Candles lined the bathroom. Counters, floor, the edge of the tub. Their fragrance wafted upward, filling the misty, steamy quarter with the scent of pumpkin spice and autumn.

The tub was a mass of bubbles, shifting and jiggling in that precarious way bubbles are wont to do. Amidst the soapy smokestacks, a tray floated on the surface of the water, upon which laid an open book.

It displayed a middling page. The words were scrawled hastily, and the archaic format and aged paper made it difficult to discern whether some instances of illegibility were the result of poor handwriting, or whether they were written that way as a method of communing with the dark magic this book seemed capable of tapping into.

The water stirred and bubbled. The tray upon which the book floated began to shift. Like a kaiju awakening from the deep, the reddish-brown head of a young girl poked through the surface, shimmering with the silky shine of a long time in the bath. Her eyes were rendered shut, as was her mouth. When at last her entire torso, fully adorned with a pair of heavy, flopping breasts rose from the depths of the water, only then did Johanna allow herself to take a breath of air.

GASSSSP…!

She looked back at the book hesitantly. The illustration portrayed what seemed to be a man enclosed in a sphere of water. Air bubbles lifted from his mouth. The instructions impressed upon Johanna that if this incantation was activated correctly, she would be able to breathe underwater for a few minutes. But though Johanna had recited the spell and felt the surge of power shiver through her bones… there was just something about putting your faith and breath in the hands of unknown forces that repelled her. Suffocation was an ancient fear, older even than that of wild animals, thunderstorms, poisonous snakes, maniacs. Humans take their breath for granted. So ubiquitous is the blessing of air, but when confronted with even the possibility it could be taken away from them… it was enough to make even the bravest men uneasy.

Johanna scoffed. How did scuba divers do it?

Oh well. She’d test it some other time. Johanna shifted her legs, each one displacing cloud-like mountains of built-up bubbles that floated gently across the surface of the pool. Her toes clutched the cool, smooth ceramic that made up the bottom of the tub, and Johanna rose to full height. Water and foam cascaded off her body like a Gen Z rendition of The Birth of Venus, and her pale form was perfectly accentuated by the orange glow of the candles in her midst. Johanna spat out a spritz of soapy spit, and it dribbled down her chin.

She lifted her leg out of the pool with care and deliberation, and she was struck by how cold the air felt despite the candles’ presence. She took one step on the bathmat, and then another. Her body was soaked in water droplets.

Johanna examined herself in the mirror. She turned, looked at her smooth back, her pert buttocks. She held her breasts in her hands, clutching them and suspending them before letting them bounce back. The soapy mounds jiggled. Johanna laughed.

She looked to her face. It was the perfect picture of a mature woman. Her hair was in wet streaks around her forehead, and her freckles only just barely could be made out in the low light. But they were there. The familiarity was two-fold. Johanna was many things, but she was her mother’s daughter first and foremost.

Ding-dong!

Speak of the devil.

Johanna smiled. She grabbed a towel from the rack, and without pausing for even a moment to dry herself off, Johanna walked out the door, slinging it over her shoulder as she sauntered into the master bedroom.

Johanna had taken it upon herself to straighten the place out these past few weeks. Of course, she had to do away with those drab and grey sheets and bedspread that once populated her mother’s former bed. Now, hot pink was the new wave. Pastel polka dots speckled the pillowcases. Floral-scented air fresheners gave Johanna a fresh hit of dopamine every time she drew a breath. Her books had already been transplanted from her old room into this swanky new one where they took up about a quarter of the space on the massive bookshelf at the east wall. Of course, despite having ample space for it on the shelf, Johanna only very rarely parted ways with the mysterious spellbook that now languished in her bathroom. She wouldn’t leave it unattended unless the very remote possibility of its pilfering was completely done away with. By now, though, nobody in the household even had the drive to attempt it.

Johanna continued through the hallway, leaving soapy wet prints with every step she made. She continued through to the living room, where the television was perpetually set to one or more of Johanna’s favorite romcom marathons. She proceeded into the kitchen, spic and span without a scrap of dirt or dust anywhere. Until finally, she stepped into the main foyer and reached the door.

Susan was standing outside, well-dressed, fidgety, nervous, attentive. She straightened out the buttons on her blazer and was just beginning to wonder whether she should ring the doorbell again when it suddenly opened. There, plain as day at the threshold, Johanna stood, smiling, nude as the day she came out of the womb, still sopping with soap bubbles.

Susan wanted to roll her eyes, but Johanna’s gaze had become sensitive to such gestures. Susan fought the urge and waited. And waited.

Johanna waited too, overlooking her mother’s restless form. Susan clearly wanted to look behind her, see if anyone had noticed this naked teenage girl displaying herself as readily to the entire world as she would her first lover. But Susan didn’t take the bait. She remained focused on Johanna. And she waited.

Finally, Johanna stepped aside. “You can come in.”

Susan almost leaped into the door, closing it behind her as she let go of a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She set down a briefcase next to the door and looked at her daughter, naked and wet. “Do you really –”

“Stop.”

Susan stopped.

Johanna’s word was law in this house, and in life.

Now that they were both in the house, the slight incline Johanna had above her mother was gone. They were once again eye-to-eye, with maybe a slight favor to Susan. Still, the very fact that Johanna had somehow gained the confidence to walk about naked and in the open with only a towel slung over her shoulder as a garment was intimidating enough.

Johanna grabbed the towel and shook off some of the ambient water it’d collected. And she held it out to her mother. “Dry me.”

Susan gulped, and she nodded as she took the towel. Johanna went to the most open part of the living room, her wet feet continuing to make sticking and unsticking noises. She stood, legs together, and held her arms out in a “T” position. Susan was apprehensive, but for the most part she was thankful. Drying her naked daughter was far from the most unusual thing Johanna had requested – nay, demanded – her mother fulfill now that their relationship dynamics had shifted. She started with Johanna’s torso, dragging the towel in a gentle scrub across her back, sides, and breasts before winding it around her shoulders and arms. Much of her had apparently air-dried in the walk over here, which made this easier at least. Johanna’s rear was as pert and toned as it’d ever been, while her vagina was itself still the budding emblem of femininity that for the most part hadn’t been brandished to Susan now that she’d been reduced to a servant. Susan had no reason to believe Johanna would ever do such a thing… but then again, she had no reason to believe she was capable of anything like what she’d done thus far.

Once her lower body was complete, Susan wrapped the towel around her neck. For this, she was extra careful. Johanna had given Susan access to a device more than capable of choking her. Fortunately, Susan would never even think of choking her own daughter… anymore. Anyway, onto her hair. It was still a bit damp by the time Susan was finished, but for the most part it was now back to the voluminous amber locks that turned the heads of boys (and some girls) everywhere.

“Stop.”

Susan stopped. Her arms hung limply at her sides.

Johanna experimentally ran her fingers through her hair. They came out slightly damp. She turned her head, glancing at Susan.

“I did the best I could –”

“Stop.”

Susan stopped.

“If I want you to speak, I’ll address you. Come on, Mom,” Johanna gave a funny grin. “It’s first grade!”

Johanna turned in place again, looking at her body. Indeed, it was dry. Evaporation would get the rest. As she was twisting in place, she said, “You did a good job.”

Susan was silent.

“You can speak now.”

Susan’s shoulders were allowed to relax. “Oh, t-thank you… sweetie.”

Johanna pulled her mother into a squeeze, standing on her tippy toes as her bare breasts flopped and flooded about Susan’s collarbone. Their warmth was jarring to Susan, who only barely managed to reciprocate some nascent semblance of a hug before Johanna pulled away, seemingly undeterred. “So how was your day at work?”

“Oh… it was… work.”

“C’mon!” Johanna jeered, sinking into the couch. She rubbed the spot next to her as she cocked her ankle on her knee. “Spill the juicy deets! Any drama happening that I should know about?”

It was just like… before. Before they’d grown apart. Before this magical bullshit ever happened.

“Well… my boss is kind of a pain in the ass. She’s been getting on my case ever since I had to take that… vacation.” Susan sighed and seated herself on the couch. Johanna snuggled up next to her, wrapping her arm around Susan’s shoulder. Her skin was warm, and it made Susan feel good, just a little bit. “I’ve got a bunch of take-home work to finish. I probably won’t be able to make dinner tonight.”

“Wow…” Johanna said, her eyes widening. “You know, I’ve still got the book. If you want me to do something funny to your supervisor, all you have to do is ask. Like, hmmm… I could shrink her! Or maybe I could put her under some sort of mind control. Maybe I could flay the–”

“Johanna…” Susan was pale, and she shook her head. “P-please.”

Johanna was a bit flummoxed. She unhooked her arm from her mother’s shoulders and leaned against her knees. “Alright then.”

The two were silent. Susan wanted to get up, but she hadn’t received a directive. These times were dangerous. Johanna was prone to long fits of deep thought, yet for her it felt as though only a few moments had passed. Moving against Johanna’s whims during this time could break her out of the stupor, yet was a sure way to incite her wrath. At first, Susan thought it was just her losing herself in her own head. But after one such instance lasted for nearly 20 minutes, Susan… had to wonder. What could cause her daughter to change in that way?

Thankfully, this fit only lasted five minutes. “I know! My girlfriend Nikk–” Suddenly, Johanna put her hand to her mouth. Despite being naked, it was this slip-up that caused her to become mortified in response to her mother’s stern glare.

Susan was a bit relieved that even at this advanced stage of their relationship, she still had the power to influence her daughter in ever-dwindling ways. She held onto this relief and used that to channel confidence. “What do you mean by ‘Girlfriend’?”

“She’s…” Johanna rubbed her hands along her thighs, avoiding her mother’s gaze. “My friend. Who is… a girl…”

“Johanna, please. You are too young to be engaging in these relations!” Susan was getting back into her stride. She was in her element. She stood up, causing Johanna to shrink back. “Do what you want with me, but I’ll not sit back idly while you find yourself neck deep in things you should have nothing to do with!”

“But M-mo–”

“I’m talking!” Susan snapped.

Silence.

The two stared each other. Susan had a lifetime’s worth of experience staring people down… but Johanna was her mother’s daughter. She wasn’t backing down. And rather than shrink like a mouse at Susan’s denigration… she stood up and looked her mother in the eye.

“No,” Johanna said.

“No?” Susan tried to sound more indignant, but she feared it came across a bit more chirpily than she would’ve liked.

“Yes,” replied Johanna. “No.”

Susan was just getting comfortable in the role of mom again, and it was already slipping away. She couldn’t let it… but whatever she did, she had to do so carefully. “Well, as your mother, I –”

“No.”

There was something in Johanna’s voice. Something… behind it, and it shut Susan up. Johanna herself felt a bit startled she’d made such a sound with her mouth, despite the fact nothing outwardly wrong seemed to have been in her tone. It was just… an unsettling noise. Vaguely unsettling.

Once she’d gotten over it, Johanna continued, her voice now normal, yet no less intimidating. "I find it... amusing how bold you’ve been getting… but now I fear I’ve kept you on too long a leash.”

Susan knew she had to respond to that slight. No matter how much she didn’t want to. “A leash? I –”

Smack!

Tears flooded Susan’s eyes, not least of which from the assault on her cheek she’d just suffered. Johanna was looking at her own palm, red from the strike, somewhat mystified. Then she turned back to her mother, confidence renewed. Susan stayed silent.

“I’ve let your transgressions slide for the past few days. But it seems to me like you need a bit of reconditioning.”

And Susan started to shrink, clothes and all.

“H-huh?! Johanna… Johanna, stop! Wait! Please, please don’t… Johanna, Johanna please…” Susan pleaded all the while as Johanna simply grinned, reducing her once proud mother to a speck on the floor, only capable of facing Johanna’s toenail in the eye.

Susan had almost forgotten what it felt like to be small. She had only been shrunken down sparingly since that first hellish night when her daughter had revealed her new powers. And that book. It was almost too terrible a memory to hold onto, but as much as Susan wanted to suppress it, it haunted her dreams every night.

“In fact…”

Johanna’s voice reverberated down to Susan’s core, sending her to the ground where she was forced to look up at her daughter’s nude body, sparkling gently as it steamed off the last traces of bathwater that Susan missed. She hung in the air like a Greek colossus ready to pass down judgment.

“…I think I may have outgrown you, Mother.” And Johanna raised her foot. It cast Susan in eclipse. “We’ve certainly proven that I’m more than capable of living on my own. Do you have any last words? Rites? Little jabs you wanna get in so I’ll regret this even less?”

“JOHANNA, JOHANNA PLEASE, STOP, PLEASE!” Susan threw herself to the ground beneath Johanna’s foot, her pitiful cries barely able to penetrate the massive ceiling of supple flesh. “I WAS WRONG, DON’T KILL ME, DON’T KILL ME… please…” Susan sobbed in the carpet as her life flashed behind her eyelids, every bit of pain and pleasure she’d experienced, that all led to this most undignified death.

Johanna smirked.

And suddenly, Susan was groveling at normal size. Her head was being kneaded by Johanna’s sole.

“Gotcha,” Johanna said cheekily, and Susan tried to respond, to aim her gaze upward, but all she got was a face full of foot as Johanna burst into giggles.

“Oh man, I wish I had a better view of your face. You really thought I was gonna do it!” Johanna nearly doubled over, still absentmindedly rubbing her foot on her mother’s awestruck, shellshocked expression. She… she was kidding?

“It’d be too much of a pain in the ass figuring out how to pay off the mortgage, so you’re safe for now,” Johanna said, relaxing back in the sofa. “But don’t make that mistake again.” Her eyes narrowed.

Susan nodded rapidly.

“Good. Now go ahead and give me a quick foot rub. I’ll call Nikki and see if she’s down to make something. She’s a fantastic cook, so it shouldn’t be a problem!” Johanna shoved her feet in her mother’s face ever more as she rattled off the to-do list for her and her mother. Susan’s hands went on autopilot, beginning their work of kneading into Johanna’s ultra-soft wrinkles. Johanna sunk back into the sofa. She would never admit it, but her mom’s touch was a source of comfort, and she genuinely loved these massages. She’d never get rid of her… unless she could find a suitable replacement of course.

“I just need to figure out how to introduce…” Johanna gestured vaguely. “All of this.” As Johanna pondered in thought, she suddenly raised the question. “Hey, do we still have Max’s old collar and leash?”

Susan grimaced.

***

Nikki was buzzing with both anticipation and nervousness as she wheeled her 2006 Toyota Corolla into Johanna’s twilit driveway. Once she put it in park, she stayed there for a moment, resting her forearms on the steering wheel as she took in Johanna’s normal, single-story brick house. A bit small, but more than enough space for two people. Certainly better than Nikki’s apartment, anyway. She liked it! She would love to live in a house like this with Johanna someday.

Of course, there was more to it than just the house’s appearance. Truthfully, Nikki was a bit concerned. She hadn’t physically seen Johanna in weeks, and the conversations they did have through text were slight and curt. Nikki at first couldn’t shake the fear that Johanna didn’t want to see her anymore, which would’ve been quite the gut punch. But to suddenly be invited over for dinner? It was an odd, out of the blue request, but Nikki jumped into action, making enough teriyaki skewers for five people, and seconds, and a side salad to boot. Not that she’d ever tell Johanna how much getting her call meant to her. She had to play it cool.

And then there was Johanna’s mom. Nikki had never met the woman, but based on Johanna’s description she sounded like all the worst aspects of Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Attila the Hun combined. Or at least, an unpleasant, conservative mother to live under. She’s exactly the kind who would’ve flipped the moment Nikki introduced herself as Johanna’s girlfriend -- if not for the fact she was a lesbian, then because of the fact she was a sophomore at Pine University. Nikki still wasn’t sure about any of this, but Johanna had been insistent. And when Johanna’s insistent, Nikki just can’t say no.

So, she removed her key from the ignition and put it in her leather jacket pocket. After taking a brief glance in the mirror to check her makeup, Nikki scooped the bundle of plastic grocery bags within which the food was encased in one arm, and she clutched the tiny potted bamboo in her free hand. Opening and closing the car door was a struggle, but she managed, and she hobbled up to the front doorbell, pressing it (or, more accurately, bumping it) with her elbow.

Not long after, Johanna opened the door in a pair of hot denim pants with a bra and cardigan. Her eyes lit up. “Nikki!!!”

“There’s my little Jo-Bear!” Nikki cooed. Her arms instinctively wanted to reach out and hug her, but they were otherwise indisposed.

Johanna noticed this and immediately grabbed the various trays of food, trotting through the foyer and putting the food on the kitchen counter. “Oh my God, this smells absolutely incredible. And it’s still warm, too!”

“Aw, it’s nothing,” Johanna said, stretching out her arms now to get rid of their soreness. She followed Johanna into the kitchen. “Just a little something I threw together. Where do you want this?” She brandished the tiny potted plant.

“Oh, it’s adorable! You can put it over there,” Johanna gestured vaguely at the counter, in the same direction as the plastic enclosure that currently held a ribbeting frog.

“Ohhhh, hey!” Nikki laughed and walked up to the enclosure, putting a finger against the clear plastic. The frog inside followed the finger and looked at Nikki with a depressed, anthropomorphic gaze. “I remember this little guy! What’d you name her?”

“Hm? Oh…” Johanna put a finger to her mouth. “I, never actually… huh. I never got around to it.”

“It’s a fat little one, isn’t it. Maybe… Chubster? Or Twiggums! Maybe Swampy! Or, hmm…” Nikki glanced at Johanna for affirmation and noticed she had a very odd expression on her face. “Oh, hey, what’s wrong?” She approached her and put her hands on Johanna’s shoulders as Johanna looked askance. “Jo-Bear… sweetie… what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing… I’m just… nervous,” Johanna admitted.

Nikki’s eyes widened in understanding, then narrowed in confidence. “I see… well, don’t worry. We don’t have to worry. Because I don’t give a shit if your mom doesn’t accept us.” Nikki pulled Johanna into an embrace, plunging Johanna’s face into her chest. “We accept us.”

Johanna accepted the hug for a time. Her face was coated in the scent of Nikki’s perfume. “Right, right… it’s just…” Johanna struggled to find the right words. Then she looked up into Nikki’s eyes. “Just… I need you… to keep an open mind, okay? About her?”

Nikki giggled. “Sure, okay.”

“I’m serious!” Johanna’s glare hardened.

Nikki rolled her eyes. “I mean, c’mon. I’ve dealt with my fair share of prudes in my life. I don’t think your mom can do anything that can surprise me.”

Johanna’s lip quivered as she tried to put on her most intimidating face. Even then, it still turned out adorable to Nikki.

Finally, Johanna sighed. “Okay. I’ll go get my mom.” She marched to the hallway. “Oh, feel free to sit anywhere, by the way.” And she disappeared into the rear bedrooms.

Nikki stood tall and bored in the kitchen. She glanced at the living room couches and trotted to take a seat, but upon noticing the carpet realized she still had on her shoes. Unlacing them, she set them neatly against the wall and planted her socked feet in the soft fibers of the carpet before sprawling out on the couch.

“Ahhh…” her stress was melting away. Nikki looked at the end table and saw a sweet family photo of Johanna and her mother in front of a mountain vista. Recent, by the looks of it.

Nikki whistled. If nothing else, at least Nikki knew where Johanna got her looks from. And her breasts.

There was activity deeper in the house. Voices were being raised. Some yelling. The wall muffled most of it beyond comprehensibility. Nikki cringed… she wouldn’t have been so eager to come here if she knew she wouldn’t be so welcome. She considered letting Johanna know she’d come back another day… when the voices suddenly ceased. Odd. Nikki raised an eyebrow. Had they made up? Or had a nerve been hit so strong that the conversation hit a dead stop?

Footsteps. Nikki sat forward. Had they made up?

A shadow appeared in the hall. Johanna’s shadow. She came a few steps forward, and was holding a leash in her hand. She smiled at Nikki briefly before tugging at it, and out came… a woman.

Nikki had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating or having some kind of dream. Nikki’s girlfriend was dragging a naked adult woman on a leash through the house. She was glaring down shamefully at the ground as she put one hand in front of the other, her knees grateful to be on the carpet. A blue collar was around her neck; the name “Susan” was scrawled on the pendant in marker.

Johanna gulped. “Nikki… meet… my mom!”

Johanna presented Susan as though she were the prized thoroughbred at a dog show.

Susan simply cringed, still avoiding Nikki’s gaze.

Nikki looked at Susan. Then she looked at Johanna. Johanna began to sweat.

“We used to get into it… still do, really. But we’ve finally reached an arrangement that’s agreeable to both of us,” said Johanna. “Right, Mommy?”

Susan opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She nodded faintly.

Nikki opened her mouth. “You’re fucking with me.”

And she stood up, grabbed her boots, and started to walk away.

Johanna’s eyes bulged. She dropped Susan’s collar and darted after her. “Nikki, wait! Where are you going?!” Johanna grabbed at Nikki’s shoulders keeping her from clutching the front doorhandle. “Don’t go! Please! I-I know it seems weird, but if you just let me explain…”

“Look,” Nikki said, glaring down at the younger girl. “I was all set to meet your mom. Have dinner, maybe? I don’t know who this is… but hiring some hooker to play to a sexual fantasy to make me feel better? Not how I wanted tonight would go. And let go of me.”

Johanna let go, then jumped in between Nikki and the door. “It’s not! I’m trying to demonstrate that –”

“You’ve demonstrated enough,” Nikki snapped. “If you just wanted this to be a casual fling, that’s fine. But I wanted it to be a bit more. I wanted to get to know you, your mom. I wanted to let her know that we… we wanted to be a bit more… permanent. Regardless of the consequences. And get out of the way, please?”

Johanna fought off the urge to hyperventilate. “It’s real! Please, Nikki, if you just let me explain everything. I want this to be permanent! I want for –”

Johanna stopped.

“What?” Nikki said, hands on her hips. “You want what?!”

Then Nikki felt a touch on her shoulder. She turned aggressively, and Susan, still stark nude, shrank from her aggressive rotation. Nikki was a fair bit taller than them both, and taller still when she had on her boots. But Susan didn’t speak; her lip was quivering, and she was holding a picture frame. The same family photo that beheld both her and Johanna. She held it out to Nikki, who took it tentatively, suspiciously.

Nikki studied the photo. She looked back at Johanna, who had to stand on her tip toes to look at what was in the frame. She turned back to Susan, ever bashful.

Susan opened her mouth several times, but only after a few failed attempts was she capable of talking. “I… I’m… I am… Johanna’s mother.” She gestured to the photo in Nikki’s hands.

Nikki looked back at it. Then she peered at Susan, who became even more red under scrutiny. But the hair was a match. The eyes. The breasts. This was definitely the woman in the photo, if nothing else. And there was no reason to believe the woman in the photo wasn’t Johanna’s mom.

“I…” Susan nearly choked on her own words out of fear. “I-I-I know,” she croaked. “I know that this m-m-may seem… odd… but… p-please stay. Please.”

Johanna looked past Nikki, in her mother’s eyes. She could see the nervousness in them. Susan saw Johanna’s gaze and met it for a brief moment before turning back to Nikki. “Please. She loves you very… very much.” Susan collected her voice as she finished, finally coming into her own. “And I would be honored to have you for dinner.”

Nikki took one more look at the photo before turning back to Johanna, sporting an aggressively pouty expression. Nikki sighed. “I’ll go wash up. Where’s the bathroom?”

“Oh, you can use mine,” Johanna said. “The big room at the end of the hall, then the door on the right.”

Nikki nodded curtly, then took off her shoes and disappeared deeper into the house.

Johanna and Susan were alone.

Johanna let out a massive breath and then tackled her mother into a hug, surprising the older woman, who accepted and reciprocated it.

Johanna’s gratitude was muffled into Susan’s collarbone. “Thank you, thank you, thank you…” She patted Susan on the head and gave her a kiss before letting go, skipping past her to set the table for dinner.

Susan stood still in the foyer.

“Oh, feel free to wait in the living room!” Johanna called.

Susan obeyed.

The skewers went quick. Johanna let Susan change into a blouse and some sweatpants, and once the three of them were seated at the dining room table, the tantalizing smell of reheated meats and salad allowed them to occupy their mouths and avoid the need for conversation. Susan’s appetite was so-so, though after a bit of thought she realized that in such a precarious situation it was in her interest to get all the calories she could get. And make no mistake; Johanna was right. Nikki was quite the chef.

Nikki was more than happy to eat from her own prepared food, too. However, perhaps out of a desire to more readily believe the story that Johanna had delivered to her in truncated form, Nikki suggested the group broke out the vodka. Susan opened her mouth to oppose this, but after one of Johanna’s patented death glares, she backed down and was in the presence of increasingly tipsy young women scarcely forty minutes later.

“Okay, okay…” Nikki closed her eyes briefly before she began. “So, you’re telling me… that spell book fucking worked? It was real?”

Johanna nodded wildly. “Yeah, yep! All of it was right on the money… I can control her height, now, hey, watch.”

“Johanna, wai–!!” Susan screamed as Johanna adopted a crinkle-faced focus gesture. Not a moment later, it seemed as though Susan was gone.

Nikki’s eyes widened. “Holy shit.”

She lunged upwards, propping her arms on the table as she reached over to see. There on the chair, Susan was standing wide-eyed, hugging herself with her hands out of a perceived feeling of exposure.

“And…” Nikki started. “That’s why she does whatever you say?”

“Mm hmm! Hey… Ma!” Johanna said, turning to the nearly-empty chair just next to her. “I want you to… hmmmm… roll over.”

“I-I-I…” began Susan, her voice almost indescribably tiny. She was being peered over by Nikki’s own massive face, looming out over the edge of the table. Her daughter meanwhile was still seated, reducing her profile. But it was still quite the intimidating sight, as it always was. And considering she had yet to truly reacclimate to the feeling of shrinking (and that her stomach was full of beef chunks), the nausea almost made it too hard to stand, much less listen to what Johanna was saying, and much less obey such degrading commands.

“ROLL THE FUCK OVER!!” Johanna screeched down, and suddenly Susan dropped to her knees and laid out on the ground. She rolled around, back and forth, several times against the hard wood of the dining room chair. Susan could smell the treated mahogany.

Susan continued to do so ad infinitum, occasionally peeking upwards only to see Johanna continuing to glare down expectantly, and Susan returned to her duty. Nikki’s eyes could only continue to widen, the reality of the situation finally breaking through the haze of vodka.

“Damn, girl… I knew you were a bit of a dom… but this is something else.”

Johanna giggled. Then she called down, “Stop!”

Susan stopped. Johanna reached her finger down, and Susan got up and trotted to it, on instinct. She hugged her arms around the long digit, waiting for Johanna to transport her to somewhere else, whether the table, the floor, Johanna’s own shoulder or elsewhere on her body. Sometimes this was what she did, though after a long time of Susan becoming accustomed to this routine, on occasion, Johanna would simply allow her mother to hug her finger. And when enough time passed that Susan realized Johanna wasn’t prepping to take Susan anywhere, Susan would realize she enjoyed it. The hug. The connection. Somehow, through Johanna dipping her finger down and grazing the seat of the chair like an inverted tree trunk, she was connecting with her daughter. Susan could hear the blood pounding from her palm above. They were blood. Family It was always these fleeting feelings of connection that made Susan stay, that made her accept this. For just a little while longer.

Nikki fell back off the table and stood up, walking around to the other side to get a proper look. Her gaze was firmly trained on the little woman. It was just starting to haze, and briefly Nikki wondered if this was just some sort of hallucination. Reason returned. She needed something more.

“Can… can I…?” Nikki began. She trailed off slightly, her voice low.

“You want to hold her?” Johanna asked, as though she were talking about a palm-sized pet.

Nikki nodded.

Johanna curled her finger, and Susan held on, locking her legs around the digit as well. Johanna lifted her half-clenched fist up, dangling Susan above Nikki’s awaiting palms. She opened them, and Susan remained there, still trying to hang onto Johanna’s outstretched fingers.

“Johanna…!” Susan looked past Johanna’s palm, past her arm, up toward her face, shadowed by the light of the chandelier. “Are you sure? About this?”

Johanna rolled her eyes, and despite their difference in size, Susan somehow gleaned that Johanna wasn’t looking at Susan like a pet in that moment, and more like a friend who needed a bit of goading to get along with the party without killing the vibe. “She’s not gonna hurt you or anything. Right, Nikki?”

“Oh, yeah,” Nikki said, scratching her temple before quickly repositioning her hands to catch Susan’s impending fall. “That’s right.”

“Nikki’s like, my best girlfriend,” Johanna said in a droning way. “She’s good for it, you know? Now let go, Mom.”

Susan refused. But when Johanna’s smooth thumb positioned itself to simply flick Susan off like the remains of a crushed gnat, Susan acquiesced, and she dropped into Nikki’s pale, slightly sweaty hands.

Johanna turned to Nikki. "Now,” she said. “There are some rules.” Johanna poured another shot of vodka. “Feel free to ask me to change her size, by the way. Now, whatever you do, you can not…” Johanna drank. She cringed as the vodka burned down her throat. “You can’t… swallow her… you can’t… crush her… you can’t… damage her… and try to lose her – try not…” Johanna sighed as she caught herself. Susan looked as if her soul had nearly left her body. “Try not to lose her. But everything else?” Johanna flashed the o-kay sign.

Nikki looked down tentatively in her open palms. Susan looked from Nikki to her daughter fearfully. “For real? Everything?”

“Go crazy! She’s technically yours now, too. If we’re going to be… you know…”

Suddenly, Nikki noticed Johanna’s face twist. That same twisty expression she got when she had just finished gulping down a Super Gulp Cup of Arctic Fizz at the cinema.

She pushed her chair away from the table and stood up. She wavered. “Excuse me,” she squeezed out. And she hobbled through the dining room, kitchen, living room, and then into the hallway to the bathroom.

Nikki was now alone with a tiny person in her palm.

Susan shivered, suddenly very cold. She tried to stand to height but fell down amidst Nikki’s clammy hands. She looked upward, above the crest formed by the meat of Nikki’s palm, and she saw Nikki… a leather-clad colossus rising up in the sky.

It wasn’t the first time Susan had been reduced, of course. But it was the first time she had been put in such a state without the presence of Johanna. For all her quirks, psychotic and otherwise, Johanna was her offspring. Flesh and blood. Susan could… more or less… rely on Johanna to ensure her safety when she was small. She had no clue what compunctions Nikki may have had, or lack thereof. And considering Nikki’s alt stylings, her ear-piercings, her black goth-lite outfit, the dyed streak in her black hair, and the tattoos that were peaking from underneath her sleeves, Nikki did not strike Susan as a particularly chaste woman.

Nikki, meanwhile, was blinking the blurriness away. She was able to hold her vodka better than most, so she could count on herself that what she was seeing was truly there. She actually was holding a small woman in her hands. It was a surreal feeling… she had to really make sure it was real.

Nikki suddenly and abruptly picked Susan up by her arm.

“Ah, ach!” Susan eeped out as she was now dangling by a single limb. Suspended, Susan ascended rapidly, as though on a carnival ride, until she reached eye-level with Nikki. Her massive emerald eye moved so rapidly, Susan could hear the wet schlicks as it slid within its socket, pouring over every inch of Susan’s skin. Nikki carefully grabbed hold of Susan’s other arm and examined her from the other side. She manipulated her, grabbing her leg and spreading it, only stopping once Susan protested aloud from the pain.

“Oh!” Nikki ceased her examination and deposited a panting Susan back on her palm. “Sorry ‘bout that. But holy fuck, this is insane…”

Nikki tried to search for Susan’s eyes, hidden somewhere in that head of reddish-brown hair of hers. It was difficult, but they eventually locked.

“N-Nikki…” Susan said.

“What?” Nikki responded. Susan cringed, and Nikki lowered her voice. She raised Susan up closer to her face, just barely within the corner of her left eye.

“Nikki… please… help me.”

Nikki stopped for a moment. “I’m sorry?”

Susan turned her head, awaiting Johanna’s return. At her size, she could feel all sorts of vibrations with better efficacy than when full grown. Johanna’s signature was faint, and far. They were safe, for the moment. She turned back up to Nikki’s puzzled face, and she briefly retreated into herself. Susan had spent more than a month of her life acclimating to Johanna’s rule. When she behaved, it wasn’t a bad life.

But the fear. The fear wouldn’t go away.

The fear that at any given moment Johanna could squash her like a gnat, or devour her whole. Or lose her out in the wilderness and leave Susan to fend for herself amongst blades of grass the size of skyscrapers, and millipedes built like double-decker buses. Knowing her life was in the hands of a teenager was an ever-present, excruciating worry, and Susan hated it.

It was a risky play. But somehow, Johanna dating a college student provided Susan with an unexpected opportunity. If Johanna wouldn’t see reason, perhaps appealing to her girlfriend would. Someone with the perspective and foresight of an adult.

Susan gathered herself as she stood to height, mustering up the first traces of her dignity she’d managed to in weeks. “You have to… get the book. Or something. Please – please, Nikki! I can’t live like this… you have to…”

Nikki looked at the crumpling little figure in her hands. It was depressing, on a certain level, seeing a grown woman reduced to a sniveling little doll. “I… I don’t understand…”

Susan fell to her knees. “Please! She’s keeping me… she won’t listen to me. But she’ll listen to you. That’s why, y-you have to do it!” Susan glared upwards.

Nikki was shivering slightly. “I have to do what?”

“Convince her, or something. Get the book. Go to the police, do anything to get me –”

“Wait, wait,” Nikki said. “The police?”

Susan paused for a moment, standing up and beginning to pace on Nikki’s delicate skin. She tripped a bit in Nikki’s heartline before she continued. “Maybe… I don’t know! I just, I can’t do this on my own… if anyone can help me, save me…”

Nikki looked at Susan again. This really was a human woman. More than that, this was her girlfriend’s mom. The novelty of the situation was beginning to fade, as was the better part of Nikki’s buzz. It was dawning on her that this wasn’t some sort of funny prank, or a sexy roleplay. Johanna had learned black magic was using it to essentially keep a human being hostage. At a whim, this woman could be reduced to nothing. Just a toy. A plaything. A doll to be manipulated and prodded, licked and stomped on, dominated, a servant to glean worship from. And nobody would ever know.

Except Nikki.

Go crazy! She’s technically yours now, too.

That was what Johanna said. Johanna had accepted Nikki’s role in her life and confided her greatest secret with her. She had done it at great personal risk – Nikki now understood the massive anxiety associated with allowing Nikki to be privy to this. This was beyond science, beyond understanding. And for now, this belonged to only them in the world.

If that wasn’t love, Nikki didn’t know what love was.

Was she really going to uproot that? Uproot it all for this “skank bitch”, if Johanna’s words were to be believed (and they always were)?

Nikki closed her eyes for a moment, and opened them. She glared down at Susan. Their gaze pierced to the depths of Susan’s soul with something unfathomable, and Susan’s pacing steps wavered in place, as though only a look from Nikki was enough to cause physical damage. At their sizes, that might’ve been true.

Susan didn’t know for sure what this look meant. What it symbolized. But her hopes began to grind into dust as Nikki lifted Susan into the air once again.

“W-what are you doing…?” Susan had only just regained enough grace and self-confidence to feel worthy of speaking so candidly to giants. She was between Nikki’s two fingers and steadily climbing, at first thinking she was soon to be situated before Nikki’s eyes, only to stop abruptly, prematurely. In front of her mouth.

Nikki opened her mouth.

“No, no, NO, STOP, NIKKI, PLEASE!”

Nikki peered at the woman; a cruel goddess ready to listen to her subjects’ prayers.

“Why should I?”

Susan’s body nearly shut down. It was in her nature, against beings so much bigger, so much more powerful than her. The idea of combatting them, whether through force or through what she hoped was intelligence, was futile. But this was the last chance, her last chance at anything approaching some kind of freedom. She had to try.

“I-I-I… I helped you… remember? W-with… my daughter… I l-let you –”

“Fucking save it,” Nikki spat, venom dripping in the spit. “You didn’t care. You never cared. You just wanted to save your own skin.”

“That’s not true! It’s not!!” Susan screamed. And it wasn’t. Entirely. It hurt her seeing her daughter so distraught. That wasn’t something Susan had seen before in a long time. Anger, frustration, fear, sure. But never such… bereavement.

“Oh yeah?” Nikki responded. “Tell me, if you weren’t the size of a mite, what would you think of our relationship? Would you sing all kumbaya, then?”

“I-I-I-I…”

Susan faltered.

Nikki saw her hesitation, and she scoffed. Somewhere inside her, Nikki had hoped Susan might’ve been different. That she might’ve learned something from Johanna. That she might’ve understood. But she was just like the others.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

And Nikki opened her mouth in a wide “O” shape, bringing the itty-bitty mommy closer and closer to her fate.

Alcohol rolled off Nikki’s tongue in a faint, thin mist, enough to addle Susan’s pleas into a jumbled garble. She barely even comprehended the shift from lamp-lit dining room to the dull red throbbing cavern that was Nikki’s mouth. Nikki’s lips closed on Susan halfway, and her legs were held out, their kicking clamped down by Nikki’s fingers as she sucked on her head like a lollipop. Nikki rolled Susan around, her tongue squirming all throughout Susan’s face, torso, neck. The saliva collected in semi-solid clumps dripping down Susan’s upper body in long strips before depositing into the basin of Nikki’s jaw.

Nikki thought as she sucked on Susan. The taste of human was somewhat subtle, though not quite to the point of blandness, so there was some carnal enjoyment to be found from sampling her. Still, it wasn’t exactly a delicacy. She wondered. She tried to get into Johanna’s mindset. If Nikki had shrunk her own mother and had her at her disposal, what would she do?

Nikki didn’t even have to think.

She’d kill the bitch.

Stomp her, crush her, flush her down the toilet, mangle her into a million pieces and swallow her down, painting her teeth red. It didn’t matter. For what Nikki had been through, such fates were mercies to her own mom.

Briefly, Nikki considered it. To crush, to chew, to tear. And her heart swelled with a powerful emotion. For that brief time, this woman inside Nikki’s mouth was her mother. And Nikki’s teeth shifted in position, her ivory incisors finding their way, the guillotine at Susan’s neck.

Her screams kicked into overdrive, a shrill, throat-shredding sound that easily pierced the gelatinous bubble of Nikki’s puffed-up cheeks. Suddenly, Nikki came back down to Earth. Her teeth abated, but rather than remove Susan from her mouth, Nikki instead used her further in, sending her into the goopy, soupy basin between her jaws and her tongue, allowing her body to become utterly saturated with saliva.

Nikki took a few breaths through her nose as she settled back into the chair. Jesus Christ, she thought. That was something else.

And that was when she realized. The damp spot that had been forming in the depths of her pants for some time now.

At that point, Nikki knew.

More than knew, she now could understand. She understood Johanna on a deeper level than she ever had. And all it took was the woman who made their relationship possible.

Nikki shrunk her mouth around Susan, swallowing down the excess saliva and leaving her tongue in that somewhat grainy state, just as the sound of water rushing through pipes graced Nikki’s ears. The bathroom door opened on the far side of the house, and soon, Johanna came back, wiping her wet hands on her shirt.

“Oh, jeez…” Johanna said as she trotted back to the dining room, twirling as she entered. “So, what’d I miss,” she asked, peering at Nikki. “She give you any trouble?”

Nikki smiled and didn’t say a word, beckoning Johanna over with a single finger.

Johanna tiptoed ever closer, and closer, and closer, until their faces were only inches away from one another.

Nikki opened her mouth, revealing a sobbing, sopping Susan, forced to lay on Nikki’s tongue like a bedspread. She was shivering, shaking, and blinded by the light.

Then Nikki forcibly grabbed Johanna’s head and pulled her into a kiss, their tongues snaking around each other with the woman caught in the crossfire. Nikki dug her hand into her own pants as she bucked on the chair, Johanna’s own knees wavering as she melted into her girlfriend lap, straddling her as she accepted her mom’s transfer between their two interlocked mouths like she was a piece of gum.

Soon, they began to wind down, faces still sealed together, squirming, seeking the vestiges of one another’s love. As Johanna’s lips unpuckered, there between them, she realized, was her mother. A sloppy, saliva-coated bridge that connected them. Nikki’s face was still glazed over as her hips bucked against Johanna’s.

And that was when Johanna realized. She’s had her suspicions, but it wasn’t until now that she knew. Nikki was the one.

Susan was no longer hers. Susan was theirs.