Katie finally reached the bottom of the stairs, where pulling on another light chain revealed a stuffy, dusty store room. It was expansive, probably the size of the entire foundation of the house, but the light didn't shine well enough to illuminate any of the walls. Large wooden posts held up the house, and between many of them, simple shelves were installed containing many trinkets. Katie heard something moving to her left and walked out of the lit area to investigate. As she got closer, she heard chewing.
"Tiff, are you eating something again?" Katie groaned. "Don't we have enough problems?"
"Sorry, Katie," he replied in the dark. "I can't help myself. This bone is just great to chew."
Katie's head brushed another chain and she turned on the light. Tiff was sitting down with his taur body, chewing on a very large bone. She couldn't figure out what kind of animal would have a bone like that. Perhaps a dinosaur? It looked strangely like a human's leg bone, though, but much too large.
On closer examination, it didn't seem that large compared to Tiff. He was able to fit it in his mouth just fine... wait a minute.
"Tiff, you're growing!"
Sure enough, Tiff was slowly expanding. His head bumped the low ceiling and he let out a pained bark and stopped chewing the bone. His growth subsided, but by the time it was over he was forced to press his human stomach to the dirt floor. Katie guessed he'd be at least twenty-five feet if he stood up straight.
"Will you PLEASE stop eating everything you see?"
"But I didn't see it," Tiff protested. "I smelled it."
Katie was about to say something back, but more pain hit her already strained body. "N...nooo!" she groaned as her quadruplets split into octuplets. Her skin stretched much further, bringing Katie down to her knees. She rubbed the tight flesh with both hands, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Ugh...I don't feel well at all." She wasn't just talking about the weight of eight babies. Her stomach was sending her strange cravings and her mind started to feel chaotic. Her body was really experiencing pregnancy now, if it hadn't before.
She couldn't even stand up. Her teenage legs lacked the support she needed to balance her front-heavy body. Tiff whimpered.
"I'm sorry, Katie," he said. "I'd carry you, but I can't even move." He turned his head from side to side, searching for something, anything to change into a more manageable form.