“Semen? Semen?” The voice echoed through the bustling coffee shop. Patrons turned their heads, a few people laughed.

A young woman with dark brown skin, reminiscent of rich hazelnuts, hurried towards the counter. Her head was adorned with a voluminous, puffy Afro that seemed to bounce with each step she took. She shielded her blushing face with her free hand.

“It’s Simone. Simone.” She hissed at the clerk, a scrawny teenager with greasy hair, who stared at her blankly, completely unconcerned.

“It says ‘Semen’ on the cup.” He stated with a face that told Simone that he couldn’t care less, about her name and about his job.

Simone glared at him for a moment as the person behind her in line audibly cleared her throat. Not wanting to create a fuzz, Simone turned around and returned to her seat. “Idiot.” She mumbled under her breath as she placed her tote bag next to her chair on the floor and sat down.

The logo of the Port Orleander Museum of Ancient Arts was boldly printed across the cotton canvas, with the slogan “History awaits!” stamped on the other side.

“What was that about, Semen?” Maya giggled, hiding her mouth behind her hand. Like her best friend Simone, Maya was in her mid 20s, shapely built and quite good-looking. Unlike Simone, her best friend with the pale, freckled skin and red, wavy hair was an extrovert—outgoing and boundlessly expressive.

Simone pushed up her large, thick-rimmed glasses and pulled up her chair.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.”

“Awww, sweetie, I am just trying to lighten the mood. Today’s just not your day, huh?”

“Ugh, I guess I am still a little shaken after the break-in today.”

“Did they tell you what was stolen?”

Simone shook her head, her large fluffy Afro bobbing side to side; she sipped at her coffee. “The police put the whole museum in lock down and after a quick search they sent everyone home. But they didn’t tell us anything.”

Maya shook her head, straw in mouth. “They should tell you.”

“Babe, I work the gift shop. They don’t tell me shit on the best of days.” Simone leaned back, rolling her eyes.

“Still… how’d Tinydick take the news?”

Simone rolled her eyes. “Tendrick took the news same as always. Shouted at me. ‘We’ll lose a day’s worth of revenue, Simone; Guess who’ll I’m gonna fire first, when they cut my budget! Your fat and greasy ass, Simone!’” She had Tendrick’s impression down to a T.

“Cocksucker.” The red-head glanced at her phone. “Fuck, I need to go, I have a date with Dave.”

“Who’s Dave again?” Simone squinted at her friend.

“A friend of Steve’s… Pete’s older brother.” Maya got up and planted a big wet kiss on Sim’s cheek.

“See you tonight!”

“No, wait, is that still on?” Simone grimaced. Maya stopped in her tracks, crossing her arms.

“Yes, Sim, it is still on.” Staring at Simone half angry, half pleading. “You need this, girl. When was the last time you had something going on down there?” Maya gesticulated towards her crotch in a circular motion. “When they were still using fax machines, I bet.”

Simone rolled her eyes.

“Look at this!” Maya launched forward, cupping Simone’s full breasts in her hands. "Those gorgeous D-cups haven't had any attention in forever!" Maya teased, squeezing playfully.

Simone quickly pushed her hands away, glancing around nervously to see if anyone had noticed. "Cut it out, Maya!"

“I’m just saying this is a crime.” She grinned at her bestie.

“Also they are F-cups, idiot.” Simone chuckled. “Ok, ok, I’ll come, I promise.”

“Great! Love you, babe! I’ll bring Matt, then we can do some sort of double dating!”
“Who?” Simone looked puzzled, but Maya ignored her, blew her a kiss and hurried away.

“Fuck me.” The young woman picked up her coffee, grabbed her tote bag from the floor and headed home.

———

The apartment was a third-floor walk-up in a building that probably violated every fire code of Port Orleander. Simone’s place smelled faintly of dirty laundry and ramen noodles, with a subtle undertone of desperation and dust. The walls were off-white, except for the one spot behind her couch which was adorned by a large dark spot nobody knew what it was and where it had come from.

It was already getting dark when Simone stepped through her apartment door. She was exhausted, both mentally and physically. On the bus ride home she had to deal with another one of those encounters. Some asshole, who sat down next to her on the bus and then kept accidentally bumping into her tits with his elbows on every street bump. She had responded the same way as in every one of these encounters in the past. Afraid of escalation, she tried to slide over, away from the creep; tried shielding her breasts with crossed arms; tried her best to ignore it. This time, she was too exhausted by all this shit to even get up and move to another seat.

Simone dumped her tote bag on the wobbly kitchen table and kicked off her shoes. The bag fell over, but she paid it no attention. Her phone vibrated with a text from Maya, a string of all-caps encouragement and eggplant emojis. Simone responded with a middle finger GIF and a smiley. She pulled her hair free of its elastic, letting it explode in all its puffy, untamable glory, and worked her way to the bathroom. After a quick shower, Simone rummaged through her closet in the hopes of finding something representable. Maya was right, it had been quite some time since she had last gone out.

She settled on a black camisole that accentuated her breasts in a way that was almost apologetic, and jeans that did their best to contain her wide hips. Adding a pair of golden hoop earrings, she stepped into the kitchen for a quick snack. She looked at her watch, she still had an hour before she had to leave and—what the fuck? Simone looked at the mess on the kitchen table. Her tote bag had fallen over, and the content had spilled out. A newspaper and a dark blue notebook. She owned neither.

“That is not my tote bag.” She finally realized. She must have accidentally grabbed someone else’s bag? Simone walked over and picked it up. Looking inside, she pulled out a few more trinkets, a pencil, chewing gum and an even smaller bag. Curious she inspected the little satin thing. It was surprisingly heavy. She pulled it open, not sure what to expect.

“Holy shit–” Turning the bag upside down, a heap of cold metal slid out onto her open palm. A necklace. Or was it an amulet? Simone didn’t know.

It was a striking piece: an orb of iridescent black stone hung from a chain of silver so pale it looked like moonlight solidified. The orb glimmered with shifting colors, like an oil slick, and it was cradled by what looked like two hands. Simone turned it over, expecting maybe plastic tag, or a little Made in China imprint, but instead found only a carved symbol: a crescent moon with a squiggly line through it. She squinted, thinking maybe it was an ancient rune, or just an artist’s signature. Whatever it was, it radiated a strange electric presence. And it looked old—way old.

She should put it back, she thought. She should bring it to lost & found—or better yet, to the police station, but the longer she held it, the more it seemed to call to her. Specifically her. She ran her thumb over the stone, shivering at the chill it left on her skin. It felt both ancient and alive.

"I could wear it once before returning it." She said to no one in particular. Looking around her apartment, as if making sure that nobody is watching her, she headed for the large mirror in the living room.

Staring intently into the mirror she slowly put the amulet around her neck. Nothing happened.

Simone was surprised. Somehow she had expected something to happen, anything.

“What were you expecting, idiot? It’s a necklace.” She said out loud—this time to herself.

She admired herself in the mirror for another minute. Maya was right, she thought. I do look sexy, and it is a crime that no one has been plowing those tits in over seven months. She squeezed her full breasts to underscore her thoughts. Alright, time to get ready. Tomorrow I’ll bring you to the police. She reached behind her neck to unclasp the necklace when suddenly a sharp pain went through her chest.

“Arrgh, fuck!” Simone winced. What the… She pushed her glasses back up her nose. Breathing heavily she stood there for a moment and stared into the mirror. Slowly she reached her right hand towards her neck, anxious, unsure about what had just occurred. Her hand reached the metal clasp. Nothing. She relaxed. “Maybe I just pulled a musc–” Another sharp pain rushed through her, a bolt of pain paralyzing her whole body. But instead of her crumbling, her body bent backwards.

A blue-white glare exploded from the obsidian orb, lighting up the apartment like a UV cabin. Simone’s tongue went numb. Her teeth ground together involuntarily as her spine arched, and she shrieked—an agonizing scream that reverberated through the apartment.

Blue electricity crawled over her skin in crackling filaments, tracing every stretch mark, every dimple, every stray hair. Simone’s body jerked, then suddenly hovered a few inches off her ugly thrift store rug, twitching. Her heart stuttered, then rebooted at double speed.

Her eyes rolled back and then snapped open, both irises now burning blue, like something from a horror movie.

And then she heard it.

A voice.

It wasn’t in the room or even in her head—it was behind her bones, emitting from inside her skull. Low and deep, and it vibrated down her spine, through her lungs against her ribs.

You have been chosen, vessel.

The voice was deep but female—and Simone was sure no human in existence has ever actually spoken in it.

“Pl… pleas–” Simone’s vocal cords were not cooperating.

The moon’s strength, I bestow unto you!

Simone’s cramped hands dug into her face in an effort to control the pain.

Bring me my sacrifices and earn my powers!

Simone didn’t understand. She blindly flailed, reaching for something to steady her, something to hold on. She tried to make sense of the words, but they didn’t seem to make any. “Wh– What? What do you mean?” She finally forced out of her coarse throat.

The voice broke into a delighted cackle.

Go out and squash some bitches!

Another flash and Simone collapsed on the floor, unconscious.

———

Joe was breathing heavily as he jogged along the poorly illuminated park path. He was nearing the end of his 4-mile run, and it was already dark, so it was time to get home and get ready for a night out with his friends.

“Whoa! Whoa!” From behind a large bush a woman suddenly stumbled onto the path, Joe managed to evade at the last moment. “Watch out!” he shouted, but immediately realized something was off. He turned and approached the surprise woman. “Lady, are you ok?”

The African-American woman did not respond, instead she drunkenly stumbled away from him, her black camisole was torn at the side, revealing her laced bra, her thick rimmed glasses hanging from one ear. Joe’s worries skyrocketed. He pulled out his phone. “Lady, can you understand me? I’m gonna call the police, ok?”

He dialed 911, sweat dripping from his forehead. “Hello? Yes, I am in Bellwood Park, near South Holland Street. I just encountered a… a strange woman, I think something terrible has happened to her.”

As Joe explained the situation and asked for an ambulance and a police cruiser, Simone suddenly stopped. She slowly straightened up and regained her composure. Pushing her glasses up, she turned around towards the man on the phone.

“Hey.” She said in a husky voice.

“–Alright I’ll wait.” He lowered his phone. “Hey! Are you ok? I just called the police if you need help.”

Simone smiled at him, her eyes faintly glowing.

“I feel great. Amazing even.”

Joe narrowed his eyes at the woman in the dim light, sensing that something was seriously wrong.

The woman slowly nodded.

Joe stepped back in horror. Did she just grow taller?

Simone’s body started slowly expanding, growing. The effect was subtle at first—a little more muscle in the shoulders, a little more length in the calves, a curve in her thigh that was not there a second ago. And then it wasn’t subtle anymore, because the woman was bulking up, thickening, her curves becoming improbable, impossible, like a superhero movie gone off the rails. Her camisole gave up with a soft ripping sound and her breasts poured out, almost cartoonishly huge, heavy globes of flesh and areola that bounced as she reached down to tear the garment off with one hand. She didn’t flinch at the exposed skin.

Her hips flared, jeans splitting at the seams, denim tearing all the way up to the waistband until only the tattered shreds of fabric clung to her, and then even that failed. Her glasses, hilariously still perched on her face, were now tiny, useless—she plucked them off with two fingers and folded them delicately, before flicking them away, all the while never breaking eye contact with Joe.

Joe stumbled backward. “What the fuck, what the holy fuck—” he gasped, the phone dropping from his hand and spinning off into the grass.

Simone’s breasts swelled and rebounded, rising up her chest in a way that defied gravity, rhythmically billowing out like rising bread dough, her wide ass growing fuller and thicker. Within seconds, Simone towered over him, perhaps twelve feet tall, her proportions physically impossible. Her hands looked like they belonged on a construction site. Her mouth ripped in a wide, wolfish smile.

The small man completely froze, unable to move a muscle.

“AMAZING.” She bellowed in a low voice. She slowly stepped closer towards the tiny man. Joe stood before her, paralyzed, his mouth stuck open. She smiled as she grabbed the man at his neck and effortless lifted him up, muscles bulging.

Joe grimaced, as his paralysis finally lifted, and he started thrashing for his life, gasping for air.

Simone just grinned.

———

The flashlight cones scanned the ground, back and forth.

“Where the hell is that guy?” muttered Officer Mandel.

“This is the place he described” said his partner, Officer de la Rosa, who wore every bit of her annoyance on her face. “It’s always the last one of your shift, you know?”

The paramedics followed a respectful three paces behind, pulling a rattling emergency kit on wheels. The woman in front, Carla, looked like she’d rather be literally anywhere else; the guy behind her, Huey, rookie that he was, was overly excited about the whole thing.

They found the dropped phone first, lying display up in the grass.

“Hello?” Mandel called out into the dark void, voice suddenly thin. “My name’s Officer Mandel, You requested an ambulance?”

The flashlight beam reflected off something pale and glistening a few feet ahead. For a wild second, Mandel thought it was a dog toy, a chew-bone, but as he drew closer he realized what it was.

“Oh fuck!”

A human arm. Just the arm, ripped off at the shoulder. It lay at a ridiculous angle, fingers curled in a death grip around a clump of grass, smartwatch still proudly displaying burned calories on the wrist.

Mandel went pale and grabbed his gun. De la Rosa scanned the surroundings, the bushes and trees, adrenaline spiking. "We need backup.”

She reached for the radio, but before she could call for help the ground trembled with deep vibrations.

“Uh, guys…” Carla saw something moving next to them, a dark silhouette against the night sky.

De la Rosa pitched her head up, just in time to see something large descending onto her.

A gigantic bare foot came crashing down onto the police woman, knocking her backwards onto the ground, before, with the force of a half a dozen elephants, pushing her into the ground. The earth shattered and blood and viscera sprayed outwards from under the sole, shooting from between the large bulky toes. The shock wave knocked Mandel off his feet, and the spray of gore covered Huey from head to toes in red liquid. When the foot had finally settled—squelching in the blood-soaked damp earth—all that remained of officer de la Rosa was her arm, poking out between two of the gigantic toes.

Mandel, dizzy from the impact, looked up into the sky. Before him stood a woman, dark skin, at least 50 feet tall.

“Uhm, uhm, uhm–” was all the shell shocked officer could mumble as he looked up at the titanic beast before him. High above him he could make out the dark silhouette of a woman. Her curvy hips, her large soft breasts. A pair of eyes glinting in the darkness. Or was it teeth? It didn’t matter, a large dark hand descended towards him.

“Run!” Carla shouted at the dumbfounded officer, eyes wide with terror.

But Officer Mandel’s brain had seized any remaining function. “Uhm.” The hand grabbed his upper body, enveloping his head and torso before clenching together. He didn’t even have time to scream, before his upper half was squished into fine paste, exploding outward.

“Fuck!” Carla gasped. Grabbing Huey by the arm, she took off. “Get going, you idiot!” Behind her she heard a deep monstrous laughter, together with some unsettling crunching noises—probably the rest of officer Mandel’s body being disassembled.

Huey, up to now still processing what was going on, tried his best to keep up with Carla. “What the fuck was that?” He screamed.

“I don’t know!” Carla coughed between breaths. “But we have to split up! You go left, I go right!” She shoved him onto the well light footpath, while hastily dodging into the dark bushes to her right.

“Wait! Split up?” Huey stopped in his tracks, confused. “Isn’t that a bad idea?”

"IT’S A GREAT IDEA! IT MAKES THE GAME WAY MORE INTERESTING!” The deep voice bellowed behind him.

Huey shot around, face turning white as he saw the gigantic figure lazily approaching. Her steps causing tremors as they pressed into the soft soil, leaving massive footprints behind her. Everything above her shins was covered in shadows but what he saw was enough. Turning back around he was about to take off, but stumbled as the giant’s foot crashed down behind him. He scrambled onto his back looking up to the monster above him. Something that used to be Officer Mandel’s lower body landed next to Huey, painting him in a new layer of red and coating his mouth in the taste of iron and bile. The rookie paramedic screamed, high and desperate, but it barely registered in the night beneath the goddess’s cackle above.

The woman planted one foot on either side of Huey, the impact making him bounce a full foot off the ground. She bent at the knees, thighs like oil tankers, and regarded the bug at her feet with a curiosity that was almost childlike.

“You’re so little,” she purred, voice vibrating Huey’s inner ear until his teeth rattled. “I could lose you in my cleavage.” She paused, contemplative, “Or maybe somewhere even more fun.” She ran her tongue along her teeth, which gleamed like polished marble in the moonlight.

Huey, scrambled logic somehow still functioning, rolled away from the monster’s shadow, crawling on hands and knees over tufts of grass and bits of Mandel that poked up at odd angles. His hands slipped on something slick and warm—he didn’t look.

“You paramedics are supposed to help people, not just run away.” She reached out with her foot and gently pushed Huey onto his back again.

“P-P-Please!” Huey begged, body shaking.

The monster slowly crouched down above him, her body now fully illuminated by the streetlights.

She looked like a young woman, dark skin, big puffy Afro. Curvy, with soft thighs and heavy boobs hanging low, softly swinging back and forth with her movements. Her face was… actually cute.

“You– You look beautiful!” Huey’s panicked brain managed to spit out, cold sweat running in rivers down his spine.

The giantess smiled. Reaching down she grabbed the man, lifting him forcefully to her face. Her lips parted into a wide smile, her warm breath washing over him, his face scrunching.

“And you look delicious.” The deep voice echoed from the giant’s throat.

———

Simone was somewhere behind her own eyes.

Not asleep. She knew what sleep felt like, and this was nothing like it. This was being pressed into the backseat of her own skull, watching her hands move automatically, almost instinctively, as if she had done this her whole life. Watching her fingers—so large now, impossibly large—curl around the tiny struggling thing that had been a person like her just moments ago. Well, technically, he was still a person.

There you are, a deep, ancient voice purred, vibrating through the bone of her forehead. I was wondering when you'd wake up.

She tried to scream. Her throat didn't respond. Her jaw opened anyway, stretching wider than it ever should, and she felt the paramedic's legs kick against her lower lip as her tongue—her tongue was so big, wet and hot and tasting of copper—gushed out to lap him up.

Don't fight it, little vessel. The voice was ancient and giddy, a grandmother offering candy laced with something forbidden. Three thousand years I've waited, and now I am unbound again! Well– the voice changed slightly, to a more thoughtful tone, really, I am bound to you, Ssss-imone. She stretched the S into a snake-like hiss. So, shall we make this work for both of us, baby?

Simone tried to close her mouth. Tried to force out the tiny human. Her teeth came together instead. She felt the cracking, and the gush of warm liquid sliding down her throat, and at that moment she felt it.

Yes, the voice sighed, rich and resonant as temple bells. That's it. That's the power. Feel it? The moon's blessing, flowing through you. Every drop of chaos feeds me. Every scream is a prayer. A delighted giggle followed, high and wrong. And oh, sweet thing, they're praying so loud tonight.

Simone, repulsed a second ago, suddenly felt another feeling flowing through her. As the pulped remains of the tiny paramedic slid down her throat, a sense of power, of clarity, ran through her body. She was never going to be ignored anymore. She was never going to be ridiculed, or taken advantage anymore. She was going to rule this place.

Simone felt her body move once more—their body, she corrected herself, because it wasn't solely hers anymore, not while the silver chain lay heavy and cold against her collarbone. She felt herself stand, felt the tremors as her footsteps shattered asphalt, felt the night air cool against skin that shouldn't be this exposed.

Somewhere in the darkness below, a woman was running.

Shall we catch her? The voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. Shall we make her scream too? I think we should. I think you've earned it.

Simone wanted to say no. Her lips stretched into a smile instead.

———

Carla stumbled onto the empty streets, completely out of breath. Huey's final screams had spurred her into a frantic sprint, but now her lungs burned and her legs felt like rubber. She stumbled between two parked cars, taking a knee to catch her breath.

What the fuck was that thing? She couldn’t believe what she had seen. A nightmare! It must be! She looked around, looking for people that could help her, but the street was empty—and quiet.

The only thing she could hear was the rhythmic beating of her heart. She felt it too, vibrating through her body. And the car she leaned against. And the ground? Her head shot up. The tremors grew stronger—she was getting closer.

The car beside her crumpled like a soda can, glass and twisted metal erupting outward as the giantess's foot came down. The shock wave flung Carla across the asphalt, her body tumbling to a stop in the middle of the empty street.

“THERE YOU ARE! YOU ALMOST GOT AWAY!”

“Wh- What did you do to Huey?” Carla shouted at the gigantic woman, while slowly backing away from her on all fours.

“THE SAME THING I WILL DO TO YOU. I DEVOURED HIM, SKIN, BONES, AND ALL.”

Carla jumped up and darted across the street away from the giant. Behind her, laughter.

She hurtled toward the corner building just as its main door swung open. She collided with an elderly man stepping out, her momentum sending him sprawling against the wall as she tumbled inside.

“What in God’s name–” He began to shout when he spotted a titanic Black woman rush across the street towards him.

“Close the door, old man!” Carla shouted as she threw her body against the door, pushing it shut.

The foyer lights flickered as Carla slapped the deadbolt home, heart going like a jackhammer. The old man, night robe gaping, flailed uselessly next to her. “What in Christ’s name is that—” he started, but Carla already had her hands on his shoulders, shoving him toward the stairwell.

“Move—MOVE!” she screamed, and the old man finally lurched into motion, slippers slapping tile. Carla heard the giantess outside, a heartbeat of silence, then the CRACK and spray of shattering glass as a hand blasted through the large front door like a ram. Shards fell like rain. The hand—no, the entire fucking forearm—swept inside, fingers spread wide, and Carla saw it was nearly as thick as a semi truck. She pulled the old man with her, nearly yanking his arm out of its socket as they dove into the stairwell.

“I CAN HEAR YOU, LITTLE ONES.” The words vibrated the air, shaking dust from the ceiling panels.

“Up,” Carla panted. “Go up.” She half-carried, half-dragged the old man up the first flight.

The whole building was groaning and protesting, but every sound was swallowed by the monster’s laughter, which slammed through the walls like a nightclub sub-woofer. As Carla reached the second floor, she heard the stairwell below them buckle.

The stairs shook, then burst apart as the wall beside Carla exploded inward like it was made from dry cookies instead of bricks. The old man howled as the giant hand came through, fingers wriggling blindly. Carla yanked him up another step, but the hand found his leg and crushed it with one flex, dragging his flailing body down through the hole in the wall. Carla heard a wet pop, the crunching of bones, screaming and squelching flesh, and then she was alone.

The next floor landing buckled. Plaster exploded in her face as the wall three feet away dissolved, fingers spearing through the breach. Carla ducked. The hand swept overhead, then withdrew, leaving a cavity big enough to drive a car through. Her ears rang with the sound of bricks tearing.

Back lit by streetlights, the gigantic figure bent to peer through the fissure, eyes glowing like a wolf’s in a headlight’s beam. Carla dove into the nearest hallway, arms over her head, and ran. Glass and dust rained from above as the ceiling peeled away. The entire building lurched sideways. Carla staggered against the wall and just kept running, feet slipping in the grit and plaster.

Just as she reached the apartment door at the end of the hallway the building was torn apart.

She never made it inside the apartment.

The hallway and half the building went sideways. The floor turned into a chute as the world caved in, and debris rained down onto her. Carla bounced and tumbled as the whole third floor folded like wet cardboard. She screamed. Briefly. Most of the force left her lungs as the collapsing building spat her out into the streets.

Her body slid down a pile of rubble, finally landing in a puddle of what she sincerely hoped was only rainwater—no, nope, blood, it was blood, it was red and sticky and running down her face. Carla couldn’t move for a second. Maybe her legs were broken. She couldn’t tell. All she saw was above: the sky, the fractured building, the colossal silhouette blocking out the moon.
The monster woman loomed over the ruins, hair a wild black halo, her face glazed with the glow of streetlamps and the demon blue pulse from her eyes. Her large chest was heaving with laughter, moonlight gleaming off her black skin—stretched tight and perfect over curves that belonged in a magazine. She was naked but for a silver chain glimmering around her neck.

“Fuck,” Carla croaked, spitting grit. Her legs wouldn’t move. She tried to drag herself away, but her arms were rubber and the ground slick with something that might have been the old man’s innards.

The monster bent lower, hands on her knees, bare breasts the size of vintage Cadillacs swinging above the rubble, nipples dark and almost as big as Carla’s face. The goddess’s tongue, wide as a queen-sized bed, flicked the corner of her mouth. She was savoring the moment.

The goddess’s hand descended. It was almost gentle, compared to the violence she’d unleashed on Mandel and everyone else. Her fingers—each as thick as a human thigh—curled around Carla’s torso, pinning her arms to her ribs. The pads of her fingers were warm, surprisingly soft, but they squeezed with a pressure that made Carla’s joints grind and her vision go white.

Her head whipped back as she was lifted in front of the goddess’s face. She wasn’t even a speck in that unblinking stare. The creature licked her lips, tongue broad and pink and spattered with the remains of the last victim—Huey, she remembered.

Feed your goddess! The voice has returned encouraging Simone one more time as she moved the tiny person closer to her lips.

Carla flinched as the large mouth in front of her parted. After that: darkness.

———

The sharp ringing of the doorbell jerked Simone from her sleep. She was surprised to find herself to be completely naked, so she threw on a dirty white t-shirt as she stumbled towards the door. Pulling down the white fabric as to cover her nude crotch, she peeked through the peephole of her front door. It was Maya. She looked worried. Simone opened the door.

“Hey, Maya, what are you…”

“Sim! Thank God you’re OK!” She barged through the door, hugging a startled Simone.

“Uhm, yea, I am, what’s going on?”

She closed the door and followed Maya into the living room, her top still pulled between her legs.

“What do you mean, ‘What’s going on?’” Maya looked at her friend with a worried face. “First, you don’t answer my calls. You stood us up at the bar–”

“Oh, right, I must have completely forgotten—”

“And then your street explodes all over the news! We were worried!”

“What? What news? What happened?” Simone was genuinely confused.

Maya looked at her friend in disbelief. “What happened? You want to tell me, you didn’t notice this…” She walked over to the window and pulled aside the curtains, flooding the room with the golden morning sun.

“Hold on, I need my glasses.” Simone grabbed them from the bedside table and pushed them on. Looking outside it took Simone’s eyes a second to adjust to the brightness—then her jaw dropped. The corner building across the street was completely torn apart, half the facade was missing. Chunks of bricks and wooden beams hung in the air like a diorama of a bomb strike. Debris and stone littered the street, and the wreckage had been cordoned off with yellow police tape that flapped feebly in the wind. Hundreds of people were milling around. Simone stared, her mouth agape. “Uhm. Damn?”

“You slept through all that?” Maya’s disbelief was written across her face. “Last night, babe. You seriously didn’t hear it?” Simone shook her head slowly, silently processing the kaleidoscopic flashes that now ambushed her memory—crimson on grass, the taste of iron, a tickle of euphoria as her body swelled and vibrated. The snatches of memory fizzed like static in her head, but they threatened to arrange themselves into a coherent and nauseating movie at any moment. She swallowed.

Maya’s looked changed to concerned. “Are—are you okay? You look pale.”

“I’m fine.” Simone hastily let go of the t-shirt top crotch drape and moved back to the window, staring outside. “What are they saying on the news?”

Maya flopped onto the couch and keyed in her phone’s pass code with one thumb, searching. “They found, like, body parts. Cops and stuff. They say it’s maybe a bomb or a gas main that has exploded.”

“Are those… footprints?” Simone’s mind raced.

Maya stretched her neck to peer out the glass pane.

“It looks like footprints?”

Simone took a few steps back, rubbing her temples.

“Maya, I think I have to tell you something…”

Maya flicked through her phone, one perfectly sculpted eyebrow arching as she scrolled through the reels.

Simone’s mouth was a dry sponge. She ran her hand along her jaw, feeling the phantom memory of it stretched wide, biting down. “It’s gonna sound… insane,” she began, voice nearly a whisper.

Maya twisted her lips: “Try me.”

“OK, so,” Simone started, and immediately had to sit. She dropped into the nearest chair, stomach curdling, hands trembling.

She grabbed the t-shirt, twisting the cotton out of shape. “I think I blacked out last night. I remember I woke up in the park and… I’m not sure what happened. Everything’s foggy.” Lie. She remembered. The taste, the feel. “I thought it was a dream but…”

Maya put her phone down, staring at Simone.

“You blacked out? What the fuck did you do?” She hissed at her friend. “Drugs? If you’re doing drugs without me, I am not mad, I just need to know, because everyone says that new stuff is, like, just fentanyl times ten and you will die, and I won’t let you die, Sim.” She didn’t even pause for breath. “Sim, I’m serious. What happened?”

Simone’s hands flew to her head. “It wasn’t drugs, Maya, oh my god. I… I tried on this necklace—wait, I have to show you.”

She picked through the heap of the tote bag that was not hers. It wasn’t there. Simone spun around. “Where the f– ah!” She found it on her bedside table, lying there like a dead bug: the amulet, black and iridescent, impossibly compelling.

Simone picked it up and the room seemed to dip in temperature. It was hard as glass, cold as a grave.

Maya squinted at it, wrinkling her nose. “You’re telling me you got blackout drunk from a fucking necklace?”

“No, I mean—yes, but no. I don’t know how to explain it. I feel… different with it. Like it’s alive.”

“Babe, your necklace is not alive. Are you going to tell me it’s haunted by a witch or some shit?”

“I put it on and I grew gigantic, Maya.” Simone finally admitted, feeling lightheaded—whether it was from confessing something so ridiculous to her best friend or from last night, she could not tell. “I did this.” Simone pointed towards the destroyed building across the street.

Maya squinted at her friend, trying to gauge if this was supposed to be a joke, or if Simone was actually on drugs.

Simone watched the way Maya’s mouth tried on three different shapes before a sound came out.

“You… You think you turned into a giant? Because of a necklace?”

Simone’s chest went tight. She wanted to laugh, or cry, but all she managed was a choked snort. “I’m not making this up.”

Maya plucked at the amulet with her fingers. “Looks like something from Hot Topic. Or maybe one of your museum’s nerdy gift shop trinkets.” She sniffed the air, tilting her nose up. “It smells like burnt hair.” Simone sat silently across her friends, unsure on what to say—how to prove anything.

“So last night…” Maya gestured at the carnage across the street. “You did that? Just, stomped it? You squished people? Jesus, Sim.”

“I… I think I…” Simone’s voice hollowed out, barely above a whisper, “ate some of them.” She heard the words wrap coldly around her tongue.
Maya’s expression changed. She waited for the punchline. There wasn’t one.

“But I didn’t want to!” Simone blurted. “Or I did—I don’t know! It’s like… the second I put it on, my brain short circuits. I want to stomp stuff. I want to crush. Eat. Destroy.” She looked up, wild-eyed. “I can’t stop once it starts. Like something… is commanding me.” She dropped the necklace. The amulet hit the table with a sound like a hollow stone.

Maya stared at it, chewing her lip. “So, you’re a were-monster now? Like in those fucked-up internet sites you showed me once, where the giant women—”

“No, Maya, I mean–”

“The one, where that Manga girl, she crushed a bunch of people beneath her feet and then she used a city bus as a dildo?” Maya’s mouth turned into a wide grin. “Did you use a city bus as a dildo, Sim? Because I am not gonna lie, that would be pretty cool. Fem dom and all that.”

Simone could tell that Maya was making fun of her.

“No, Maya. I went to the park where I–”

“Ah, Sim?” Maya interrupted her friend as she pulled up her phone. On her InstaPic feed was a picture of the amulet. The headline “Stolen: Ancient Artifact Missing” was the headline below.

Maya held the phone inches from Simone’s nose. “Babe. That’s your weird necklace.” Simone blinked, skin prickling all over. “It’s not mine. It was in my bag. I think someone swapped my bag with theirs at Smokey Beans. It had to be an accident. I found the amulet in my kitchen, okay?” Simone’s hands twitched, her fingers hyperventilating on the table.

Maya ignored her, thumbing wildly through the news article. “It says here this thing is, like, pre-Egyptian? Nubian? That it was used in ‘ceremonies of cosmic inversion.’ Oh my God, Sim, did you cosmic invert?”

“Maya!”

Maya couldn’t suppress her grinning, punching Simone in the shoulder. “Alright babe, drugs or not, it doesn’t matter, but I think we should return that necklace to the police. Maybe there is a finder’s fee?”

Simone cupped her face in her hands. She didn’t have the energy to explain any more or convince her friend of something she first had to convince herself.

“You’re right,” Simone finally said, voice flat, defeated. “Let’s take it to the cops. Today. Maybe they’ll have a solution for cosmic inversion.” She snorted but it came out as a sob.

Maya’s face softened, she giggled. “You wanna go now, or…?” She glanced at Simone’s shirt acting as makeshift underwear. “Maybe try something with actual pants first?”

Simone didn’t bother to respond, she took off her top and went into the shower.

———

When Simone arrived at the Metro-Police headquarters it was already late afternoon. It had taken forever to get to the police station. Navigating the labyrinth of police tape, blocked-off streets, and having to take the long way around the closed park took quite a while. Wandering by they could admire the evidence of Simone’s late night escapade first hand: gigantic footprints torn through the asphalt, ripped out vegetation and flattened cars. In one instance there was clearly some blood on the ground.

Maya still did not believe in her friend’s wild story—but she came to the conclusion that she had no other explanation either. Simone on her part had stopped any attempt to convince Maya. At least for now.

The closest police precinct had sent them on. They were too busy with the disaster at hand, they simply had no time or manpower to care about something trifling as a missing necklace. So, they finally ended up at the Metro-Police headquarters.

By the time they reached the building, Maya was already checking her phone for her bar shift. “I need to hustle, babe. Promise me you’ll call if you get arrested for cosmic inversion.” She bussed Simone on the cheek, ran her hand through Simone’s full hair, as she always did, and then slipped into a taxi.

Simone waved at her as the beige Tambrian Escapado sped away. She watched the car disappear, knowing Maya couldn't afford to miss a shift—tips were the only thing keeping her friend's electricity on this month. But still, she felt uneasy and forlorn at the bright-tiled stairs of the towering high-rise that housed the Port Orleander metropolitan police.

She looked up, as a helicopter was taking off from its roof—undoubtedly heading towards her playground from last night. The sun was already setting, with the ghostly bright orb of the moon high in the sky. The lunar disk was almost full. Full moon had to be just around the corner.

Simone sighed heavily and started climbing the stairs.

Halfway up the stairs she started feeling uneasy. Goosebumps ran down her back, her muscles tensing.

Yes, guide me to them, Simone.

There it was again. That echoing voice in the back of her head. Simone was breathing heavily. Closing her eyes she listened.

You do know what will happen, yes Simone?

“What?” Simone mumbled to herself.

Our little transformation yesterday. You enjoyed it, didn’t you?

“I–” Simone pushed against her temples. She was about to say no. To deny. But it felt like a lie.

You did, you did, you did, the amulet crowed. Go ahead, put me on.

“No, I–”

A pair of police officers brushed past her on the stairs, their badges reflecting the sickly gold of the sunset. One of them gave her a suspicious look. Simone blinked and forced herself to move, but her legs refused to obey. A numbness spread from her abdomen across her body, paralyzing her. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead and something like paranoia engulfed Simone’s brain.

“OK, OK.” Simone grunted with a numb tongue. “I’ll put it on, just–”

As if on its own, her hand moved insider her bag, grabbing the amulet. Fishing it out, she pressed it against her soft chest, immediately relieving the numbness. She took a few deep breaths, swiftly putting it on.

The voice disappeared. She felt relieved.

———

The receptionist had sent her to the 24th floor. Thankfully the metal detectors didn’t require her to take of the amulet. After a short wait Simone entered the elevator, together with the two cops from the stairs.

The doors whispered shut behind her and the elevator started to rise, a soft, hydraulic sigh. Simone avoided eye contact, fixed her gaze on the floor numbers ticking up. But something buzzed in the air, a static that prickled her arms.

One of the cops glanced at her, then at his partner. “You okay?” he asked, not unkindly, but with the tone of someone who had seen too many breakdowns in too many elevators.

Simone gripped the handrail so hard her knuckles whitened. “Just nerves,” she managed.

The cop nodded, then looked away. But Simone felt the amulet’s presence throbbing against her skin, more alive now than ever, as if it were feeding on the collective anxiety in the cabin.

She blinked, tried to focus, tried to will herself into the smallest version of herself possible. But Simone’s heart raced, the elevator moving painfully slow. The amulet started glowing brighter and brighter. Arcs of current now jumping across its surface.

“What the fuck?” The police officer next to her shouted, noticing the electric glow. Tenth floor, the display above the doors read, when Simone felt a sharp pain coursing through her. She went down on one knee, groaning.

“You sure, you’re OK.?” The female officer on her left bent down to her.

Simone’s lungs convulsed. She let out a coughing bark, and her vision doubled—quadrupled—then snapped together. The elevator lights flickered. The next surge hit her like a sledgehammer in the chest.

Her shoulders widened in a single, crunching seismic pop, splitting her jacket at the seams. The officers lurched back in shock, smashing into the mirrored walls.

“We’ve got a situation here!” The female officer shouted, slamming the emergency stop.

“What is happenin—” The male officer was abruptly cut off, as Simone’s body, now twice his size, turned around onto her back, her large swollen arm slamming him into the back wall. Simone’s thighs billowed with muscle, the blue jeans tearing apart like tissues, flesh bulging outward, calves swelling. Simone groaned a deep anguished growl.

“We need to get out of here!” The female officer tried prying open the doors with her manicured white fingernails, but was pinned against the door a second later as Simone’s body finally filled out the depth of the cabin. Her head slammed into the elevator ceiling with a metallic crunch, cratering the brushed aluminum, smashing the light fixtures and showering the cabin with diamond-bright sparks. Simone howled, a guttural animal sound that vibrated the very framework of the small enclosure, and her neck thickened and corded, veins fat and dark as power cables winding up into an impossibly huge jaw. Simone’s glasses popped off her face, as if her body had decided it didn’t need them anymore.

The female cop spasmed, one hand still clawing at the door seam, her partner mashed against her by Simone’s rapidly inflating legs. The cop’s face’s color became paler and more blueish by the second, lips peeled back in a wordless “O”, her lungs too compressed to scream. The elevator popped and groaned, metal panels snapping outward as Simone’s hips and back hammered into the sides, shoving both officers into corners and turning the tiny metal box into a pressure cooker of screaming, sweating, and writhing meat.

The male cop’s head was the first thing to go. Simone’s massively swollen hand snapped up, palm as big as a serving platter, and engulfed the man’s skull. He disappeared up to the ears in the fleshy palm, bone splintering with the sound of a crab leg cracked at a fancy seafood place. His head bulged, then split open like an overripe fruit, ejecting a geyser of pink and red that painted the mirrored wall. The body did a fish flop, then was pinned, twitching, under her monster hip.

Simone’s body kept surging, a cascade of growth that was less “transformation” and more “apocalyptic expansion.” The elevator’s roof bowed with each pulse of her spine, now as thick as a steel beam. Her skin, stretched tight over the grotesque, bulging masses of muscle, began to glisten with sweat and a fine mist of blood. Even her breasts, already impressive in civilian life, were now the size of exercise balls squished against her thighs.

The female officer was half-wedged into a corner, her body bent at a right angle, rib cage creaking audibly. She gasped, “Stop, please, stop!” But Simone’s world had shrunk to a single point of focus, every nerve ending fired up, vision pulsing a liquid blue. Her large hand pushed effortlessly through the elevator doors, splitting them wide open. As her arm retracted back into the elevator, the tiny policewoman was finally smushed to paste as the gigantic breasts crushed her body against the bulging inner walls, before the giant’s upper body pushed out of the tiny cabin into the marbled hallway. Simone let out another ear-splitting roar as the blinding light of the amulet surged, shining bright with the power of a hundred moons for a split second, engulfing her and the shocked people of the thirteenth floor.