"Can you ask the mirror to be more specific?" Electra asked.

"No, it will only answer a given question once. Also, this could be from several hours ago. I'm afraid I'll have to research it in the Book of Answers." He looked glum.

"How long will that take?" Electra asked, concerned.

"Probably several more hours. It's not the sort of Answer I'm good at finding, yet."

"But Che's in danger now! We can't wait several more hours!"

Nada leaned toward him, her wet dress clinging and heaving in the way that no dress ever did on Electra. "Isn't there some other way, Grey?" she breathed.

"Find a way," Ivy said quickly. Her mouth was momentarily grim. One might almost have thought she didn't want Nada having to ask him any more questions.

"What?" Grey seemed distracted for a moment. Nada's dresses tended to have that effect on men, even when dry. It was a good thing her pink panties weren't showing, Electra thought, or he would have been unable to speak at all. "Oh, yes. Maybe the ghost writer."

"Who?" Electra asked.

"He's a ghost doing his year's service for an Answer," Ivy explained. "But he's very shy, and doesn't speak or show himself to others. So when he has to communicate, he writes."

"But how would a ghost know about something like this? Isn't he tied to his place of death?"

"No, this one is able to travel," Grey said, "because he's not associated with any one locale; he can operate anywhere. He moves very quickly, so may be foggy on details, but he should be able to give us a general notion."

"Well, ask him, then," Electra said impatiently.

Grey frowned. "He may not answer."

"But if he's doing service—"

"He's nervous about goblins," Grey said. "It seems that the Goblinate of the Golden Horde caught him and cooked him in a pot. That's how he died. He hasn't been the same since. He says it was a bad review. Writers don't like bad reviews."

Electra was able to appreciate that. She wouldn't have cared to get potted like that herself.

"So we don't like to push him, where goblins are concerned," Ivy said.

Electra looked helplessly at Nada. What were they to do?

But Nada had a notion. "Is he here now?"

"In the castle, yes," Grey said. "I can call him. But—"

"Tell him I'll let him kiss me, if he can tell me where Che is," she said. "And give him a good view. I mean, review."

She had been right the first time, Electra thought. Nada's dress clung to her tightly, except where it was forced to jump the gap across her heaving bosom. If the ghost floated close enough to kiss her, he would get the best view available in Xanth.

"That might encourage him," Grey said. He looked into blank air. "Ghorge—" He paused, evidently waiting for the ghost. "We would like to know which goblins have captured Che Centaur. Nada Naga, the woman with the—" He hesitated, his eyes traveling across wet assets and valley-hurdling cloth, until Ivy made a frowning ahem. "The amazing, uh, dress, she, er, will let you kiss her, if you answer."