“One of the tinies went missing today,” Jewel said, her eyes fixed on the day’s reports. She slurped the soup from her spoon without regard, and looked up at her daughter across the table. “I certainly hope you had nothing to do with that. It’s a rebellious little one, not someone you want to get caught up with.”

“Him, not it,” corrected the girl across the table, “and I can understand why he’d become rebellious. It’d suck to be born at that size.”

“But we give people like him a place to live,” Jewel replied, “there’s no reason to be discontent with living modestly.”

“Yeah, but then they get sold to someone who doesn’t treat them as well.”

“Not all of them are sold, dear. What do you think we’re eating tonight?” Edith looked down at her soup: some sort of chicken-vegetable soup with tiny children swimming in it, having fun. She paused before finding a chunk of chicken and scooping it up. Clinging to it were several small children, climbing or resting after the long swim. She lowered the spoon from eye-level to her mouth, and took the food in. She chewed softly, while trying to think of her next point.

“Okay, I can understand why you don’t bother with all of them. But why can’t I care for just one or two?”

“Because the others will start to get jealous. Then they don’t want to be sold to anyone else, they just want you to take care of them. And that’s not a trait most buyers are looking for.”

“So you only care about them because your buyers do.” Edith’s eyes were beginning to water now, but she refused to dry, despite her mother’s stubbornness.

“I really do care about them, Edith. But some people care more.”

“You only care about money!” Edith burst out, slamming her fist into the table. She tried to avoid wincing, to show her resolve, but her mother barely gave her a glance as she continued reading the reports.

“Honey, you know you shouldn’t yell. It upsets the children.” She had forgotten about the tiny kids swimming in her soup. She didn’t really care about them; she had never met any of them and had no reason to think of them as real people. Still, it would be cruel if they died thinking that she was a mean and angry person. She took her next spoonful and blew gently on it, giving the kids a fun and cooling breeze before sending them to their ends.

“I still don’t think it’s right…” Edith grumbled. “What if I kept him separate from everyone else? Then no one could become jealous because they wouldn’t know.”

“Darling, we’ve had this conversation a dozen times before since you were eight.” The woman patted a napkin to her lips before resuming. “If you kept him alone, you would become his only friend. And I don’t want you making friends with anyone who’s under you. It’s degrading and embarrassing to everyone, yourself included.”

Out of arguments, Edith lifted her bowl up to her lips and drank all that remained. Without saying anything else, she excused herself from the table and made her way upstairs to her room.

Her manners and word choice are becoming rather unrefined, Jewel thought as she quietly slurped her soup. It must be her fraternizing with those tinies. Perhaps I should consider sending her off to boarding to school to teach her some manners.

Edith took a moment to look at herself in the mirror. She stared back at her auburn-green eyes and looked at her face. Her lightly freckled nose was a bit red, and her cheeks were a bit puffy, but her dirty-blonde hair hid most indications that she was on the verge of tears.

Maybe I should dye it, she thought to herself, grabbing a clump of her hair and holding it up for investigation. I might look good with a brown-red. Her eyes continued scanning her hair until they came to a rest on the ball-shaped earring dangling from her lobe.

“Oh, right!” she said aloud, quickly unhooking the thing and placing it on her vanity. She sat down to become eyelevel with it and twisted the top half off. “You alright in there?”

Out crawled a miniscule boy, no older than ten. He had a head of disheveled hair that was so purely black, it almost appeared blue. He wiped the sleep from his eyes and yawned as he stood to his feet.

“Man, that was a nice nap,” he said, still adjusting himself to the outside world. “I kept rocking back and forth, and it was so dark.” He smiled to himself and closed his eyes, trying to recreate the setting. “It was so soft and warm in there. And your voice was really nice, it was hard to tell what you were saying but it rumbled a little when you talked. It felt really good.”

Edith smiled at hearing that. Good, I didn’t wake him up, she thought. “I’m glad that worked, Cole. Now I can keep you with me wherever I go.” The boy was far too tiny to simply carry around in a bag. And most of Edith’s previous tinies had been “confiscated” from her room by her mother while she was away. This way he could be with her and out of harm’s way.

“Yeah! And maybe some of my friends can come with me next time.” The boy looked up at her earnestly. His skinny frame reminded her that he should probably eat some of the food she had stowed away in her pocket. Edith produced a small piece of bread and placed it in front of him. It was far too small to even be considered a snack to her, but to Cole it was a meal. He clambered to the top of the piece and began to chow down on his dinner.

The two sat in silence for a while as Cole ate his bread. I can’t believe that Mom is so stubborn, Edith thought. Just because someone’s smaller than me means that we can’t be friends? Ugh, she makes me so mad! Her anger was starting to show up on her face, and Cole took notice.

“Are you okay, E?” he asked. The concern on his miniscule face was evident, despite the major size difference. “I’m sure my friends will like you.” The boy clearly had no clue as to what was going on, or the danger he was in by befriending her. But he now saw Edith as an older sister, and would never abandon her. If he were my size, I could actually protect him like the big sister he deserves. She tried to consider different solutions before looking back over her earring. A thought came to mind.

“Hey Cole,” she began, “you like adventure, right?”

“Yeah I do!” The boy stopped eating and stood up on top of the piece of bread, taking a heroic pose.

“Climbing, exploring, everything about adventures is fun.”

“And you want to be bigger, don’t you?” Cole stopped to think for a second before answering.

“I actually like being small,” he admitted, “it makes me feel safe to know that you’re bigger than all my problems.” He smiled up at Edith in a way that nearly overwhelmed her.

“Well, if there was a way to make me even bigger, big enough to leave this place, would you help me?” She hoped she didn’t sound too selfish; she wasn’t really doing this just to grow larger.

“Of course!” Cole cried happily, “and we could bring my friends too, right?”
Edith smiled. “I think we could make that work.” She had never grown attached to more than one tiny at a time. But maybe, if things changed, she could learn to.

“Awesome!” Cole was so excited he had stopped eating. “So, what do we have to do?”

“We’re gonna look for treasure,” responded Edith. “Before my grandmother passed away, she hid away her oldest jewelry and left it to me as a sort of inheritance. I don’t know exactly where it is, but she left me a guide to find it. If we do, I’ll have more than enough money to get you and your friends out of here.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Cole asked, excitement lighting his eyes. “Let’s go hunt for treasure!”

A knock shook the door of Jewel’s office early the next morning.

“Come in,” she yelled, despite the relative silence of the room. The door creaked open and on the other side appeared Edith. She walked into the room wearing a tank top and cargo pants, and looked quite rugged with her hair pulled back into a ponytail and a large backpack on her shoulders. “Well, it looks like someone’s planning to go off on an adventure.”

“I came to apologize for my behavior last night,” began the teen, “I want to go to grandmother’s house for a week, to clear my head.” The look on her face was one of defeat, a disgraceful countenance for any future woman of power to have. Still, it thrilled Jewel to see her daughter finally regret something.

“That sounds fine. I’ll send Rose and Gilda with you too.” Edith’s brow furrowed for a moment at hearing this, but quickly returned to a more neutral state.

“Okay, they can come.”

“Did I really require your permission to send them?” Again, Edith furrowed her brow, this time holding it as she spoke.

“I guess not. Call them down and tell them to get ready, then.” Jewel turned to a small speaker on her desk and pushed a button on it. She spoke softly, summoning the two maids to prepare for the trip.

“I am also going to have them check your things to make certain there aren’t any stowaways.” She lifted an eyebrow and continued. “There is still no sign of the missing tiny; he could be anywhere.”

Edith took a step towards her mother, attempting to become physically imposing. “I can check my own things!” she cried. “I’m not a kid anymore.”

Rose shifted in her chair, determined to show her daughter what true physical dominance looked like. Despite having more than enough money to be an incredible sixteen meters tall, she usually chose to keep her money with relatives so she could stay at a manageable five. And her daughter had only pocket change in comparison, keeping her just shy of three meters. Even while sitting down, Jewel was not someone who could be overwhelmed physically. “You are sixteen years old and still emotionally vulnerable. I think most would still consider you a ‘kid.’”

Defeated again, Jewel’s daughter could only submit to her mother’s will. “It doesn’t matter, they won’t find anything anyway.”

“I’m sure they won’t.” Jewel prepared to return to her work, but noticed something peculiar as Edith turned to leave. “Is that an earring?” she asked.

The girl paused for a moment before turning back towards her mother. “Yes…” she said slowly, as if struggling to speak at all.

“Where did you get the thing?” Edith’s face flushed red on her cheeks. Jewel could practically feel the heat radiating from them.

“Jade gave it to me,” she whimpered, “before she left.”

“Ah, Jade,” Jewel remembered fondly, “she was always giving you presents of some sorts. May I see it?” The question required little response; Edith simply took off the earring and placed it in her mother’s hand while trembling.

Jewel lifted the tiny bulb up to her eyes. It was black and spherical, but that was all she could surmise from her perspective. She debated whether or not to crush the thing, but opted against it in the case that it actually was a gift from Jade. Rolling the piece in her hand a few more times, she lifted it up to her ear to see if she could hear anything unusual.

“May I have it back now?” the daughter blurted out. The color had since drained from her face and the sweat gathering on her trembling hands was visible even to a giant like Jewel. The mother moved the jewelry away from her ear and dropped it down to her daughter’s waiting hand. Edith moved the earring up to her lips, but quickly stopped as her mother watched on inquisitively.

Another knock interrupted the tension of the room as two women entered. One was wearing a French maid outfit that seemed to pronounce her bright red hair and humble her hidden, curvaceous body. The other was in a black turtleneck with black pants and had her deep brown hair in a ponytail, clearly returning from affairs outside the house. Both bowed respectfully to Edith and Jewel, despite being a bit taller than the youngest one of the two.

“Madame,” the one with bright red hair stated, “we’ve prepared a vehicle and are ready to leave whenever you wish.”

“Excellent, be sure to check her bag before leaving,” Jewel pointed to the bag and the two maids nodded. A smile crept onto her lips as Jewel bid her daughter farewell. “Stay safe, okay honey?”

“I will, mother,” Edith replied with false courtesy. She didn’t want the maid to think anything was wrong, and swiftly departed with them on her tail. As soon as the door shut, Jewel dropped her smile.

“Time to place a call,” she said aloud, picking up the phone on her desk.

Cole had learned that by curling himself into a ball he could sometimes roll all the way around his spherical home. Usually he ended up falling back to the padded ground of the earring, but sometimes, if he timed his rolls just right, he could go past the top and land safely on the other side. He had spent the past few hours sleeping and rolling, trying to pass the time until he could get out again. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, light shone in through a crack that opened in the sphere.

“Are we there?” he asked excitedly, looking up at the face of his giant friend. She smiled and nodded, placing her hand out to let him step onto. Cole jumped out of the pod and rolled into Edith’s hand. “I’ve been practicing my rolls! Wasn’t that cool?”

“It sure was,” the giantess replied politely, “but don’t you want to see where we are?” She moved him away from her face, as the boy turned to look at the landscape.

“Woah…” he said, “what is this place?”

“This is my grandma’s old house,” Edith explained. “She was a really rich lady, and had to have a really big house built for her to live in. When she moved out, there was no one who wanted to live here, so this happened to it.

This was referring to the overgrowth and ruin that had taken over the house. Thick trees had overtaken what looked like the remains of a kitchen, and exotic, brightly-colored plants had conquered the greenhouse. Where a bathroom used to lie stood a swamp, complete with a large, muddy pond of filth right in the center.

There was plenty more to the house than what could be seen, but for now the sights were enough to leave Cole nearly speechless. “This is so cool. Where are we sleeping?”

The giant girl pointed towards a large boat that was resting a few hundred meters away. “That is where my two maids, Rose and Gilda, are staying. My mother sent them to watch me, and to make sure I don’t get into any trouble.” She paused and turned back towards the house. “That is where we’ll be staying, to get away from them and to look for the jewelry.”

“Wait, you know where the treasure is?” Cole asked. “Aw, that doesn’t sound like much of an adventure.”
Edith chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’ll have plenty for you to do along the way. My grandmother only said she left the jewelry somewhere in her old office, so we’ll have to go down to the basement and find the office, then search the room for it.” Cole continued pouting, but Edith lifted him to her face and smiled. “It’ll be fun, I promised.”

The tiny boy took a second to continue looking pitiful, then looked up at the girl with optimism. “All right, but this’d better be fun.”

***

The two returned to the boat a few minutes later, with Cole gently cupped in Edith’s hand. Both maids were in the front of the boat preparing the night’s meals, allowing the girl to sneak into the sleeping quarters and lock the door.

“I hope you enjoyed your time out, but you have to go back into the earring until tonight.” Edith placed her shrunken friend onto her nightstand as she prepared the earring for him. The boy started to climb in until he was quickly dumped out.

“Ow,” he winced, “what was that for?”

“This is a bad idea,” Edith though aloud, not looking at anything in particular. “Mom probably told them to check the earring while I’m asleep, and I can’t lock them out if they sleep in here.” She pondered for a moment, trying to think of a good solution. “What if I hide you somewhere else?”

“Where else could I go?” Cole asked. “I can’t think of anything more comfy than that.” Edith was about to say something when one of the maids tried to open the door.

“Edith,” she said, “I need to get in there. Why is the door locked?”

“I’m having my private time, Rose!” the teen responded in mock fury. “Give me a few more minutes.” The sound of swift footsteps were heard as Rose left the area with much haste.

“Private time?” questioned the tiny boy nearby, “What’s that?” He could tell Edith was embarrassed by his question, but she responded anyway.

“I’ll tell you later. Right now, I have to put you somewhere.” She struggled to recall where she had previously thought to place him. After a moment of thinking, she pulled off her sock and presented it to him.

“I usually sleep with my socks on, so they’ll have no reason to suspect anything if you hide in these,” she explained. Cole unenthusiastically neared the sock and took a whiff.

“It kinda smells in there,” he wined. “Do I have to?”

“You can stay in this sock during diner, and after my shower I’ll put on new socks. It’ll be fine, I promise.” Still unhappy, Cole climbed inside the hot sock. The smell wasn’t nearly as strong as he expected, but it was faintly present. Without warning, five giant toes made their way into the cavern of the sock. The boy was small enough to avoid having any of the toes touch him, but he could feel the heat radiating off of them. With a soft tremor, the toes impacted on the end of the sock.

“It’s actually not too bad in here,” Cole yelled. His exclamation failed to reach Edith’s ears, though, as the foot shifted and thudded to the ground. Cole quickly scaled his friend’s smallest toes, and was nearly shaken of as she took a step forward.

The foot thudded to the ground several more times, paused at the door, then continued shaking Cole’s world as the giantess that controlled it moved forward once again. Finally, Edith reached a complete stop, and took the pressure off her feet to sit down and eat. With the exception of the occasional roll, Edith’s foot remained relatively still, giving Cole the opportunity to explore. The heat of her foot made the environment quite muggy, but there was a lot more room in there than in the earring to go exploring. Cole slid down the toe and crawled around the floor of the sock. He progressed to beneath the arch of his fiend’s foot and looked up. Pieces of lint and drops of sweat clung to the underside of the massive surface of flesh. Smiling mischievously, Cole reached up to tickle the foot, invoking a light giggle and a massive foot roll from his friend. He was sent flying to the back of the sock, and swiftly promised never to do that again.

After several more minutes of exploring the sock, Cole felt the weight shift again and moved towards the toes. Edith was getting up from the table to shower, and Cole didn’t especially want to feel her full weight on top of him. The giant teen walked them to the bathroom and gently pulled off her sock, tumbling Cole into her hand.

“So, how was it?” she asked with genuine curiosity. “I hope I didn’t hurt you when you tickled me.”
She playfully poked him as he responded. “It was actually pretty fun, but it was really hot and kinda wet in there.” Edith giggled and placed him on the cool sink top. She then found the fresh sock and placed it in front of him.

“Stay in there while I shower, okay?” He obeyed and went inside the neon-green cavern. He heard the sound of her clothes dropping to the floor and the shower door sliding to a close behind her. The sound of running water and heat from the tap filled the room as Cole waited for Edith to finish her shower. Once the water stopped, a few wet footsteps were heard followed by billowy fabric rubbing against a body. Edith finally finished getting dressed and showed Cole the results.

“Ta-da!” she exclaimed, “now I’m all fresh and clean.” She was dressed in a green long-sleeved flannel top with pants to match. She lifted up her shirt to expose what would have been her belly, and instead was a tight-fitting khaki brown tank top. “That way all I have to do is put on some pants and boots before we go.” She looked very excited to be doing this, and gave Cole a smile. “Now to put on my socks and go to bed. Are you ready?”

“Yep!” the tiny boy replied, “make sure to get me out before we leave. I want as much action as possible.” His excited demeanor was contagious, and Edith was nearly bouncing up and down in anticipation.

“Okay. Sleep well, Cole,” she said with a smile, lifting the sock up to her foot. This one was a lot tighter than the previous sock, and Cole was forced into the arch of the foot. But unlike before, Edith’s skin was cool to the touch, and it smelled of light soap. The boy took in his surroundings with each step towards the bed. He felt his friend lie down, and drifted off to sleep soon after.

When Edith moved to turn off her watch’s alarm, she immediately noticed something was amiss. And it wasn’t just that her watch was no longer on her wrist.

Why am I under so many blankets, she wondered while trying to push her way out of the thing. Flannel too. I don’t think I…

It only took her a moment to realize what had happened. Her clothes, which she had specially chosen because they were so tight, remained on her body, if not a bit looser than she would have liked, but the pajamas she had been wearing now swamped her completely. As much as she would have loved to figure out what had happened, she needed to turn off her watch’s alarm. Luckily, she had only shrunk to about three-fourths of her previous size, and her watch was still within arm’s reach. She grabbed the thing, now the size of a headband, and pulled it in towards her, shutting off the alarm. The display stopped flashing and instead shown a dull blue, indicating a new message. Edith pressed the button again to playback the message.

“Your account balance has recently been changed,” a monotone male voice announced to her. “Your living conditions are now classified as ‘normal,’ and you can expect to see a reduction in size soon.”

“Mom!” Edith cried as quietly as she could. “I can’t believe she did that.” Perhaps her mother had known there was something suspicious about her daughter visiting her grandmother’s nature reserve of a house, and had decided to take action to hamper any attempts at misdeeds.

Despite her initial shock, though, Edith was quick to react. I have to leave before the maids awake. The teen shuffled around the room to look for some suitable shoes. She came across a small bag that one of the maids had brought along and looked inside. These traitors knew!

The bag held a set of clothes small enough to fit someone of her size, and held shoes, shirts, and pants, all meant to fit her. She took the bag and placed any other clothes that were still wearable into the bag.

She then emptied out the bag she had brought along and moved her toiletries and food into a smaller drawstring bag that now served as a duffle bag.

“I have to go now,” she said quietly to herself, sliding a pair of hiking shoes from the maid’s bag onto her feet. She picked up the bags and silently opened the door o the bedroom. Edith made her way towards the port side of the boat, stealthily jumped and landed on the dock, and ran as fast and quietly as she could towards the big, decaying house.

***

Why is everything shaking? Cole thought, as he was stirred from his sleep. His home was now moving in a crazy manner, as if Edith was panicking about something.

“Are you okay?” the tiny boy yelled, not sure if he would get a response. Instead hearing anything, Cole felt a tremor as something slammed into him. He groaned lightly as Edith shifted to stand up and began moving, first lightly and quietly, then much heavier and faster. She was running now, with no regard for her tiny friend.

“Hey!” screamed Cole. “Edith, stop! I’m gonna get crushed under here!” Though he was safe from the full impact of his friend’s feet while under the arch, he was still rocked by every footfall. At best, he would end up lightly bruised. At worst, he would end up with a concussion, or dead. He remember a friend of his falling to the floor one night and ending up with a concussion. The poor boy could hardly speak, let alone think. He disappeared to who-knows-where the day after Miss Jewel found out.

Refocusing on his predicament, Cole had to find a way to get Edith to notice him. He remembered earlier that night at the dinner table, and began tickling her feet with his fingers. The giantess almost slowed down for a moment, the continued to run through the discomfort.

I’ve got to try something else, the boy thought, wondering what better way there was to get a giant girl’s attention while trapped under her foot. He thought for a moment, ignoring the pounding and the dull headache he was developing, and came up with a solution.

Sticking his tongue out, Cole winced at the thought of tasting her feet. They didn’t smell too bad now, but more running would build up more sweat making the situation even more uncomfortable. If he was to do something, now was his chance. The boy placed his tongue on Edith’s foot and slowly licked. It tasted of salt and lavender, but it wasn’t so offensive that he had to stop. Edith, on the other hand, did stop, and immediately pulled off her shoe and sock to reveal a worn-out and bruised Cole.

***

“Oh my gosh, Cole!” she said, bringing him to her face, “are you alright?” The boy now rested in her palm and appeared the same size as the earring had previously been to her. I really have gotten smaller, she thought, reveling in her friend’s new relative size to her.

“Yeah, I’m just a little hurt.” Obviously the running she had been doing had taken its toll on Cole’s tiny body. He moved slowly when standing up, like an old man pacing himself as to prevent injury.

This was the second time she had forgotten him, and she began to feel neglectful for it. I care about him, I do. He’s like a brother to me. She thought back to the tinies she had eaten with dinner the previous night, or all the times she had abused shrunken citizens who were all but anonymous to her. Those were different. I didn’t know any of them. I didn’t care about any of them. She continued her thought train until Cole interrupted. “What happened?”

Edith did her best to explain the situation to him. He understood the concept of wealth effecting one’s size, but he didn’t understand why she wasn’t as small as he was. “My mother planned for me to only shrink a little,” Edith explained as she continued walking towards the house with tiny in hand. “She wanted to make things difficult, not to kill me.” That would come later.

She stopped at the massive front of the house. The entryway alone was ten meters tall, but the door had long since been removed by invading plant life. The two stood in silence, looking over the challenges to come.

“It looks like this is gonna be an actual adventure now,” Cole burst out. “Now you’ll have to see how us little people do it.” Edith smiled. She was in no way nearly as small as her friend, but he could certainly believe that. She patted him lightly on the head before lifting him to her shoulder. He climbed onto his new perch and looked towards her in anticipation.

“If that’s what you still want, then let’s start looking.”

“I’ll cut right to the chase,” Jewel began as she looked over the woman now sitting in front of her. “There’s an old cache of jewelry my grandmother left behind for me. Unfortunately, she forgot to inform me of its exact whereabouts.” She paused for effect, giving the other woman time to think about what she might say next. “I need you to find it and bring it to me.”

“It looks like you’re paying a lot of money for me to find the thing,” the woman replied, brushing her bleach-blonde hair out of her left eye, “why is it so valuable?”

“The jewelry doesn’t hold much worth. I just wish to teach my daughter a lesson.” That was a lie of course. The jewelry contained gemstones and metals not found in the earth for hundreds of years. Their value was unfathomable, but to be worth anything one had to find the right buyer.

“You’re lying,” the treasure hunter raised an eyebrow, calling Jewel’s bluff. “You don’t think I did a bit of research before taking the job? I know your family name; whatever I find will be more than you’re paying me.”

Jewel frowned. “Yes, well then you also know that I can stop you from leaving with the jewelry, if I must. It’s all worthless without a buyer anyway.” Any sane person would have immediately reconsidered taking the job. Then again, no sane person would become a treasure hunter.

“Pay me the money and give my ten percent of all the profits from the haul.”

“Five,” retorted Jewel, “the jewelry has a lot more value than you think.”
The treasure hunter mulled it over before giving a nod. Jewel turned to her assistant, who furiously began typing up a contract. “So who else is involved in this hunt?”

“I have two of my housekeepers stationed on the island right now. They should be more than competent in whatever tasks you assign them, and are trustworthy to the highest degree.”

“And my competition?”

“Like I said before, my daughter is involved, and I don’t want to see her succeed. She needs to learn a lesson, and I believe this is the best way to teach her.”

“I don’t see how one girl could be a problem.”

“She may also have a tiny helping her, but he is less than a centimeter tall, and she is now less than two meters.”

The treasure hunter looked as if she was about to say something, then decided otherwise. The assistant, meanwhile, had finished typing up the contract and had printed out a copy for the hunter to sign.

“What’s the house look like?” the hunter asked while looking over the contract, “Is there anything I should be on the lookout for?”

“The house has long been assaulted by time and the elements, so vegetation has overgrown most of it. The basement has become a cavern of sorts, but it was built on top of a mine, so techniscally it was always a cave, There are also likely some individuals there who also seek to find the cache, but none of them will have the slightest clue as to where it could be, and all are likely classified as poor or worse. You can do whatever you wish with these individuals; their search is a testament to the worthlessness of their lives. Their’s is a desperate effort to escape the claws of poverty.” Jewel hadn’t noticed she had been looking up in speculation, and returned he gaze to the treasure hunter who was now returning the contract.

“I want a quarter of my payment now,” she demanded, “put that in there.” Jewel nodded and her assistant swiftly amended and reprinted the contract. Taking one final look over the paper, the hunter signed and dated it, returning it to Jewel. “Is there anything else I should know?”

“The boy my daughter is likely travelling with is worthless in all senses of the word.” Jewel stamped her signature onto the contract and returned it to her assistant to make copies. “Make sure my daughter returns safely, but dispose of the boy in the most cruel way possible to both of them.”

“This place is huge!” Cole cried. “We’re never gonna make it through.” It had been two days since the tiny couple had entered the house, and the sheer size was overwhelming. The small wood that had taken over the antechamber had given way to a thick, humid forest that occupied most of the first floor. The maze of trees had cost the adventurers a fair bit of time and a majority of their food. But despite their best efforts, the two of them had yet to find a safe entrance to the basement.

“Cheer up, there must be a way down somewhere around here.” The stairs were another literal ten kilometers away, extending the already lengthy trip to a figurative forever. It had taken them two days to span the 24 kilometer path they had taken to get to their current point.

“Man, who knew adventures involved this much walking,” wined the tiny boy on Edith’s shoulder. She smiled and shook her head. She had been doing all the walking; the little freeloader she was travelling with just got to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Still, Edith thought, I would like to get down there sooner, rather than later. She continued walking when she spotted movement in the corner of her eye. She turned to track the object, and saw a poorly-hidden man observing her. “I can see you, you know,” she declared, unafraid thanks to his tiny stature.

“Funny, you never noticed me before,” the man said, sliding out from his hiding place. “Guess I got sloppy.” The man stood at five centimeters tall, and had gray-brown hair that flowed into a white-gray beard. His body was toned, but very low on fat, and his skin was scared and showed signs of sun damage.

“The name’s Peter.” He bowed politely, indicating background of wealth despite his current stature, “and who might you two be?”

“I’m Cole,” perked up the tiny boy, “and this is Edith. We’re looking for treasure.” He smiled widely while Edith gave him an angry stare, afraid that he had just let out vital information.

“Everyone who comes here is,” Peter admitted, “though most aren’t as tall as you.” He gestured towards the girl who towered over him and raised a question. “So, how do you plan to find it?”

“We need to get the basement,” Edith explained, hoping not to give too much away. “We think it’s somewhere down there.”

“Probably the office, if that helps.” Edith was appalled at Cole’s loose lips, but the man hardly reacted to that information.

“Hmph,” grunted the man, his beard trembling with is movements. “I’ve checked the whole damn thing; there’s nothing down there.” He stood up and jerked a thumb towards a massive tree behind him. “Most of these bigger trees have been hollowed out and have ladder that lead downstairs.” He cocked an eyebrow and looked over Edith. “If you can fit in the tree, the ladder should be able to hold you.”

Without wasting a moment, Edith ran towards the nearest large tree and felt around the trunk for a handhold. “I found one! She exclaimed, as she ripped what was a door off its natural hinges. “Oops.” Still, she spent no time delaying and grabbed onto the sides of the ladder, sliding down into the darkness of the basement.

***

A few hours passed before Peter saw another large individual scouting the forest. He was a lot closer to the front entrance of the house, now, and a fair distance from where he had encountered that girl. This new girl, or woman, as she was, had two others with her, and they were all over four meters tall. Clearly trouble, the man decided to follow them and see what they planned to do. But his tracking was cut short when one of the travelers, a woman with bright-red hair, spotted him and grabbed him.

“I found someone, Madame,” she called out to the brunette in front. The other two gathered near to investigate the little man the redhead had captured. Peter’s arms were pinned down by the grip the giantess had on him.

“Oh look, a local,” the leader spoke. Her blonde hair, deep tan, and toned build showed her clear physical superiority over the others, despite standing a few centimeters shorter.

“What do you want?” Peter asked, formulating a way to escape his situation.

“I’m looking for a girl who came through here not too long ago. Could you happen to tell me where they went?”

So that’s what they’re after. There was no need to say anything else, Peter simply kept his mouth shut and stared back at the blonde giantess who he was being held to.

“Not talking, huh?” she said, furrowing her brow a little. “You’ve got some balls. Let’s see how you like life without them.” She pinched the hem of his tattered pants and pulled them down, exposing his manhood.

“Gilda, can you help our little friend.”

The brunette moved cautiously towards the exposed man and placed her manicured nails on either side of his jewels. He winced as he felt them slowly cut in and evoke blood from his flesh. His time in the forest had hardened him, but not enough for this.

“The office! They went to the office!” His cries were answered as “Gilda” removed her sharpened nails from around his sex.

“See, all I wanted was a simple answer.” Peter ignored her and attempted to nurse his wound. “Aww, but it looks like you’re bleeding. I can’t be so cruel as to let you suffer like that.” She took Peter from the hand of the redhead and repositioned him so he was vertical and facing his former capturer. “Open wide, Rose.” The woman hesitant did as she was told and opened her mouth to the dirty man. Saliva hung from the roof of her mouth, and two perfect rows of teeth bordered the entrance. The blonde woman slid Simon in all the way to his lower torso. “Now bite,” she commanded.

The redhead did as she was told, severing Peter’s body in half. “There," the blonde said, "now you won’t have to deal with the problems Gilda caused you.” She laughed to herslf as she tossed Peter’s lower half off into the woods.

I hope this bitch gags on my blood, thought Peter before going into shock. His hope came true.

The basement of Edith’s grandma’s house was a literal cave. Water from rooms above dripped from the ceiling and formed massive ponds throughout the thing. Bats and other darkness-loving creatures could be heard moving about the cavern, seeming to ignore the two visitors who had just come down from the surface world with a thud.

“Ouch!” Cole yelled, as he rolled off his companion’s shoulder. He suffered a second impact upon hitting the ground, and this time none of the fall was absorbed by someone else. Still, he got up, unharmed and unbroken. “I can’t believe we survived that. Things are getting exciting!” He looked up and expected to see the smiling face of his giant friend. Instead, a mix of determination and anger had taken over.

“Come on, we have to hurry to the office.” She picked up her friend and wasted no time tossing him onto her shoulder before sprinting in the direction of the office. Of course, once they reached the room they would still have to find the jewelry, but taking things one step at a time was important.

Edith continued her charge to the destination and found a large hole in the closest wall. Without even asking her friend if he was ready, she ducked inside and analyzed the situation. The walls were overgrown with molds and mosses, giving the room a toxic scent. The little light that entered the room came from a large glass panel that was exposed to the outdoors.

“Hey look! We can see the outside now.” Cole was quite happy with discovery while his partner was fascinated.

“We should have seen that earlier if it was there before,” she remarked. “We need to hurry and find the jewelry.”

“Call it ‘treasure,’ not ‘jewelry.’ We’re on an adventure and gotta talk like adventurers.” Edith giggled and reminded herself that she wasn’t alone in this journey. Cole would be on her side despite her anger. “So where do you think it could be?”

“Well, the house wasn’t the first thing built here.” Edith recalled the stories her grandmother used to tell her about the house’s origins. “There used to be a mine here, where they stripped all the ores from the earth.”

“Is that why your family’s so rich?”

“Yep. It’s also why the house is here. The space left over from the mining was big enough to be the basement of a giant house: the house my grandmother had built and lived in. There are probably still remains of the mine under and around the house where we might find treasure.”

“So you mean its buried treasure?” Cole was getting more excited by the minute, to the point where he was nearly jumping on Edith’s shoulder. “Then let’s dig!”

Not quite sure how to go about the dig, or if the two could dig deep enough to even find anything, the girl dropped to her knees and began to scoop the dirt up with her hands. The two days of trekking through the forest and a lack of showers had left her feeling rather filthy, so she figured a little extra dirt wouldn’t hurt. Her travelling buddy decided to lend a hand too, but his miniscule size made it difficult for him to put a dent into the dirt floor. The mind-numbing work kept the two focused on the ground, and prevented them from hearing three pairs of feet crunch the dirt behind them.

“Is this her?” a female voice asked as Edith was suddenly lifted by her collar. She found herself looking straight into the eyes of the two maids she had abandoned just two days ago. They were notably larger than when she last saw them on the boat, but she hadn’t the time to do a size comparison on the night that she fled.

“This is her, Madame,” the one with the brown hair responded. She reached out to take Edith and held her with both arms against her chest. Edith felt like a teddy bear being held by a clingy little girl, except this girl had her breasts resting on top of her head and arms far too strong to break free from. Brute force was not an option to escape this embarrassing situation.

“Oh, and this must be her friend.” Edith took her attention off her maid and turned to see the woman who had handed her over to her captures. She had bleached blonde hair and a fairly athletic build. But it was what was in her right hand, squeezed between her index finger and thumb, that scared her most.

“H-hey!” she yelled, mustering up strength and air from the suffocating hold she was in.“Let that boy go. He hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“Oh, you don’t know him? Because I talked to your mother, and she said I could do whatever I liked with anyone found wandering around who wasn’t one of you two.” The woman smiled and began looking the boy over, considering her options.

I can’t just leave him to her, thought Edith, she wants to kill him. But would he really be better off going back home.

“You’re right, he’s with me,” she admitted. The blonde woman smirked and began to walk towards her. “But whatever my mother does to him won’t be nearly as bad as whatever your sick mind would have devised.”

“That’s good news, then,” she woman said, holding Cole out on her palm, “because she said to come up with something extra cruel if he was your friend.” Using her other hand, the woman picked up the tiny boy and dangled him in front of his friend’s face. “I can think of a few ways to get rid of him, but there’s an especially nasty one we practiced earlier I want you to see.” The woman approached the maid with red hair and nodded. She opened her mouth and allowed the other woman’s hand to get closer to the entrance.

“NO!!!” Edith screamed. “What the hell are you doing!?!” She desperately began kicking her maid to try to be released, but to no avail. Her outburst did stop her friend’s execution, though. Perhaps the blonde woman would reconsider what to do with him.

“Oh, I see,” she said instead, pulling her hand away from the red-haired maid. “You want to do this yourself.” Edith was shocked. What kind of twisted mind does this woman have?

“You two have been traveling together for at least three days now. He hasn’t done anything to help besides tag along for the ride.” She was approaching Edith now, Cole in hand. His tiny struggles became more apparent the closer they got. “He must’ve been pretty annoying. Most tinies are. They just moan and complain about how they wanna get bigger, but they don’t do anything about it.” The woman stopped her advance and looked over the boy. “He’s no different, I’m guessing. Especially since he was so ungrateful of your mother’s services to him and his other poor friends.”

Edith wanted to yell. She wanted to explain how Cole was never “rebellious” or “ungrateful.” He just wanted a life where he could be normal. Where he could have his friends and not worry about ending up in soup. Where he wouldn’t have to worry about being sold off to someone who would hurt him. Where he could go on adventures, like this one, just for the fun of it.

But she couldn’t say it. She was too tired, drained from her struggles against her captor. The woman got closer to her, and she could now hear Cole’s cries. No, not cries, she realized, pleas. He was yelling for the woman to give Edith part of the treasure. He knew that she wanted to get bigger and this was her chance to do it. Tears came to Edith’s eyes as the woman’s hands came closer to her lips. There was nothing she could do to stop any of this from happening.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, just as her friend was pushed between her lips. A hand collided with the bottom of her jaw and Cole was shattered with a sickening crunch.

There was a silence in Jewel’s office as she sat across her desk from her daughter. The occasional click of her assistant’s mouse punctuated the sheer absence of noise in the tiny room, but no one made any large movements. Jewel was now a mere four meters tall, as she had to move around a fair amount of money to satisfy everyone today. But she would return to her usual height once things were sorted out with the jewelry collector. Edith, however, had been grown back to her previous size upon returning home. Despite that good news, she had remained silent since returning home less than two hours ago. She didn’t know why she had been summoned to her mother’s office, but she would find out soon enough.

“Done,” the assistant announced, getting up to hand Edith a brochure and a thick packet.

“What are these?” she asked, not even looking towards her mother.

“That is a brochure for the boarding school I am sending you to.” Jewel’s tone was even, giving her daughter no indication as to the circumstanced=s of her decision. “Rose and Gildaa have already packed your things. You will return in the first if May if you behave.”

Edith flipped the brochure over a few times, not bothering to read anything, and placed it into the bulging packet it accompanied. “Okay” was her response before being dismissed from the room by her mother.

Just as the girl exited a woman entered. Her blonde hair was in the same ponytail it was in three days earlier, but her clothes were a bit less modest than before. She had a smirk on her face that made her look utterly foolish, but it didn’t stop her from beginning the conversation.

“So, I did what you asked,” she said. “You gonna give me the rest of now?” Her posture was one of a prideful idiot, and Jewel was repulsed by this woman’s lack of finesse. Still, she did in three minutes what Jewel had been attempting for the past eight years: she scared her daughter away from tinies permanently. She deserved the money if only for that. Jewel’s assistant carried the large briefcase over to the woman and placed it at her feet.

“Once my people get the jewelry out of those old mines, we will give you your share as promised.” The woman had stopped listening, however. She was gawking at her rapidly increasing size and the large sum of money she had just received. Such a simpleton, asking for it all in cash, Jewel thought. That’s how you get yourself mugged. The blonde woman exited without so much as a goodbye, leaving Jewel alone with her thoughts and her assistant. She pulled a tiny black sphere out of her pocket that one of the maids had confiscated from Edith’s things. Jewel rolled the sphere in her hand, and felt a tiny ridge she hadn’t noticed before.

Gripping the sphere on either side of the ridge, she twisted counter-clockwise until the ball split into two. Inside the sphere was hollow, but lined with a soft material of sorts. “Knew it,” Jewel said to no one in particular before resealing both sides and crushing the ball between her fingers with a sickening crunch.