Mary took the vial from Amy, and placed it back in the box. After it refilled, she drank the contents of the vial, too.
Mary looked at Amy and saw something strange. Mary knew that it would take the vials some time to complete their transformation, but she could see changes occurring in Amy already. However, instead of getting smaller, Amy seemed to be getting bigger. Her fur was receding, but the skin beneath looked slick, smooth, with a bluish tinge. Amy winced as the changes progressed across her body. It was obvious that it was causing her some pain. Mary didn't remember that happening to her before. Something was wrong.
"Amy, are you okay? " asked Mary. She was beginning to feel a little odd herself. She knew her changes were beginning, too.
"I'm fine, " grunted Amy. "It's nothing." She winced again as her tail began to grow longer in spurts. It looked thicker than before, wide at the base and narrow at the tip.
Mary shifted uncomfortably. Her body tickled as her feathers and fur receded into her skin. She looked at her hands, still looking like claws. But the talons seemed to be getting longer, and thicker. The yellow color had been replaced by the same bluish tinge that marked Amy's body.
"Amy, what did you do?" grunted Mary, as her body began to ache a little.
"It's you fault, " rumbled Amy. "I wanted to be a Gryphon, and you wouldn't let me. You were going to force me to be human, and since you were bigger I couldn't stop you. So I decided to become something bigger than you - a dragon! I didn't know you were going to drink it, too. It's not my fault you didn't look at it before you drank it."
Mary paled. First a gryphon, and now a dragon. These transformations were getting out of control. That box was more trouble than it was worth. She decided to get rid of the damned thing as soon as she became human again.
Amy groaned, and wrapped her right arm around her waist. The arm looked strange, deformed and shrunken. Mary ran over to her, and wrapped her left arm over her back to comfort the poor girl. Mary found it surprisingly easy to run on all fours; apparently dragons were quadrupeds.
"Get off of me, " said Amy angrily. She pushed her right arm weakly against Mary's chest. Mary saw with shock that the arm ended in a stump, rather than a claw. It felt sticky and soft against her chest. She lifted her arm off of Amy's back, and saw that it was sticky and soft, too. Thick streams of blue goo stretched from Amy's back and stuck to her arm. She shook her arm, but couldn't free it from the gooey strands.
"Umm, Amy? What kind if dragon did you choose?" asked Mary, still trying to free herself from Amy's sticky flesh.
"A big dragon, " said Amy gruffly. She seemed a little more relaxed. Mary could feel her body growing and expanding against her chest. As their chests rubbed against one another, she felt the same sticky goo sticking to her chest and abdomen. "A high dragon."
Mary's body began to grow more rapidly. Her chest pressed tightly against Amy's body.
"A high dragon? What are you talking about? What's a 'high dragon'? Is that what it said on the vial?" asked Mary.
"No, " said Amy, more confidently. "It just said "High Dra". But it had a picture of a dragon. So I figured it just meant High Dragon."
"High Dra? You mean Hydra, " said Mary. "Oh, shit, Amy. What have you done?"
Mary frantically tried to free her self from Amy's body. But the sticky goo held her tight. Amy screamed in pain as Mary tried to pull away.
"Stop that!" screamed Amy. "You are hurting me!"
Amy leaned close to Mary. Her body exploded in a rapid growth spurt pulling Mary's closer to hers. Mary could feel a rush of blood, as their circulatory systems combined. Her neck rapidly stretched longer, with small spikes popping up along her neck. She craned her head down, and saw that her left leg was now a stump, rapidly shrinking and being absorbed into their shared abdomen. Amy's right leg was doing the same.
Amy craned her long neck down, and saw the same thing. She realized what was going on. They were combining. When they tried to separate, it hurt. But when they bonded, it felt good and they grew. Amy slapped her tail against Mary's tail. Mary tried to wag her tail away, but it was too late. Strands of the sticky substance stretched between them, holding them close. The tails rapidly grew bigger, merging as they grew.
Amy cooed as they continued to grow. She found herself looking down at the tops of the trees. They were really big now. She smiled, enjoying her transformation. Her beak stretched into a long snout, filling with sharp jagged teeth. She licked her long thin forked tongue along her lips. She hiccupped, and a small cloud of smoke wafted out of her mouth.
Cool, thought Amy. I can breath fire.
She looked over at Mary. Mary was closing her eyes in concentration. She was fighting the changes, trying to stop them. Mary's head still looked like a bald gryphon, but Amy could tell it was a losing battle. Already she could see two spiral horns slowly growing and twisting out of her head.
Amy closed her eyes and grunted, focusing all her attention on their shared melded heart. It began to beat rapidly, sending a flood of hormones throughout their shared body. Mary gasped, overwhelmed by the sensation. Amy could feel a rush of air enter their shared lungs. Mary's face rapidly shifted, changing her beak into a snout. She blinked her eyes as they formed into reptilian slits.
Finally, the changes were over. Amy and Mary were now a two-headed Hydra, with Amy's head on the left, and Mary's on the right.
Amy spit a small flame at a tree below her, setting the leaves on fire.
"Cool, " said Amy.
"Damn it, Amy, " said Mary angrily. "Stop playing around. We have to get that box, and turn ourselves back to normal. If we can even get back to normal now. But if you set the whole forest on fire we will never get a chance to try."
"Oh, come on, Mara, " said Amy. "This isn't so bad. It's kinda fun. We have plenty of time to change back later. Let's just enjoy this for a while."
"I told you - my name is MARY, not MARA, " said Mary. She tried lifting her leg experimentally. Thankfully, the right arm and leg responded easily. But her left arm just lifted a little. It felt like she was pushing against resistance.
"I like Mara better, " said Amy sullenly. "I think I'll keep calling you that. And you can call me Tara. We're twins now, and that's a good name for a twin dragon. Mara and Tara."
"Whatever, " said Mary. She didn't really care what the girl called them. She just needed to get to that box. "Do you mind relaxing a bit? I am trying to move here."
Amy sighed. Mary felt the tension in her left side ease, and found she could now easily manipulate the left arm. She walked over to the box, while Amy moved her long neck around, looking all over their bodies and at their surroundings.
Mary craned her neck down and looked down at the box. It looked like a small child's toy next to her massive claw. There was no way she could open the tiny box with her animal claws, much less open one of the even smaller vials.
"Shit, " said Mary.
Amy craned her head down, and looked at the tiny box.
"Wow, that thing is really small now, " said Amy. She suddenly brightened and smiled. "Yea, that means we get to stay like this for while!"
Mary groaned. Stuck as a monster and fused to a small child. Could it get any worse?
"Not for long," said Mary. "We just have to find somebody to help us."
"Oh, oh, " said Amy excitedly. "I know. We can get my brother to help us."
"I don't know, " said Mary. "I'm not sure I trust him. He didn't seem to be very enamored with magical creatures. He certainly didn't have any loyalty to me when I was a gryphon. He betrayed me to the hunters pretty quickly, after all. And I doubt he would be very happy with me if he thinks I turned you into a monster."
Amy frowned in concentration. "Well, my Mom should be at home on our horse farm. We could try to get help from her."
Mary sat down and pondered her next move, while Amy happily blew smoke rings. Amy didn't care who Mary chose. She had her own plans for the box when they found help.