And Eternity by Piers Anthony Read Free Book Online

transported. Otherwise the bird would have come with them, for most of its body had been within the cloud.
    “I’m going to find a weapon,” Orlene said. “I don’t want to be caught short again.”
    Jolie looked at her, dismayed. Now her face was changing, losing its beauty. The jaw line was stronger, and there was a shadow at the chin. Was she reverting to some primitive form? Still, it seemed best not to comment, for there was nothing positive Jolie could say.
    Fortunately there was nothing suitable as a weapon. “Damn!” Orlene grunted. “Well, when we go back outside, sure as hell I’ll get something.”
    She was swearing now. She never had before, being indelibly feminine. That suggested a personality change keeping pace with the body change. Was something similar happening to Jolie herself? She didn’t feel different, but then Orlene didn’t seem to feel different either. It was surely Nox’s doing-but why?
    As they descended, with Orlene setting a brisk pace, Jolie continued to ponder the matter, ill at ease. Nox was the Incarnation of Night, really an ancient goddess, mistress of secrets and dreams and all things hidden. This was surely a type of dream, crafted for the two of them. But why should Nox bother? It would have been easy for her to make herself entirely unapproachable, or to manifest before the visitors at the outset. Why set this strange mountainous challenge for them? What was the point?
    Maybe it was a mischievous game. Parry, now Satan, had mentioned her with a certain awe; it seemed that Nox had a way with men that was not to be denied. Maybe the Incarnation was having idle sport with the two women, seeing fit neither to tempt them nor to banish them. If so, it was getting cruel.
    Something was happening, again. There was no sign of the ground glass they had fled before, but as they got farther down, the air was becoming warmer. Jolie saw Orlene sweating, but her pace did not diminish. The woman now had more muscle, and it seemed functional; she was braving the discomfort of the heat as she might a private challenge, showing that it could not daunt her. Jolie would have preferred to avoid any such challenge, but saw no alternative.
    “Sheesh, it’s hot!” Orlene remarked, wiping her brow with a handful of her tattered blouse, which she carelessly yanked out of her waistband. That exposed her chest.
    Jolie was appalled. Orlene had been full-busted, her endowment masked only by her demure manner and conservative mode of dress. Jolie had helped get her dressed after her recovery from her predeath emaciation. Niobe had been the most beautiful woman of her generation; her daughter Orb had fallen not far short of that, and her granddaughter Orlene was close enough. Now Orlene’s bra was oddly shrunken. At the same time the muscles of her arms were larger. There was no longer any question: she was changing.
    There was a swirl in the air ahead. Dust was being sucked into a whirlwind. Jolie recognized the phenomenon, because of her association with Gaea: it was a heat vortex, part of the mechanism for generating a quick storm. Gaea controlled the elements, and could bring wind or rain or draught to any region she chose. Uncontrolled use of the tools of weather could be hazardous, especially to those in the immediate vicinity.
    “We’d better get out of here!” Jolie said. “We don’t want to get burned.”
    “What’s with this place?” Orlene demanded rhetorically. “It’s one damn thing after another! Let’s just see about this twister!” She forged ahead, right toward the vortex.
    “Wait!” Jolie cried, alarmed. “That thing’s dangerous!”
    Indeed, the vortex wasn’t waiting to be approached; it was moving right toward them, its winds screaming. Orlene’s hair whipped about, and she almost fell as the blast caught her. The wand fell from her pocket and bounced on the ground.
    “The wand!” Jolie screamed. “Get the wand!” Orlene saw it. “Christ!” she grunted,