“What manner of mad sorcery is this?” Mary hissed, looking at the projection in the lecture hall.

“Just use your graphing calculator, this is basic stuff!” James replied from his hiding place in her backpack.

Mary scowled, withdrawing her Texas Instruments calculator and putting in the values at James’s instruction.

“Just let it graph the potential values of X,” he explained.

“Very well,” she muttered, “but I don’t see when I’ll need to know this.”

After his last burst of shrinking Mary was determined to keep him close, even going as far as to snuggle his diminished form like a teddy bear the night before as she slept. It hadn’t been altogether unpleasant, but now he was trying to walk her through gen ed classes, something it was clear she didn’t care much about beyond her duty to her parents.

Finally, the class ended, and with a sigh Mary stood up, zipping the top of her backpack closed and hiding James from view again. He was jostled as she walked through the campus, the first time he’d been here since he started shrinking. So far he’d only missed a few days of classes, but he wondered what his academic future entailed if this size change was permanent…

You’ve always got Carol, he reminded himself.

…

Asmodea and Carol squared off with the group of armored elves on the other side of the attic, “Pathetic human, we shall conquer this world in the name of the empire!” their leader sneered. The others brandished weapons, and one began chanting words of power, her hands glowing slightly.

Carol had started looking through other realities for magical assistance, and one swirling vortex later she’d pulled the small troupe of elves through to earth. She hadn’t even managed one question for their mage before the group had attacked her,

“Asmodea, clean this up,” Carol muttered angrily. The demon nodded, snapping her fingers and causing the elven mage to cry out in terror as her magic flittered away on the wind. Another twirl of the demon’s finger and the elves were thrown bodily back through the portal, still twirling and shimmering at the edge of the attic. A moment later it snapped shut again.

“I could have told you that one was a bad idea,” Asmodea snickered.

“You said the elves knew a lot about size changing magic!” Carol protested.

“They do, but they just use it to be dicks," the demon said, flopping back on the couch lazily “Word of advice Carol, almost all the other dimensions are bad, just stick with this one and Hell.”

“They can’t all be bad,” Carol muttered, flipping through a spellbook.

“Okay some of them aren't totally awful,” Asmodea admitted, “but this area is kind of the armpit of the multiverse, the next realities over to us are a zombie one, one where hamburgers eat people, and that one with the elves.”

“Those elves didn’t seem that scary,” Carol said with a shrug, “their spells just kind of stung a little.”

“Not everyone has the benefit of a demon familiar to cover her fat ass,” Asmodea said, not even looking up from her phone, “you’re also running way hotter than you usually do because of all that essence you’re pulling off James.”

“Wait,” Carol said, “I thought James’s essence was just converted into beauty, you mean it’s not spent?”

Asmodea shrugged, “it’s stored, for lack of a better word, as your beauty, sure, but if you need to you can tap into it and spend it just like any other source of magical power. It’s not your own magic, so it’s going to feel a little slippery, I wouldn’t use it for any complicated spells but-“

“I could give it back to James!” Carol said excitedly.

“That conduit is one way,” Asmodea said, sitting up, “and there’s no way to break it now, we’ve been over this.”

“What’s the usual endpoint for this?” Carol asked suddenly, “a few inches tall? Half an inch? What?”

Asmodea shrugged, “the essence drain tends to peter out once the target gets down to a few inches, at that point it’s a lot like trying to suck those last few drops of a soda up through a straw, you can keep going at him but it’ll take a lot more effort on your end and you won’t get much.”

“But there’s no point where the conduit breaks?” Carol asked.

“It’s for life,” Asmodea said, “but once he’s super tiny it’s pretty much just an afterthought, a lot of witches keep their victim as a pet, some just step on them, it’s whatever you want to do.” Asmodea grinned wickedly, “personally? I think you should keep James, he’ll probably want to go evil too, I’ll bet he’ll love being tiny.” Asmodea snapped her fingers, “he could be like, your tiny spy, planting cursed artifacts on your enemies!”

“I’m not going to turn evil and neither will James,” Carol said, crossing her arms angrily, “now, I need you to help me prepare a soul trap.”

The demon raised an eyebrow, “sure thing boss, but why would we need a soul trap unless…” Her eyes went wide and she covered her mouth with her hands and squealed, “You’re going to kill him!” Carol just shifted uncomfortably and Asmodea burst out laughing, “Oh Lucifer yes! I knew you had it in you Carol, how are you going to do it? Stomp him? Eat him maybe?”

“I am not going to kill James!” Carol said angrily, “I just might need to… destroy his physical form.”

“Whatever, I just want to say I am one hundred percent on board with this one,” Asmodea said, leaping up excitedly, “can you put the wards down so I can leave the attic?”

“You are to gather materials for a soul trap,” Carol said sternly, “nothing more, do not bother Mary and James!”

“Aye aye!” Asmodea said excitedly, and a moment later a cloud of black flies was buzzing away from where the demon had stood.

…

James felt the movement outside of Mary’s backpack stop, and he reached up to try to undo the zipper and take a peek outside. They were in front of the row of fraternity houses at the edge of the college campus, and Mary was walking up the path towards one.

“The demon apparently preys on fraternity brothers,” Mary explained over her shoulder, “or she did anyway. I think that our witch must have picked her up during one of her feeding runs.”

“Feeding runs?” James asked curiously.

“Succubi feed on sexual energy,” Mary said, walking through the front door, “all these young men, horny, intoxicated? This is practically a buffet for her.”

“Excuse me,” a young man in a sweater called, “are you here with one of the fraternity brothers?”

“Just visiting,” Mary said with a smile.

The young man blinked, “Uh, well unless you’re someone’s guest, you’ve got to go-“

Mary withdrew a small coin on a string from her pocket, “Watch,” she ordered, and the young man’s eyes were instantly drawn to the swaying coin. “Focus on the coin, listen to my voice,” Mary said in a monotone. “Will you speak to me?” she said.

“Yes,” he intoned, watching the coin drift back and forth.

“Did you just hypnotize that guy?” James said excitedly, his head poking out.

“Indeed,” Mary said, “it makes questioning people much easier, particularly when their memories have been otherwise altered.”

“Mary you are so cool,” James laughed.

She smiled, “thanks, now my friend, tell me, has your fraternity ever been set upon by supernatural creatures?”

“Yes,” he said blankly, “Last year, our big party after finals.”

“Elaborate,” Mary ordered.

“This red girl showed up, with a tail,” the young man continued, “she was… taking people upstairs, one at a time, but she was too wild, she was wiping us out, you know?”

“She probably drained them to the very point of death,” Mary muttered, “did she give you her name?”

“As-something,” the young man muttered sleepily, “I didn’t catch it, we were scared, but we couldn’t leave somehow.”

“How did you escape?” Mary continued.

“This lady showed up, she cornered the monster lady with… a squirt gun,” he muttered, as if struggling to remember.

“Holy water probably, what did she look like?” Mary asked eagerly.

“Curly brown hair,” the man muttered, “big butt, big boobs too… middle aged…”

Mary and James were both silent a moment, and as the unspoken realization hit the two of them, the young man Mary had hypnotized started blinking, his eyes coming back into focus. With a sigh she shoved the coin back in her pocket, turning and leaving before the confused man could ask her any more questions.

“That sounded like Carol,” James muttered as soon as they were outside.

“Yes,” Mary said, rubbing her chin, “it did… but she was able to hold my sword without burning? Something just isn’t adding up.”

“Your sword only hurts evil people, right?” James asked hesitantly, “maybe Carol is the witch, but she’s not-“

“Please James, this isn’t Harry Potter,” Mary snapped, “one doesn’t dabble in the dark arts because they’re full of warmth and love for their fellow man.”

“You do magic, and you’re not evil!” James protested.

“I use what tools I must to keep the world safe,” Mary said, “I wouldn’t expect a mundane like yourself to understand. Besides, this witch, if it is Carol, is shrinking you and loosed a demon on you, does that sound like a good witch to you?”

“No,” he muttered.

“Let’s go question Carol again,” Mary said, “this… this is too much, especially with you having shrank so much in her care…”

…

“Heads up Carol, I think you’ve got company,” Asmodea said, glancing out the attic window. Mary was walking up to the house, a backpack that almost certainly contained their shrunken victim over her shoulder.

“Shit,” Carol muttered, “we’ll need to figure out a way to get James away from her at some point… how tough are these Order of Light people?”

“Well, she seems pretty young,” Asmodea mused, “but if you pissed Mary off, she could probably toss your car like a brick, these people are also hard to seal with a spell, you’d probably need an archdemon to really make one stick.”

“What!?” Carol asked, taken aback, “you’re joking, right?”

“Nah, they fight werewolves with their bare fists,” Asmodea said with a smirk, “if she gets her hands on you, you’re fucked.”

“So what am I supposed to do?” Carol asked, looking down at Mary again, “how do most witches deal with these people?”

“Most witches die,” Asmodea giggled, “you’re pretty talented though Carol, I’ve got a good feeling about you.”

“Okay, well simply running down there throwing spells is out,” Carol said. She snapped her fingers suddenly, a diabolical enchantment raced across her mind, a trap so cunning, so sinister, that Mary would never see it coming! “Asmodea,” she began, “get the following things ready…”

…

“Mary,” Carol said uncomfortably as the witch-hunter joined her in the kitchen, “what a pleasant surprise…”

“Carol,” the black-haired girl said icily. She hefted her backpack onto a nearby chair, undoing the zipper and letting James poke his head out.

“James!” she said eagerly, moving around to pick him up.

“Hey Carol,” James said with a smile as she scooped him up into her arms. He reached up to her face, embracing her entire cheek and giving her a quick kiss. She giggled, blushing as she sat down with him.

“We were just at the fraternity house,” Mary said, interrupting the display of affection, “the demon was definitely there, the witness indicated that she was captured…” She glared at Carol, “would you like to take a guess as to the description of the woman who bound the creature?”

“Uh…” Carol gulped, “probably someone really cool, right? Like one of those guys that has a CW show.”

“Brunette,” Mary said flatly, “about thirty years old?”

“There are lots of thirty year old brunettes around here!” Carol said somewhat desperately, “W-Why are you so sure it’s me!?”

“Carol,” Mary said in a low voice, “put James down, we’re going to run a few more tests…”

Carol made an *eep* sound as Mary advanced on her, “NOW ASMODEA!” she shouted. There was a puff of smoke, and a clatter of steel as a massive cage slammed down over Mary.

“You think your summoned tricks can hold me?” Mary laughed. She began muttering a chant which would dispel a witch’s magic, but she frowned as nothing happened. “What sorcery is this?” she demanded, running up and attempting to bend the bars. Even with her immense strength all she did was produce a creaking noise.

“It’s not a summoned cage,” Asmodea said smugly, walking around the side, “It’s just a regular shark cage I stole from a fisherman.”

“So instead of using magic to create an entrapment, you’ve simply used it to bring a mundane one to me,” Mary muttered, running her fingers up the steel bars, “Very clever Carol, but now that I know it’s you, your days are numbered!”

“Yeah whatever,” Asmodea said, throwing a thick blanket over the top and hiding Mary from view. “Just so you know Carol, I’m pretty sure we can’t move this thing while she’s in it.”

“C-Carol?” James rasped fearfully, looking up at the buxom woman who held him in her arms.

“It’s me,” Carol admitted with a sigh, “I’m the witch. Come along James, we have a lot to talk about.” She stood up, carrying him easily as she walked out of the room. She paused, “Asmodea, get Mary some tea or something, try to calm her down.”

The sound of angry swearing came from underneath the blanket, along with a few metal clangs. Asmodea glanced at the cage and gulped.

“Sure Carol, whatever you say.”

…

Carol sighed softly as she lay the stunned James on her bed. He looked up at her, this enormous and powerful woman who had somehow been responsible for shrinking him. Multiple emotions fought within him, and the bed shifted slightly as Carol’s massive form sat next to him, her hands folded in her lap as she tried to decide what to say.

“Why?” James asked finally, “why did you do it Carol?”

“It was an accident, I swear!” she said quickly, “do you remember that lemonade you drank out of the fridge?”

His eyes went wide, “it was cursed?”

“Yeah, I really shouldn’t have left it in there,” she said sheepishly.

“Are you going to hurt Mary?” he asked suddenly, “She’s done nothing but try to help me, whatever this is between us, I don’t want her to-“

“I’m not going to do anything to her!” Carol said, “I just… need to figure out how to fix things… that’s what I’ve been trying to do since this started.” She gave him a smile, “I really like you James, I hope… I hope you’ll still want to see me after this.”

“After this?” he said, looking down at himself, “can you can fix it?”

“Maybe,” she admitted, “I’m pretty sure I’ve got a solution, but…” she grinned sheepishly, “you have to get smaller first.”

“Okay,” he sighed, “I… I think I trust you, Carol.”

Her heart fluttered excitedly, “You won’t regret it!”

“So, how does the shrinking actually work?” he asked with a smile, “I’m still kind of in the dark on that one…”

“It was every time you had a lustful thought about me,” Carol giggled, “and it’s making me prettier too.”

“I knew something was up,” he laughed, “wait, so you know every time that I-“

“Yep!” she said with a smirk, “it’s been great for my confidence…” Her enormous finger came down on him, pushing him to the bed and playing with the edge of his dish towel robe. “Now, if you don’t mind, I think I’d like to pull a little more of that size off you…”

“Uh, how much?” he said nervously, looking up at her playful smile.

“It’s all gotta go by the end James,” she said, leaning over him and letting her massive breasts hang over him, “don’t worry,” she giggled, running a finger over her breasts, “it’s going to a good cause.”

“I don’t know that you can get much more beautiful,” he gulped looking up at her immaculate face.

“Pish posh,” Carol teased, “You’ve got a whole foot and a half left… Asmodea tells me that what happens to me is guided by your thoughts you know,” she looked down at the valley of her cleavage and smiled back at him, “someone likes them big.”

“Fuck,” he muttered, looking up in awe at the pair of breasts waiting to swallow him up, “I have no secrets left, do I?” He felt the familiar tingling as his size began to leave him, the sparks of the magic dancing quickly around Carol as her breasts grew, even as he shrank.

“You don’t,” Carol said, licking her lips, “my pet demon told me a lot of other things about you,” she giggled. “Do you really want me to just take you James? Do you want to be my little boy toy?”

“Oh god,” he muttered, he’d shrank right out of his makeshift robe, and Carol was looming over him, seemingly gaining size with every second.”

“Oh my,” Carol laughed, “you’re making me taller? You already had me at six feet James!” She shrugged, “it’s a good thing you don’t have much left in the tank, otherwise who knows where I’d end up…”

“Stepping on cars,” James answered in awe.

“Hmm… maybe I’ll get out some hot wheels and you can live out that fifty-foot woman fantasy while you’re still itty bitty,” she teased, “come on, stare my boobs, give it all up James.” She reached down and pulled the billowing cloth of his robe away, flicking it across the room casually and leaving him naked. With a wink she reached down for her own shirt, pulling it up slowly, revealing the massive jiggling landscape of her breasts. There was a sudden sound of an elastic snapping, and her bra, a leftover from before the ritual had began, finally gave up under the weight of Carol’s changes.

James watched it fall to the bed, stretched and ruined, slowly his eyes traced back up and took in his goddess of a landlady. Carol simply smiled, and on all fours she moved up the bed slightly, lowering herself until a pair of breasts several times larger than his body had him pinned in place.

“Fuck them,” she ordered, “come on, squirt away that last bit of your size James, you know you want to!”

He did, and with a groan he started humping upward, gripping those draping orbs as they held him in place, his entire body only managing to jiggling the flesh around him as his landlady’s hot breath washed over him. Her skin was as soft as velvet, and the slight amount of sweat on her skin lubricated her cleavage as he thrust up into it with all his might.

Carol giggled as he groaned in pleasure, “You’re losing that height very quickly James,” she said in a low voice, “you’re not even a foot tall now…”

He gasped and tried to look around, she was right, and Carol seemed like she was relishing it. The tingling excitement was washing over both of them as the magic continued transferring his essence into her, making her hair bouncy and vibrant, her breasts larger and firmer, she slapped her ass with a giggle as it too filled out perfectly, the dregs of James’s energy going to his favorite places on his titanic landlady.

He came with a roar, the energy flashing briefly around him as his shrinking picked up speed. Carol’s breasts seemed to collapse around him as he sank lower, pinned between them and the bed as he heard her deep giggle reverberate down through her skin to him.

Light filled his world a moment later as she got up, smirking at him smugly, “Let’s see what my little tenant has given me,” she said with a wink. She glanced at a full length mirror at the end of her room and her eyes went wide. She was a true amazon now, several inches over six feet and with a powerful physique to match. Her breasts seemed to defy gravity, perky and with nipples erect in spite of her size. She had a generous hourglass shape, and her hair now traced all the way down her back, every inch of it catching the light perfectly.

“Wow,” she giggled, turning back to the tiny man on the bed, “now let’s see what’s left of you…” Her hand reached down for him, and he didn’t flee as her long fingers traced around him, each one as thick as his legs and easily powerful enough to crush him. She squeezed him slightly, making sure he was firmly in her grip as she lifted his naked form up to her face.

“I-Is this small enough?” he asked weakly, “Carol… you look…”

“I know,” She laughed, “I really should thank you for the body work James, you’ve got excellent taste.” She cocked her head, enjoying the feeling of power as the tiny James squirmed in her grip. “I don’t have a tape measure,” she mused, “but… I have something else that can give us an idea of how big you are.” She walked over to the dresser, dropping him on it unceremoniously as she turned and walked towards her closet.

James shivered slightly, it was summer, and Carol usually didn’t keep her air conditioning that cool, but at this size the room just seemed a little chillier. He looked at a hairbrush that was longer than his body, and gulped. It was beginning to set in for him just how small he’d become, and in the back of his head he wondered if this was really a good idea…

“Here we go,” Carol said, holding up an old doll, “call me sentimental, but I held on to Barbie here all these years…” she placed the doll, clad in a simple pink dress, next to James. He looked up at the towering plastic model, he didn’t even come up to its waist!

“I hope Barbie likes short guys,” he muttered nervously.

“Don’t worry about Barbie, I love them,” Carol giggled. “I’d say you’re about six inches James, cheer up, at least you’re still taller than your Warhammer guys!”

His eyes lit up suddenly, “Uh, Carol, I know it’s a weird thing to be thinking about right now, but could you maybe put me down there on my painting table? There are some of those designs that are pretty tricky, and at this size I could really do them right.”

“You’re so cute sometimes,” she laughed, “sure, can Barbie come meet your friends?” She shook the massive doll back and forth teasingly.

“I don’t know if she’ll get along with the Ork Warboys,” he said, feeling a little more at ease.

“Well, I was going to let you borrow some of Ken’s clothing,” Carol mused, “but I think you’re too small…” She shrugged, “do you even want clothing at that size? You’ll outshrink anything I make for you anyways.”

“Outshrink?” he said hesitantly, “you mean this isn’t the end?”

“Nope,” Carol said sweetly, reaching down and picking up her shirt. She struggled to get it back on, her shoulders were a little wider, and she had a noticeable midriff as she forced it over a pair of breasts that stretched the shirt to the breaking point. She turned around, giving James a glorious view of the massive globes fighting for freedom.

“Well, how much more of my size do you need before you can fix this?” he asked weakly.

She sighed, “I said all of it, James, and I meant that, six inches is a lot if you think about it, too much really…” she smiled and brushed the top of his head with her fingertip, “those last few are going to be the toughest to squeeze out of you, like getting that last bit of toothpaste in the tube…”

“Makes sense I guess,” he muttered nervously.

He’s really not going to like how this is going to end, she thought miserably, but I don’t have any other ideas… I’ll just have to make the journey fun for him.

“Hey, cheer up,” she said with a perfect smile, “if this hadn’t happened, we’d never know how we felt about each other, and when this is over it’ll just be a funny thing that happened to us.”

“I guess,” he said with a sigh. He saw her downcast expression and tried to give her a smile too, “You’re right, getting my sexy landlady as my girlfriend is probably worth a few days being tiny.”

Girlfriend!? Her heart fluttered, and she fought the urge to giggle and swoon, “Come here,” she growled, plucking his body between her thumb and forefinger. His world blurred as she brought him up to the opening at the top of her shirt, the fabric stretched around the hem as her cleavage struggled to escape. Without another word she lowered him in, exerting just enough force to send the struggling six-inch man deep into that cavern. She bit her lip as she felt him struggling, and pushed harder, making sure there was no chance for him to squirm upwards and escape. In the tight confines of her shirt James was utterly trapped, pressed from all sides by her warm and inviting flesh. It molded around him even as he fought, seeming to grip him and claim him as it’s own.

Carol sighed contentedly as she looked down at her breasts. There was no way to tell he was even there, whatever feeble struggles he was managing couldn’t even jiggle those immense orbs enough to reach the surface of her top. With a happy hum Carol started for the stairs.

…

“So, do you like, want a snack or something?” Asmodea asked the angry looking witch-hunter.

“Poisons will not work on one of the order,” Mary snapped, “our blood is blessed by the very angels-“

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Asmodea said, rolling her eyes, “you guys are badass, it’s cool, really, but I’m supposed to offer you refreshments, now do you want one or not?”

Mary glowered at the demon, then licked her chapped lips, “I suppose if you have something to drink, I would be agreeable.” She thought a moment, “chilled sweet wine, or perhaps a soda? I’ve become quite fond of those-“

“She’s got orange juice and Capri Sun,” Asmodea said, looking into the fridge.

Mary’s brow furrowed, “Capri Sun?”

“I know right? What kind of adult drinks Capri Sun,” the demon muttered, pulling out a juice pouch and tossing it through the bars of Mary’s cage.

Mary penetrated the circular hole with the straw and sipped it, seething silently at the demon. Asmodea just chuckled, scrolling through her phone.

“You know Mary,” Asmodea began, “you and I might have a common interest here.”

“Please,” Mary muttered, lowering the juice box, “as though a warrior of light could ever-“

“You know that the Order works with demons all the time, right?” Asmodea chuckled, “or do the higher ups not tell you newbies that?”

“You lie!” Mary spat.

“Oh no I don’t,” Asmodea laughed, “trust me, every now and then something comes along that necessitates a little… cooperation, between the forces of good and evil.”

“And how does that apply to us?” Mary asked curiously.

“Well, the thing with Carol is, I feel like she’s not living up to her potential as a witch,” Asmodea explained, “she’s pretty comfortable with her life, so avarice, lust, the usual things people want? Those aren’t really paying dividends. I had high hopes for James, but it looks like they’re just falling in love, which, while sweet, isn’t quite what I had in mind.” Seeing she had the young witch-hunter’s attention Asmodea smirked, “Being a familiar, I can’t raise a hand against my mistress, but Carol’s going to attempt something soon that I think is going to leave her pretty tuckered out, weak... If a certain someone were to happen to escape around that time…”

“I understand what you want,” Mary said, her eyes narrowing, “give me another juice box, and tell me what you get out of this?”

“Never you mind,” Asmodea laughed, “let’s just focus on you!” Either you kill her and I’m free to go back to partying, she thought, or Carol has to dip into the dark arts to beat you, win-win baby! She smiled as she handed Mary another Capri-Sun through the cage bars.