Gina’s tremendous fingers drew closer until her fingertips pressed against me, pinning my arms to my side. My body remained stock still while she slowly lifted me out of the terrarium, a combination of her vise-like hold on my body and whatever magic she was using to make me unable to resist her commands. All I could do was look down with trepidation as the terrarium’s floor got further away and I was drawn into whatever torment Gina had planned for me that night.
At the end of my inexorable ascent Gina turned me around so that I could face her. The candlelight radiating throughout the room threw shadows on her face, giving her an almost demonic appearance, but that wasn’t the only thing different about her. She had drawn dark circles around her eyes with a whimsical flick from their corners, giving them a winged look, and for once she had let her hair out of its braids so that it flowed in a single golden waterfall. Her eyeliner contrasted sharply with her light skin, which seemed to be radiating energy on its own.
Gina gave me a slight pinch, nearly cracking my bones from the pressure, but to my surprise it barely hurt at all. Her dark red lips pulled up in a grin, and she purred, “Finally, My ensemble is complete.” A deafening chime rang out and her smile spread. “And just in time. Would you like to come meet My guests?” I couldn’t want anything in the world less, but Gina already knew that. No matter what I was going to be incorporated into her party in some way.
Purposefully, Gina lowered me from her face, driving me toward her cleavage. Just before dropping me in, however, she suddenly changed course, pressing me toward the brilliant medallion hanging just above her breasts. She turned me around when I was nearly touching the glinting gold surface so that she could pin me against it with the edge of her gigantic index finger. “Just hang tight for a minute,” she rumbled, making my insides shake from her voice. As though at her command a spectral chain erupted from each point of the medallion, seizing me by the wrists, ankles, and waist so that I would be held securely against it.
The chiming racket sounded again, and Gina hastened toward the door. Each step she took made the pentagram I was secured to swing forward and back like a pendulum, with the heavy metal circle making a dull thud each time it landed on her chest. With every impact I felt my head jerk backward, and I quickly discovered, to my relief, that my head rested in one of the gaps between the metal. Still, being tossed up and down with her steps was a jarring and unpleasant experience even without the pain I would expect to go with it.
After what seemed like several minutes Gina arrived at the bottom of the stairs, and the swaying became much less intense. However, each of her long strides was now accompanied by a resonating click against the tile that seemed to pierce my ear canals. I had no idea where Gina would even get high heels that fit her – someone of her stature had to be over size 30 – but somehow she had managed. The incessant clicking came to a stop when she reached the door, with me high enough on her chest alone to look down at the top of the frame.
Gina’s strong arm pulled the door inward, and I realized I was not prepared for what was on the other side. Four women, each taller than the door, stood on the front stoop, with what looked like their kid brothers in front of them. I could only see even part of the faces of two of them: a striking, raven-haired woman on the left, and a golden-haired blond on the right, a bit shorter than the other. Behind them I could see the strong, full chests of two others, one with chestnut hair and the other auburn.
“Don’t just stand there, come in!” Gina called, and they entered her house, ushering their diminutive companions ahead of them. “Glad you could make it, Julie,” she said to the dark-haired one, “and you too, Ashley!” It looked like their companions wanted to say something, but a quick shove from the girls moved them past Gina. “And I knew you two would make it,” she addressed to the two bending almost in half to get through the door. I recognized Kristie from when she nearly smashed me a couple days ago and figured the boy with her is the one she was nervous about asking out, but the redhead was completely unfamiliar to me.
“You know I wouldn’t miss this,” the auburn-haired woman replied. Though she only came up to Gina’s chest, I had no doubt that to an average person she was absolutely towering. “Gina and Shelby, best friends forever!” Kristie walked past without saying anything, but Shelby decided to linger. “That is an absolutely ravishing outfit, where did you find something like that in your size?” Her emerald eyes were scanning along Gina’s neckline, and I became concerned about being noticed.
“I knew you’d like it,” Gina replied, causing my bones to rattle. “I’ll tell you where I got it later though, I have something really important to show you first.”
Shelby looked like she was about to move on, but suddenly stopped, her eyes locked onto me. “And that pendant,” she began, “is just so you.” She stood on her toes and leaned inward, her angular face growing to fill my entire field of view. Her rounded nose tilted down and she shifted a little, centering me between her brilliant green eyes. I could feel her hot breath as it exited her nose and ran up Gina’s chest, causing me to shiver. Each follicle of her immaculately maintained eyebrows was visible, and nearly in reach of my hands if they weren’t restrained. Finally she whispered, “Is it real?”
Gina placed a gigantic hand on Shelby’s forehead and gently pushed her away. “It’s like you don’t want any surprises tonight,” she pouted, giving Shelby a light shove. “The sooner you head upstairs the sooner we can get started, and you’ll have your answers.” That was all Shelby needed to hear. In an instant she was running up the stairs, practically dragging her poor date after her.
I expected Gina to say something snarky to me, but she must have been eager to get started as well. Her slow, ponderous steps ensured I would feel the full force of each swing of the medallion, with a strong jolt each time it bumped against her chest. The trip back up the stairs was particularly brutal, and were it not for the otherworldly chains holding me in the center of the pentagram I would have plunged into her cleavage to suffocate. Fortunately she took the stairs three or four at a time, and the ride was mercifully short.
When Gina got to the top of the stairs the gathering of her friends and their dwarfish companions had already made it into her room, but none of them were paying any attention to the terrarium with nearly a score of shrunken people trapped inside. Instead they were walking throughout the place, investigating the candelabras and talismans Gina had set up. Before long, though, they all made their way to the black rug Gina had laid out beside her bed with a pentagram hand-stitched into it.
“Um, what’s this?” one of the booming voices, I think Julie’s asked. They puzzled over it for a few more moments while Gina walked past them to stand on the point nearest the wall.
“That is the main attraction for tonight,” Gina answered, pausing for emphasis after the first word. “All of you take a seat at one of the points.” None of them seemed to know exactly what to do, so Gina elaborated. “It’ll be best if Julie and Ashley sit next to me, with Shelby and Kristie on the far points due to overlapping fields.” Either they knew what that meant or they knew better than to question Gina, since a few seconds later they were all sitting in their indicated spots.
“Now, have your dates sit in front of you, close to the middle.” They seemed less enthusiastic to obey Gina’s commands, but all it took was a gentle look or sharp tug from their dates for them to fall into line. All of them exchanged uneasy looks; it didn’t appear that they had any more idea of what was going on than I did.
“Hey, wait a sec,” Julie began. “Where’s your date, Gina?” She leaned in, looking smug.
“Yeah!” Kristie chimed in. “Haven’t you had a boyfriend for, like, years, and you’ve never let us meet him?”
Gina pinched the pendant’s chain just above its clasp and lifted it off her chest. “Actually Kristie, you have met him,” she said, holding the pendant away from her. “All of you have. I understand if you didn’t notice though, he has a tendency to… get lost underfoot.” With that phrase the chains holding me disappeared and I fell downward. I landed on the soft cushion of her breasts, then sprung off. Briefly I tumbled through the air, my view rapidly shifting between the floor and faces of eager giantesses watching me helplessly plummet to the ground until I landed on my back.
Above me Gina stretched up and around me like a tremendous in-situ sculpture, her shins like massive, tumbled columns blocking me from her contemptuous gaze while her hands rested lightly on her knees. I was slow getting to my feet, but when I did I was surprised to see that I was the center of attention for four gigantic women. While they were in apparent shock, I decided to finally have a look at them, too.
Julie sat to my immediate left, looking at me with shock in her big, brown eyes. Shadows from the candles gave her pale skin some needed color, and I could tell that her thin, pink lips were barely being held together in surprise. Her eyes were set a little wide, but the overall breadth of her face and sharp chin made her look exotic instead of weird. She wore a simple, purple V-neck shirt and a tiny pair of khaki shorts, with blue Sketchers I could just see socks peeking out of.
Past her was Shelby, whom I was already acquainted with, for lack of a better word. In contrast with Julie’s surprise, Shelby seemed overjoyed, almost elated, to have a tiny man drop on the floor in her presence. Her full lips were pulled up on one side in a smirk, and the light complemented her dark skin. A lock of auburn hair fell over her eyes when she leaned forward for a better look, coming to rest on the orange letters on her shirt, pulled tight across her chest. Dark blue skinny jeans hugged her hips, and I could just see brown and black sneakers poking out from behind her companion.
Kristie sat beside her, studying me intently with her dark, voluminous eyes. Her brow furrowed, making some creases appear across the fair skin of her forehead while she idly chewed on her lip. She wasn’t quite as built as Shelby, but I could tell from the plainly visible lean muscles that she had a strength as well as a size advantage over the other two. A plain white cotton tank top, at least one size too small, clung to her chest, and black leggings struggled to stay together over her legs, with gray New Balance shoes large enough for me to live in capping off the outfit.
Lastly, directly across from Julie was Ashley. She had covered her mouth with long, dainty fingers so I couldn’t read her reaction too well, but in her cold blue eyes I saw what might be excitement upon seeing me. Though the candles didn’t play well with her porcelain skin I could tell that she, like the others, was quite pretty, and would probably catch my eye even if she weren’t the size of a building. Since she was just on the upper edge of what would normally be possible she had been able to squeeze into some more standard clothes – a ruddy red T-shirt with white accents, and a pair of black shorts that covered her crotch and butt and not much else, with a pair of black and white Adidas on her feet.
“Is this the surprise?” Julie asked, finally breaking the silence. One of her hands crept toward me, fingers coiled and ready to strike. “Can I pick him up?”
Gina reached out and grabbed Julie’s wrist, dragging it to the floor long before it could get to me. “I’m getting to that, dear,” she said through clenched teeth, “just wait a few more minutes.” She let go of Julie’s wrist, but before she could bring it back to her lap she wrapped her gargantuan fingers around Julie’s slender hand. I looked to the other side and saw that she had already taken Ashley’s hand in hers as well.
“Go on, join hands and hold them tight,” Gina bade her friends, and waited for them to form a continuous chain with each other. “Now repeat after me. You won’t know the words, but just say what I do confidently and everything will be fine. Oh, I almost forgot, close your eyes.” She waited for them to what she said, then took a deep breath and began.
Gina’s chanting sounded like she was speaking a foreign language backward, similar to when she had performed the blood ritual yesterday. Her rumbling voice made it sound especially sinister, only to be outdone by the chorus of voices repeating every eight syllables loud enough that the ground quaked from the sound alone. As the ritual progressed a sinister red light shone up from the rug, and Gina’s pendant began to levitate from her chest. The red light grew stronger until everyone was bathed in it, and shocks of electricity ran between the hands of each woman. They became louder until their chanting was more of a deafening boom, and the light was bright as day. Electricity arced between all of the girls matching the design on the floor, and in an instant everything grew larger. I felt myself blacking out as everything exploded in size, and the last thing I saw was Julie, larger than a mountain, a brilliant blue light shining from behind her closed eyelids.
Gina’s magic saturated my being, and images rapidly flashed through my brain. I clutched my head, unable to focus on anything except the new energy that had entered me. With great effort I managed to get my breathing under control, and soon after the visions began to coalesce into separate coherent narratives.
I found myself in the middle of an open room with nothing around me except a bare hard wood floor and a couch pressed up against the wall. Before I could move however the ground shook, accompanied by a tremendous boom, then another. Footsteps. Julie walked in through the open door, scanning the floor for something. In an instant she coiled her leg and brought it down, then ground her toe into the floor, pulverizing someone I didn’t even know was there. Quickly I made a dash for the couch, but the force of her voice alone knocked me from my feet. “Thought you could hide from me, did you?” she bellowed, ending with a laugh. I scrambled to get back to my feet, but in just two steps she was atop me. Helplessly I looked up at the tremendous field of white squares growing larger until I was sure I’d be able to fit inside one. With the dull thud of pressure she brought her foot down, and I found myself in another sequence.
My hair whipped back while I raced down a tremendous plastic slide, large white stones sliding along with me. A sea of rough, off-yellow platforms poured in front of me, and I was being carried along with it. When I got closer I saw that they were pooling inside an enormous reservoir, each one hitting with a light crack. Finally I also fell out of the slide, landing hard in the pool while the white stones clattered down around me. The slide dropped, and I saw a pair of green eyes the size of houses. “That’s a weird looking chip,” Shelby’s voice rumbled, shaking the tortilla chip bed I was on. With impossible speed her hand was upon me, and I was pinched between her fingers. There wasn’t even time to feel sick while she drew me to her face so that her hungry eyes could study me. “I wonder how it tastes.” Her voice was more like a constant low vibration, and before I could scream I was already between her lips.
Everything was dark, but the cool air felt nice on my skin. After some careful probing with my hands I found a solid surface, smooth and cold to the touch. Not seeing anything else to do I leaned up against it and sank to the floor. No sooner had my butt hit the ground, though, than everything around me began to rattle. They were rhythmic vibrations, about two every second, and shook the ground as well as all of the unseen objects – apparently made of metal and glass – around me. Then there was a loud click, and light flooded over me. I spun, and saw through a clear glass jar distorting an enormous brown eye so that it seemed about to engulf me. An enormous hand grabbed the jar by the lid and yanked it away, leaving nothing between me and Kristie. Her face immediately turned to disgust. “Ew, gross. Ants in the cupboard,” she muttered, her voice paralyzing me. I watched powerlessly while she raised her hand up, then brought it down, slapping me with the middle of her palm.
I sat alone on an immense, soft brown plain, with rolling hills to either side of me. After a moment I realized that I was on one of the peaks as well, with the valleys coming to small, circular points, and a tremendous brown wall rising behind me. A shadow fell over me and I turned to see a colossal bare shin, the bulge of a knee just barely visible while looking forward. Nervously I craned my neck back along a skyscraper of a woman standing over me, hands strategically placed on her hips in an imposing silhouette. “Hey little guy,” a voice thundered from the sky, “You’re barely using that seat, so how about you move over to make room for me?” I started running to the side, but barely made any progress before Ashley spoke again. “Oh, I get it. You want a cute girl to sit on your lap. You’re lucky you’re cute too.” Quickly she spun around and began to sit. While her magnificent ass drew nearer I tried to speed up but it was no use. Ashley’s titanic butt smashed into me, driving me into the seat.
Next I found myself standing atop a broad, flat plane, with a single divot dug out of it and filled with gold ribbon. The cacophony of someone clearing their throat boomed from behind me, and I spun to see cold blue eyes staring at me surrounded by olive skin with dark red bangs hanging just below her eyebrows. “You could have avoided this,” she rumbled, setting a hand down next to me with a gargantuan thud that knocked me off my feet. “Even though you tried to break up with me, and at prom of all places, I still cared for you.” Fulda covered me with the pad of her index finger’s tip, the closest she could come to gently stroking me. “I would have brought you with me to college, and we would’ve been inseparable. But then you cheated on me at the first opportunity, and… well, you had to learn what happens.” The pressure from her finger increased. “Be seeing you soon, squirt.” She pressed hard, squishing me effortlessly.
Finally I stood eye to eye with Gina, the tallest I had ever been compared to her. She looked at me and chortled, effortlessly growing half a foot. Gina’s hands clapped onto my shoulders, holding me firmly in place while she leaned down until our noses touched. “Why are you so small?” she whispered, and as though on cue she shot up another foot. Her grip tightened, and again she asked, “Why are you so small?” Again she grew, and my feet lifted off the ground. While my feet dangled helplessly she pressed, “You’re just so, so very small.” Gina shot up more until she could easily hold me with one hand. “It’s pathetic how small you are, really.” This time she grew until her hand had completely engulfed me, leaving only my head exposed. “If I were small like you, I’d beg someone like me to crush me.” Gina’s growth continued until I was completely inside her fist. “Is that what you want, you tiny little bug?” She opened fist, and I saw the enormous plane of her palm expand exponentially in every direction. “I bet it is. I bet the thought of a gigantic woman like me snuffing out your insignificant life excites you, maybe even arouses you, doesn’t it?” Gina grew until I could no longer see her over the creases of her palm. “We’ll see if you’re that lucky.” She grew to encompass everything, and I knew that, for all practical reasons, I had ceased to exist for her.
Groggily I awoke from my visions and looked around. Much to my relief I hadn’t shrunk to infinitesimal size as a result of whatever Gina had done. Everything seemed to have returned to how it was before the ritual, in fact. Soft candlelight played off the faces of the giantesses arrayed around the pentagram while they looked intently toward the center. The chanting had stopped too, and I wondered just what Gina had intended with this whole set-up. That’s when I realized four people had gone missing.
A soft high-pitched squealing reached me from the center of the pentagram, and I realized what they were looking at now. The squealing morphed into incoherent screams, though I couldn’t tell if they were from confusion, surprise, or fear.
“It’s time,” Gina bellowed, making me jump. “You have been brought here to be part of the ritual, and now you must prove yourself worthy of the gift.” I knew where this was going and could do nothing to stop it. “Look at the man in front of you. He’s so tiny. Small. Pathetic. We made him that way, with our power. Now it’s time to unleash your inner giantess.”
Shelby’s arm was in motion before Gina had even stopped talking, her face a mask of grotesque mania. “Shelby, no!” the man in front of her squeaked, but if he had anything else to say it was drowned out by the deafening clap of her palm striking the ground. She slapped the same spot a couple times for good measure, making sure he was completely pulverized before sitting back upright.
The next to move was Julie, who snatched up the man in front of her with a lightning-quick swipe. “Julie, please!” his tiny voice pleaded while she held him in the middle of her palm. “We’ve been together for six months! We were going to go to college together! Please don’t-“ In one motion Julie brought her fingers in, forming a fist around her boyfriend. There was a light crunch when his bones gave way to her trip in a single instant, then she wiped the small red stain on the rug.
Ashley had the sole of her shoe leaning over her shrunken man while he was on his knees, begging. “But you can’t!” he cried. “We’ve been friends since kindergarten! You said we were soulmates! I’ve never-“
“Yeah, but you’ve been really annoying me lately,” Ashley broke in lackadaisically. “Specifically, the last fifteen seconds. Bye, boy.” Her shoe swung down, and in an instant she had flattened her boyfriend to paste.
All eyes turned to Kristie, who was looking back at the group nervously. “Well?” Gina asked. “We’re waiting.”
Nervously Kristie looked at the tiny boy in front of her, who I could hear screaming for her not to kill him. “See, the thing is,” she began, “I actually really like Alex. We just started dating, and I kinda want to see where this goes.”
“Kristie.” Gina practically used her name as a bullet. “Don’t you think it’s odd that you’re almost three feet taller than all your family members?” Kristie stammered, so Gina continued. “And didn’t you find it weird you had such a massive growth spurt in one night? I made you a giantess, it’s time for you to act like one.”
Kristie looked at Alex on the ground in front of her, still imploring her to spare him. She raised a hand and began bringing it forward, but stopped when he raised his arms and flinched away from her. “I… I can’t,” she admitted. “I don’t want to smash him.”
“I can,” Shelby declared, and with a single swipe she had scooped him up into her hand. His pleas turned to panicked screams when she opened her hand with him next to her mouth. Unfazed, her tongue flicked out, striking Alex in the chest and knocking him down. The manic glee returned to her face, and her fingers began to close in.
“Hold up,” Gina said, causing Shelby to stop mid-crush. “We’ve all already crushed someone – except for Kristie, an impostor giantess.”
“What about you?” Julie asked.
“Hmm?”
“Yeah, you didn’t crush your tiny man,” Ashley chimed in. “How do we know you’re not a fake giantess, too?”
Gina sighed. “I’m the one who- you know what, no. I’ve been shrinking and crushing dweebs at school for years. Or have you never wondered why there are so many missing persons around here? They went ‘missing’ under my shoe.” She paused and let them mull it over. “Besides, I’m the one who made all of you giantesses. So chill.”
Julie and Ashley seemed placated by this. “Can you… make me more of a giantess?” Julie asked.
Gina smirked. “Maybe. But first we have two tiny men here to play with, and the night is still young.”