Stork Naked by Piers Anthony Page A

thickness. Anyway, there's no point; the kids would never drink all of that.”
    “I'm thinking of something breathable. With bubbles of air. Big bubbles all mixed in.”
    “I guess,” he repeated. “But why bother? We have plenty of air to breathe. They want us healthy, because they lose our souls if we die too soon.”
    “Let's try it,” she said urgently. “A small amount, to see how it works.”
    “But there's no point.”
    She caught him by the shoulders, held him in place, and kissed him. He tried to run, but she held on firmly. He didn't struggle very hard. “Do it, or I'll kiss you again.” She had caught on to two secrets; nymphly kisses had power, and his no meant yes. That was probably true of most boys who claimed to hate mushy stuff. Was Ted still floating?
    Daunted, he nodded agreement. She let him go and they went down to the Death Pool cave, which was next door. It was a sinister region, with dark water filling the lower portion, and a deadly whirlpool in the center.
    They stopped at a recess that held a relatively small amount of water. “Try this,” she said.
    He touched the surface of the water. It became bubbly. She lay down, put her mouth to it, and tried to breathe. She sucked in some water, choking, but also some air. It was breathable, if she could just separate the air from the water.
    “What are you trying to do?” Zach asked.
    She caught hold of him. “Stop arguing.”
    “I'm not arguing! I'm trying to help.”
    She kissed him anyway. “Oops, too late. I apologize. I'll explain.”
    “That's all right,” he said faintly.
    “That whirlpool is going somewhere. If we can follow the water out, maybe we can escape. If you can change this whole pool to breathable liquid, we can go down in it without drowning. If we can find a better way to breathe it.”
    “To get just the bubbles,” he agreed, seeing it. “There's a kid whose talent is to make little tubes. We thought it was useless, but if we put those in our mouths and poked the other ends into the bubbles—”
    “Brilliant!” she exclaimed, leaning into him.
    “You don't have to—”
    She kissed him. “Too late. Sorry.”
    “Okay,” he said as faintly as before. “Only—”
    “I won't tell,” she promised.
    They returned to the main cave and Azalea explained her idea. “So if this works, we can all escape, maybe,” she said.
    There was half a hubbub. The kids were definitely interested. They put it to a vote, and decided to try it. “It can't be worse, long-term, than what we face here,” Wade said.
    They lined up by the bank of the Death Pool. Each person had several small tubes. Zach concentrated and slowly converted the entire pool to bubbly drink. They experimented, swimming in the water, ducking their heads, poking their tubes into bubbles and sifting the froth through their teeth. It was working.
    Then Azalea led the way with her children. They were all in their clothing, because there was no other way to bring it along. She swam to the whirlpool and let it take her. This was the scary part, going down into the unknown, but she had to show no fear lest it spook the others. She was carried around and around, faster and faster, and sank below the surface. Ted, Monica, Woe Betide, and Stymy Stork with the peeve on his head followed in a line. They spiraled into the whirling maw.
    Then she was being carried rapidly down to the bottom, and through a hole in the floor of the cave. The water plunged to a lower level. What if it smashed against a great rock? she wondered belatedly.
    It didn't. She plopped into another large pool, surrounded by enough of the bubbly water to continue breathing. She swam for the surface and found a beach. She scrambled onto it, soaking wet but elated. The others followed.
    “It worked!” Zach exclaimed, emerging from the water.
    “Thanks to your talent,” she said, and kissed him again. “Oops, too late.”
    “Don't—okay,” he said weakly.
    Frosteind appeared. “Did she kiss