Sarah awoke with her head in a fog. The last thing she remembered was being in the elevator in her apartment when she felt a needle prick. After that, nothing. Opening her eyes she was met with a blinding light high above her. She tried to move but her arms and legs were bound. Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the light and she could see she was in what looked like an operating room. Had she been in an accident? If so, where were the doctors? And why was she restrained? Just then a voice came from a nearby speaker.

"Ah, I see you're awake. How are you feeling?", a woman's voice asked.

"Where am I? What happened to me?" She asked

"All in good time. For now, please just answer my questions. The sooner we get through this part, the sooner you can begin your adjustment period"

"What do you mean, adjustment? Adjustment to what?" She was getting a little worried now.

"Just answer my questions and I promise I'll answer yours after."

Not seeing much choice, she agreed and the woman asked her many odd questions. Questions about her medical history, personality questions, even some very personal stuff. She ended with, "Thank you for cooperating, it makes this so much easier. Now, before I begin the next phase I just have two more questions, how tall were you and what did you weigh?"

Although the questions weren't too odd, especially considering some of the previous ones (are you allergic to any kind of aquatic life? for example), the context struck her as weird so she asked, "What do you mean by how tall 'was' I? I'm 5'6. The same as I've been since I was 17. And I weigh 115 give or take a few pounds."

After a few minutes of silence the woman came back on the speaker and asked her to relax while she took some readings. She also made good on her promise to answer any questions she had. The first thing Sarah asked was, "Where am I?" to which the woman replied,

"I'm sorry I can't tell you that."

"Ok", Sarah said, "Then what happened to me and why am I tied down?"

"Again, I'm sorry but I can't go into all the details just yet. I can tell you that you're safe and the restraints are for your safety. It's a long way to the floor in your condition"

"What does that mean? What condition? And why did you ask me my height and weight in the past tense?" It seemed to Sarah that each answer only raised further questions.

"I'm very sorry about that", came the reply. "I was originally under the impression you were a volunteer and understood what was going on. Apparently, you were brought here by mistake. Please accept my humblest apologies and my assurance that every step will be taken to make your life here as comfortable as possible"

"WHAT?! My life here!", Sarah was getting nervous now. "Whatever you did, I promise I won't tell. Just untie me and let me go. Please, I..." Suddenly she started having difficulty breathing. As she started to suffocate she could hear warning alarms go off and the woman's voice, this time full of panic, shout, "She's entering the last stage sooner than expected. Quick, someone open the holding tank" as her binds were pulled off with great force and she was lifted by some kind of crane that moved very fast and dropped into a tank of water.

She landed with a splash and struggled to stay afloat but was still having trouble breathing and sank down. As she sank to the bottom she felt oxygen rushing back into her body again, only not from her mouth. She could feel it coming from the sides of her neck. Touching her neck, she felt gills. Horrified, she pulled her hands away only to see a fine webbing between her fingers. Looking down to her feet she expected to see webbed toes but instead saw a fin where her legs should be. Knowing in her mind this can't be real but unable to deny what she was currently seeing, not to mention she was underwater and breathing, Sarah realized what the woman meant by her condition. She was now a mermaid. She quickly surveyed her surroundings only to see she was in a large tank with nothing but rocks at the bottom. Looking outside all she could see were blurry shapes moving around. Even though she had never seen a water tank from the inside before, she still knew there was something wrong about those shapes. They seemed too big. She swam up to one of the walls and tried to get a better look when the whole tank throbbed with loud banging on the opposite wall. The thunderous bangs were so loud they almost hurt. When she turned toward the wall, she saw a giant woman's face peering in at her. Next to the face, a giant finger was tapping the glass of what Sarah now knew wasn't a giant water tank. It was an aquarium. And she wasn't just a mermaid, she was shrunken to the size of a doll.

As scared as she was, the woman's face seemed friendly and Sarah felt she could trust her. She opened her mouth to talk and was shocked to hear only high pitched shrieks come out. The woman, obviously prepared for this took out a notebook and wrote something on it then held it to the side of the tank. "I'm sorry, you won't be able to talk anymore. Not in the way you know at least"

This revelation was the final straw for Sarah. She started yelling, which came out as more high pitched shrieks, and pounding on the walls. The woman, again seeming prepared for this, held up another note, "Please try to calm down. Your body is still weak from all it’s been through."

"Go to Hell!" Sarah mouthed, this time not bothering to make the sounds that only upset her more and kept pounding on the walls.

She heard a rumbling from the top and saw the woman's hand hovering over the top. She dropped some kind of pellet into the water that dissolved instantly. Nervous, Sarah looked back to her giant captor who was ready with another note, "That's just a sedative. It won't knock you out but it will take some of the fight out of you."

As promised, Sarah almost immediately felt very relaxed. She was still aware of what was going on and still angry, she just didn't really feel like fighting at the moment.

Seeing her relax made the woman happy and she held up another note, "I'll be right back with something that will help us talk a little easier"

While she was gone, Sarah was enjoying the ride the drugs were taking her on. She just floated in the middle of the tank, lazily flicking her tail and moving around slowly. She was so relaxed she didn't even worry about how quickly she was adapting to this situation. She was almost even excited.

After some time had passed, how much Sarah had no idea thanks to the drugs, the lid was lifted again and a small speaker was lowered into it. Suddenly the whole aquarium vibrated with the woman's voice, "CAN YOU HEAR ME? YOU MIGHT NEED TO ADJUST THE VOLUME, THE DIAL IS TOO SMALL FOR ME TO OPERATE" Sarah clapped her hands over her ears and the woman got the message right away and stopped talking. She wrote another note and held it up, "The volume control is on the right side. You'll most likely want it very low because your hearing is enhanced in this form"

Sarah swam over to the speaker, which was about the size of a walkie talkie to her, found the dial and with her webbed fingers turned the volume down to 3. When she was done she gave the woman the thumbs up (as well as she could with the webbing) and her voice, much softer but still a bit loud came out of the speaker, "How's this?" Sarah turned it down to 2 and motioned for her to speak again to which she replied, "Now?" She gave the awkward thumbs up again and the woman spoke again, "Excellent. I have a lot to tell you but I should start with a proper introduction. My name is Ellen"

Sarah waved in acknowledgement.

"Now, first I'll answer the questions I know you have and can't ask. Stop me if I go to fast. Yes this is permanent. There's no way to reverse either the shrinking or the transformation. Yes, your voice as you know it is gone for good. There is still a way to communicate with us humans (Ellen referring to herself as human really creeped Sarah out but again the drugs made her not care), it's a very efficient way and nothing is lost in translation. You'll be set up when you move to your private tank in my room." That comment startled Sarah even with the drugs, which Ellen noticed and replied, "Yes my room, I'm getting to that" Although Sarah was nervous, she somehow knew she would be safe with her.

"I'm sure you want to know why you were chosen, right?”

Sarah nodded enthusiastically.

"Well, I'm sorry to say it was all a mistake. Our company caters to very wealthy clients. Most of the time it's all very straightforward with none of this kidnapping stuff but sometimes our clients like to pretend it's all some kind of scheme. The people we transform have always signed consent forms for this to happen to them. It adds to the excitement, they say.

In your case, our tracker had been following a woman who looked a lot like you. You may remember some commotion in your hallway just before this all went down?"

Thinking back, Sarah did remember some kind of disturbance and nodded.

"That was how we lost track of her. When he saw you he assumed he had the right one and injected you, then brought you here, started the procedure, and here you are. Again, I'm very sorry" Ellen added sincerely.

"Now, when I discovered the mistake I was very upset and went straight to our CEO. I know it must have felt like only moments when I stopped questioning you but it was really several hours. We had a long discussion and it was decided that since I was already keeping one mermaid and was therefore equipped to handle you I would be your keeper"

Sarah, who had been lazily swimming around the tank while Ellen talked perked up at the mention of another mermaid.

"Yes", Ellen replied, "Another mermaid. She's my sister."

This alarmed Sarah even more, which Ellen noticed and continued,

"When this company started it wasn't so ethical. They still catered to the rich but they would take anybody a client had his eye on. My sister was about 18 at the time and very attractive. She worked as a dancer in Vegas. One night while dancing an obnoxious, old, extremely rich man took a liking to her. He tried to get her to his room but she refused. Finally he left but not before vowing to make her his before the night ended. As she was leaving for the night, she was abducted and brought here where she went through the same procedure you did. Only her awakening wasn't quite so pleasant. He didn't shrink her. Not at first. At first, he kept her in a large fish tank, like the ones you see in aquariums. He would dive in and have his way with her whenever he felt like it. When she fought he threatened to leave out in the open air to suffocate. This threat worked for a few months but eventually even the threat of death didn't matter to her. When he jumped in for his normal activities, she grabbed him and took him under a rock where she waited until she thought he was dead. When she released him he floated to the top, where his bodyguards saw him and were able to revive him."

Ellen sniffled a bit, holding back tears then continued,

"After that, he left her alone for a few weeks. She was hopeful that he did end up dying, but to her dismay, one day

he came over to her tank, banged on it very loudly, and told her he was going to fix her so she couldn't fight back ever again. Then five large men in scuba gear jumped in, held her down, and sedated her. She doesn't remember what happened next but when she woke up she was in what she thought was her old tank until the old bastard reached in and yanked her out. He... I'm sorry, this is emotional for me" Ellen said between sobs.

"He held her by her tail and screamed at her about all the things he was going to do to her. He left her out for a few minutes at a time, watching her gasp for air, only pouring enough water on her to keep her alive. When he was done with that, he took her to his bathtub. I won't go into detail about what he did there but I think you know."

For the first time, and with the drugs wearing off Sarah was feeling very vulnerable at her size.

"She lived with him for another year until I managed to track her down and save her. By that point she was broken almost beyond repair. She was like an animal. Terrified of humans. I took her home and did the best I could but at best I was only able to get her to not be afraid of me. I was afraid all she was had been destroyed by that little old shit. That's when I got a job for the company. I blackmailed the owners to hire me and help me find a way to restore my sister's sanity. That was four years ago. In that time I've managed to turn this company in the right direction. Away from evil."

Sarah had so many questions she wanted to ask but was unable. Ellen saw this and said, "I'll be right back". She got up and left the room for a few minutes. When she returned she was holding a bucket. She lifted the lid of the tank and poured some more water into the tank. Something else fell into the tank with her and at first Sarah couldn't recognize it until it swam down to her at the bottom. It was a very beautiful mermaid, a couple feet (to her perspective) smaller than her. She "stood" (as much a mermaid can stand) to face her new guest, who held out her hand. Sarah shook the hand and a voice came into her mind, "Hi, I'm Rachel. Ellen's sister."

Startled to hear the voice in her head, she tried to respond by thinking, "Hi Rachel". At this Rachel smiled and transmitted, "Sorry, all I got was jumbled sounds. Don't worry, you'll learn eventually. It took me a while too." Ellen watched from outside the tank as her sister made a new friend. Happy for her sister she went to her room to get things ready for her new guest.

“I know this is all a lot for you take in but once you get used to this it's really not so bad" Rachel communicated to Sarah while swimming circles around her.

"But before we do anything, I need to teach you how to talk", she said stopping in front of her and rising so they were face to face. At this close Sarah could see Rachel was pretty small compared even to her. Close to three feet on her scale. She made a note to ask why when she could.

"We'll start easy. I want you to think or a word over and over. Focus on only that word while imagining it coming out of your head and into mine. Make the word something you're familiar with so it will be easier for you."

Sarah closed her eyes and tried to come up with a word. When she got one she repeated it in her mind, doing what Rachel said.

"Camp, Camp, Camp, Camp," She projected at Rachel, who stood there listening intently for the word. Finally, after a few moments she said,

"Camp? Is that your word?"

Upon hearing this Sarah got excited and without thinking thought, "Yes!"

"Hey, I heard you say yes just now. You're doing great. Now try counting from one to ten"

Sarah did as she was instructed and when she was done Rachel said, "Very good! You garbled nine a bit but it was recognizable. You seem to be adapting to this pretty well. Why don't you try asking me a question to see if you can form full sentences. Just remember, project the words"

Sarah thought for a moment about what to ask her then decided to keep it simple for now.

"How old are you?"

Rachel seemed to be listening closely, like someone was talking very softly to her. "How old am I? Is that what you said?"

Sarah nodded enthusiastically and Rachel replied, "Well, I'm technically 25 but I stopped aging when I was changed, at 18. It's one of the benefits of being like this. We never grow old and as long as nothing catastrophic happens, I don't think we die either. Of course, they've only been doing this for 30 years or so so there's no real way of knowing"

"Really?" Sarah responded, "What other benefits are there to this?" she asked while pointing to tail.

"Hey, I actually heard all of that!" Rachel said, "You picked this up quick. But anyway, there are some other nice benefits. Think of it, we never have to work again, no more bills, no more responsibilities. We can just have as much fun as we want all day, every day! This is paradise!" Rachel held out her arms and twirled while she said this.

"Yeah, as long as we stay in our tanks and as long as none of the giants out there feed and take care of us. I'm sorry, life in captivity isn't my idea of paradise" Sarah said, causing Rachel to stop twirling and come back down, the happiness gone from her face, replaced by a mix of anger and fear. In her head Sarah could hear her yelling, "Ellen would never do that! She loves me and wouldn't dream of harming me! Why would you even say that! You're mean!" Suddenly the calm, helpful woman in front of her was replaced by a scared, insecure girl. Rachel swam off to the other end of the tank, away from Sarah. Taken aback by this, but feeling bad for making her upset, Sarah

swam over to her, held her in her arms, and patted her head, telling her, "I'm sorry, I know she wouldn't. I didn't mean anything by it, I'm just upset by all this. It's a lot to have to deal with all at once. I'm sure we'll be great friends" While she held the smaller sobbing woman, Sarah was grateful that she had experience dealing with mentally unstable people from her days as a counselor for at risk youths, something told her those skills would be needed.

"Really?" Rachel looked up, maybe with tears in her eyes but underwater it was hard to tell. "Really", Sarah said, looking down at her with a smile on her face.

And like that, the Rachel Sarah had met at first was back.

"Ok, now that you've learned how to talk to me, you need to learn how to talk to humans", Sarah was again creeped out by hearing someone refer to humans, and not 'other' humans. But then again, she supposed that was accurate. She didn't really qualify as human. She wondered if one day she would call them that without even thinking about it. "They don't have the ability to receive or send thoughts like us but luckily for them we can transmit our thoughts into that intercom over there. Watch", Rachel pointed to the wall with the intercom on it, where Ellen was standing, watching them. Sarah wondered how long she had been there. "Hi Sis", Rachel said, happily. "Hi Rachel, how's our new friend coming along?" Ellen's voice came from the speaker.

"I'll let her answer herself" Rachel replied, "Go ahead Sarah".

"Umm, hi Ellen" Sarah said, not really knowing what else to say, adding "How do I sound?"

Ellen smiled, telling her, "I don't know how much Rachel went into this with you but both of your voices are high pitched and squeaky, like you inhaled too much helium but that's normal and I can distinguish between the two of you. Very nice job I should add"

Sarah was a little disappointed to learn she would always sound like a chipmunk, but at least she able to talk again. And she had a lot of questions.

"Now that I can talk, can I ask you some more questions?" Sarah asked Ellen.

"Of course you can, but let me get you into your new home. It's much more comfortable and Rachel can show you around while we talk"

Rachel's face lit up at that, again showing that child-like persona she had seen early but it quickly went away. "Sounds good", Sarah said, "When do we leave?"

"I've got the travel bowl right here", Ellen said while pointing to a small goldfish bowl on the table next to the aquarium.

"It's going to be a bit cramped, It's really more for Rachel but as long as you keep your head underwater you'll be ok. It won't be for long anyway. Now, don't be alarmed, I'm going to reach in and pick you up, just hold your

breath". Sarah nodded and looking up saw the surface of the water break and Ellen's giant hand reach in, her thumb went under one arm, her forefinger under the other and she was lifted out of the water. Once out, she immediately held her breath while she was being transported. Being out of the water like this even for a few seconds made her realize just how trapped she was. The air was cold and dry to her, as soon as it hit her skin she felt goose bumps plus her tail felt like it was already starting to dry out.

This feeling didn't last long though, she was in the fishbowl soon enough but it was too small even for her. She had to lay on her back to stay under but her tail stuck out. It was feeling dryer by the second. After a few more seconds she heard a splash and Rachel was lying in front of her, lucky for her she was small enough to be entirely underwater.

"I know, the air is really dry to you, isn't it?" Rachel asked her as she settled in for the ride. Sarah nodded. "We're not made for out there" Rachel said pointing outside, "We dry up fast".

"What happens if we dry up completely?" Sarah asked.

"Oh, don't worry, you'd suffocated before that happened" Rachel said, a little cheerfully. Sarah gulped and they remained in silence for the rest of the ride.

After a few minutes of bumping around in the bowl, colliding with Rachel in some very uncomfortably intimate ways, she felt it being placed on a flat surface. Ellen's fingers came in and scooped Rachel up and away. Sarah's turn came shortly after and once again she was out in the air, her tail almost hurting it was so dry now. Ellen must have realized this because she moved faster and dropped her into her new home.

She landed with a splash and took a moment to get her bearings. When she did, she looked around in awe. This tank was huge, even by human standards. At her scale, it was like two city blocks. Rachel swam up next to her and said, "Not bad, huh? Come on, let me show you around", reaching out her hand. Sarah took the smaller woman's hand in hers and followed her to a corner of the tank with a tube going out into the room. "These were made for me but you should be able to squeeze in. Ellen is going to see about making them bigger eventually but I really want you to see what's in here" Rachel said as she dove into the tube and took off. Sarah reluctantly followed, a bit worried about getting stuck she entered the tube. It was a tight fit and not something she would like to do on a regular basis but she eventually managed to squeeze through. It came out into a chamber with a 32 inch television screen for a wall. At her size it was like a movie theater. There were a couple of rocks in front of it and even a little waterproof remote control.

"This is my, I mean our entertainment room. Any movie we want we just ask Ellen for and she'll put in for us." Sarah had to admit to herself, she was impressed. There was no way she would ever be able to afford a TV this size in her old life, let alone fit it into her apartment. She was a little disappointed in the seating selection though. "Why

do we have to sit on rocks? Couldn't she get some couches in here or something?"

Rachel chuckled and told her, "You're still thinking like a human. Before you say anything, try sitting on one." Sarah choose the larger one and lowered herself onto it. Her tail contoured perfectly onto it and her back felt more supported and comfortable than she'd ever felt. She'd never have believed it if she wasn't experiencing it but this rock was more comfortable than any couch or chair she had ever sat on in her human life.

"Comfortable?" Rachel asked, getting right in Sarah's face. "Very", she replied.

"Wait till you see your bed then, it's even better. Come on, I'll show you" Rachel darted back into the tube and Sarah, again squeezed her back though to the main chamber. When she came out she saw Rachel heading toward the bottom and followed her. The bottom was covered with stones and there was a small opening in the floor that Rachel went into and again Sarah had to struggle to get through but luckily it was just a doorway so she popped out into the bedroom chamber. Rachel's room was very odd. Ellen had obviously spent a lot of time making miniature replicas of human items. She had a dresser, a night stand, desk, and posters all over the walls. The posters revealed more about her split personalities. There were boy band posters right next to beautiful artwork. It looked like an adult lived here with a child. The centerpiece of the room was a massive flat rock, about twice the size of a king mattress. Sarah saw it and was impressed and nervous at the same time. Did Ellen expect her to sleep in the same bed as Rachel? Did Rachel expect her to?

"This is nice, where's my room?" Sarah asked, hoping Rachel would say Ellen's working on it or it's the next room over. Anything but what she said next.

"What do you mean? This is your room. It's our room. We're going to have so much fun here. I know we're going to get along great, not like those other..." Rachel's mature personality took over mid sentence before she could finish, "It's just easier this way. Don't worry, we'll make the door bigger for you"

"No, wait. What did you mean by 'other'. Other what? Have there been others before me? What happened to them?"

Rachel covered her ears, shouted "NOTHING! LEAVE ME ALONE!", and took off out of the room and out of Sarah's sight.

"Shit, what did she mean by others?" Sarah thought to herself. Just then she heard Ellen's voice come over the intercom in the room, "Sarah, we need to talk. Can you come out into the main area?"

Sarah squeezed her way out of the bedroom into the main area. She could see Ellen standing next to the tank, waiting for her.

"At the opposite end of the tank there's another tube, this one is big enough for you. Please take it and wait for me

in the room it leads to", Ellen's voice was cold and clinical which alarmed Sarah but her desire for answers was strong enough that she did as Ellen requested.

She was right, the tube was big enough for her to swim through, which felt nice after the last one she had to deal with. This room was set up similar to Rachel's bedroom with the same decoration style minus the mature decorations, this seemed to be her playroom. There were all kinds of things for her to swim around, over, under, and through.

Suddenly the door to the room shut and the whole thing started to shake. Looking outside she could see she was being carried. She felt a thud as the room was placed on a table and once again she was looking right into Ellen's face.

"Ok, drop the bullshit, this wasn't an accident, was it?" Sarah demanded of Ellen.

Ellen looked at her, took a deep breath, and simply said, "No."

The bluntness of her answer took Sarah by surprise. She had been expecting to have to fight for the real answer yet there it was, just thrown out in the first sentence. The two of them remained fixed on each other as Ellen spoke. "Everything I told you about what happened to Rachel is true. The part I left out is that the whole ordeal left her mind fractured beyond repair. You see, even when she was a human size mermaid no one bothered to talk to her and she never knew she could communicate in any way. She had to develop a separate personality to keep from going completely insane. Then when she was shrunk and abused even more, she snapped. As I said earlier I was able to make her not afraid of humans but she still had issues. She needed someone her size to comfort her, someone she could hold when she had her bad moments"

"Then why didn't you just get her a boyfriend? Why me?" Sarah asked

"That's what I tried to do at first", Ellen said. "The first was even a willing volunteer. He had nothing to live for in his human life so I made the offer, telling him exactly what it would involve and showed him Rachel. He jumped at the chance to spend his days free from the troubles of life with someone as beautiful as Rachel. I even mentioned her mental problems but he didn't care. I made him a couple inches taller than her, at his request, so he wouldn't feel completely inadequate. Everything worked very well for a few months until he started getting bored with Rachel, he seemed to be more and more interested in me. The horny little bastard got to a point where he demanded sex from me. Now, I know what you're thinking, how can an 8 inch merman demand anything from me?"

"Yeah, that had crossed my mind", Sarah said

"Well, he told me that if I didn't take him into the bathtub every night he would tell Rachel he hated her. She was so fond of him that it would devastate her so I complied. I'm ashamed to admit that it was actually enjoyable. He was

able to do things I would have never dreamed of but I knew it was wrong. Finally, even with our nightly sexual encounters he demanded even more. When I refused he took it out on Rachel. The only plus side to that was once he hit her she started hating him and I was free to dispose of him"

Sarah's eyes widened, "You killed him? Just like that?"

"No, he's still alive but I think killing him might have been better for him. I gave him to the owner's daughter, Amber. She gets to keep all the returns when our clients get tired of or unable to take of their pets. She's developed a god complex from all the little creatures she has at her command."

Sarah felt her stomach churning. Her choices were now live with a mentally disturbed girl smaller than her or a mentally deranged giant girl. "What do you mean by creatures? Do you make more than merpeople?" Sarah asked. "Yes", Ellen replied, "We can make any fantasy creature you can think of. It's all about DNA manipulation. We mostly do catgirls the size of normal cats but we can anything anyone can imagine."

The idea that there were more than just merpeople like her out there fascinated, and even excited Sarah. Ellen continued,

"For the second guy I decided to look for someone gentle, someone who would never hurt Rachel. And as an added safety measure I made him smaller than her so even if he did turn out to be an asshole he wouldn't be able to hurt her. That was a disaster from the beginning. As soon as he woke up he freaked out. Hoping Rachel could calm him down I introduced her but at his size she seemed like a giant too, which only freaked him out more. For a moment I thought this could actually help Rachel, she seemed to be treating him very maternally but he just wouldn't calm down. When he started trashing the place I had to give him to Amber. Which brings us to you", Ellen said as she adjusted herself in her seat.

"But why me?" Sarah pleaded.

"I decided that what Rachel really needs is a friend, not a mate. I had been watching you for a while. You seem like a very kindhearted, caring person. When I found out you had experience working with troubled teens I knew you were perfect. I made you bigger than Rachel so you could handle her tantrums."

"Stop right there," Sarah interrupted, "If you care so much about your sister why didn't you do this to yourself?!" She was getting angrier just thinking about it. This woman took away her life and made her into a pet for as long as she lives and for what? To take care of some mentally unstable young woman?

"Believe me, I considered it", Ellen replied coldly, "But at that size I'd be unable to protect her from people like the guy who did that to her. Or Amber. She probably would have ended up convincing her father to let her keep us. I'd be useless to her like that"

"Yeah, being made small and useless would sure suck" Sarah said sarcastically.

"I've made arrangements for that." was all Ellen would say followed by, "Now then, I'm going to give you a choice. Do you want to help me take care of my sister or should I call Amber right now?" She picked up a phone to emphasize her point.

Having no choice, Sarah reluctantly agreed, adding "I just have two requests"

"Go on", Ellen said.

"First, I want complete honesty from you from now on. No more games. If there's anything else you've left out, tell me now"

"Fair enough", Ellen said, "No there's nothing I've left out. What the second request?"

"I want your word that you'll provide me with anything I ask for within reason."

"Done" Ellen said. "Let's shake on it" She lifted the lid from the room and reached her hand into it. Sarah grabbed her index finger and they shook.

"One more thing", Ellen added, "Before you go back, do you want to know how tall you are and how much you weigh now"

Oddly enough, with all the excitement Sarah hadn't even given any thought to just how small she was. In a way she didn't want to know, like not knowing could somehow make this not real. Of course, not knowing wouldn't make any difference and she knew it.

"Okay." She said.

"I have to take you outside the tank for this. Just hold your breath and I'll be quick." Ellen said as she reached in and took Sarah out. She laid her flat on her back and straightened out her tail to full length then took a tape measure and laid it next to her. After that she was scooped up and placed on a cold metal scale for a second. The whole process took less than a minute and before she knew it Sarah was back in the comfort and safety of the water.

"Well?" she asked, "What's the verdict?"

"You're 10 inches tall and you weigh 12 ounces" Ellen said, almost cheerfully.

Even though she was expecting it, the news still hit her hard. In her mind she pictured a 12 inch ruler. Knowing she only came up to the 10 on that was too much for her. She looked at her webbed fingers, they didn't feel it to her but they were now less than an inch long each. Her arms probably two or three inches. Her legs, or rather her tail was only about six inches. Looking at her chest she estimated her breasts to be the size of gumballs, maybe whoppers. She saw a mirror over to the side, which she swam over to in order to check herself out. She still looked the same

as she did before the change. Her eyes were still green, her hair a dark shade of auburn. But from her waist down she had bright green fish scales that ended in a tail. Looking at her neck she could see the slits where her gills were. This was the image she would be greeted with for the rest of her life. She sank to the bottom of the tank and started to cry for the first time since this started. Ellen reached in and stroked her hair in an effort to comfort her but Sarah pushed her finger away. "Just give me some time to deal with this", she said through tears. Ellen stood up and walked away.

When she returned Sarah had calmed down some and was swimming around the tank, checking things out.

"Are you ok now?" Ellen asked

"Not really, but I have no choice but to try and accept this" Sarah said. "I'm ready to return"

"Ok, brace yourself" Ellen said as she lifted the tank and replaced it in its spot in the main tank.

Sarah opened the door and went back out only to be greeted by Rachel.

"I'm so glad you chose to stay! We're going to be such good friends!" Rachel said as she hugged Sarah tightly. Sarah rested her chin on Rachel's head and said, "Yes, we will", while looking up at Ellen, who was watching them both.

After they broke their embrace Sarah looked up at Ellen and said, "By the way, when do we eat? I'm getting pretty hungry"

Ellen looked at the clock and said, "I'm so sorry, I didn't even notice the time. I'll be right back". She went over to a nearby cupboard, took out what looked like a can of fish food and brought it over.

"Whoa! Are you serious? You feed us fish food?" Sarah asked.

"Relax, it's a special formula made just for your kind. You're entire digestive system has been altered. Your taste buds too. Human food would not only make you very sick, it would taste disgusting to you." Ellen said as she dropped several pellets into the tank.

"Yeah, come on Sarah these are really good" Rachel said as she grabbed one floating by her and broke it in two, handing the larger piece to Sarah, "try it".

Sarah reluctantly took the carrot sized stick from Rachel and took a small bite. To her surprise it tasted very good, something she could definitely get used to eating on a regular basis. It reminded her of gingerbread cookies, only softer and a little sweeter. She grabbed a couple more pellets and ate them. She immediately felt better.

"Wow, these are good" she said.

"Told you" Rachel said with her mouth full, causing her to spit some of her pellet out. They both burst into laughter. Ellen, watching the whole thing, looked on and smiled. "I hope she keeps you happy" she said to herself.

As the days and weeks passed, Sarah spent her time getting to know Rachel when she was in her normal personality and taking care of her when she reverted to her childlike personality. One night, while Sarah was reading to her Rachel snapped out of it and said to her, "I know this has been hard on you but I want to say thank you for all you've done for me", then went right back to her immature self. This was the first time Rachel acknowledged she had a problem and gave Sarah hope that maybe she was getting better. Even though that wouldn't mean her freedom, nothing would, at least she could live a somewhat normal life with a somewhat normal roommate. From what she knew of normal Rachel she was a nice person and a good friend. They had a lot of fun together. Whether they were in the TV room watching Family Guy or just floating around talking, she felt a connection with her that she had never felt with anyone before. Unfortunately, these moments were almost always interrupted by childlike Rachel whenever they started having any kind of meaningful conversations. Once Ellen saw how well they got along she kept her distance, sticking to her work and only checking on them from time to time and to feed them.

A few days after Rachel made her breakthrough, Sarah tried to make it happen again. While she was reading to her she said, "Remember when you thanked me? I really appreciated that".

At first Rachel just looked at her, confused but eventually something seemed to click and she said, "I'm glad you did. You've become such a good friend to me. I don't know what I would do without you. I love you"

Surprised at this, Sarah replied, "I love you too"

Rachel responded by taking Sarah's hand in hers and placing it on her right breast. Sarah pulled back at first but gave in, as they both leaned in and kissed each other. Soon, they were both lying in the bed making love. Even though this was somewhat new to her, Sarah knew where all the right parts were and it was obvious Rachel did too. They went at it for most of the night until falling asleep in each other's arms.

When morning came Sarah awoke to find Rachel wasn't in the bed with her. She went out into the main room (the door had been altered so she could fit through it easily now) and saw Rachel talking to her Ellen. As she entered the room, Ellen looked at her and she knew right away that Rachel had told her what happened last night.

Ellen could see the apprehension on Sarah's face and told her, "Don't worry. Rachel told me everything. She's very happy thanks to you. She hasn't even reverted to her other personality yet"

"Yeah, isn't it great?" Rachel said as she threw her arms around Sarah's neck and kissed her. "I think I'm better" "That would be great, but don't get too excited yet. You had a major breakthrough last night" Rachel interrupted, "about five breakthroughs actually" she said with a smirk.

Sarah smiled, remembering her own orgasms. They were better than anything she had ever experienced. So good

that she would even choose to remain like this just to experience them again.

"Regardless, we need to be careful. You could still revert" For a moment, Rachel looked almost like she did revert

but she recovered and said, "I know. You're right, but I think I'll be ok as long you keep this up"

Suddenly Sarah saw movement behind Ellen. Ellen turned around to see a young woman, about 19 years old wearing a tight white t-shirt that exposed her belly button, tight jeans, and white sneakers standing behind her. She was holding an insect carrier and looked annoyed. "Oh, Hi Amber" Ellen said, "Is this the one you called about?" "Yeah, the bitch wouldn't stay still. I told her, don't move, and what does she do? She moves! Now she has a broken wing and she won't stop crying. I can't stand her little squeaks!" Amber replied.

"Let me see her" Ellen said, taking the carrier, "Wow, how small is she? I can barely see her."

"I don't know" Amber said, like Ellen was bothering her with that question, "one, maybe two inches. Who cares?" "I'll have to use my special tools for this but I think I can fix her", Ellen said rolling her eyes at Amber's indifference to the poor, frightened, tiny fairy she had obviously hurt in some sick kind of sex game. She the proceeded to talk to the fairy in a very quiet, calm voice, "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to get a better look at you", as she carefully lifted the fairy and placed her under her microscope. "Dammit Amber! What did you do?" Ellen chastised her when she saw the extent of the damage.

"You know what I did?” Amber asked, “none of your damn business, that's what I did. Can you fix her or not?" Ellen sighed, knowing that even when she did fix her, she'd just go back to the hell of Amber's room. "Yeah, I can fix her. Just leave her with me for a few days and..."

"A FEW DAYS!? I need her tonight. Can't you do this faster?"

Trying her hardest to contain her anger and disgust with this spoiled brat, Ellen said, "Come look at her, you didn't just break her wing, you damn near tore it off. And the other isn't looking too hot either. You're lucky she's even still alive" she wanted so badly to tell Amber she wasn't going to return the fairy but knew she would tell her father and he always sided with his precious Amber. He didn't know and most likely didn't care what a monster she was. "Fine!" Amber said, "Keep the worthless little thing as long as you want, I'm taking one of your fish for as long as it takes", and she reached into the tank, grabbed Sarah, who had been standing in front of Rachel to protect her, and stormed out before Ellen could even react.

"NO! SARAH! Ellen! You have to stop her" Rachel screamed. Ellen jumped up and ran out of the room after Amber while Rachel sank to the bottom of the tank and curled into the fetal position.

Amber was down the hallway and in the elevator before Ellen could even get out the door. She rushed up the stairs in a futile attempt to catch her before she made it to her apartment but only managed to get there in time to

see the door close. She banged on the door and shouted, "Give her back to me! You have no right! Open this door or I swear I'll..."

Amber opened the door a crack with the chain on in case Ellen tried anything and taunted, "You'll what? You may be a good doctor but all it would take is one word from me to my father and you'd be out on the streets", then with an evil smirk, "Or worse. Just fix my fairy and you can have Ariel back". With that she slammed the door in her face. Knowing there was nothing she could do, Ellen walked back to her apartment, defeated. She was beginning to form a plan that might put Amber out of everyone's misery for good. But first she needed to fix that fairy and get her on her side. That would be crucial.

Meanwhile, in Amber's apartment, she slammed the door and casually strolled over to her couch, ignoring the squirming mini mermaid in her hand gasping to breathe. She knew from experience that they could last several minutes out of water before they died, and those were smaller than this one. Once at the couch she roughly dropped Sarah on one of the cushions and knelt beside her to examine her newest catch. The fall, though only a few feet and onto a cushion, felt much higher and the surface harder to Sarah who winced from the pain as she landed with a thud. The lack of oxygen was making her light headed but she was able to regain some composure while the giant Amber knelt in front of her and spoke, "Hi there, fishy! While you're my guest there are going to be a few rules. The first rule is you do what I say, when I say. The second rule is only rule number one matters. Now, stand up". Sarah just stared at her in disbelief. What did she mean, 'stand up'? How could she? She looked at her and shrugged her shoulders. "I said STAND UP! I know you speak English, fishy. Do as I say" Scared for her life but still unsure of what to do, Sarah lifted herself up with her arms and did her best to stand as straight as she could. Amber, watching this all with glee grabbed her around the waist and said, "Not fast enough, you need to learn some respect" as she dropped her onto the floor. Landing on the floor hurt even more than the landing on the couch but at the moment Sarah was more concerned with getting back into the water so she could breathe. Luckily for her, Amber saw her face turning blue and as psychotic as she was, knew that a dead pet is no fun. Sarah saw her giant foot go over her head at an amazing speed and soon she was being lifted again. This time Amber placed her in a glass baking pan. Even at her small size it was still pretty shallow and she couldn't get completely submerged but she could get under enough to breathe and for now that was all that mattered.

While her face was pressed against the bottom of the pan Amber lifted it over her head and looked up at her tiny captive, taunting her.

"Wow, look at you! I bet if someone told you a year ago from today you'd be lying face down in a baking dish trying to get enough water so you didn't drown you'd think they were insane"

She touched the part of the glass where Sarah's breasts were pushed up against the bottom. "Look at those tits! You're stacked like a grape vine. You've got flat little grape boobies", then started laughing maniacally. When she'd had enough she put the pan down and picked Sarah up again, this time resting her back in the palm of her hand, letting her tail run down her wrist and supporting her head with her fingers. She brought her up to her mouth and said, "You know, in some cultures they say eating the flesh of a mermaid gives you eternal life. Maybe I should find out..." as she put Sarah's left breast in her mouth and nibbled. Not enough to break the skin but enough to leave a mark. Sarah let out a yelp that caused Amber to clap her hands over her ears, in the process dropping her, luckily back into the water pan.

"Don't ever do that again!" Amber said, angrily. "Shit! I thought those little bastards were annoying. They're even worse when they're bigger"

Sarah, feeling defiant and more than a little upset at being taken away from her home yet again let out an even louder shriek, this time actually causing Amber to stumble. When she saw this, she was filled with hope and started shrieking even more. Amber had a confused, pained look on her face and seemed like she was about to fall over but at the last minute she managed to grab Sarah and place her thumb over her mouth. Sarah could see tiny droplets of blood coming from her ears and struggled to get free, knowing that a few more seconds of her yelling could mean her freedom. Who knew her distorted voice had a purpose?

"That was smart Flipper. I have a good mind to leave you out here to die but I have a better idea. You need water to live but it doesn't matter what kind of water", keeping her thumb over her mouth she carried her over to the bathroom and lifted the lid off the toilet tank. "Maybe some time in here will change your tune" she said as she dropped Sarah in and replaced the lid. Just to drive the point home she flushed the toilet a few times.

Inside the tank was cramped and dark. She couldn't see her hand in front of her face. When the toilet flushed she heard a loud humming as all the water left the tank and she fell to the bottom, bumping into the pipes on her way down. The second time she was still at the bottom and the suction pulled her tail into it and tore her fin a little. By the third flush she knew where to stay to keep safe. It meant hanging from another pipe until it filled again but it kept her safe. Once in a relatively safe spot she waited, dreaming of the chance to get her revenge on this insane monster.

After flushing the toilet a few times, Amber got bored and went back to her living room. She was still a little light headed so she went to the couch to relax for a while. On her way she passed an aquarium where two mermen, both smaller than Sarah but one smaller than the other were looking at her, apparently having seen the whole

encounter. She banged on the glass very hard, so hard she could actually hear it crack and said, "If you two so much as think of that, you're going in the fucking garbage disposal if I hear even one little peep. Got that!"

She knew they couldn't hear her. Even if she didn't bang the glass so hard it felt like an earthquake to them, she didn't care enough to communicate with them and never bothered installing the intercom system for them. Either way, she knew they got the message. And if not then she didn't care. They were getting boring anyway. The big one loved everything she did to him no matter how awful and the little one just laid there limply all the time.

She fell onto the couch and yelled out, "Beauty! Get over here! I need to relax".

From out of her bedroom came a female centaur, about three feet tall. She had long black hair, pale skin, and sparkling blue eyes. The human half of her body was model perfect, her perfect breasts bounced slightly with each step. At her normal size they would have been considered very large. Her eyes were red from having recently been crying but Amber couldn't care less. She shuffled over joylessly and stood between the couch and the television. Amber put her feet up and rested them on her back. "Ah, I gotta tell you, beauty, you make the best foot rest I've ever had"

The small centaur said nothing until Amber added, "I just complimented you. What do you say?"

In a very small, scared voice the centaur said, "Thank you mistress. I'm grateful you could find a use for such a useless creature as me."

"That's more like it. I don't know why I put up with you things. You're all so damned worthless." Amber spat back, "Where are my kitties?" She yelled out. Two humanoid catgirls, covered in fine white fur with cat ears and tails, each about a foot and a half tall jumped down from their resting spot in the window sill. They weren't always twins in their human life but the circumstances of their former lives resulted in what they now were. They came running over to her, each one jumping up on one of her shoulders and gently kneading her shoulder muscles, using their claws just enough to make it feel good. It was a technique they had perfected after much abuse from Amber for drawing blood.

"Are we making mistress happy?" They both said cheerfully in unison.

Amber, lost in the bliss from their massages just mumbled, "When I'm happy I'll tell you, IF I feel like it"

The two catgirls said nothing and continued.

Ellen arrived back at her apartment disappointed and frustrated. "I have to do something" she muttered to herself still out of breath from running up all those stairs. When the door closed Rachel, who had been at the bottom of the tank in the fetal position ever since Amber snatched Sarah perked up and went over to the glass. Upon seeing Ellen return empty handed she slumped back down and resumed her position. Ellen wanted very

badly to be able to comfort her but right now she had more pressing matters. She walked over to where she had left the fairy but she wasn't on the slide/operating table where she left her. Knowing she couldn't have gotten far, Ellen carefully looked around her desk, moving things she could be hiding behind. As she moved her pen holder she saw the tiny fairy, limping as fast as she could in an attempt to escape. Careful not to hurt her or scare her any more than she already was, Ellen put a post it note in her path and when she walked over it, picked it up with the fairy on it. She really was a small little thing, Ellen estimated her height to be around an inch or so. As she was lifted she cowered and started crying and screaming something she couldn't make out.

She quickly put the post it under the microscope where she had a microphone that could pick up her tiny voice. "Please! No more! I can't take this! I'll do anything, just make me big again!" the fairy's voice came out over the microphone, so high pitched it would have been cute if not for the terror in it.

In her most soothing voice Ellen said, "Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm a doctor, I need to fix your broken wings."

Looking though the microscope view she could see the fairy was shocked that someone could hear her, much less wasn't trying to abuse her in any way. She stopped crying but was still apprehensive.

"How can you hear me? My masters said my voice is too insignificant for humans to hear."

Disgusted to hear that this poor woman had to endure not one but two cruel 'masters', Ellen suddenly felt very sick about her years working for this company. She had assisted in so many transformations, sending so many women and men to suffer fates like the one this fairy had endured. She felt worse than ever about taking Sarah against her will. And now she was suffering at the hands of a cruel evil witch, all because of her. Well, if her plan worked at least she could save the ones Amber was keeping.

"Don't believe anything those monsters told you. You can be heard, you just need an amplifier. I'm so sorry for all you've been through, I'm going to help you with your injuries and if you agree, I think I know a way I can get you your freedom"

The fairy perked up at that, "You mean, you can restore me?"

The hope in the fairy's voice gave Ellen a knot in her stomach as she delivered the news, "I'm sorry. The transformation is permanent. What I'm offering is freedom from the abuse you've been suffering."

Although freedom was a nice goal, the fairy's heart sank upon hearing she was stuck in a world of giants forever. Throughout all her ordeals she had always held on to the dream of someday being restored to her normal size and trying to resume her life. Now she knew that could never be. She would have to deal with that later, right now she had her freedom to earn.

"Ok, I'll help. What do I need to do?"

Ellen smiled as she said, "Like I said, first I need to fix you up. You may have noticed you aren't feeling any more pain, that's because you're going into shock. I'm going to place this cup over you and fill it with anesthetic gas to sedate you so I can get to work. When you wake up we'll talk more”

Before she could respond, a Dixie cup was lowered over her. She heard a loud pop as Ellen punctured it with a needle. Soon she could hear gas coming and it and drifted off to sleep.

When Ellen removed the cup she saw her lying peacefully on the table. She carefully slid her onto her stomach on the slide and placer her under the microscope where she went to work with her tiny instruments to fix her broken wings. She also remembered her limp so she took some X-rays. Luckily there were no broken bones, she must have sprained her ankle while running. When she was done, she sewed her back up, placed her on a warm pile of cotton gauze, and went to check on Rachel.

"Rachel, honey, are you ok? I promise we'll get Sarah back."

Rachel just lifted her head, looked up at her, and took off into her room. Ellen didn't know what else to do, but knew that with any luck, Sarah would be back home tonight. She just hoped this incident didn't have any lasting effects on Rachel. Or Sarah. She had seen the effects of life under Amber's rule had on the ones she kept. Hopefully Sarah was able to stay strong.

Ellen dozed off for a couple of hours and was awoken by the fairy's voice coming out of the microphone. "Are you there?" she said.

She groggily went over to her desk and asked her, "I’m here. How are you feeling?"

"Good as new", the fairy said flapping her wings and rising into the air. She hovered in front of Ellen's face and she could hear her tiny, excited squeaky voice talking very fast but she couldn't make out the words.

"Um, you need to talk into the microphone. I can't hear you", Ellen told her.

The fairy flew back down, landed on the table and said,

"Oh yeah! Sorry. I feel great! Even better than before. How did you do such delicate work on me? I don't even see any scars" she said, turning to examine her already healed wings.

Smiling, Ellen told her, "Well, you fairies heal very fast when your spirits are high. You wouldn't have even needed any kind of medical care if that bitch hadn't kept you in fear and depression all the time."

Upon hearing Amber referred to as 'bitch' the fairy winced. She had been trained to think of Amber as mistress. But she quickly shook it off.

"By the way" she said, "My name is Ellen. What's yours?"

To her surprise, she had to think for a minute. It had been years since anyone had called her by her real name, "The mis... I mean that bitch called me Tink", Ellen rolled her eyes at this, "Real original" she snorted. This made the fairy laugh.

"Yeah, I know. But I wasn't exactly in a position to argue. Anyway, I'm not 100% sure but I think my name was Wendy". Upon saying it, she remembered right away, "Yeah, my name is Wendy. Wendy ummm, uhhh, I'm sorry I can't remember my last name at all."

"Don't worry, Wendy, it'll come back to you. Now then, are you ready to hear the plan?"

"You bet!" Wendy said, and Ellen laid a could of items in front of her.

"Ok, here's what I need you to do", she said while Wendy looked at what was lying in front of her. "I'm going to return you to Amber wearing that cast. I'll tell her you also broke your arm. Inside the cast you'll have a two way radio and a small pellet. As soon as I leave the room I want you to drop the pellet and the cast into the nearest open water you see. The chemical reaction will produce a gas that will knock her out for days. Don't worry, it's only dangerous to humans. That's why I need you to wait until the air is clear before I can come in to get her. That's what the strip on the radio is for. It's an air tester. As long as its red I can't come in but when it turns green, call me and I'll be right in. Do you think you can handle this? I don't want to force you to do something you're not comfortable with"

Desperate for her freedom and thrilled that someone was actually giving her a say in something Wendy said, "Of course I'll do this. It will mean freedom for me and my friends"

"That reminds me", Ellen added, "Do you know how many people she has in there?"

"I don't know for sure but I do know there are two more fairies, both of them are much bigger than me. I couldn't say how big since to me they seem like fifty foot giants. They're nice though, they tried to help me whenever they could. Then there are the catgirls, two identical white ones. She also has a centaur, she's pretty big, but again, keep in mind who's saying that. Oh, and there are two merman she keeps in a tank, I think that's it."

"Do you know if any of them are loyal to her? Would anyone try to stop you?" Ellen asked.

Thinking about it, Wendy said "One of the mermen seems to really love her but she ignores him lately so I can't say for sure. My guess would be no, I'm pretty sure they all hate her."

"Good", Ellen said, "That will make what I have in mind for her that much better."

After carefully putting the cast on Wendy's arm and making sure everything was secure, Ellen placed the bug carrier Amber had left in front of her.

"I'm sorry to have to do this but if I don't put you in this she might get suspicious. You're also going to have to act scared when I deliver you. She most likely wouldn't even notice anyway since I don't think she takes the time to noticed things like your mood but just to be safe."

"I understand", Wendy said as she entered the carrier. Once in she said,

"Wish me luck", to which Ellen replied, "I'm sorry, the microphone doesn't reach that far, I couldn't make out what you said", as she placed the lid on the carrier and headed out to put her plan in motion.

Amber was in the middle of performing a puppet show with the two fairies she had left when Ellen rang her doorbell.

"This better be good, It took me forever to get those two tied up like marionettes", she griped as she opened the door and saw Ellen standing there, holding her tiny fairy in the carrier. Upon seeing her, the fairy started squeaking and yelling like always but unknown to Amber, instead of begging for mercy this time she was yelling, "You're going down bitch!" and other various insults.

"I see my motivation worked. I knew you could get her fixed sooner than a few days", Amber scolded Ellen. "Yeah, you were right. Now can I please have Sarah back? Rachel is devastated without her."

"Who?" Amber asked, "Oh yeah mean Ariel", no you can't have her. She's being punished right now.

"Punished?!" Ellen asked, trying to maintain her calm, "How? And for what?"

"She knows", was all Amber would say. "Come by in a 'few days' ", Amber mocked as grabbed the carrier with Wendy inside and slammed the door in her face. If Amber had been looking she would have seen Wendy give Ellen the thumbs up as she was taken away.

"A few days! Ha! That should teach her. Teach them both. Shit, if she wasn't such a good doctor, I'd have made Daddy give her and her sister to me by now. Oh well, she can't be valuable forever", Amber said to herself. She placed the carrier on the table and, opening it, said "Come on out Tink. It's time to finish our game." Wendy came out, acting like she always did, sullen and defeated. Amber noticed the cast on her arm and got pissed. "I thought she fixed you!" I don't want some busted up fairy! Take that off, NOW!"

Panicking, Wendy decided now was the time. She flew up into the air, out of Amber's reach. Amber tried to grab at her but with no luck. Angry, she grabbed a broom and started swatting at her. Wendy managed to avoid the huge bristles but the wind knocked her off course and she crashed into a wall. Quickly checking herself for any injuries and finding none, she got ready to take off again when Amber lowered a glass over her. Wendy couldn't hear her through the glass but she could tell she was yelling at her and she was very angry. Amber slid the glass off the counter, placing a playing card under it to trap Wendy. Wendy braced herself during the bumpy ride, not knowing

what was in store for her. Amber slammed the glass down into a pan full of water on the stove and turned the burner on high. Wendy was trapped in the glass as she felt the temperature rise. She was sure she was done for when she saw Amber fall down, like she had been pushed. At the same time, she saw a furry hand reach down and grab for her. She flew up and into the hand. When she was out of the pan she saw that the centaur had kicked Amber in the knee, which at her size normally wouldn't have done too much but since she was distracted, it took out her support and she fell. Then one of the catgirls started clawing at her face while the other rescued her. The other two fairies, having managed to get free from their strings were flying around dropping whatever they could carry. She watched as Amber grabbed the catgirl clawing at her and threw her across the room where she landed and didn't get back up. This made the other catgirl shout, "TAMMY! NO!" and run over to where her friend had landed. When she stood up, she faced the centaur and without saying a word shoved her aside, where she hit a chair and was knocked out. While she was trying to grab the other fairies, Wendy quickly took off the cast and threw it, along with the pellet, into the boiling water. Amber had just managed to catch one of the fairies when she saw thick, blue smoke pouring out of the pan on her stove. "No! She wouldn't dare!" She said as the smoke filled the room. When it hit Amber she started coughing and wheezing, releasing her grip on the fairy who flew over to Wendy and attempted to take her away from the smoke, which she thought was harmful to them as well. Wendy resisted and said, "It's ok. This smoke won't hurt us. It only affects humans" The other fairy then landed and the three of them watched as Amber gasped some more and finally passed out.

The three of them watched for a few minutes to make sure she was out then they flew out into the room to see if the others were ok. Wendy went over to the centaur who was just coming to. "Are you ok Jennifer?" she asked as she stood up, a little wobbly from hitting her head. "Yeah, I think I'll be ok." she replied as Wendy landed on her back and they went over to where Tammy had landed. Her twin, Paula was cradling her in her arms and crying. "She's not breathing! Someone help." Jen reach down, and taking the smaller catgirl in her arms, laid her on the coffee table and attempted CPR on her. After several minutes there was still no change and Jen looked over at Paula, who was sitting next to Tammy on the table and said, "I'm sorry. I've done all I can."

Paula just fell on top of her and cried some more. Jen, with the three fairies on her shoulders walked over to where Amber was laying. She was still motionless. "She said she would be out for days with this stuff. I think we're ok" Wendy informed them. Jen reared up and stomped on her hand a few times to be safe. Despite her small size, the ferocity of the attack managed to break a couple of fingers. "What do we do now?" Jen asked.

Wendy looked at the radio in her hands. The sensor was green now so she turned it on and said, "Ok. It's done" A few minutes later the door opened and Ellen came in. She walked over to the fish tank but didn't see Sarah. "Where

is she?" She asked Jen.

"Do you mean the mermaid? I don't know, the last I saw of her she was being carried into the bathroom". Ellen ran into there, checking the bathtub, the sink, and finally with apprehension the toilet bowl. She wasn't in any of those. Sitting on the edge of the tub she put her head in her hands. "Where could she be" she said out loud to no one in particular. "I swear if you've hurt her, I'll make you suffer even more than I plan to".

Just then she heard a faint scratching from the toilet tank. Rushing over she lifted the lid and saw Sarah looking up at her, covering her eyes from the light. Ellen quickly scooped her up and brought her out to the living room where she filled a pan with water and placed her into it. "Are you going to be alright" she asked Sarah who responded with a nod. "Good, I have some business to attend to but I'll come back for... oh no! What happened to her?" Ellen asked when she saw Tammy's body on the coffee table. Jen explained everything to which Ellen said, "You've all done very well. And I promise your ordeal at the hands of this monster is over" as she went to carry Amber's body into her lab. "Hey, why is her hand broken?" Ellen asked. Jen proceeded to tell her the rest of the story which made Ellen laugh and say, "Well, a broken hand is going to the be the least of her worries when I'm done with her. Come on, let's go" as Ellen carried Amber out over her shoulder and Jen followed carrying the pan Sarah was in with Paula on her back holding Tammy's lifeless body and the fairies riding on her shoulders.

The group arrived in Ellen's lab and she dropped Amber onto a metal plate on the floor then went over to a control panel and raised the plate to her waist level so she could begin her procedure. Before she started though, she turned to Jen,

"Would you mind bringing Sarah back to her tank? My sister is worried sick about her and she needs to know everything is ok."

Jen agreed to do it but Ellen could see her disappointment at missing Amber's punishment.

"Don't worry, I still have some preparation to do. I won't be starting for some time so you won't miss this, besides I need your input for the punishment"

"Really?" Jen asked, excited at the chance for some payback.

"Really" came the answer, "Just one more thing. When you drop Sarah off press the red buttom marked 'lab access' on the tank. It will give them access to the lab when they're ready"

With that Jen took the keys from Ellen and headed out the door to reunite Sarah and Rachel.

"Now then", Ellen said as she approached Paula, who was on the floor huddled over Tammy's body, "I'm so sorry this had to happen. I promise you she'll receive a proper burial after we're done here" as she placed a towel over the body.

Wiping tears from eyes, Paula looked up and said, "Thank you. I want that bitch to pay."

"Oh she will", Ellen said. "She will".

She knelt beside Paula and asked, "Is it ok for me to carry you or do you want to walk? We're going to sit at that table and decide what to do next".

Part of her wanted to walk around on her own but after her ordeal she was so exhausted that she agreed to be carried.

"You too, come on" Ellen said to the fairies.

They all made their way to the table where Ellen had set up a microphone so Wendy could be heard. The other two, Heidi and Liz, were big enough that they could be heard by human ears but were apparently discouraged from speaking by Amber so were pretty quiet for most of the discussion, ocassionaly whispering to Wendy who would pass along their ideas.

After some initial discussion, the door opened and Jen walked over to the table and climbed up on the box Ellen had set for her. Looking at the box she sighed, remembering the last time she sat at a table like this.

"How was Rachel?" Ellen asked.

"Well, I couldn't really say. As soon as I put Sarah in the tank Rachel rushed over to her and they hugged for a little while then Sarah thanked me and asked me to leave while the two of them swam toward a little cave at the bottom. I did remember to press the button so I guess they'll be here eventually"

With a smile, Ellen said, "I'd say she's ok then. Good, thank you. Now, on to the matter at hand. What do you propose we do?"

The discussion went on for hours. It was mostly friendly but would occasionally get heated when one of them would relive their mistreatment at Amber's hands. Finally, a decision was made, it wasn't going to be pretty but they all agreed it would be the most suitable thing for her. Ellen stood up and announced, "Ok. Time to inform our 'guest' of her fate", as she stuck a needle in Amber's arm to neutralize the toxin and wake her up.

Amber's eyes fluttered open and she gasped for air as she woke. "Wha, where am I?" she demanded, trying to get up, "Why am I tied down?" Just then Ellen stood over her with a look of complete victory on her face.

"Amber! How nice of you to join us" she said as she positioned a monitor over her face that showed all of her captives looking at her with the same look as Ellen.

"What are they doing here? Put them back and let me go now and I might let you stay mostly human", Amber demanded, just as arrogant as ever.

"Come on, Amber. You've lost, you can drop the royalty attitude now. In fact, it would be a very smart..."

She was cut off by Amber yelling, "FUCK YOU! You won't get away with this! When Daddy finds out he'll..." This time it was Ellen doing the interrupting, "Shut up!" she yelled as she smacked her across the face. It was obvious she wasn't used to being hit like that as she looked very pained, yet still full of rage. She just stared at Ellen with intense hatred while mumbling, "You wait, you wait" over and over.

"Believe me, I've considered the consequences of your father finding out about this but you see, as far as he'll be concerned his precious daughter will still be around. In fact, he'll find that she's developed quite the aptitude for medicine", Ellen said as she stuck a needle in Amber's spine through her stomach and took out some spinal fluid. The pain was enough to make her pass out but Ellen had other ideas, "Oh no you don't. You're not getting off that easy", as she injected her again to keep her awake. She came to with a start and after struggling some more, settled down and began groaning.

Looking at the tank she had set up for Sarah and Rachel, Ellen saw that they had arrived and were talking to the others. That was good, they needed to see what she was about to do next. They wouldn't believe her after she was done no matter who told her unless they witnessed it with their own eyes.

Approaching the tank, she addressed the two mermaids, "I trust they've told you what I have to do in order for this work and us not to get caught."

Sarah just nodded. Rachel looked like she wanted to protest but nodded also.

"Good, just remember, I'll still be me no matter what I look like. This is the only way"

With that she went over to another panel, injected the spinal fluid into a machine and waited while it was mixed with other chemicals and emptied back into another syringe.

"If I go into cardiac arrest, use this on me", Ellen instructed Jen placing a defibrillator on the floor in front of her. "Ellen, are you sure you have to do this?" Jen asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. Her father will notice her absence after a day or two and when he does the first thing he'll do is check the security tapes. This way I'll have full access to the whole building and be able to erase everything." With that she lifted her hair from her neck and drove the needle into the base of her skull, pressing the plunger and passing the point of no return.

The group stood by and watched as she collapsed to the floor and began going into convulsions. Once those stopped they could see her begin to change. First her hair changed from black to blonde, then she lost several inches of height. Next they could hear the bones in her face rearranging themselves and had to look away as her face became a jumbled mess momentarily. The whole process only took about five minutes but they felt like much

longer to Ellen who couldn't use anesthesia on herself since it would keep her under for too long. She rose, sweating and breathing heavily. Her pants fell down to her ankles, followed by her panties. Her bra on the other hand was suddenly several sizes too small and was pinching her so she took that off too. She walked over to the mirror and after brushing the hair from her face saw that she was now Amber's identical twin. She raised her hand to face, which was still sore, and felt her new features. Looking down at her now ample breasts she said, "Oh great. I can't even see my feet", which came out in Amber's voice only a little hoarse from the recent trauma she underwent.

Reaching up, higher up than she remembered now that she was only 5'2 compared to her previous 5'9 she grabbed a lab coat off the rack and put it on. It now fell to her shins but it would have to do for now. She considered asking Jen to run over and get her some of Amber's clothes then remembered Amber wouldn't need the ones she was wearing soon anyway.

She walked over to Amber's table, where she was still moaning from the needle Ellen had stuck into her and attempted to lean over her again. At her new height it wasn't as easy as before so she brought over a step stool. "This is going to be a huge adjustment", Ellen thought to herself as she leaned over Amber and said, "Surprise!"

Amber just stared at Ellen in her new form, speechless. Seeing her like this meant that she was serious about what she was going to do, there was no reversing a transformation and she knew there was no room for two of her. She struggled even harder to free herself but with no success.

Ellen looked down at her and laughed, "This is only the beginning. And trust me, you're going to remember this as the easy part", Ellen said as she took some more spinal fluid from Amber. She was just getting over the pain from the last one and this one hurt even more. Again she passed out and this time it was Jen who snapped her out of it with an injection. She then went to each of the women in the room and took a small blood sample from them.

Ellen went back to the DNA resequencer, emptied Amber's spinal fluid along with the blood samples into it, and began entering the parameters for her new form. The fairies had landed on her shoulder and were watching the monitor that had a final projection model rendered of what she would look like and how small she would end up. Wendy was happy to see she would be even smaller than her, almost half her size in fact. As the machine emptied its contents into the syringe, Ellen asked, "Now, you're all sure you want to do this?" They looked at each other, then at Tammy's body covered by the towel, and finally at Amber and nodded in unison. "Yeah, I didn't think you'd be backing out." Ellen said as she went over to Amber, lifted her head, and injected the solution into the back of her neck.

"You're all going to pay for this! I swear! Whatever happens to me will seem like nothing when I get..." Amber yelled then passed out.

"Not again", Ellen said in frustration as she woke her up. "I told you, you're staying awake through each painful change, and trust me this is going to go very slow for you"

As she spoke, Amber was already starting to shrink. She reached roughly four feet and stopped shrinking. She wasn't done, it was the way Ellen programmed the procedure to work. Ellen quickly stripped Amber and put her clothes on before they were ruined. She wasn't too comfortable wearing these clothes, they made her feel cheap and slutty like she always saw Amber, but then again she was Amber now so until she was settled in she was going to have to get used to wearing these. She had to admit though, she was pretty hot. Not that she was bad looking before, but now she was downright gorgeous. And young, this change had shaved 12 years off her age, not to mention the anti-aging agent she added so she would stay this age, like Sarah and Rachel indefinitely. Her contemplation was interrupted by Amber screaming.

The second wave was beginning. There were no obvious changes at first but she knew that inside, a bomb had gone off inside Amber.

"Please, make this stop", she pleaded, for the first time not in anger, but out of fear. But she knew as well as they did that even if they wanted to they couldn't stop this now. The best they could do was knock her out, which they had no intention of doing. Amber screamed even more as she felt her bones and all her internal organs dissolve and fuse into a spongy mass. She retained her human form for now, it was just all one bundle of nerves. No more heart, stomach, or any organ, even her brain was all one. She would still retain her personality, intelligence, and everything else that made her who she was, it was just all linked now. Ellen stood on the step stool over her again and used a scalpel to slice her arm open. It hurt more than anything she had ever imagined but there was no blood, the gash just stayed open and within seconds closed up, like a mass of Jell-O.

When the third phase kicked in, she felt her legs fusing together and her body was being bent in a ninety degree angle. She was forced to her knees, or rather what were her knees as her lower half formed into a slug body. Her upper half remained relatively intact at the moment as she shrank some more, this time stopping at about a foot.

Thinking it was done, Amber looked up at the now giant world and sobbed, in a very small, weak voice, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please help me", but she was wrong about it being done. She felt her teeth loosen and start to fall out. She was spitting them out like chicklets. When they were all gone, she felt tiny little needles sprouting in her mouth, so sharp they pierced her tongue when she talked. That is until her tongue toughened and formed a sucker at the end of it. She was still able to speak but she had a horrible lisp that would make it hard for anyone to

understand her. During all this she was vaguely away of her former captives standing over her, taking this all in and loving every minute of it. She wanted nothing more than to hurt them but felt an overwhelming sense of fear that was programmed into her. At this point she could hear Ellen, now with Amber's voice say, "Oh yeah. I almost forgot, we wouldn't want her to miss this" as she walked past her, stepping on and flattening her lower half as she did. This brought even more pain, both when she was flattened and as her body reshaped itself. When she returned, she placed a mirror in front of her.

She didn't want to look but suddenly Jen reached down and twisted her head almost 180 degrees to make her see what she had become. Her face was almost the same except her lips looked swollen and her mouth looked puckered. She opened her mouth to see a round hole filled with tiny little teeth. Her tongue darted out involuntarily and she could see it had a hole in the end of it, almost like a straw. Her torso was surprisingly unchanged, other than the fact that her skin was now a sickly looking pale yellowish color. Looking at her lower half sent her into a panic attack. She no longer even remotely resembled a human down there, it was now just a slimy snail like body. She even saw a puddle of slime underneath her, just like a real snail. She started hyperventilating and Heidi, still smaller than her at about 10 inches landed in front of her and yelled in her face, "STOP IT! Breathe normally!" Thinking her size advantage would matter, she tried to punch Heidi. The hit landed where she wanted, on her chin but her fist just flattened upon impact, leaving a slimy residue. Heidi wiped the slme off, smiled and said, "My turn" as she pulled back and hit her in the chin with all her strength. Her first splattered Amber's lower jaw, leaving her with a gaping hole. Unable to scream like this, she just made a gurgling sound as she grabbed her mouth, which like everything else eventually reformed.

"Please, just kill me and get it over with", Amber pleaded.

"Sorry, that's no longer an option", Ellen said from high above.

Her transformations complete, Amber noticed Heidi looked bigger to her. She watched in horror as she shrank down past her mouth, then her stomach, finally stopping when she was eye level with her calves. She felt a presence behind her and when she turned around she saw Wendy, now twice her size, standing over her. "Can you hear me now?" she said mockingly. Amber nodded her heard and Wendy said, "Good" as she grabbed her by the arms and swung her into Heidi's shin.

"Stop it!, that tickles" Heidi said as Amber was splattered all over her foot. Heidi reached down and said in disgust, "Eww. Now I have Amber on me" as she flicked the blob that was Amber off her. Even smashed like that she could still see and hear (and feel) everything. When her body was reformed, an impossibly huge hand, with fingers the size of tree trunks lifted her. She thought it was Ellen at first but was shocked to see it was only Jen. If a three foot tall person was this big, then how big was a normal person? She wondered and soon had her answer as Ellen

scooped her up onto a fingernail.

"She looks like a snot now" she teased, "how appropriate".

Then to Amber she said,

"First of all, we can't have two Ambers in our little family. Since you loved giving all of them such original names, your new name is... Hmmm, let's see, what should we call you? Ah I know, Slimer! How's that sound"

Thinking no one could hear her at the size Amber replied, "Pretty fucking stupid" and was instantly met with, "I can hear you idiot. It's part of your special conditioning. Now I'll forgive you this once and only once but from now on, what I or any of your other new masters say is law. Is that understood, slimer?"

She wanted to say something rebellious but being a half inch tall slime girl took all the fight out of her.

"Yes, mistress" she said, words she never would have imagined she'd be forced to say.

"Good. Now, second you're going to find human food hard to digest. But don't take my word for it, here eat this chip crumb." Ellen placed a crumb about the size of Amber's hand in front of her. She didn't move at first but Ellen looked down with a stern look and she broke a piece off and popped it in her mouth. Her needle teeth did nothing to break it up and once it got past her throat she felt nauseous as the chip worked its way out of her body through the path of least resistance, in this case her chest, which split open and expelled the piece.

"See?" Ellen said teasingly. "Now you're probably asking yourself what you can eat now. The answer is simple. We all talked it over and decided that since you were such a leech in your former life you should be at least part leech in your new life. Therefore, you can only survive on blood. And not just any blood, you need one of ours. You see, we care so much about you we wouldn't you to ever leave us. This way you can't. Go ahead, try it out."

Ellen didn't even hesitate, she obeyed instantly and placed her mouth on Ellen's fingertip. Her little teeth were perfect to pierce the skin and her tongue instinctively acted as a straw. The taste was horrible but she felt better. "Well, that's it for now. I have to go talk to 'Daddy'" Ellen said as she flicked Amber off her hand and onto the floor where she landed with a splat at Paula's feet. As she reformed she could hear Paula said, "It's my turn now".

Ellen entered her new apartment and went to the closet to find something more modest to wear. To her chagrin the closest thing in Amber's wardrobe to modest she had was a tight white T-shirt without some kind of stupid saying on it. At least she had a pair of sweatpants and some comfortable sneakers. Slipping them on, she went over to the computer and began to access her financial records. The password was easy to guess, like she figured and after going over her accounts she shut the computer off and went to take a shower, she was still soaked in sweat from her recent transformation. As she entered the shower, looking at herself in the mirror she thought, "I can get used to this", as she made some sexy poses.

Back at the lab, the girls had come up with a game for Amber. Jen drew several numbered rings on the wall and they would take turns throwing her at the rings and try for the highest score. They even had it set up so Sarah and Rachel could play from their tank. Each time she hit the wall, Amber would splatter then slowly roll down until she hit the floor and Wendy, who was the designated 'ball girl' would pick her up, wait until she reformed and pass her to the next girl.

When they got bored with this they decided to show Amber just how weak and pathetic she was now. Amber was placed on the floor, a mere foot from the door and freedom. The rule was if she could make it to the door before all of them (minus Sarah and Rachel), who were starting at the end of the room they would all turn themselves in to her father and confess to everything. They even gave her a head start, letting her begin as they were all heading back to the other side of the room and the fairies didn't even fly.

The second she was on the floor, Amber moved forward with all her might. To her, it felt like she was making good time but in reality she was moving, literally, at a snail's pace. In one round, Sarah even agreed to crawl on the floor. Even she was faster.

As time passed, the games continued, sometimes cruel, sometimes almost friendly, but Amber was never allowed to forget her place. Over the course of the next few years, Ellen, as Amber went on to become the company's new medical director. Her influence as the owner's daughter allowed her to convince them to stop being so secretive and announce their technology to the world. This was seen as both a blessing and a curse for humanity. With the technology they released (they left out the non-aging part) doctors were able to cure many diseases, but non-consensual transformations soon became a criminal enterprise. When Amber's father passed away (the real Amber was allowed to attend the funeral, stuffed into a tiny pendant Ellen wore around her neck, Ellen took over as head and went public with what she and several others had done to Amber so many years ago. Amber, who in all these years had actually learned from her mistakes and was eventually forgiven and treated with some degree of respect worked with Ellen and others to implement a new legal penalty for unlawful transformations. A penal colony was set up, with Amber as the head where violators would be transformed in the same way as she was, only a quarter of the size and would be forced to spend their remaining days as slugs, living for the amusement of others who played many of the same games Amber had been part of in the early days.

Then, one day a major announcement was made by independent scientists working with the transformation technology. They had found a way to reverse it and restore the victims to human form and size. Ellen immediately

bought the company and went to work testing the cure, hoping to finally be able to restore her sister and Rachel, who although very happy together longed for a normal human life. While it turned out that the reversal did work, Ellen also learned that it would not only unfreeze their ages, it would add all the suspended years in less than a day. With all of them now well over 100 years old that would mean certain death. Regardless, Ellen met with them all and informed them of the consequences. At first no one said anything but eventually Jen spoke up, "I'll do it." Everyone looked at her and she continued, "It's not that I don't love you all, I'm just so tired. I need to do this, I need to join my family"

"I won't stop you, but you have to realize there's no going back. If you change your mind after the injection I can't help you."

"I know", Jen said, "All I ask is that you do me one favor", she motioned for Ellen to lean over and whispered something in her ear. Ellen nodded and said, "I'll find them", then "Anyone else?"

Paula, who had been extremely silent this whole time also raised her hand. No explanation was needed, they all knew still missed Tammy after all these years.

"Ok, then. I’ll prepare two vials and meet you here in the morning" Ellen said.

The next morning Ellen met Jen and Paula in the lab with two vials. "Just drink this and it will be over" she said handing them to each of them. Paula took hers headed for the door. She then said,

"Thank you for everything. Goodbye", and left the room, never to be seen again. Jen, holding hers, asked Ellen, "Did you manage to find them?" Ellen nodded.

"Can you take me to them after I drink this? I want to be with them at the end" Jen requested.

Ellen agreed and Jen drank her vial.

She felt nothing at first but soon felt her horses body melting away and forming into two legs. It didn't hurt, since Ellen put a pain killer into the vial. Soon was human again. She then started to grow until she was back to her normal height. Standing tall for the first time in years, she noticed she was actually taller than Ellen by several inches now. "Here, put this on", Ellen handed her a lab coat. It was a little short but it covered her enough.

"I'll lend you some of my clothes but they might be a little small for you. I'm sorry but they'll have to do. We don't have much time."

Jen managed to find something that fit. Although saddened by her imminent fate, she was still able to enjoy her humanity while she had it. She choose not to wear shoes, she was fascinated by her own feet. She had long ago written them off and now she had them back.

The drive took most of the day, during which time Jen went from an energetic young woman to a weak,

increasingly elderly one. When they arrived Ellen had to help her out of the car and up the hill to where she wanted to go. Once there, Jen thanked Ellen and said she could go. She'd be fine here.

Sitting down near the two faded and time worn gravestones, Jen watched the sun set one more time before her life faded. As she passed, she said to the graves, "I'm coming home. I've missed you two".