Ty willed her smaller. June squeaked as the tingle began again and flailed in his palm, balling up her fists in agony and gritting her teeth, trying so hard to make the shrinking stop with her sheer will. But there was no stopping it. Ty watched closely as the three inch tall woman dwindled before his very eyes. She was soon an impossible size, perhaps no larger than a bug, and Ty had to really focus to make out her features at that size. He willed it to stop.
Her voice was now so high pitched and quiet that Ty could only make out the distant pip of her pleas. She fell to her knees in the middle of Ty’s palm, frantically begging for her life. He could feel the vague prickles of hot tears hitting his skin as she squeaked, but it was little more than a strangely distant sensation. Not even enough to register his nerves.
Ty stared in amazement. She was so small now! So utterly helpless. Too small to even be heard.
He willed her to shrink again, curious if there was a limit. Apparently not! He vaguely made out June’s wide eyed horror before even the shape of her body began to grow imperceptible. From a bug, she reduced to a flesh toned dot in his palm. A grain of sand. A spec. Ty’s jaw dropped as he watched her begin to vanish to the limits of human perception. He felt vague movement in his palm. It almost tickled and he had to avoid the instinct to scratch his skin.
With a wondrous expression, Ty stared. He... didn’t want to lose her. As the dot shrank so small it began to vanish from his sight, Ty willed it to stop. He couldn’t even feel her moving anymore. She had become so small he had completely last track of where she was on his hand. He raised his palm as close as he could to his eye, searching, and finally spotted an absolutely minuscule spec in the groove of his palm that represented his step mom. So small he couldn’t even make out her shape anymore.
This had gone far enough.
For a moment, he felt a pang of horror. What if... what if he couldn’t undo it? That she was now stuck at a near microscopic size in the palm of his hand. Lost to human sight. Smaller than an insect.
Ty concentrated on growth now. He felt relief as he felt movement again, and little by little the dot returned to come into focus as a tiny woman. As she grew, the pale and exhausted form of June became apparent. She was dead white, trembling, and clutching herself in terror, staring up at Ty with the detached look of somebody had accepted her own death.
Ty let her grow. Soon she was back to three inches again, then six. She sat barely moving in his hand, legs folded as she sat on top of them. He could feel her quickened pulse racing. She was nearly panting. As she reached twelve inches tall again, Ty gently approached the table and sat her down again, taking a chair and watching warily. He stopped her growth at twelve inches.
June, still panting, turned her little head to Ty and caught her breath before speaking, her jaw slack. Her eyes were narrow.
“P-Please,” she whispered gently, with a new and soft tone of voice he had never heard her use, even if it was still high pitched and shrunken. “Please don’t make me that small again.”
Ty nodded. “I-I won’t.” He gulped, startled as much by the genuine and respectful request as much as the look on her face.
“I... I understand.” June whispered, looking up in sudden realization and fresh fear. “I understand what it feels like to be scared and small.”
“Good,” Ty nodded. “So you’re going to do better, right?”
“I-I’ll try,” June nodded. Past freaking out. Past lying to save herself. Past everything. A look of grave defeat burned in her eyes.
“Then... this will be our little secret.” Ty whispered. “But don’t think I’m done with you just yet.”
“O-Okay...” June gulped, visibly. She nodded. “I can keep this a secret.”
“Here...” Ty held out his hand.
Hesitantly, June stood up, though on shaky legs, and approached meekly.
Ty once again closed his fingers around his step mom’s shrunken waist. She didn’t fight. She didn’t scream. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, not even bothering to cover her breasts this time.
“Okay. I’ll do whatever you want me to.” June said, eyes still closed. “Just... please promise me I get to grow back at the end.”
“Deal,” Ty whispered.
June nodded, clenching her eyes, and took another long and deep breath, trying to stay calm.