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meet you at Jenny Elf's room," Dor called after him. Then, to Electra: 'Tin glad he married you."
     
    Electra blushed, and the girls giggled again, well understanding her natural modesty. Electra had never aspired to be a princess, but had loved Dolph from their first magical meeting. Her innocent ways still clung to her on occasion.
     
    Dor went in search of his father. Bink was an oddity in Xanth, because everyone knew he had Magician-caliber magic, but few knew what it was. When there was something especially tricky or dangerous to accomplish, Bink was usually the one to tackle it, and often accomplished it by a series of weird coincidences. Apart from that, he was as amiable as his grandson, which made him easy to get along with.
     
    Bink and Chameleon were in a guest room, having evidently come to Castle Roogna for the youth potions. Maybe they knew why they had been selected. Dor knocked on the door.
     
    ZOMBIE LOVER        35
     
    "It's King Dor," the door called to the folk inside.
     
    "Come in. Dor," Bink's voice called.
     
    Dor opened the door and stepped in. And stood amazed.
     
    Before him stood a lad of twenty one, and a girl of sixteen. The lad was handsome and muscular. The girl was ugly. Both were in ill-fitting clothing; indeed, the girl was in the process of pinning the boy's trousers so they would fit better.
     
    "I think this is the wrong room," Dor said, embarrassed.
     
    "No it isn't, son," the woman said in Chameleon's voice. "Don't stand there with your mouth agape; close the door behind you."
     
    It really was true. These were his parents, youthened by—
     
    "Sixty years," Chameleon said. "We each took the same dosage. We have no idea why the Good Magician sent the elixir, but concluded that he must have good reason. He has not made any requirement of us, as yet."
     
    "But he surely will, in due course," Bink added. "I must say that apart from the awkwardness of ill-fitting clothing, it feels rather good to be young again. There's a certain vigor I had forgotten."
     
    "Why did you come, Dor?" Chameleon asked. She tended to be abrupt in her smart/ugly phase, having little patience with the slower intellects of others. She was more popular when in her lovely/stupid phase.
     
    "I came to ask Bink if he would like to go out with me and Dolph to question the zombies, who are stirred up. I thought a three generation excursion might be fun."
     
    "Good idea," Ghameleon said. "Go ahead, Bink; you're not much help around here. I'll fix your other clothes and mine in the interim." She paused. "Including a showy dress for my other phase."
     
    Bink nodded appreciatively. Chameleon had been generally acknowledged to be the loveliest woman in Xanth, when young and in phase, and even in age she was elegant. Now she was young again. Dor found it awkward thinking of his parents having romantic interests, but realized it was possible. His mother's combination of traits at the far end—extreme beauty and extreme stupidity—made her a very fine romantic prospect. The extremes would be much sharper, now that she was a teenager. Well, soon they would return to the North Village, and he could put that awkward aspect out of his mind.
     
    Chameleon worked swiftly with needle and thread, and Bink's trousers assumed a better fit. "Let's go," he said, with the seeming aban-
     
    36       PIERS ANTHONY
     
    don of his youth He tended to grow more interested in traveling away from the home, when Chameleon was in her smart phase, but of course it would not be kind to speculate why
     
    "First we must check with Jenny Elf," Dor said as they walked down the hall "Maybe she has the answers to several questions "
     
    "Good idea," the youth agreed It was just about impossible to think of him as an aging father
     
    Dolph appeared, in newer and cleaner clothing "I'm ready, Dad," he said "Who's your friend7"
     
    "Your granddad," Bmk said
     
    "My what1?"
     
    "This is Bmk," Dor explained, understanding his