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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Or neither of us,” said Hannah.

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

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

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

“What does that mean?” Hannah said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Scott Barry,”  Scott said.

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

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

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

“Granted,” said Elric.

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

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

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

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

“What I want?”  Hans said.

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

“But -- your manhood --” Hans said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Well?” Scottie said.

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

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

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