Liberty rotated on the bed and kicked up to standing, making Carmel yelp as she was carried across the room. The giantess took another big gulp from her vodka then went to the small fridge by the desk. She crouched and looked inside: a couple of beer cans and a bottle of water. Liberty scanned the desk, like she was missing something. She lifted the phone, grumbling, “Some minibar.”

She pressed 0, waited a second and pressed it again. Again. Then she slammed the receiver back down, hard enough to make Carmel flinch.

“Fucking storm.” Liberty paused staring at the phone. “Shouldn’t stop it working internally, should it?” She looked out the window as if the twirling snow might hold the answer. Another flash of blue glinted through the distance – soundlessly, the lightning far away. The trucker lifted Carmel up to her face and said, “Do you think this is because of some really freaky weather?”

Carmel didn’t have an answer, but wondered if that might also explain the woman’s mad behaviour.

“Guess we’ll take a walk, see Simone in person,” Liberty sighed. “Are you gonna behave if I put you in a pocket, or do I have to leave you here?”

“I’ll behave,” Carmel replied automatically and her captor smiled. A giant finger stroked her hair again, and Liberty lowered her without further discussion. Carmel started to complain at the realisation of what this meant, but was bundled roughly back into Liberty’s rear pocket, to be stuffed up against her butt again. Her feet found the bottom of the pocket as the giantess released her. and she grabbed the top edge to keep her head and shoulders outside. But Liberty flapped up her shirt to fall over Carmel, concealing her and blocking the view, then she walked out of the room.

For a few moments, Carmel merely tried to keep steady, holding on as she rose up and down with Liberty’s steps. The pocket was tight enough that her lower back was pressed against a soft wall of firm fabric, sliding up and down as Liberty’s leg flexed, and Carmel tried not to think about how she was actually partly sinking into the woman’s butt cheek. Instead, she snatched glimpses of the wooden floor below and wondered how bad the fall would be if she climbed out. It looked a frightening distance down, and they were moving fast, and Liberty would definitely notice if she was gone. But she had to do something . . .

The quietly jingling Christmas music could be heard as Liberty thumped into the reception area and called out to Simone. The giantess stopped and Carmel reconsidered her options as she asked about the minibar. Now they weren’t moving, climbing seemed more reasonable – though the shorts ended just below the pocket. She’d only have Liberty’s bare flesh to hold onto, and that looked way too smooth. She could also shout for help, she realised.

Simone apologetically explained that they had missed a delivery and not all the minibars were stocked. She sounded nice. A safer bet than Liberty, at any rate. But what were the chances of alerting her without causing a serious outburst from Liberty? Would it be safer to try and reason with her captor? They had managed to talk a little.

As Carmel failed to decide what to do, Simone said she’d try and find stocks in the other rooms and come knocking later, and Liberty ended the chat cheerily, to walk back through the hotel. Feeling the chance slipping away, Carmel tensed and readied to speak – but as she did, Liberty’s giant hand suddenly crept under the shirt and dug into the pocket with her. Carmel yelped as she was flattened against Liberty’s ass, and tried to push back against the warm palm. The music from the lobby died away and the doors closed behind them, the opportunity to be noticed gone.

Liberty’s hand curled around Carmel again, thumb shoving her forward to keep her upright, and the giantess lifted her. They were walking down a corridor, walls lined with old countryside paintings, and the public space made Carmel self-conscious. She squeezed her arms over her chest again.

“You’re too modest,” Liberty told her. “You look good.”

“You ripped all my clothes,” Carmel said, defensively. “What am I going to wear?”

“Problem for later. But you heard Simone, right? She said some of the minibars weren’t properly stocked. Meaning others might be.” Liberty stopped next to a door. “This prick wasn’t answering her earlier. Bet he’s asleep, probably hasn’t touched all his snacks.”

Carmel quickly tried to catch up: did Liberty intend to break into his room and take his food? Or just to –

Cutting off the thought, Liberty banged loudly on the door and called out, “Hey Gerard, open the fuck up.” She confided, more quietly. “I saw his truck out front – ran into this guy in the gas stop where you were.”

Carmel nodded, remembering him, thinking he might actually be worse than Liberty. “He wasn’t nice.”

“No, but he shut up fast when I told him where to get off,” Liberty said. “Guys like him are real pushovers when you now where to push.” She banged again on the door and raised her voice. “Gerard, what’s up! Give me your fucking snacks!”

Carmel sunk down in the giant fist at the volume, then warned, “He’ll see me!”

“If he ever answers the damn door,” Liberty grumbled. She paused, pricking up an ear and tutted for quiet as Carmel started to say something. Carmel listened too, and heard a faint sound, a voice far away. Liberty put her ear to the door and absently carried Carmel up to rest her hand next to her face. As they listened together, the giantess’s warm breath blew over Carmel.

“Help me!” the voice came again, clearer now. Low down.

Liberty stepped back, looking at the base of the door with surprise. Then her eyes lit up, the same way they had when she first spotted Carmel. She turned on a heel and ran back through the hotel, Carmel swinging at her side. Carmel held onto a finger and shouted for her to slow down, stop, but Liberty didn’t listen as she burst through into the reception area.

“Have you got a master key?” she called out, thrusting Carmel down behind her back. “I think some guy’s collapsed in Room 4.”

Simone made a startled sound and rushed around the counter. Together, they hurried back through the hall to Gerard’s room, and Simone unlocked the door with Liberty urging, “In here, I think he’s hurt!”

The receptionist thrust open the door and stepped back with a shriek. Liberty slipped past and laughed. She idly held out Carmel to one side so she could see into the room, a mirror to theirs but with one crucial difference: a seven-inch-tall man stood in the middle of the wooden floor, looking up at them with worry. That worry turned to horror as he took in Liberty.

“Oh fuck. You.”

“Yeah, me,” Liberty said, stepping broadly into the room. Simone gibbered nonsensically behind them as Gerard – that same scrawny, denim-and-plaid-clad trucker from the gas stop, but in miniature – turned to run. Carmel was thrown about with yelps as Liberty stomped after him. He darted under the bed, a gap just tall enough for him to duck under, and the giantess skidded down onto her knees, hand outstretched after him. Carmel swept down with her, fast and fearful as a roller-coaster. As she bumped to a halt, giant fingers tightening on her, she saw Gerard just barely ahead of Liberty’s reaching fingers, running for all he was worth.

It wasn’t enough.

The trucker snatched her hand back, fingers around his chest, and he yelled in protest as she rolled out from under the bed, holding him up triumphantly. Gerard kicked and howled, arms flailing about, like an animal in a trap, which made Liberty laugh. She sat up, holding struggling Gerard in one hand and gasping Carmel in the other, flexing her grip on both of them.

“Guess we can rule out a drug in your coffee,” Liberty told Carmel. “My money’s on the freaky storm.”

“Oh my God,” Simone’s high voice cut in, and Liberty jerked upright as she remembered the receptionist. Carmel swayed again, stomach doing somersaults, and the quick rise threw Gerard, momentarily stopping his struggles. The receptionist was backing away, shaking her head in disbelief. She was shorter than Liberty, but still looked enormous from Carmel’s tiny height, pretty in a slim burgundy skirt and jacket with a bob of black hair cut up at a sharp angle. She wore a fluffy reindeer antler hairband and a tiny strip of tinsel pinned to her brass name tag. She said, “I need to call Mr Jefferies.”

Decision made, Simone twisted to flee and Liberty burst out of the room after her, her tiny captives clinging on and shouting in fear. Liberty caught the receptionist in two big strides and bodily shoved her against a corridor wall. She brought a forearm up to pin Simone by the chest, putting the hand with Carmel in it just under their giant chins.

“No,” Liberty said firmly. “You ain’t calling anyone. It don’t concern them.”

“But – but –” Simone stuttered, frightened eyes glancing down. Carmel twisted in Liberty’s fist, trying to release the squeezing fingers slightly, as Liberty brought her face closer to the receptionist’s.

“It’s just a bit of fun, right? You’ve seen it now, so you’re gonna enjoy it with me. Got it?” The threat was implicit in her tone and Simone nodded with fear.

Liberty released the pressure. Simone gasped for air, coming away from the wall. She looked tense, ready to run again, but Liberty gestured to her room and she walked stiffly ahead. Liberty followed and closed the door, turned the lock.

At that sound, Gerard began struggling again, shouting, “Let go of me! I didn’t do nothing!”

“Sit down,” Liberty instructed Simone, and the receptionist obediently backed up to the bed and sat. She was staring at the tiny people, transfixed by the impossibility and locked in the fear that Liberty was somehow responsible.

“How . . .”

“Remains to be seen,” Liberty told her, walking closer, holding up both her captives. She grinned as Gerard slowed his struggles, watching her. “But whatever miracle did this, I’m claiming ownership. Now, you can keep me company and all Simone. I don’t mind sharing. A bit. But we’re gonna stay here together til morning. You’re not ratting me out.”

Simone shook her head, as if she wouldn’t dream of it.

“Darling,” Gerard called out, taking on a new tone. He’d finally calmed and was studying Liberty’s face carefully, plainly trying a new tactic. “I don’t know what this is or how you did it, but I will do whatever you say – just let’s keep things civil, can we? What’s it gonna take for you to turn me back?”

Liberty laughed, then brought her face in closer to him, showing off her teeth in a nasty grin. “How the fuck would I know? I think you’re good the way you are.”

Gerard backed up a bit, clearly trying to keep his cool but terrified of the massive woman. “Alright. So. What if I give you money?”

“What if I bite your head off?” Liberty countered and gnashed her teeth, startling him into silence. She turned to Carmel. “See. You just need to put them in their place.”

Carmel gawked, unsure how her display, in these impossible circumstances, proved anything at all. But then, terrible as all this was, a part of her was happy to see how afraid and vulnerable Gerard now looked. He might’ve only spoken to her briefly but she had an idea of his intent.

“Um,” Simone said, meekly. “Miss, I’m sorry, but –”

“Liberty. I ain’t no ‘miss’.”

“Okay. Miss Liberty. I don’t want to interrupt and I insist I won’t cause you any trouble, but with this storm, see, there’s some things I need to do – we have an old boiler, and the phones are out, and it’s possible we might get snowed in by morning. I really need to make sure the heating stays on.”

“No,” Liberty said. “No more work, Simone, it’s Christmas Eve for God’s sake. We’re all cosy up in here, we’ll let the snow do what it does and keep each other warm.” She paused, another thought grabbing her. “But there’s something I oughta get in from outside. You can come on and help me with that. Meantime, you two can have a little rest.”

Carmel stiffened, the thought of being left with Gerard immediately as troubling as being carried around by this crass woman, but she had no say in it: Liberty carried them to the desk, pulled open the drawer and dropped Gerard and then her inside. Carmel landed roughly and scrambled back into a corner, covering herself up, as Gerard crawled upright.

“At least give me something to wear!” Carmel cried and Liberty paused, looming over the drawer like a goddess staring down from the sky. Albeit one in a checked shirt and cap, showing a lot of cleavage. She considered the request for a second, then reached back into the drawer.

“No!” Gerard cried as she pinched him by the neck of his shirt and lifted him in the air. He kicked about as she peeled the shirt off with her other hand, until it came loose and he fell back into the drawer with a thump.

She dropped the shirt in front of Carmel and said, “Put it on.”

The tone offered no choice, so Carmel quickly did, ignoring the musky smell of the man’s shirt, about five sizes too big for her. As she settled back down, she saw Gerard glaring from the opposite side of the drawer, now topless himself.

“You two play nice,” Liberty warned. “Particularly you, Gerard. Carmel tells me you so much as sneezed in her direction and I’ll snap your legs like twigs.”

The malice left his face, fear returning, as the drawer was shoved closed and the light cut out. Liberty instructed Simone and the two women walked out of the room, then for a few seconds all was still in the darkness, with just the sound of Carmel and Gerard breathing to fill the drawer. Until Gerard said, “So. What do we do now?”