Scott looked up at the old house.  The wood clearly wouldn’t hold paint any more, and what had been “gingerbread” now made the house look like something out of a cartoon mystery show than a quaint old building.

Zoinks! Scott thought, chuckling to himself at the joke.  He double-checked the message on his cell phone.  This was the right address.

As he came up the steps, the fornt door swung open to reveal a woman in a French maid outfit.  And what a woman!  The low-cut top of the outfit revealed a prodigious bustline that had to be at least a pair of G-cups.  She had a fairly tiny waist, but an ample derriere barely covered by the short skirt.

The woman in the maid outfit smiled.  “You must be Scott Barry,” she said, with a hint of an accent Scott couldn’t identify.  “Come in.”

Scott entered.  The inside was much like the outside: old and showing signs of wear.  But it had clearly been spectacular in its day, and arguably was still striking.  The ceiling was high in the entryway, and the room bigger than he had expected.  Scott’s brow furrowed.  This place seemed bigger on the inside than the outside.  Pulling up another TV reference, he wondered if he had stumbled into some Time Lord technology.

Then Scott stopped looking up and looked at eye level -- and just below.  His jaw dropped.  There were only a few other guys in the room.  Everyone else there, all two dozen of them, was female -- and almost all were built so as to make the maid look flat and skinny.

Scott stared around the room.  The smallest breasts in the room would have easily filled F-cups, and there were some he wasn’t sure they made cup sizes big enough for.  The booties were bountiful, too, with a few big enough that he believed they might take up an entire sofa and press against both arm rests.

Then Scott saw her: a blonde beauty.  She was as tall as him with short hair cut in a mannish style.  One lock of her hair had slipped down acorss her forehead.  As she stared at him, she flipped it back.  Then, realizing their gazes had locked, she turned quickly away, but he caught the wisp of a smile as she did.

As she pivoted, Scott could clearly see the blonde’s physique.  She was soft, with a backside that would have a hard time fitting in an armchair, and her breasts were beyond impressive.  Each was the size of a medicine ball, but there was a softness, a slope, yet a firmness about them that made them even more spectacular than others in the room, even if a few others were larger.

In this crowd, Scott decided to waste no time.  He walked up to the blonde and got around in front of her.  Proffering his hand, he said, “Hi.  I’m Scott.”

The blonde giggled.  “You are quite forward,” she said, her voice betraying a hint of a different accent than the maid’s.

“Well, for the right woman, I’m forward,” Scott said.  “And you have me at a disadvantage.”

The blonde chuckled again.  “I am Hannah,” she said, taking his hand.  “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Scott.”

“Is that a German accent I hear?”

Hannah nodded.  “It’s a lot less thick than it used to be,” she said.  “I’ve been living in America for … quite awhile.”

“Is this your first time at one of these parties?’ Scott asked.

Hannah shook her head.  “I am a … regular at them,” she said.

“I, um, … I can’t help but notice that all of you women are, um, similarly built,” Scott said.  “Are you, like, family?’

Hannah chuckled.  “’Like’ family, yes.  Actually blood or marriage family, no.  But we have been coming to these parties for a long time, most of us, so we know each other very well.”

Scott pointed over his shoulder with his thumb.  “Even the maid?” he asked.

Hannah smiled.  “Even the maid.  Her name is Avril, by the way.”

“She’s French?” Scott asked.

“Belgian, actually,” Hannah said.  “Many of us are from overseas.”

Scott was about to ask something else when Avril stepped onto the bottom step of the staircase and rang a tiny servant’s bell.  That’s a bit of a role reversal, Scott thought.  Usually such a bell would summon the servants to the master.

“Your attention, please,” Avril said.  “It is time to get ready.  Elric is here, ready to give you your instructions.”

As if on cue, a toweringly tall, darkly handsome man with a carefully trimmed goatee and impeccably tailored clothes came down the stairs.  He was a symphony in black, and his shoes had a spectacular shine about them.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Elric said in a sonorous baritone, “It’s almost time to play our scavenger hunt.  I thank you all for coming.  Now, let me explain the rules for any of you newcomers.

“Simply put, your task is to collect four items that connect to the letters in the word ‘play,’  One for each letter.  But, not just any items will do.  You need to find the specific items that match the theme of this event.  As to what that theme is … well, that’s for me to know and you to find out.”

Scott realized that Hannah had put her hands on his arm.  He looked over to her and saw her gazing at him.

A chill ran down Scott’s back.  Why did it feel like Hannah’s look was begging, imploring him to leave?

“All the items are to be found either in this house or on the grounds,” Elric said.  “ They need not be collected in order.  Any questions?”

One of the other men raised his hand.  “What’s the prize you’re offering?”

“As it said in the invitations, 100 million dollars,” Elric said.  “There will be … other benefits, as well.”

Then Scott realized Elric had glanced at him, and at Hannah’s hands on his arm.  She had seen it, too, but she didn’t move them.

“Where’s the money coming from?” the questioner from before asked.

“My own personal wealth,” Elric replied.  “I assure you, all legally obtained.”

“Why are you doing this?” another man asked.  “Out of the goodness of your heart?”

Elric smiled, and Scott’s blood ran cold.  “I have my reasons,” the host said.  “Let’s just say, I get something out of doing this.  Any other questions?”

After a pause, Elric said, “Very well.  Remember, only the first to collect all four items wins.  Good luck.  You’re on the clock, and I suggest you look in the backyard first.”

The men made a mad scramble for the doors.  Scott bolted out the way he’d come in, leaving Hannah behind.  He darted around the house, where he found a fountain that looked positively ancient.  It was pumping water at a furious pace -- and the light shining on the fountain from an artificial bulb made it look purple.

“Look!” shouted the first questioner.  “Purple!  That’s the P!”

All the men dove for the fountain, arriving within seconds of each other, Scott included.  All touched the purple-seeming water at about the same instant.

Suddenly, Scott felt unbelievably dizzy.  His weight seemed distributed wrong , and he  collapsed to the ground.  He dimly realized that all the other men had done the same.

While the men were down, most, but not all, of the women walked out calmly and touched the water.  Hannah was in the group that came out.  Avril wasn’t.

Hannah leaned down and offered Scott a hand.  He reached out and realized something was wrong.  His upper arm was brushing against something soft … something inside his shirt.

Scott stared down as Hannah was pulling him up.  His shirt was full of something blocking his view.  He realized quickly that what blocked his view were breasts -- breasts on his chest.

Then Scott looked up at Hannah.  Wait a minute, he thought.  We were the same height a minute ago.  Now I’m shorter!

“What’s going on?” Scott asked, and immediately put a hand over his mouth.  The voice was all wrong, too high.

Instinctively his hand flew to his crotch.  Scott’s eyes widened as she realized what wasn’t there, and that he was now a she.

“You’re going to have to play the game out now,” Hannah said.  “You all will.”

“What … happened?” Scott squeaked.

“You found the P,” Hannah said.  “You see, in Elric’s game, P is for pussy and now you all have one.”

Scott looked around.  It was true.  Every man who had come to the scavenger hunt was now a woman.  They were all curvaceous, but none anywhere near the size of the women who were women when the men had arrived.

Hannah patted Scott on the arm.  “Welcome to the club, Scott.  You’re one of the scavenger hunt girls now.”

Hannah was glancing back and forth between Scott and the other newly-transformed women.  “Can you move?” she asked Scott.

“I think I can walk, but I’m still kinda wobbly,” Scott said, still trying to get used to now having a woman’s voice.  “I doubt I can do more than that.”

“That’s more than the others can do,” Hannah said.  “Come on.  The women who’ve been women are going to pursue this as quickly as they can.  I can explain while we move.  It’ll at least give you a head start on the other … what’s the term now?  Newbies.”

Once they walked around the house, Scott said, “I don’t understand.  What happened and why?”

“Elric happened,” Hannah said.  “This scavenger hunt is his source of power -- magical power.  He gains it by tricking people into playing the game and being transformed.  And his scavenger hunts always follow the same rules.”

“Rules?” Scott said.

Hannah nodded.  “He always invited people who speak English, and the clues always somehow add up to the letters in ‘play’ in some way.  P is for pussy; L is for lungs, an old slang term for boobs;  A is for ass; and Y is for youth.  And there’s always a theme to the puzzle, to what the items are, but it’s usually trickier to decipher than it seems at first.”

“How long has he been doing this?” Scott asked.

“Decades, at least,” Hannah said.  “He got me in the 1930s, when my parents immigrated to the U.S. fleeing Hitler.  Every few years since then, he’s held another hunt.  I almost always find the Y, so I’ve stayed young, but only the first one to get all four letters wins.  And he almost always sets it up so P is the first letter found, which plays into his trap.”

“So that’s why all the women here are so curvy,” Scott said.  “They keep getting the L and A.”

Hannah nodded.  “There are three kinds of women who’ve been touched by the game, other than the winners.  One kind likes the way they are.  They’ll either leave and set up new lives or become like Avril, working around Elric.  The second kind plays to try to get the L, A and/ or Y in each game, to give themselves a particular look they like.  The third is like me, and now you, trying to win.”

“What’s the prize?” Scott asked.

“The winner gets a wish -- any wish, no strings attached,” Hannah said.  “You do need to be careful in wording it, because you only get one shot at it, but Elric isn’t like a genie, trying to trick you or trap you; he’s already done that in the game, and he gladly lets the winners go.  In fact, it’s rumored that he needs to do so to maintain his power.”

“I think I’m getting the feel for this new body,” Scott said.  “But it’s weird.  I didn’t realize how different my center of gravity would be if I were a woman.”

“You’re moving better,” Hannah said.  “Get used to the changes.  Your center of gravity will shift again any time you find the L or the A, and could happen with the Y, too.”

“Right,” Scott said. “So, do we need to find the letters in order?”

Hannah shook her head.  “You just need all four to win.”

Scott turned her head at an angle.  “You’re helping me, even though it’s not in your own best interests.  Why?”

Hannah shrugged.  “I … like you,” she said.  “Besides, I’m hoping we can help each other, at least through the next two levels.”

“If you like me, why didn’t you warn me earlier?” Scott asked.

“I couldn’t,” Hannah said.  “None of us can talk about the spell with anyone unaffected by it.  That’s a condition of the spell.”

Scott looked down at her own cleavage.  “And I used to think magic wasn’t real,” she said, hefting her breasts.  They had to be at least D cups, she realized.  “Well, these things are real.”

Hannah was standing at the entrance of the house.  “Any ideas of where to look?”

Scott thought for a second.  “Is there any kind of media room or space with a stereo of some sort in the house?” she asked.

Hannah grabbed Scott’s hand.  “There’s a room with an old-style record player on the lower level, below the ground floor,” she said.  “Follow me.”

Hannah led Scott through the entryway and living room into a small hallway under the stairs.  From there they went down a different flight of stairs and came out in a room with an antique record player that looked like it had been there since Hannah’s youth.

Scott made a dive for a large container of record albums on the floor.  She started flipping through them, then was enveloped  by a yellow light as he touched one of the albums.  When  it was done, Scott was down to 18 years old.

“You found the Y!” Hannha said in an excited whisper.  “What is it?”

Scott, still holding the album, handed it to Hannah.  “This one,” the 18-year-old said.  “’Yellow Submarine’ by the Beatles.”

Hannah touched the album and became 18 herself.  Scott replaced it, burying it in the bin.

“We’d best move, and quickly,” Hannah said.  “If we stay here, it’s a clue to the others about where that letter is.”

“Right,” Scott said.

Once they cut out a former servant’s exit onto a path to a carriage house, Hannah asked, “What was in common between those two clues?”

“The fountain water looked like purple rain, the way the light was hitting it,” Scott said.  “’Purple Rain’ is the name of a record album and movie by Prince.”

“Prince who?” Hannah asked.  “Charles?”

“No, the recording artist and movie star’s professional name is Prince.  That’s his real first name,” Scott said.

“Oh,” said Hannah.  “I hate the popular culture themes.  I tend to listen to music from the ‘30s and ‘40s, and watch older movies.”

“Well, neither of these two is too recent,” Scott said.  “The Beatles were ‘60s and ‘70s, and ‘Purple Rain’ came out in the ‘80s.”

“So, what’s the commonality?”  Hannah asked.

Scott shook her head.  “It could be any number of things,” she said.  “Movies, record albums, song titles, something to do with colors …”

Hannah frowned.  “Typical Elric,” she said.

The next couple of hours went by with no one finding any clues other than  the same album Scott had found.

While searching along the hedges, Hannah looked at Scott.  “Are you getting hungry?” she asked.

Scott nodded.

“Let’s go to the kitchen,” Hannah said, gesturing with her thumb.  “We’re allowed to raid the fridge as long as the game goes on, and we could use the break.”

Scott nodded, and they made their way inside.  Once there, they got into the fridge, covered with pictures attached by magnets, and pulled out some lunchmeat, cheese, condiments and bread and set about making sandwiches.  Once the sandwiches were complete, they sat down at the table to eat.

“So, you’ve been playing the game since the 1930s?” Scott said.

“Ja,” Hannah said.  “I was born in 1921 in Dusseldorf.  My parents actually came here with the Bund, seeking to bring Nazi-ism here.  I had turned against them when I found the game.  The result was that I was so transformed no one knew me, not even my own parents.  Of course, they’re long dead now. …” Her voice trailed off.

“That must have been hard for you,” Scott said.  “So, if you were born a guy, you weren’t called Hannah, were you?”

“Nein,” Hannah said.  “My name was Hans.”

Scott nodded.  “You want your manhood back?”

“More than anything,” Hannah said.  “Don’t you?”

“Y’know, it’s funny,” Scott said.  “I guess I’m supposed to want to be male again more than anything, but I’ve always kind of seen everyone as a mix of male and female, so I’m kind of OK with this.  And I actually kind of like having boobs.  I wouldn’t mind bigger ones, like yours.”

Hannah chuckled.  “Well, maybe we’ll find the L and you’ll get them,” she said.  “I have to admit, I’ve always liked a curvaceous woman, with large breast and … what’s the current expression?  ‘Lots of junk in her trunk?’”

Scott laughed, and realized that it sounded lyrical, like a bird’s song, now.  “You know, there are other advantages to being a woman,” she said.  “Like, colors are so much clearer and subtler now.  Most men are slightly colorblind, and I guess I was one of them.  Now I can see all the shadings, all the gradations of all the colors.  It’s so amazing!  The red of the sofa cover is subtly different than the red of, say, the curtains in the upstairs bedrooms.  And there’s the odd colors like -- like on that picture there.”

Scott pointed to the fridge.  There, in the midst of various childlike drawings, was a large drawing of an eye with a question mark after it.

“The iris of that eye has such an interesting shade,” Scott said.  “What would you call that?  Aqua?  Teal?  I mean, it’s blue, but it’s not, and it’s green, but it’s not.”

Hannah’s eyes widened.  “Scott!  Touch the eye picture!” she whispered.

“You sure?”  Scott said.

Hannah nodded.  “I know this one.  Trust me.”

Scott touched the picture and felt her pants tightening.  They strained until the seams began to rip.  She now had a hip measurement somewhere in the 44-inch range.

She looked over to see Hannah’s ass expanding, becoming even more huge.  It had to be about 55 inches around now, and grew a bit more before stopping.

“It was a song title from my childhood, in code,” Hannah said.  “The song was, ‘Am I Blue?’”

“So the theme is something to do with colors and song titles,” Scott said.  “Great!  Let’s find that last clue!”

Hannah stood up.  “Sorry, Scott.  This is where we split up.  You’re on your own.”

Hannah bolted from the room, looking for the clue, with Scott hot on her heels.  To her dismay, no matter where she went, Scott went with her.

Finally, after three rooms of fruitless searching, Hannah turned back to Scott.  “Don’t you understand?” Hannah shouted.  “We need to split up now.  I’m going to win this, and you need your own chance to win, too!”

“Right,” Scott said.  “You’re going to win this, and I’m going to win this, too!”

Hannah flapped her arms in frustration.  “That’s not how it works!” she shouted.  “We can’t both win!”

“Yes, we can,” Scott said.  “And even if we can’t, at least you will.”

Hannah shook her head and sighed.  “Oh, all right,” she said.  “Come along.”

The search moved in and out of the house, but finding the L was proving a challenge.  It wasn’t just them; it appeared that no one had found the L yet.  No woman’s breasts were any bigger than they had been after the fountain.

After hours, as the sun was starting to set, Hannah, in the carriage house with Scott, rubbed her forehead in exasperation.  “I’m beginning to think that this theme was some sort of red herring,” she said.

“I don’t know,” Scott said.  “I still think we nailed it earlier.”  Looking around, she added, “We just have to find a fourth item that fits the category.”

“No, trickery around the theme is typical Elric,” Hannah said.  “It’s just like him to set up some kind of sham theme.”

Scott’s eyes widened.  She looked up and grabbed Hannah’s arm.  “Come with me,” Scott said.

Leading the way, Scott sprinted back into the house by the least visible route she knew, which came in at the lower level.  Then, still dragging Hannah, she started climbing every flight of stairs to the top floor.

On the top floor, they made their way into a child’s room.  Once inside, Scott locked the door behind them.

“There are keys in the entryway to every door in the house,” Hannah said.

“I saw them,” Scott said.  “But it’ll buy us some time.  Now, I need to find a storybook.”

“Storybook?” Hannah repeated.  “What storybook?”

“Yeah,” said Scott.  She was carefully flipping through a shelf of thin storybooks, making sure to touch only the book being flipped.  “You reminded me of this song in the carriage house when you said, ‘sham.’”

She stopped flipping.  “There it is,” she said, pointing to the book without touching it.  ‘Little Red Riding Hood.’”

“What?” Hannah said.  “How is that a song?”

“It’s not only a translated book title,” Scott said.  “It’s the title of a novelty song recorded by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs.”

Hannah looked at the book, then at Scott, then at the book again.  “Well, touch it!”  Hannah said.  “Win the game!”

Scott looked at her.  “We touch it together,” Scott said.

“What?”  Hannah said.  “That’s not how the game works!”

“Who said so?” Scott said.  “If there’s a tie, then Elric has to award us both the prize.”

“Or neither of us,” said Hannah.

“That’s a chance I’m willing to take,” Scott said. 

“But why?” Hannah asked.  “You could win this.  It’s what you want.  It’s what all of us want.”

Scott looked Hannah in the eye.  “You helped me when you didn’t have to,” she said.  “I’m just returning the favor.  Besides, I need you to win for me to win.”

“What does that mean?” Hannah said.

“If this works, you’ll see,” Scott said.

Then they heard someone rattling the doorknob, trying to open the locked door.  Then they heard voices moving away.

“They’re going after the key,” Scott said.  “It’s now or never.  You in?”

Hannah closed her eyes momentarily, looking as if she were in agony.  “All right!” she said.

“Right,” Scott said.  “On three.  One -- two -- three!”

At the same instant, both women grabbed for the thin book, and each one’s hand hit the edge in the same split-second.  Suddenly a red light enveloped them, and everything around them.

Suddenly, the two of them were standing in the yard, before Elric.  The other contestants  were gathered around them.  Three were muttering curses.  Scott figured those were the women who’d been at the door when he and Hannah had entered the child’s room.

“Well, this is a first,” Elric said.  “We’ve never had a tie before.  And it’s one of my newest players and one of my oldest who tied.  Congratulations, Hannah and … you are?”

“Scott Barry,”  Scott said.

“Well, Scott, congratulations,” Elric said.  “Now, what is your wish?”

Scott looked at Hannah.  “You go first,” he said.  “You’ve been waiting longer.”

Hannah grasped Scott’s hands.  “All right,” she said.  She turned to Elric.  “I wish to be restored to my male self, to be at the age I was when I entered the game, to be in the same level of fitness I was then, to remain that age forever, to have a luxurious mansion home in California and to have $100 million U.S. dollars to invest and spend.

“Granted,” said Elric.

Suddenly, Hannah was surrounded by a bright white light.  When it cleared, a tall, blonde, trim, fit man stood where she had been.

It was only then that Scott took the time to look down at her own hooters.  They had become massive, G-cup mounds, enveloping her chest and extending beyond, both in front and on the sides.  She squeezed them together in silent delight.

“Now, Scott,” said Elric, “It’s time for your wish.”

“Um, actually,” Scott said, “My wish is conditional.  It depends on what Hannah -- what Hans wants.”

“What I want?”  Hans said.

Scott took Hans’ hands and smiled up at him.  “Hans, I want almost everything you wished for, except for one thing, and that depends on you.  You see, if you’ll have me, I want to be a woman -- your woman.”

“But -- your manhood --” Hans said.

“Doesn’t matter to me, remember?” Scott said.  “So I live my life as a woman?  That’s part of my identity, too.  But you need your manhood.  It’s key to your identity, and to your happiness.  I want you to be happy.”

Scott looked down, then looked coyly up at Hans.  “You looked out for me unselfishly, at risk to your own happiness,” she said.  “I fell in love with you then, and I knew then that I would need to be a woman if we could both win.  I needed you to win for me to win.  I want to be eternally young and wealthy with you, as the woman in your life, if you’ll have me.  It only works for me if you’re willing.”

Hans took her hands with one hand and gently shifted Scott’s eyes toward his.  “You risked being trapped in the game to give me back my life,” he said.  “You were unselfish for me, and still are being.  How could I not love you?”

They embraced and kissed passionately.  Suddenly Scott pulled back and looked down.  “Am I zaftig enough?” she asked.

He grabbed her enormous tits, and fondled her large, shapely ass.  “For me, yes, although I wouldn’t objecty to bigger,” he said.  “What do you want?”

Scott looked at Elric.  “You hearfd the basics of my wish,” she said.  “We’ll both need new, legal ID, and clothes that will fit us -- lots of them for us, including shoes.  And -- could I go up about one more cup size, please?”

Elric smiled.  “Are you sure one is enough?”

Scott giggled liltingly.  “No, not really,” she said.  She turned to Hans.  “How big is too big?”

“I like my women big,” Hans said.  “It’s just what you’re comfortable with.”

Scott closed her eyes.  “M-cups, please,” she said.  “And make my new name Scottie.  I know of at least a few women who use that.  That’s all.”

Elric smiled.  “Your wish is granted,” he said.

Suddenly Scottie and Hans were standing beside an huge infinity pool.  Scottie felt her already enormous breasts expanding, the shirt she had been wearing disintegrating against their rapidly increasing mass.  Now completely topless, they continued to swell, jutting out so far in front of her she was sure she could no longer touch her hands together in front of them.

Hans came up and fondled her nipples, now each the size of his palms.  He slipped in between them, allowing their oft warmth to wrap around him as he got into where he could kiss Scottie.

“Well?” Scottie said.

Hans caressed her cheek.  “I not only got my manhood back, and wealth, and eternal youth, but I’ve got the woman of my dreams,” he said.

“And I’ve got the man of mine,” Scottie said.

Hans wrapped an arm around her neck and kissed her.  It would be the first of many in their home, many more over more years than either of them could count, for their love was founded in their unselfishness, and stayed that way, each looking out for the other, for all of their incredibly long lives.