Heaven Cent by Piers Anthony Page A

had to protect from the mischief of sea urchins. She offered to take him out to see them, but he declined; he had had enough experiences for one day.
    “Tomorrow, then,” she said. “You can join me in searching the sea floor for shells and gems. Wouldn't it be nice if we found another firewater opal!”
    “Would that mean that another merman would marry you?” he inquired.
    “Yes, probably.”
    “Then you wouldn't need to keep me!”
    “Oh, but I like you better,” she said. “It isn't often that a girl gets to raise a genuine prince.”
    So much for that notion.
    In the evening Mela fed him disgustingly wholesome seafood and dolphin milk, with—sure enough—slices of her homegrown sea cucumber. She put him to bed at the unreasonably early hour adults insisted on, and gave him several floating pillows that reminded him alarmingly of her bare bosom. Ugh! There was a seaweed-cloaked cubby for natural functions; the seaweed snatched the stuff away as if it were a great prize and used it for fertilizer. Dolph had hoped that Nature would not be able to find him down here, but her call came as insistently as ever. Nature was evidently another adult. Mela even provided him with a nightshirt of woven sea grass fiber. He had to admit that her garden and her care were comfortable; she was not mistreating him at all, by adult definitions. She even gave him a tasty piece of saltwater taffy, then insisted that he brush his teeth with a toothbrush she had salvaged from a sunken ship, and wash behind his ears.
    As he drifted to sleep he pondered the events of the day. He was not happy about his captivity, but he had to admit that Mela's position was reasonable by her reckoning. She was simply making the best of her situation and her opportunities.
    Obviously the Heaven Cent would not do her much good. He could now appreciate why she would settle for a human man. She probably didn't like it any better than the man would, but it was a way to have her family without the firewater opal. It was just his misfortune that she had captured Dolph and planned to keep him until he became an adult.
    He would just have to learn how to handle those overlapping magics, so that he could become a fish and breathe the water naturally. He hoped he could do it before Mela managed to convince him that it was better to stay with her. Already he feared that he did not have an awful lot of time.
    Then, just before he slept, he remembered: the Tapestry was oriented on him. The folk at Castle Roogna would know where he was! They would rescue him! He had nothing to worry about!
    Why, then, did he feel a certain tinge of disappointment?

Xanth 11 - Heaven Cent
    Chapter 6. Skeleton Crew.
    “Hang on, Dolph!” Marrow cried as the sudden gust of wind blew the boat over.
    But it was too late; Dolph was pitched into the heaving sea. Marrow was unable to help him, because his skull was set inside the craft and could not see out and the craft was now capsized. All he could see, as the waves turned them around, was the flash of a fluke as the merwoman moved.
    She had done this, he knew. She had summoned Fracto, who had been glad to make mischief, and now she had what she wanted. She would haul Dolph to the bottom of the sea and keep him there forever.
    Marrow knew it was his responsibility, for he was Dolph's adult companion. He should have anticipated this disaster and taken precautions. If they had just crossed directly to land, the merwoman never could have interfered. If he had even told Dolph to become a sea bird or a fish, at the last moment, it would have helped. But his hollow skull had not thought fast enough, and so had come up with an empty warning. Naturally, the boy had been too distracted to think of changing form himself; the merwoman had acted with too much dispatch.
    He would have to do something to help Dolph. But first, he realized, he had to help himself. He had to regain his normal form, and Grace’l had to regain hers. At the moment she