Julie was wondering why the satyrs had dragged her father off, and how he had gotten so large. He was never large, he'd always been a kind-of-ordinary guy, except for the soft belly and the bald spot that made him even more ordinary. The John that had been carried away was easily as six and a half feet tall, crouching, and he was big like a giant lion or tiger... and that made no sense, because the costume they'd put him in was clearly a plush-suit and completely lacked muscles and a tail that worked.
"Julie. Hold still, you're rocking the horse," Derrick said. "You'll fall off and hurt something and then I won't get to show you the crazy gym they have here."
"How can you even see?" Julie demanded. "It's so dark out here!"
"Look up," Derrick said. Julie looked up and realized that the sky was on fire with stars, so many and so much brighter than she had ever seen living at home in the suburbs of a big city and in an area where the climate was cloudy so often.
"Oooohhh" she said, grabbing tighter around Derrick's waist. "It's amazing!"
Derrick grasped her hands and forearms with his so she wouldn't fall off, and began trotting, coming very quickly to the path he remembered and following it. He wasn't really sure why he was able to see without light. Maybe it was because he was now part celestial chariot-horse.
The whirl of stars kept Julie distracted so she didn't realize that her brother was moving much faster than she could have handled. Then they were in front of a building, one that looked like it should have an all-glass front. There were mostly satyrs and a few minotaurs inside, except for identical twins about Derrick's age, who looked like they were all-star jocks. They waved to him as he brought her inside. It was warmer inside, and she felt a bit shy and tried to hide behind Derrick from the extremely attractive young men, but they said "HI JULIA" in loud tandem, and each of them stepped out on the other side of her brother and helped her down off his back.
"I'm Alex," one said, "and I'm Nic," the other said, and they grinned and said, "And we're gonna Pump! Yoo! Up!"
"That wasn't really funny when it first came out," she said, but she was still grinning at it. Or them. They weren't scary, they were cute and charming and she was about to start on a major crush. She could hear it in her voice.
"Well, would you like to stay here and watch your brother and us work out, or would you like to figure out what kind of spa vacation you would like to have?" Nic asked her. Just then a satyr-guy came running out of the dark and in through the door to stop, panting, in front of them.
"You can't," he panted, "go back," pant pant, "to your rooms yet."
"Why not? Derrick asked. "Cleaning staff?"
"Nah, you guys," pant pant, "left it clean. Huf. Hoo. Your parents are back in their room."
"Yeah, so?"
"They're together."
"Derrick," Julie said with mounting horror, "Mom went to a spa, and Dad was a lion. What if he eats her?"
"I'm sure he will," the satyr said. "Hera was about to re-consecrate their marriage."
"Wait what" Alex and Nic said at once. "Oh man, you guys don't want to go back to your rooms tonight at all."
"Why not?" Derrick demanded.
Julie started to say "yeah, why not" when it struck her. Oh. My. Gorgon.
"They're having sex," she said. "And Dad's a lion. It'll be NOISY."
"Too much information," Derrick said, his horse-ears laying flat. "I mean, it's not a bad thing, as long as they don't make any accidental kids, but nobody wants to listen to that stuff."
Julie and Derrick looked at each other grimly.
"Workout, and then another workout," they said in unison. The satyr looked slightly confused, and Alex and Nic broke out laughing.
"What's so funny? We won't get any sleep tonight," Derrick said.
"You won't need to, and we'll find a place for Julie," Alex said. "Or maybe... Julie. What would you like to do?"
"What do you mean?"
"Your spa treatment. Do you want something mundane? Do you want something exotic? Transformation, or just relaxation?"
Julie looked over at Derrick. He was flexing an arm for the satyr, who was trying to equal him, but even as a younger centaur, his Shire and his Celestial components made him much more muscled than the semi-goat.
"I want to be a centaur too!"