “An invisible wall.”
    Picka stepped up beside her and extended a bone finger. It encountered some kind of panel. He tapped, and the babbling increased. “The wall is talking,” he said, surprised.
    “It is also blocking our way,” Joy’nt said, feeling high and low. The three pets were also exploring the unseen surface: Woofer was sniffing the base, Tweeter was flying up to the top, and Midrange was clawing the surface. None of them seemed to be making much progress.
    “If I were an ogre, I would simply crash through it,” Dawn said. “But of course there would be a different Challenge for an ogre. There must be a less violent way past. We have but to find it.”
    “Walk around it,” Joy’nt suggested.
    “I doubt it’s that simple, but let’s see,” Dawn said.
    Dawn and Joy’nt walked to the left, while Picka and the three pets went right. The invisible wall continued, merrily babbling unintelligibly. They kept on, and it kept on.
    Until they encountered another party. There were Dawn and Joy’nt, coming from the opposite direction. The wall had curved, closing a circle. There was no way around it.
    “Or maybe not,” Joy’nt said as they met.
    “I wonder whether it’s glass,” Dawn said. “If so, we might be able to fracture it.”
    They checked around. There were bushes, trees, and rocks all around. Picka suspected that if rocks would crack it, there would have been no rocks here. But he picked up a stone, and bashed it against the wall.
    The babble increased, sounding vaguely disapproving. But there was no crack. He struck it several more times, just to be sure, but it was impervious.
    “So what’s your idea, Picka?” Dawn asked. He had the impression she was suppressing exasperation.
    He pondered, thoughts caroming across the interior hollow of his skull. Every idea seemed stupider than the prior one. In desperation he fixed on the stupidest of them all. “It’s a sound barrier. A kind of invisible wall. Maybe there’s a door through it.”
    They checked for a door. The invisible wall was smooth throughout—until Tweeter discovered a little hole, no bigger than a fingertip. “As doors go, that isn’t much,” Dawn remarked.
    Then Joy’nt got a notion. “It’s a keyhole!”
    “A keyhole!” Dawn repeated. “Of course. Now all we need is the key.”
    And of