Kate's mouth lay half-open.

"You can... shrink other people?!"

"And animals. If a cat threatened me, I could just have shrunken it to bug-size.  A good defence, But yeah... " Mark put his tissue loincloth back on. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before now... I was worried of how you'd react..."

"It's okay, I understand. ... But..." Kate blushed. "Can I admit something to you too?"

"Sure?" The shrunken man replied. skeptical but curious.

"Since I met you, I've had dreams about shrinking almost every night. At first they were nightmares - I dreamed of being ant-sized while Cat and the others bullied me... but lately they've been different."

"Different how?"

"... I was with you. Being small isn't so bad when I'm with you... Last dream I had, we were living as roommates in a dollhouse, and my sister provided for the two of us. It was... pleasant. It wasn't a nightmare anymore... I'd even go so far as to say I loved it. I guess what I mean is... If you can... Can you shrink me?"

"What!?!?" Mark shouted, in disbelief.

"You can reverse it, right?"

"I won't put you in danger like that!"

"Can you reverse the spell or not?"

"Well, yes, yes. Of course. But I..."

"Then there is no danger, Mark," Kate replied with an unusual assertiveness. "We're not on the street. We're in my room. You shrink me, I see how it feels like, then you grow me back. Simple as that! There's no danger."

"I don't know..."

"How about this: I want to give you a real hug. Not just you hugging my finger. I want to be held in your arms... I want  to hug my best friend. Is that too much to ask?

This hit home deep for the tiny man. "I'll admit... this is a compelling argument. But still... It's weird to think that I gave myself the ability to shrink living creatures only for self-defense reasons... and now I'm going to use it on my only friend in the world, Are you sure about this, Kate?"

"...Yes, I am" answered Kate with a shaking voice. "So... how do you do it?"

Still somewhat reluctantly, Mark said:

"Give me your finger."

She extended her pinky towards him. The shrunken man grabbed it with both hands, and let the magic flow within him towards his friend.

"It might hurt a little... or just feel weird. I'm not sure how the transfer feels."

"It's weird... kinda like little electric shocks in my bones... Hey! I think it's working! My clothes feel a bit loose..."

And indeed Mark could see that the giantess was quickly losing inches. Her glasses were the first thing to fall off, followed by her pants dropping to the floor. A few moments later and Kate was disappearing in her  shirt.

At that very moment, Kate's door flew open.

"Kate! You here?" A child's voice yelled. "It's family roundtable time again!"

The younger sister then noticed the pile of clothes on the floor... And that something was moving inside it.

"What the...?"