James backed away, very frightened.
"No...No! No! You're all crazy old hags! Let me go! Or else, I'll call the police!"
"Oh, listen to him, sisters. He seems to not believe us. Never mind, he'll have plenty of time to realize it is the full truth!" Hilda said.
She laughed and the other two followed suit.
"That's it, I'm leaving!" said James angrily. "I'm going to the police and they'll make you pay me back the rent money. Unless you give it back to me now and you can find someone else to live with you."
"Oh no, you've paid. And you can stay here for the next six months!" countered Gilda, still laughing her heart out.
"Okay, the police it shall be, then," James said, steeling himself and trying to sound rightfully angry.
He marched towards the door purposefully. If he had to push aside that crazy Hilda, so be it. He would not employ much force anyways. It shouldn’t be too hard. But as he approached, Hilda's hands started to glow blue and and she thrust her palms in his direction. James was propelled backwards as if he'd hit a wall and he fell on his butt. He scooted away, terrified. It was real! Real! All real! These crazy old women were really witches. He went off in a corridor. Never mind the money! Never mind the front door! He had to find a window, anything, and scram as fast as possible! He opened a door at random but he was sorely disappointed. It had no window at all. It was just pink and contained a gigantic castle doll house. He did not look much at it because he was about to turn around and find an actual exit when he saw the three witches blocking the corridor, then entering the room, forcing him to back away. Forcing his way seemed like a bad idea, considering they could do magic. Who knew what they could actually do to him?
"Let me go," he said in what he hoped was a stern voice.
"But you've paid already," reminded him Matilda in a too-sweet voice.
"And you've found your new room too!" beamed Hilda.
"What?" James stammered.
"He chose my playroom!" exclaimed Gilda, elated. "He's mine! You know the rules!"
The two other sisters huffed, obviously miffed but grudgingly accepting what Gilda was referring too.
"Room? Are you kidding?" James shouted. "There's no bed! Just a stupid kid's pink castle!"
"Precisely," smiled Gilda, her eyes starting to sparkle and glow. "Look at it more closely."
James shot a glance at the thing. It was very, very well-made, that much was sure. It was very ornate and intricately fashioned. As if all the royal castles of Disney had mingled to create a definite, articulate and wonderful product. Everything was in place. Except... Except there was only the objects ands pieces of furniture. There were no characters, no figurines inside. Weird, but not at all his problem. How wrong that poor boy was...
"There's just the furniture. So what? How is it my concern? Doesn't make it my room either. Witches or not, you old idiots are stupid and crazy bitches. Let me go now. You disgust me and you won't have me part of your crazy house, you ugly decrepit hags."
"Oh, what a potty mouth. I hope you plan on fixing that, Gilda," cackled Matilda.
"Right away," smirked Gilda. "Welcome to your new home, pretty princess!"
She threw what looked like a blast of energy at James, who felt the wind knocked right out of him. But as he recovered, he saw he was changing. First, the world spread upwards. The world was getting bigger! The three witches loomed over him, grinning evilly and widely. Everything was becoming fit for a giant! And when the world halted getting ever larger, James saw that his clothes had become incredibly large. He was getting out of the collar of his sweater! And he was naked! Naked! He covered his groin with his hands and stared up at the three old women.
"How did you get so big?"
"Oh no, little man," howled in laughter Matilda. "You're the one who got smaller."
"He's now the size of a Barbie doll!" exclaimed Hilda.
"And it's not over!" Gilda said.
Unfortunately she was right. James felt his body change. First his skin became harder yet softer. His body hair vanished. His limbs became longer, more slender. Protuberances appeared on his chest and his privates receded into his new body, disappearing for ever. His body became daintier, clearer in tone and his hands and feet absolutely tiny. His waist and hips were now much, much more pronounced. And his skin! It was like... No, it WAS plastic! James gasped audibly but it had become high-pitched and extremely girly. Then he could feel his face mould itself into something else, exactly as if it was made of plastic, precisely. He touched his features. Oh no! He had great big doe eyes and the poutiest lips ever! And his butt! Pert and the roundest cheeks in existence, it seemed. As he struggled with all that, the transformation reached his scalp and his hair cascaded down in thick, luscious and beautiful blonde curls. As for his groin... He didn't need to cover it anymore because there was nothing down there! Nothing! Just a slit that mimicked a new (of course hairless) privacy. Gone! His manhood was gone! Replaced by a mimic of a female crotch! He screamed.
"Don't be upset, sweet little princess," mocked gently Matilda. "Look how pretty you are."
She presented a mirror to James and to his absolute horror, he could see his worst fears confirmed. He was a doll! He could move and talk but other than that, that's what he was! A doll with the great figures of a Barbie doll and the sexy facial features of a Bratz doll! A doll to dress up too, as confirmed by Gilda who gushed at how well her spell worked but how now the princess had to be properly attired. With a few waves of her hands, James was now dressed as the perfect princess, each new layer bringing another wave of shame and repulsion. First a tiny lacy pair of panties, then a bright pink pouffy dress, then violet ballet shoes and to top it off a high medieval hat with a veil. All the witches applauded the new outfit and gushed at the transformed youngster.
"No! I don't want to be a princess!" he cried in a tiny feminine voice.
"Would you rather be the prince?" said Gilda mischievously. "The frog prince?"
"No! Change me back!"
"You picked Gilda's playroom, sweet princess," smiled Hilda. "That's how it works."
"I have to stay like that for six months?" asked a desperate James.
"Yes, then we'll see," smirked Matilda.
Outraged, James let out a torrent of swears, insults and cussing, calling the witches all the awful things he could think of.
"Oh, he's still a rude little boy," said Matilda.
"Yes, not at all like a pretty princess fit to live in that beautiful castle," tutted Gilda. "He should stay much, much longer to learn proper princess manners. Hilda, if you could help him, please?"
"Of course, sister," smiled Hilda.
She took a tiny pendulum out of her pocket and started waving it in front of the eyes of the new princess doll. Try as he might, James could not tear his eyes from the sight. He felt compelled to look at the pendulum as it swayed, back and forth, back and forth. Instantly he felt relaxed and at ease. A part of him was aware that he was being hypnotised but another part just felt so nice and at peace. And that latter side of him was definitely winning. Things felt so calm and quiet... Why would that be a bad thing? And all was soft and soothing... He was in front of the most comfortable castle ever and the walls were a very relaxing pink color. Why would that be a problem?
"Listen to me, James," softly said Hilda to the living doll. "You are a princess. A princess, do you understand? A dainty, beautiful, happy, delicate and perfect princess. You love living in your castle and doing froufrou princess things. Do you know what they are?"
James put in an effort to give good answers to the nice soothing voice that he just knew he could trust. He was a princess. Yes. Yes, of course. And princesses liked to... Liked to... Things he liked to do, what princesses loved doing... Well, looking pretty, for one. And... And being kind! All princesses were sweet, kind and generous persons. Always. And having lots of dresses and fine clothes and shoes. And enjoying baths and being dainty. And waiting for a brave and wonderful prince to come. And having tea parties! And sewing and doing embroidery. And playing with girly toys too! James smiled goofily at hat last notion. Oh! This was his little secret, wasn't it? He said all those thoughts to the voice that was so friendly. The last made him blush adorably. But the voice was so very understanding, congratulating him on his princess-y activities, adding that he loved singing, ballet and waiting at balconies with a melancholic gaze in her eyes. Oh, he had forgotten about that! How could he have? Luckily the nice voice was there to remind him! And playing with girl toys was nothing to be ashamed of! On the contrary, it allowed her to train for future skills.
"But you cannot call yourself James, now, can you? Not very damsel-like, don't you think? What would you like instead?"
"I... I..." stammered James.
James was his name, right? Right?... But he was a princess. Why would a princess be called James? It made absolutely no sense... It was a boy's name. It could not be his name. It just couldn't. His name was... Her name was... Why couldn't she recall her name? Why did James feel familiar, if not logical or natural? If only the voice helped him... Luckily, it did.
"Your name is Melody. Isn't that pretty? Charming?"
It was! It really was! Melody! There was nothing quite as enchanting as this name surely! Her eyes sparkled with joy and Hilda smiled. Gilda's idea for her toy's new name was indeed fitting. Melody clasped her hands in happiness.
"Oh yes! A thousand times yes!"
Hilda was satisfied. The new doll was ready. The hypnosis had worked perfectly and her new life would only cement her new personality. Well, more accurately, James' new likings and interests would only grow, from the preconceived ideas he had of pink girly princesses. He would start doing these things and take a liking to them. These ideas and what he thought princesses should do and how they should behave were just brought to the forefront of his personality. She and her sister just nudged him into imagining a new life for himself and since he believed it, it just made it true in his mind but also in his actions, thus his world and reality itself. In the meantime, Gilda had altered the castle, adding entire rooms of clothes, more bathtubs and more dainty rooms covered in intricate decorations and soft colors. More would come later. She was happy to have a new medieval princesses who would curtsy and have silly conversations with. Her sister Hilda then finished the hypnosis, removing the pendulum and snapping her fingers in front of Melody, formerly James. She jumped and looked around her, a little confused.
"Why, Melody. You were a little in your own mind here. Are you feeling well, dear?" asked Hilda in a false tone of concern.
"Yes. I was feeling a bit faint," said Melody.
"How about some tea with cakes, then? You can go in the blue tea-room and we can have tea together," said Gilda, impatient in trying out her new doll.
At that idea, Melody's heart swelled with happiness. Yes! This looked like a perfect idea! They could talk about dresses and what to add to the castle! Melody rushed to the blue tea-room in question, decorated like an early 20th century tea-room. Gilda made her own chair and cup appear. She settled and started talking with her new doll about princes and pretty dresses and gloves, the differences in size not mattering in the slightest. As for Hilda and Matilda, they picked up James' clothes and went to have coffee together, wondering what the next tenant would be like and thus what he or she would bring. They so did hope that their playroom was chosen next. But rules were rules and they had to be good sports. That's what made living together as three sister witches not only tolerable but really fun too.