Stork Naked

Surprise Golem and her beloved husband, Umlaut, were more than delighted when, after a most delicious and delightful honeymoon, the stork arrived with their long-awaited baby boy. But their delight turned to consternation when the stork, a rookie named Stymie, refused to deliver him! He disqualified Surprise on a technicality, claiming she was too young, just because she had been five years old when she herself had been delivered.Before Surprise could protest, Stymie absconded with her little one, setting off in search of a more suitable set of parents. But when Surprise attempted to track them down, she found they had vanished without a trace! Anxious and outraged, she took her problem to the Good Magician Humfrey. To her utter astonishment, he refused her request, choosing instead to pair her up with Che Centaur, who was also looking for a lost one—the all-wise bird called the Simurgh, who watched over the universe.And to make matters worse, Surprise was required to take an odd group of companions along on her quest, including the two half-demon children of the Demoness Metria—Demon Ted and DeMonica—a foul-mouthed fowl known as the Pet Peeve, and an ageless infant known as Woe Betide.After much investigation, Surprise and Che discovered the terrible truth. Their misplaced charges had each fallen through a freakish fissure into an alternate universe, a parallel Xanth where everything was just slightly different. And the only means to locate them was the fabled Reality Mask, which could sift and sort through the infinity of all possible worlds. But the Mask was in the custody of Pyra, a fiery nymph on Lion Mountain, protected by marauding monsters.To reach their goal, they were forced to traverse a treacherous Love Spring that caused anyone who waded in it to have amorous thoughts. Torn between their desperate longing for one another and their solemn vows to those they loved, Surprise and Che continued their quest through a host of alternate Xanths, despite unseen forces that were determined to lead them into temptation.