Dolph seemed vague. "What now?" he asked.
"Now we have to consummate the marriage," Electra said. "Because it isn't final until we do. And it has to be final, because you can't divorce me until it is."
He gazed at her as if still not quite understanding. "Oh."
Electra began removing her dress, because she didn't want such a lovely outfit to be damaged in any way. She would never use it again, but Nada would, and Nada would surely be twice as beautiful in it as Electra could ever dream of being.
"Maybe you should take off your clothes too," she suggested. "You have such a nice suit, you don't want to sleep in it."
"Uh, yes, I guess." He looked helplessly at her. " 'Lectra, I—I think I never saw you before."
She laughed, perversely enjoying this. "Of course you have, Dolph! I've been with you every chance I could possibly get, ever since you kissed me awake six years ago."
"I mean, when you came down that aisle, I didn't recognize you. You were beautiful."
"It's the dress. That's its magic."
"Oh." He started removing his clothing. "Um, should we—I mean, mother says folk shouldn't be undressed together—"
"We're married now, Dolph," she said brightly, though the truth was that she was having a qualm or two of her own. Was he supposed to be allowed to see her panties now? She concluded that it was now or never, because after tomorrow it would be Nada's panties he would be seeing, after six years of trying. If Electra's own panties were to have any chance at all, it had to be before Nada's.
She nerved herself and drew the dress off over her head. Suddenly she was in her wonderful pink underclothing. She hoped Dolph would have the grace to be impressed. She turned to face him.
Dolph was now in his underpants. He looked at her—and went straight back into his trance. He just froze in place, not moving a muscle. Oh, no! He had Freaked Out.
She went to him, determined that this night, of all nights, would not be ruined. "Snap out of it, Dolph!" she said. "It's all right! We're married!"
"P—p—p—" he stuttered.
"Panties," she agreed firmly. "I know they aren't the ones you really wanted to see, but maybe they'll help prepare you for tomorrow."
But he remained entranced. He just stood there, staring.
"Oh, mice!" she snapped. "This isn't getting us anywhere!" She picked up a pillow and threw it at him. It bounced off the side of his head.
That registered. Dolph picked up a cushion and hurled it at her. Electra threw another back at him. Soon they were in the middle of the biggest, wildest pillow fight ever, for there were many pillows and cushions, and there was no one to stop them. Electra had had some pillow fights with Nada and Ivy at Castle Roogna, but these had been restrained because they hadn't wanted anyone to overhear. Now, with Dolph, there was no restraint. What delight!
She got hold of the biggest pillow she could find, swung it around her head, and whammed him on the rear. "Oho!" he cried joyfully, and got another to wham her with. She fled, screaming happily. Now Dolph was acting normal, and that was the way she liked him.
"Eeeek!" she screamed as she tripped over a cushion and fell headlong on the feather bed. Dolph whammed her directly on the panties while she was down. She rolled over and caught his ankles and yanked, making him fall too. In a moment they were wrestling, jamming cushions at each other, and tickling ribs. They clasped each other, trying to get into better whamming position, rolling over and over. Dolph got a knee over her body, pinning her down, and reached for a pillow so he could wham her on the head. But she cheated: she sat up quickly, caught his head in her hands, and kissed him.
She expected him to make an exclamation of disgust and go to wash off his mouth. But he seemed to lose his strength, and his eyes went vacant.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Dolph!" she said. "I should have let you hit me with the pillow! Don't go into a trance again!"
"K—k—k—kiss," he said.
"Look, I know I'm not Nada, and you don't like me doing that," she said, frustrated. "But Dolph, this is my only night to—to be with you, and I wish—"
He caught her shoulders with his hands and hauled her face down to his. "I never kissed you before," he said. "Do it again."
"You mean you liked it?" she asked incredulously. "Oh, Dolph, you can have all you want!" She kissed him again, and again, and again ten times, getting in as many as she could before he got disgusted.
But he didn't get disgusted. "Oh, 'Lectra," he breathed. "I never knew it would be like this with you!" He kissed her back.
"You mean you like mushy stuff with me?" she asked, afraid to be too thrilled for fear he didn't mean it.
"I guess I do," he said. Then they hugged, and kissed, and hugged again, and kissed again, the pillow fight forgotten.
"But how come?" she asked when they paused for air. She was gaining confidence; it seemed he really did like this.
"When I saw you in that dress, I didn't even recognize you," he said. "I thought it was some other girl, and I got scared, because I didn't know what had gone wrong. You were so beautiful!"
"Was I really?" she asked, hardly believing that he could have seen her that way.
"Really! They told me the dress would make a difference, but 'Lectra, it made so much more than I knew! Then you came closer, and I saw a freckle under your veil, and I knew it was you—"
And that was the end of the illusion, she thought.
"And you were still so lovely I could hardly stand it," he said. "All this time I've been betrothed to you, and I never realized how beautiful you could be!"
Electra was elated. "You mean that's why you were in a trance? Because of me?"
"Yes. I never truly saw you before, 'Lectra. I was such a fool! Not until that dress—"
"And then I took off the dress," she said with resignation.
"And I saw your panties. And your—your—I don't know the word."
"Bra?"
"I guess. I never saw that before. I didn't even know it existed. And you were still so beautiful, and I knew it wasn't just the dress."
"Pink panties are special," she agreed. One thing she knew: having discovered their magic, she was not about to take them off! She wanted him to go right on thinking she was beautiful, even if it was only the magic of the panties and bra. Nada might not need such magic to be beautiful, but Electra did.
"Then you kissed me, and—"
"Oh, Dolph, it's kind of you to say you liked it!" she said, bursting with appreciation.
"To think I could have been kissing you all this time, instead of trying to kiss Nada when she didn't want to be," he said. "You would have kissed me anytime, but I—"
"You can catch up now," she suggested.
"Yes!" He kissed her again, and then she kissed him, and then he kissed her. Electra's fondest dream was coming true. "Oh, 'Lectra, I just didn't know!"
But after a time they were sated even with that, and just lay beside each other staring at the ceiling. Electra realized that there must be special magic associated with the entire wedding ceremony to make him love her for the moment, and she hated to break the enchantment. But there was business that had to be accomplished. "You know we have to consummate this marriage," she said, finally.
"I'd rather just look at you, and hug you, and kiss you," he said.
"That, too. But still we have to signal the stork."
"But how do we do it?" he asked plaintively. "I never found out."
"Neither did I." For they both were still victims of the Adult Conspiracy, being underage. They had married because they had to, but had to discover the secret themselves. If it had been possible to wait one more day, Electra would have been old enough to learn it, ironically.
"I think it has something to do with mushy stuff," he said. "But what?"
"I guess kissing isn't it," she said. "Because if it was, it would have happened by now."
"And I guess hugging isn't it," he said.
"And pillow fighting."
"And look
ing at panties."
They considered everything they could think of, but nothing seemed to be it. The secret remained impenetrable.
They realized that they just weren't going to figure it out. Dejected, they hugged and kissed a few more times, then got serious. "Maybe I can sneak out and ask Nada," Electra said. "She's staying in a cave on the south end of the island with Naldo and King Nabob, because it's easy for them in snake form. I think she'll tell me, if I beg her."
"Promise her you'll never tell she told," Dolph said, awed by the prospect of violating the Adult Conspiracy. "They have to think we figured it out for ourselves."
"Right," she said. She got up, then found that she didn't have anything to wear. She refused to use the lovely wedding dress for this, and her regular clothing was in the other chamber where she had changed. But maybe the door wasn't locked.
She wrapped a sheet around her, and Dolph wrapped another around himself. Then, feeling mutually guilty, they sneaked quietly out, looking like two ghosts.
No one was around, which was fortunate, because they were about as inconspicuous as the sun and moon on a dark night. More so, in fact, because the moon seldom appeared on a dark night, and the sun had never been known to do it.
They slunk around to the bride's changing chamber. The door was unlocked, to their relief. They went in, and Electra found her yellow shirt and blue jeans and put them on. "You had better go back to the bedroom," she whispered to him. "If someone comes, you can say 'Go away!' and throw a pillow at the door."
"Right." But he lingered. "Would it be all right if I kissed you again?"
"But I'm in my blah clothing!" she protested.
"But you aren't blah," he said.
Her heart was catching fire. "Oh, Dolph, I'll always love you!" she said, and kissed him with as much passion as she dared risk without turning him off.
Then they left the room, Dolph slunk back toward the bedroom to guard the fort, and Electra set off through the moonlight for the naga camp.
The beach was gorgeous in the night. The sand was soft and bright, and the waves of the sea lapped gently up to smooth out the disturbances of the day. The moon was using the water as a mirror, reflecting itself in every wave. Everything was lovely, and everything loved its neighbors, for this was the Isle of View.
"Well, now, bride pro tem!" a voice exclaimed, causing Electra almost to jump out of her skin. Fortunately she was able to clap her hands to her bosom and hold herself down in time to save her skin. She had thought she was alone.
"Who—?" she gasped.
"We've met. I'm the demoness Metria. Remember?"
Oh. When it came to folk Electra did not want to meet at the moment, this demon was two places ahead of the very top of the list. Metria could take great pleasure in blabbing about this embarrassing mission to all and sundry and everyone else. But it would be impossible to get rid of her merely by being hostile. Electra wasn't sure she was up to being hostile anyway, right now, even to Metria, because she was still glowing from Dolph's kiss. He had actually asked her, when she had been in her blah clothing! So she tried to be neutral. "I remember." "What's on your freckled mind?" the demoness asked.
"Dolph kissed me!" Electra said. "I mean, even in this clothing!"
"Of course. You still have your pink panties on underneath."
Electra's heart descended from the clouds. That was true. The magic of those panties was still operating. Had she changed back to her old ones it would have been different. "I guess so," Electra said dully.
"Where are you going?"
What use to lie, even if there were any point in it? The demoness probably had already guessed. "We can't figure out how to signal the stork. I'm going to ask Nada."
"Oho! So you're going to do that tonight! Maybe I'll watch."
"If you do, we won't do it!" Electra said defiantly. But it was a bluff, because they had to do it. If they didn't, the marriage would not be consummated, and it wouldn't count, and Electra would die the moment she turned eighteen, tomorrow. Well, not right at the moment; actually she would start the process, with her heart bleeding and her body aging as the enchantment expired, and she would age and weaken into oblivion within hours. Then Dolph would be free to marry Nada anyway, but he would be unhappy because of having let another person die. She did not want him to be unhappy.
"And if you do it," the demoness said relentlessly, "then Dolph will be free to divorce you and marry Nada tomorrow. That must make you feel great."
"At least he'll be happy," Electra said shortly.
"He's an idiot." "Right!"
Metria, taken aback by Electra's ready agreement, faded out. That was a relief.
She was now at the south end of the isle. Where would Nada and Naldo be? Then she spied them in the sea. They were swimming in their natural forms, laughing as they used their tails to splash water on each other.
"Nada!" Electra called.
Nada's head whipped around. " 'Lectra! What are you doing down here?"
"Oh, Nada, please, it means my life! Tell me how to signal the stork."
Nada and her brother were forging to the shore. They hit the beach and slithered up to Electra, their serpent bodies moving in perfect parallel. "But, 'Lectra," Nada protested. "The Adult Conspiracy—"
"But I'm married now! And I have to do it! Please—"
"Tell her," Naldo told his sister, and slithered back to the ocean.
Nada had respect for her brother, and of course he was the one who had suggested this two-marriage course. So Nada told her.
"You mean that's all there is to it?" Electra asked, amazed and somewhat disappointed.
"Not much of a secret, is it!" Nada said. "You must promise not to tell any children, because if they ever found out how little there is to know, they would laugh the adults right out of the picture."
"I can see that," Electra agreed. Then she hugged Nada, and set off up the beach. Now at last she knew how to do it. Now she could save her life and free Dolph for tomorrow. Her feelings remained oddly mixed.
Back at the bedroom, she found Dolph waiting anxiously. "I was afraid something had happened to you," he said.
"No, it's perfectly safe here, now," she said. "Remember, this is the Isle of View."
"Isle of View too," he said, laughing.
She whammed him with a pillow.
He grabbed her and kissed her.
They got into another hugging and tickling fight. It was great fun. But finally they had to get down to business.
"We have to embrace each other very closely," Electra said. "But there's a catch." "We've been hugging," he said. "I don't mind that. What's the catch?"
"No clothing."
"You mean—?"
"No undershirt. No shorts for you. No panties for me." That was the awful thing about it. Without the fabulous pink panties she would lose what remained of her attractiveness.
But he seemed to handle this unfortunate aspect pretty well. "How do we know when the signal goes out?"
"We see the ellipsis."
"The what?"
"It looks like three dots. It always marks the signal to the stork. Nada told me."
"So we just keep hugging until we see dots?" he asked, having trouble with this notion.
"That's it."
"It seems too simple to work."
"It's magic." What was the point in admitting that she hardly believed it either? It had to work.
"Oh. Yes. Well, we'd better do it."
They took off their underclothing and hugged. "This close?" Dolph asked.
"Closer."
He squeezed her so that her ribs hurt. "This close?"
"That's hard, not close," she gasped.
He eased up immediately. "I'm sorry, 'Lectra. I never want to hurt you! I'd rather kiss you."
"We can do that too."
"We can? Gee, that's great!"
He kissed her, and she kissed him. They rolled over and hugged some more and kissed again, and the more they did it the more
fun it became. The lack of clothing didn't seem to be hurting, surprisingly; Dolph seemed to like her just as well this way. Soon they forgot about what they were supposed to be doing, and just kissed and kissed and hugged and hugged and got closer and closer. They were so close it was hard to tell where one of them left off and the other began. Like ghosts or demons, they seemed to be overlapping each other. But it didn't bother them at all. Electra knew that eventually they would have to get back to the business of signaling the stork, but that could wait; this was too much fun. She was loving Dolph, and he was loving her back!
She felt an electrical thrill, and realized that she was losing control of her magic talent. The current was leaking out, mildly electrifying them. She hoped that was harmless, because she just couldn't stop kissing him.
Then Dolph's body got hot and his eyes stared glassily past her face. "Dolph! What's the matter?" she asked, afraid he was going into another trance or that her current had tingled too strongly and hurt him.
"I see them!" he gasped, shuddering.
"See what?" she asked, really worried. His whole body was shaking.
"I see the Dots!"
Electra turned her head and looked where he was looking. There they were: three dots floating just above their bodies:
...
The dots paused to get their orientation, then lined up in a row and took off through the wall, heading for the stork.
"We did it!" Electra exclaimed. "We got to the ellipsis!" She had elected to do it right, and they had made it.
Dolph kissed her, relaxing. Then he lay back and closed his eyes. "Oh, Nada, I'll always love you..." he whispered.
Electra felt her wildest hopes collapsing. Her fond dreams dissipated like the smoke of the demoness. Her heart began to bleed.
Chapter 16. Dolph's Decision
Afterward, Dolph lay beside her. His mind and heart were spinning. Today he had not only gotten married and learned how to signal the stork, he had discovered Electra. Three great shocks had come to his indifference: he had seen her beautiful in her wedding dress, as lovely a creature as he could imagine. He had seen her in panties, and that had excited him in another strange yet wonderful way. He had kissed her, and discovered to his astonishment that her kisses were just as thrilling as Nada's were. After that, the idea of summoning the stork with her had become interesting instead of burdensome.
Isle of View Page 32