Meanwhile, outside the room Hailey had started preparing dinner. She timed it so it would be ready by five, just as the next random size-changing would take place. She decided to make a nice big meal—if the rumours about her Queenship being challanged were true, she wanted to leave the best impression in the mind of her allies.

Vera and Paul had emerged from their room. Vera decided to help Hailey with dinner the best she could at half-size, and Paul went to sit in the living room. Marie was also there and she was his size, yet they didn’t talk at all. Dale was there and he was flicking through the channels on the television. Jerry arrived in the living room as well and decided to strike up a lighthearted conversation with Marie.

In all, the mood was generally more relaxed than it had been all day. Paul eventually joined the conversation with Marie and Jerry, careful to steer the topics away from anything relating to the game. Dale had an urge to join, but at his size he felt awkward and didn’t really want to talk to Paul.

By quarter to five the smell of dinner was filling the house; Hailey had really outdone herself. She always knew she could cook, she just never really had the motivation to do it thuroughly before. Vera was very helpful, and the two women were getting along with each other better than any other time during the show.

The only two who hadn’t emerged were Carla and Andy. No one really dowbted the reason that they had not been seen in an hour. Marie tried not to think badly about it, though it was hard. Carla was probably in there dominating Andy making him do her bidding and he was perfectly content to do it, all the while in a constant state of awe over her size. Other than Marie, though, no one really cared about the wayward couple. They could do whatever they wanted as far as they were concerned. Paul was happy that Carla was staying away—she was once again bigger than he was.

“Dinner’s nearly ready,” Vera said, entering the living room. She glanced at the clock, which read just five minutes to five o’clock. “We set four places, but we don’t know if we’re going to have to take one away or add one.”

Dale and the smaller people chuckled. They followed Vera into the kitchen where Hailey towered over the counter, slicing a loaf of white bread.

“I thought we could just start with the bread before five,” Hailey said. “That way nothing funny happens if someone shrinks on someone’s lap or something.”

Not sure if they wanted to sit in the seats yet, the five smaller people stood at the foot of the table while Hailey handed them each part of a slice of bread—for even the half-sized a whole slice would be an entire meal in itself.

The door opened from the other room and Carla came walking towards him. It took a lot of concentration but it was also possible to see little Andy sprinting along at Carla’s heels. They had been keeping track of the time and finished their act with a few minutes to spare before five. Andy could not help but have a wide smile on his face. He couldn’t believe how big and exciting Carla’s body was at this ratio; he felt he could have gotten lost in the softness of her breasts.

They were both clothed now and Carla was perfectly amiable greating the rest of the people. It was good to be taller than most of them again. Andy was shorter than every last one of them and he still wasn’t tired of looking up at them, expecially the towering Hailey. The rest of the team greated them with nods as they chewed on their bread.

“Here you go,” Hailey said, handing Carla a quarter of a slice and Andy a piece so small it was practically a large crumb. But Andy smiled and thanked Hailey as he received it; it would be more than adequate for him.

At that moment the alarm went off again. They were all together; they would all know instantly who had changed. Ten seconds later the flash occurred and once again everyone looked around them.

The group looked instantly smaller. The mini-skyline of half-sized heads was down by one; someone had shrunk. It only took a second to find out who: Dale was now quarter-sized and looking up at the rest of them. He looked across at similarly-sized Marie and up at Vera, who had been his own size a moment before, and shrugged.

“Well now,” Said Hailey, who was unable to repress a smile. “I guess we won’t be needing this fourth plate!” Hailey moved over to remove the plate. As only full- and half-sized people could reach the table, and the halves barely at that, only three places were needed.

Hailey, Carla, and Vera sat at the table. Jerry obediently jumped up onto Hailey’s lap, and Paul on Vera’s. Andy instantly jumped up on Carla’s lap and so did Marie, deciding to swallow her disagrements with Carla just for the moment. Dale looked from Hailey to Vera to Carla, trying to decide who was the least of the three evils.

“There’s plenty of room over here,” Carla said, scooting Andy onto the same leg as Marie and offering the space. Well, Dale thought, I was supposed to be helping them. So he walked over and let himself be helped up onto Carla’s leg.

Andy was so small that he had to stand up to reach the plate, and even then only his head popped up over the lip of the table. “Aww,” Hailey said as he popped up, reaching as far as his four-inch arms could to grab food.

“Well I guess you’re the new little guy now,” Hailey said to Andy as he tried to reach across the table again. “Well come on, climb up on the table!” Andy hoisted himself up. He walked forward, standing next to a glass that was nearly as tall as he was. The towering figure of Hailey’s torso and head dominated the other side of the table.

Andy was elated. How many more of his fantasies would this amazing vacation fulfill? Here he was, walking on a giant tabletop with giants of all size looking down at him, the largest being this attractive blonde female looking at him?

“The Queen wants a grape,” Hailey said, a bit of a smirk on her face. She leaned over the table, her gigantic face just inches from Andy. Knees trembling, Andy ran over to the grape bowl, pried a grape loose from the vine, and ran back to Hailey’s face. She opened her mouth, a cavernous hole far wider than his body. Andy half threw, half pushed the beachball-sized grape through Hailey’s huge soft lips and into her mouth. Her mouth closed and there was a great crunching sound as Hailey’s teeth ripped the grape apart. Andy was amazed to be near such power.

The rest of the dinner Andy was running around fetching things for people, mostly for Hailey. He loved being ordered around by Hailey almost as much as Carla. While he was doing it he felt a pang of guilt knowing that Carla wasn’t too happy about it. Then again, while Hailey was the queen it was hard to dissagree with her. Hopefully Carla would understand.

Indeed, it was with a colder feeling than usual that Carla helped Andy off the table at the end of the meal. Hailey moved to start the dishes, half-sized Vera helping the best she could.

“Let’s watch a movie,” Hailey said. “That way we’ll all be together for the next two shrinks and it’ll kill time before eight.” By the nervousness that crept into Hailey’s voice it was easy to tell that she was thinking about her upcomming challenge. She tried not to think about what it would mean if she was voted out. Last year it meant elimination, which included being shrunk to four inches. Hailey shruddered at the thought. She had not been smaller than half-sized this entire competition and didn’t think she could handle that great of a shock so well.

They spread out in the living room, sitting in pairs or small groups in different places. Hailey took her normal chair with Jerry in her lap, predictably. Vera and Paul sat together at one end of the couch, Carla and Andy at the other. Dale and Marie set apart from the rest of the group and each other. Marie was continuing to grow grumpy about Carla, and Dale felt just as disconected as ever, and now with his reduced height he felt even less comfertable than before.

They were barely passed the opening credits when the alarm wrang again. Everybody jumped; they had not been expecting the shrinking to come so soon. Forgetting about the movie for a moment, they all looked at each other with anticipation.

There was a flash, but it was very difficult to see what had changed. At first glance it seemed like everyone was the same size they had been just a moment before. All the half-sized people were the same size they were just a moment ago, and so were the charges in their laps. But if one looked closer at the corner of the couch Marie had been sitting in before they would see that she was even smaller—Marie had gone back to being one-eighth size.

“Aww,” Hailey said, looking at the tiny girl who curled her legs into her body in surprise. She looked around at the room, renewed in its giantness and scariness. Marie had hoped that this wouldn’t happen. Everything was just too large, she was just too vaunerable. Unnoticed to everyone else, a tear trickled down the side of her face.

The attention of the group slowly went back on the movie. Hailey stroked Jerry absentmindedly as she watched the screen. Vera tenderly rubbed Paul’s shoulders which caused Paul’s reluctance to be near Vera large to reduce somewhat. Carla did not show active affection to Andy—she was still a bit upset about the table incident, though she did allow him to lean against her.

Marie, however, was getting more disturbed and sad. She had felt that she had made friends with Carla. But durring this day she found herself more and more distanced from the girl. Perhaps it was a big mistake to join in with her and Andy last night. If only Carla and her were getting along a bit better, this eighth-size thing wouldn’t be so bad. Carla would put Marie on her lap and she would be protected. But as it was she was all alone. She wasn’t even particularly waiting for eight o’clock. Sure, she would support Carla to overthrow Hailey, but she wouldn’t feel much better about it now that they weren’t talking.

The movie was a good one and kept their attention over the next hour. Marie considered leaving and going off by herself for a bit, but realised that she was still more comfertable in the company of others.

The group was a bit more prepared for seven o’clock than they were for six. They knew the hour must be approaching and they often glanced at the clock as the movie continued. By the last few minutes it became very hard for anyone to concentrate on the movie and by the time the ten-second buzzer sounded nobody was surprised.

Once again for what was presumably the last time that evening there was a flash. Instantly everyone knew what had happened because Vera gave out a little yelp. Everybody looked over to Vera and saw that she was still the same size. But right there on her lap was little eighth-sized Paul. He had been shrunk right on top of Vera.

Paul looked up in horror. Not even smaller! Now all but two of the contestants were larger than him. Carla towered over him, and Dale was larger once again. Vera seemed almost imhumanly huge as she held him, comforting him. He resisted the urge to break free from her and sat still, his military training kicking in to prevent him from showing emotion.

“Aww, little Paul,” Hailey cooed, looking at him. She had a strong urge to reach out and touch the little man but the thought of the alliance kept her in balance. She turned back to face the movie. From well on the other side of the couch Marie tried to get a look from around Carla. Even though she was still a bit angry with Paul, she now felt some sympathy for him, reduced to this size with her.

The movie was relatively short, and by seven thirty it was over. The group of people slowly got up and stretched themselves, knowing it wasn’t very long until the mysterious eight o’clock meeting.

Not much time had passed before they got a little surprise: Sherri returned, knocking at the door half-sized and looking like she had just come from a taking a shower.

“Hi guys,” Sherri said as Hailey let her in. “How’s it going?”

“Well, there’s been a lot of shrinking going on,” Carla said.

“Yeah, I’ve been watching it from the house,” Sherri said. “You really got lucky didn’t you, Carla?”

“Yeah, I’d say so,” Carla affirmed. “So, any word on what’s happening at eight?”

“You’ll find out in just a few minutes, though I daresay it’s not too hard to guess,” Sherri said, winking.

“Ah,” Said Carla. “So what’s happened with you anyway?”

Sherri knew exactly what had happened to her. She had spent some quality time with Tom. She had also spent quality time in, on, and all around Betty’s humungous body while Betty kept her at four inches tall. She might be a co-host to the rest of the contestants, but with the snap of the fingers Betty could turn her into a little plaything once again. Betty was kind enough to let her go around seven, giving Sherri enough time to take a shower before returning to the contestants. Betty still had Tom when she let Sherri go—who knows what she was doing to him now?

“I’ve been around,” Sherri said. “You know, hosting stuff.”

“I see,” Said Carla, though Sherri could tell by the tone of Carla’s voice that Carla knew there was more than met the eye.

Hailey was strangely quiet and withdrawlen in the last few minutes. She knew her queenship was going to be challanged, she just knew it. She felt a little cheated—last season Serine had been given two whole days of being the unchalanged Queen; she was only getting a day and a half. She knew the game wasn’t supposed to be exactly the same but damn it, she had won the game show competition fair and square and she should be rewarded for it!

Vera and Paul were standing out of the way in the corner of the room. Paul was looking almost panicked.

“Do you want to wait in the other room?” Vera asked, knelt down in front of the little man.

“No!” Said Paul, shaking as he looked up in to Vera’s giant concerned face. “I want to stay out here.”

“Then what’s wrong?” Vera asked.

“Nothing’s wrong.” Paul said. “It’s just—oh god damn it, I can’t take this.”

“It’s just a couple more minutes, then something might happen.” Vera said.

“Hailey, Carla, what’s the difference? I’m tired of all these giant people!” Paul yelled. At his size, his yell didn’t go very far and no one else looked over.

“Please try to calm down.” Vera said, reaching out a hand to comfort him.

“You’re not helping!” Paul shouted. “You’re just too big!”

Vera felt annoyed and strongly considered leaving Paul to deal with being nine inches tall by himself. But she took a deep breath and remained by him.

“I’m sorry I’m bigger than you,” Vera said. “I really wish I was down there with you, I really do.”

These words seemed to have an impact on Paul. He took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry, Vera, I’ve been a wimp and an idiot. I promise that no matter what happens in this contest I’ll be calm and in control.”

“That’s my man.” Vera said. Paul smiled up at Vera, realising once again how great it was to have her. Swallowing his pride, he walked up to his giantess girlfriend and opened his arms to her. She picked him up and pressed him against her soft warm chest in a great hug.

The rest of the group hung around in the living room for the final minutes while they waited for Betty to show up. Carla was talking to Sherri, holding Andy against her shoulder like a small child. Apparently, she had forgiven him for his infraction with Hailey earier, since it was out of his control. Jerry had struck up a conversation with similarly-sized Dale. Hailey had—thankfully—left him alone for a bit. A few minutes into the conversation, they found themselves abusing Hailey pretty vigerously. This caught Dale quite by surprise, as he had thought Jerry was her willing partner.

“And the way she talks, I’m surprised she graduated eighth grade with a vocabulary like that!” Jerry said, in better spirits than he had been in all day.

“If you think like that,” Dale said, “Why are you supporting her?”

There was a conflicted look in Jerry’s face. On the one hand he didn’t want to blow his cover but on the other hand Dale had him cornered, so he decided he might as well admit it.

“I’m not supporting Hailey tonight,” Jerry said quietly.

“What?” Dale exclaimed.

“Not so loud!” Jerry said. “You can’t tell anybody.”

“I won’t.” Dale said. “But why are you doing it?”

“Are you kidding?” Jerry hissed. “You were with her, you know how it is! She was upset after you dumped her. I comforted her. She wanted to be with me and promised to be gentle, not to make the same mistakes. But she slowly became just as controlling as she was with you.”

“No wonder.” Dale said. “And here I was thinking you were a wacko like Andy who actually enjoyed it!”

“No, not at all.” Jerry said. “Heck, I’d like to have the tables turned if I could.”

“This is great,” Dale said, almost beside himself. “Paul and Vera sucking up to her all this time, not knowing it’ll be for nothing? It’s almost too good.”

“I can’t wait to see the look on her face,” Jerry said.

“Hey,” Dale said. “If you’re not going to support Hailey and you can’t vote for yourself, who are you supporting?”

“I don’t know,” Jerry said. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet.”

“I have a suggestion for you,” Dale said. “If you and I both vote for her, there’s a very good chance she’ll get it.”

“Who?” Jerry asked. Dale leaned over and whispered the name in Jerry’s ear, concerned that someone would here.

“Oh,” Said Jerry, nodding in understanding. “Okay, I’ll do that then.”

The minutes were ticking away and eight o’clock was rapidly approaching. Glanecs towards the door became very frequent as the minute hand finished it’s hourly trek to the top of the clock.

Finally, at exactly eight o’clock, there was a sharp knock on the door. Trembling a little, Hailey walked forward and opened the door. Betty was standing there, full-sized an in-charge as always, wearing a low-cut tank top and very short shorts. She was smiling that sinister smile the group had learned to expect.

“Come with me, for the trial of the queen awaits,” Betty said. Hailey felt a shiver inside. She knew it! She was going to be challanged! Well, she had four votes, maybe a tie gave her a chance…

Carla was the first to follow Betty, holding Andy. Vera followed, respectfully letting Paul jog along beside her. Marie allowed half-sized Sherri to carry her to the house, though she dowted she would trust any of the contestants at this moment. Hailey, Jerry, and Dale walked behind, each staying away from the other for the time being.

They entered the compound and with it the room that all other voting competitions had been held up until this point. Even though they clearly did not need to be here in order to shrink and enlarge anymore, the booth was still a strong psychological symbol to all involved and undowbtedly symbolic to all the viewers who would be watching the show’s big summer release.

Inside the room voting podiums had been set up in accordance with each person’s size. They were in a circle so that everyone could clearly see each other. There was a single full-sized podium for Hailey, two half-sized podiums for Carla and Vera, two quarter-sized podiums for Jerry and Dale, and three eighth-sized podiums for Andy, Marie, and Paul. They didn’t need to wait for instructions; the contestants filed behind their respective podiums and waited for directions.

“I’m sure you’ve been expecting this all day,” Betty said. “After a long day of immunities, it is finally time to put your Queen on trial. Before you vote, I must tell you what is at stake. Since your Queen’s reign has only lasted a day and a half, she is not facing elimination if she is voted out.”

Hailey allowed herself to relax. At least she would still be in the game no matter what.

“Instead, the Queen will be merely reduced to eighth-size.” Betty said, smiling at Hailey.

Hailey’s breath quickened. Eighth-sized—that was not so bad considering that she thought she was facing elimination just a moment ago. Still, it was far smaller than she had been up to this point in the game. She didn’t know how she would deal with being smaller than everyone after having been bigger for days.

“It’s time to vote.” Betty said. “If you want Hailey to remain your Queen for the time being, hit ‘yes’. If you wish to remove Hailey and replace her, hit ‘no’. You may vote now.”

There were the sounds of eight differently-sized hands hitting keypads. Everyone had voted. The air was thick with anticipation, and Hailey’s heart was beating so fast she was surprised the smaller people didn’t hear it.

“Now we will show the results on the screen.” Betty said. With that, the screens in the front of the podium lighted up with either ‘yes’s or ‘no’s. The vote was clear. Hailey, Paul, and Vera had all voted ‘yes’. Carla, Marie, Jerry, Dale, and Andy had all voted ‘no’.

Hailey’s blood ran cold. Jerry had betrayed her! How could he do such a thing? Hadn’t she looked after him and protected him for the last few days? Hadn’t she kept him out of harm’s way while she was the queen? And this was how he repayed her?

“It’s a clear five to three vote against Hailey.” Betty said, nodding as if she had expected this all along. “I’m sorry Hailey, but you have to go into the booth to be reduced to one-eighth size.”

For a moment Hailey considered not going, just stubbornly remaining beind the podium and refusing the shrinking. However, she knew very well that Betty could shrink her without Hailey even having to use the booth, so she just gritted her teeth and bared it. She walked forward into the small room and the door closed, followed a moment later by an intense flash.

“Sherri, if you would fetch Hailey for me,” Betty said. Half-sized Sherri walked through the passageway seperating this room and the next. There was silence as everybody waited for Sherri to return with Hailey. And they didn’t have to wait long; just a moment later Sherri returned, holding a very frightened nine-inch Hailey in her hands.

Hailey had been absolutely astonished to see how vast the inside of the booth had turned when she was shrunk. It was like some great atrium—she dreaded seeing a person who could fill it.

She almost had a heart attack when the other door opened behind her and Sherri emerged to pick her up. She couldn’t believe how massive the woman was and how effortlessly she picked Hailey up from the ground. What was worse was that Sherri wasn’t even full-sized!

When Sherri brought Hailey back into the room, her eyes bugged upon seeing Betty. She was bigger than Hailey could have prepared herself for. She was like a toy to her, a doll. Was this how Hailey had appeared to Marie and Andy just minutes before?

“Very good.” Betty said. “Sherri, hold onto Hailey for a while. Now, contestants, you have diposed your Queen. You must now select a new King or Queen to replace Hailey. You can vote for anyone except yourselves, and you cannot vote for Hailey again. And I’m sorry Hailey, as the deposed queen you get no vote.”

The rest of the contestants avoided looking at each other. Undowbtedly no matter what happened everyone’s attitudes towards each other were about to change. They looked at their keypads: all eight names were there, for each of them six were eligible to push. Everyone knew who they were going to vote for.

“Alright, vote now.” Betty said. Again, the sounds of hands slapping buttons. A tense silence followed the selections. Betty let them wait before displaying the results, giving that sinister smile.

Finally, she said, “Let’s see what we all voted for.” The front of the seven booths lit up with the name of one of the contestants as follows:

ANDY:           CARLA

CARLA:         MARIE

DALE:                        MARIE

JERRY:           MARIE

MARIE:          CARLA

PAUL:                        VERA

VERA:            PAUL

Marie started breathing in and out rapidly. Her? They chose her? Marie simply couldn’t believe it—it was Carla that Marie had been trying to get everyone to support, but they voted for her instead! She had thought that Carla would get it, or at least that the dissonents would go for Vera or someone else, but never she, Marie!

“Well, it looks like Marie is the winner!” Betty said. “Marie, you are the new Queen. Please make your way into the booth for re-enlargement.”

Tiny eight-inch Marie made her way across the room, looking up at all her friends and contestants as she went by them. In just a minute she would be looking down at them—she would be the Queen!

Marie entered the vast room which was larger than she had ever seen it. The door closed, and she looked up at the celing far above. She couldn’t believe she would be filling most of this vast space in just a moment—then there was a flash, and she did fill most of the space! Marie had not been full-sized since the game show, and she was stunned at how small the space was.

Not even needing to wait for assistance, Marie strode into the far room. It was really small, almost too small for a room. Marie had been used to wide open spaces so much that it almost seemed odd that rooms would be so tight-fitting.

It took Marie a few moments to realise that someone was in the room with her. Not having looked down, Marie missed little half-sized Sherri. She was standing there, looking up at the larger girl with a smile on her face.

“Hey girl, how does it feel?” Sherri asked.

“It feels great!” Marie said. “I can’t believe it was me!”

“Well, follow me back,” Sherri said. Marie followed Sherri back through the narrow hallway into the first room, which again surprised Marie by it’s smallness. Even more suprising than the room, however, was the people! Only Betty was her size—all the contestants were miniscule, more toys than actual humans! Carla, always seen as large and powerful, only came up to her waste. Dale and Jerry, her two surprise supporters, were even smaller. Andy was absolutely miniscule, like a Ken doll! Marie could not believe that she had just been that size and Hailey had seen her that way. For that matter, little tiny Hailey was standing there on the floor, looking up at Marie with a look of fear on her face.

“Congradulations, Queen Marie,” Betty said. “Now, before you all go back to the house, the Queen has a few matters of business to take care of. First, she will select one of her supporters to reward with a boost in size.”

“Jerry!” Said Marie with a smile. The little man had done a very brave thing by turning against Hailey, and his support of Marie was really a pleasant surprise to her. Marie was feeling warm feelings towards him, so she decided it would be the best to give him the reward.

Quarter-height Jerry walked into the shrinking booth and there was a flash. A moment later Jerry emerged walking arm-in-arm with half-sized Sherri. Jerry also had a large smile on his face. He had been stuck at quarter-size for a very long time, and he was happy to be finally moving in the right direction.

“There is one more thing.” Betty said. “A Queen must be stern and not tolerate dissent. You must pick one person who didn’t support you for the crown.”

Marie took a deep breath. She knew that no matter who she picked someone would be upset with her. But that was the nature of the game, and one of the risks that came with being the Queen. But she knew who she had to pick; the one person she, Carla, and Andy had decided on a while back.

“I pick Paul for elimination.” Marie said, careful to look at Betty and not at Paul. It was a good decision because Marie missed Paul’s expression of shock and fear. Even Paul could not completely control his emotions when faced with the unknown while shrunk to four inches tall.

“Very well,” Betty said. It was hard not to notice a very wide smile creeping onto her face. “Paul, please enter the booth for reduction to one-sixteenth size.” Betty looked at him expectantly. Paul looked back at that gigantic face on the titanic woman. Betty was already so massive; how could she possibly get any bigger? Paul swallowed, put his eyes ahead, and walked steadily into the shrinking booth.

There was a flash, and everybody knew Paul had just become the new smallest contestant, and he was now out of the running. Sherri started to move forward to retrieve him, but Betty held out her hand.

“I’ll attend to Paul in a minute.” Betty said, a chilling smile crawling across her face.

“You will now return to the house,” Betty said. “And you’ll do what Marie tells you because she is your Queen. I will return to you at two o’clock tomorrow afternoon and we will play another game. The Queen’s size will not be in jeapordy durring the game, so rest assured, Marie. But everyone else can consider their sizes under dire threat.”

Betty paused for affect while the group wondered what this game could possibly entail. “But be warned, there may be sizechanging before then, and without warning!” Betty held up a finger. The contestants were clearly warned—at least this afternoon their size-changings were on the hour and they got a ten second notice.

“Well, off with you.” Betty said. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

The seven contestants and Sherri left the compound to go back to the house. Marie lead the way, with her half-sized sidekicks Carla and Jerry following, Carla carrying Andy in her arms. Vera trailed behind with Sherri, and Dale trailed behind them. All the way in the back was tiny little Hailey, looking at the giant outlines of Marie, Carla, and Jerry and hating all of them.

Marie opened the door and they all stepped into the light of the house. All the smaller people streamed in, standing in a group under her. She could not believe how little space seven people could take up: she knew she was heavier than all of them combined! This Queen thing would take some getting used to.

“Aw, it’s good that we’re all here,” Said Marie, smiling at how cute everyone looked. “I think this calls for some desert. Who wants ice cream?”

Carla and Jerry followed Marie over to the cuppord. Even Dale followed. Sherri shrugged and joined them. Marie scooped herself out a large bowl of ice cream and delighted herself with giving everyone else more ice cream than they could reasonably eat.

Vera hung back, angry. She couldn’t get the vote out of her mind. It was all supposed to go according to plan! She had rubbed Hailey’s feet, sat in her lap, done all sorts of nice things to her, and now Marie was in charge and Paul was eliminated! She was bitter and angry. If only she had known, she would have tried to make other plans.

Vera was not the only one upset. In a shaded corner by the wall, Hailey stood alone, eight and a half inches tall and crying into her arm. Vera felt instant sympathy for her. Sure, when Hailey was Queen she made Vera rub her feet and serve her, but seeing her small and abandoned really made Vera’s heart go out to her.

“Are you okay?” Vera said, kneeling down over the tiny crying girl.

“I hate Jerry!” Screamed Hailey. “He betrayed me!”

“I know he did.” Vera said, putting her hand on Hailey’s little back.

“I thought he liked me!” Hailey said, still hysterical. “I treated him well and everything. I gave him more than any women could give and he still betrayed me! Why do all men do this to me?”

“Calm down, Hailey,” Said Vera, trying to comfort her.

“You don’t understand!” Spat Hailey. “You’ve never been through this.”

“Hey, I’ve had my share of shitty boyfriends,” Vera said. “And I’m as mad as you about this. Because of Jerry’s betrayal, Marie took away my Paul!”

“Paul was nice to you, wasn’t he?” Hailey asked.

“Paul is a great man, he always stayed strong…” Vera said, but Hailey’s expression told him that was the wrong thing to say.

“You see!” Excalimed Hailey. “Everyone seems to find decent men but me. All I got was that shithead Dale and double-crossing Jerry!”

“It’s just bad luck, that’s all.” Vera said. “Look, we have to think about the situation we’re in. We’re down an ally, two really. We’re going to have to think about this if we want to keep above water.”

“You…you still want to be allies after the way I treated you?” Hailey said, looking up at Vera in astonishment through tear-stained eyes.

What choice do I have? Was the first thought that sprang through Vera’s mind. But she thought about it, decided to be sensitive, and said, “Yes. We had a deal, didn’t we?”

“Oh thank you Vera,” Said Hailey, running forward and hugging Vera. Vera picked Hailey up and held her tightly to her chest. “You’re a true friend.” Vera smiled, and a tear nearly came to her own eye.

Meanwhile, the rest of the contestants were eating their ice cream and as usual were trying to mine Sherri for information about tomorrow’s game.

“So no word at all?” Marie asked, smiling hopefully.

“None at all, sorry,” Sherri said. “Though I can guarintee it will be fun. I helped put it together.”

“So it’s a highly organized game.” Carla said.

“Maybe,” Said Sherri.

“I have been wondering about one thing though,” Said Jerry. “By this time on the last competition there had already been three eliminations and there’s only been one so far. Are all the eliminations going to be bunched up at the end?”

“You know I can’t tell you.” Sherri said.

“Do you know who’s going to win?” Marie asked.

“I don’t have any idea,” Sherri said. “I was surprised as anyone that I won last year. I thought I was a gonner when I was eliminated, I never expected un-elimination.”

“Will that happen this time around?” Carla asked.

“I can’t tell you anything!” Sherri said, throwing out her arms in mock exasperation. “But you have to be ready for anything.”

“So what does happen to someone after elimination?” Jerry said. “There were a lots of hints in the first show, and a lot of rumors afterwords. Of course, I dismissed them as a bunch of nonsence before, but now that shrinking is real, well, I wonder?”

“Now that I really can’t tell you.” Sherri said, close to giggling.

“Sounds kind of sinister,” Carla said. “I bet I know what Betty’s up to back there.”

“I say nothing,” Sherri said, sealing her mouth for what felt like the hundredth time that evening.

They all finished their ice cream shortly after, and Marie rinsed all the bowls before putting them into the dishwasher. She had had to help a few of them: none but Jerry managed to eat the entire scoop that she had given them.

“Hey, let’s all watch another movie,” Marie said, feeling snuggly. “We’ll all sit together, come on!”

Marie ran into the other room and sat down in the armchair that had been Hailey’s, and before Hailey it had been Carla’s. It was the chair of the chief, the Queen, and it was extremely comfertable. Carla and Jerry joined Marie right away, each of them getting a leg to sit on. Carla motioned for Dale to sit on the leg Andy wasn’t occupying and he did so. When Vera popped up, Marie slid Carla and Jerry over to make room. Vera sat on Carla’s other side away from Jerry, holding Hailey in her lap.

“Looks like we’re out of space.” Said Sherri. There was a sudden flash and Sherri reduced herself to quarter-sized. She hoisted herself up onto Marie’s knee and looked at Jerry, now twice her size.

“Can I sit with you?” Sherri asked.

“Go for it!” Said Jerry. Sherri went forward and snuggled into Jerry’s lap.

As the movie started, Marie was content. She felt the gentle weight of seven shrunken bodies sitting on her own and it made her feel good. She had never expected to be the Queen, but now that she was she could only feel good about it. She knew in her heart she would treat everyone fairly and not abuse her power.

However, one of the seven people currently being gently warmed by Marie’s body heat felt very much like there had been an abuse of power. Vera was sitting on Marie’s left side, head pressed gently against her chest and little Hailey on her lap. She was unable to concentrate on the movie: she was worried. She was partially worried because her chances of winning the competition were nearly over. Marie was the Queen, Carla was half-sized, and unless the game was purely a skill competition Vera had little chance to coming out ahead.

But mostly she was worried about Paul. He was already loosing it when he was nine inches tall. Now he was four and a half inches tall and in the hands of Betty. Whatever Betty was doing was anyone’s guess. Vera hoped that Betty was treating him well.