Marry flipped through the pages of the transformation section, eyeing each spell carefully. Though she suspected it was all a big joke, she wanted to try one anyway just for fun, but many of the spells called for exotic ingredients she'd never heard of. She'd have to find one that she could actually mix up if she wanted to give it a go.
Finally, her searching eyes found exactly that. It was a simple recipe without, seemingly, any enchantment:
Embrace the change within yourself
Boil five ounces of any kind of plant leaf with one half cup of milk
Add pollen from any flower
Stir and let stand for five minutes, then apply thickly to face and let stand for several hours
Warning: results vary and are irreversible
Shrugging, Marry thought she'd at least get a good facial from the experimental face mask. Outside she went, trying to decide what plant to use and settling on milkweed. She'd been meaning to dig out the weed so she didn't feel bad about stripping its leaves. Plus, it was in bloom, so she could use its pollen for the other ingredient. "And anyway, I have to add milk," she muttered, "so milkweed should be complimentary, right?"
Back inside, she followed the recipe and made the goopy mixture as directed. Once it had cooled for five minutes, she took it to the bathroom so she could watch herself in the mirror and be sure to cover her whole face. The mixture was barely enough to cover her skin, but she managed to do it all. It almost immediately began to harden, as face masks do and, satisfied it wasn't going to drip everywhere, Marry headed to the sofa to watch some television while she let it sit.
Within an hour she started feeling very strange. For one, she was hungry, but the other feeling was harder to place. Well, hunger she could deal with. Getting off the sofa, she went to the cupboard and pulled out some crackers. As soon as she put one in her mouth, she spit it out again. "Eugh! That's nasty!" Every food Marry tried had the same effect, until eventually she was drawn outside to the milkweed patch. Tentatively, she stripped a leaf and brought it to her mouth, then nibbled it.
It was divine. Before she knew it, she'd eaten every leaf off several of the plants. She wasn't hungry anymore, but she still had that other nagging feeling. Idly, she lifted a hand to her face, feeling the hard mask there, and instantly knew what the feeling was: the rest of her needed to be encased as well.
Dashing back inside, Marry pulled out every blanket she owned from her linen closet and spread them all on the floor. Lying on one corner, she wrapped herself up tightly from head to foot, covering every bit of herself until there was nothing open to the air or light. For one brief moment she worried she might suffocate, but she immediately calmed when she felt her body . . . melting. She should have panicked, but it seemed right, like the natural order of things. As long as she was in her cocoon, she would be safe.