"Aaarrghhh!" she groaned with heartfelt horror. "It is a heart!"

The snake became Nada in her natural form: a naga, with the body of a serpent and the head of a woman. "A heart attack!" she exclaimed. "I've heard of them, but I never thought it would happen to me!"

"No one ever does," Electra agreed heartily. She ducked as a bold heart came at her head, and was caught in the rear by another.

She still held the big heart that had hit her chest. It was oddly passive now, though she wasn't holding it hard. She realized that her electrical nature might be affecting it. That heartened her, because it might offer a solution to this challenge.

Her magic talent was electricity. She was constantly building up a charge, and could discharge it all at once by delivering a hefty shock to some monster or gradually as when she made an electrolytic environment for the Heaven Cent. She had heard that hearts used electric pulses to time their beats or something. Maybe these wild hearts were just out of control, and so were attacking anything in the vicinity. If she could put her hands on them and use her electricity to get their pulses even, maybe that would tame them.

She let the big heart go. It floated away, passive, beating steadily, seeming at peace with the world.

She watched for the next, and when it zoomed in she grabbed it. The thing tried to slip out of her grasp, but she clutched it to her. It was hot, and it almost burned her, but she knew it was only heartburn. In a moment, as her hands retained contact, the heart became passive. Then she let it go, and it floated peacefully away. It was working!

"What are you doing, 'Lectra?" Nada called from the moat.

"I'm making a better pace for these hearts," Electra replied. "They're wild because they're out of control."

"You're a good pacemaker," Nada agreed, watching the orderly hearts floating away. "Don't break any!"

"We don't want any broken hearts," Electra agreed as she caught another. She doubted she could ever be a heart-breaker.

Finally every heart was tamed. Electra was a little sad to see the last one drift contentedly off, but she knew it was only heartache. She had surmounted the second challenge.

She went to the moat and washed off the blood. She hoped the tame hearts found good bodies to occupy, because they seemed very warm and friendly and would probably do good service if treated well. She couldn't blame them for being wild, when they were cast out into the world alone.

They emerged from the moat and walked on. Nada's dress was now as wet as Electra's, because she had had to wash it, but it still looked ten times as good on her as anything Electra had ever worn had ever looked on her. They came to an arched gate and went through it, into the castle. There was a long narrow hall ahead.