The two girls began shrinking simultaneously. They didn't look around to watch the room grow bigger, however. Both competitors were focused on watching each other shrink, wondering who would stop first.
They passed eleven inches. Ten inches. Nine.
And Jess' heart sank as she watched their eye-level stare finally break off and Mary stop getting smaller. Soon enough, Jess stopped as well, two inches shorter than nine-inch Mary.
"Looks like I win, fair and square," Mary squeaked. "So let's go!"
The squirrel girl followed the cat/mouse out of her room. They lept down the stairs in their agile animal bodies and crept across the hall floor to the basement door.
"I detect a flaw in your plan," Jess teased. "The door knob is a long ways up."
"You should start using that squirrelly brain of yours," Mary said. "You can probably crawl under that small gap in the door and get through.
Jess examined the distance between the floor and the door and figured it was possible. "But what about you?" she asked.
Mary rubbed her chin for a moment, then quickly dashed away on all fours. She shortly returned, dragging something heavy and metallic.
"I've got string," she smiled a toothy smile. She had tied a washer to a string, which she threw up to catch on the door handle. She missed on the first try, but snagged it on the second. "I'm glad I got these lever-handled door knobs, otherwise we'd be out of luck."
The door opened and they peered down the long stairway.
"Okay, I have another idea," Jess said. "How about hide and seek? Home base will be the top of these stairs. You can hide anywhere in the basement, but if you're tagged you have to drink another bit of the shrink vial.
"Mmm," Mary purred. Her mostly mousy tail appeared to retain its feline movements, as it swished playfully behind her. "I like it. Tag, you're it!" She scampered down the steps and into the darkness. Jess couldn't turn the lights on, of course, because she couldn't reach the switch. It shouldn't have to matter, though, since both of them were animals that could see well in the dark. Keeping the upstairs door open should provide enough light. So...
"Ready or not, here I come!"