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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Is that why your family’s so rich?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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