Eva didn't bother to correct the male voice. It sounded like her grandfather (although he'd
been dead for four years now). She stood up, the floor cold under her feet, her sheer
white stockings no protection at all. She felt a bit dizzy as she stood up...everything
seemed larger to her, and the cot was too high off the floor.
As she reached the door, she could tell it was taller than it should be. She felt like Alice,
shrunken to the size of a doll.
She paused, feeling a wave of vertigo. "What...did you drug me?"
Even her voice sounded wrong. Higher in pitch....younger...no, that's impossible!
The door opened wide, and there stood a tall man in a bathrobe. He had a long beard,
and his hair was iron-grey. He had bushy black eyebrows, and blue eyes that even older
than the rest of him.
He was also a giant, unless...
She looked at her hands, and was struck by how small and delicate they seemed. And her
chest...she pressed her hands against it.
She'd never had a large chest, but....she was now as flat as a boy!
She felt her knees go weak as she started to collapse, but the old man caught her.
"Easy does it, Michelle. I know, it's a shock, but this is real, it's not a dream. You can trust
me."
Just as he said it, she felt that it was so, and she clung to him. "What..what's happened to
me?!"
Picking her up, he carried her into the next room, and set her down on the couch. Her feet
dangled far off the ground, and she shivered. Without a word, he put a comforter over her
body, and handed her a mug of warm tea.
"Drink it, it will calm your nerves. A light sedative, nothing serious...you won't feel sleepy,
just relaxed."
She held the mug in her small hands carefully, and took a drink. It was good, and flavored
with honey.
"My name..and please don't laugh...is Merlin."
Despite her situation, Eva couldn't help but smile. "Do you know how many wizards I've
met who call themselves that?"
"Harumph! I'll have you know that I'm the real deal, Miss Valentine. I don't really need to
prove it, one look in the mirror should do that." He uttered an incantation. She'd become
familiar with the various dead languages used to cast spells...and her eyes widened. She'd
only heard words like this once before.
Just then, the air before her shimmered and became glassy...until it was just like a mirror,
in front of her. At the sight of herself, she almost dropped the mug.
"Oh God...no...how?"
The girl-child in the mirror looked like a doll, her features delicate and elfin. Her pale
blonde hair was very long, and done up in a French braid. The black dress completed the
look perfectly...she still remembered joking with Scylla about how it made her look Lolita-
ish. The girl's eyes were a very dark blue, and she looked very mature for her age.
It was both like and unlike her normal self in the mirror. She vaguely remembered herself
as a child, and knew she'd been different than this. If it wasn't for her complete lack of a
figure, she'd have thought she'd merely shrunk, instead of gotten younger.
"God had little to do with it, well, at least, the God you're probably thinking of."
"Did..Alecto do this somehow? She'd called me a little girl..."
The Wizard cocked his head to one side. "Alecto? Hm...well that, I'm not sure of."
He paused. "Allow me to explain. I'm a lot older than I look. I run a shop, which you're in,
I might add, where I sell magical objects of all kinds. Chaos magic, mostly. They
transform the lives of whoever they come in contact with..not usually in a malicious way. I
sell them to people who need a touch of magic in their lives...or just need to learn a
lesson or three. If things get out of hand, I step in and fix the problem."
He sighed. "Well usually I do. I sold a ring to a boy. Somehow after he left, it was stolen,
and swapped for another magic ring. When he saw you in the park, he used the ring's
magic on you. He shouldn't have, and believe me, he understands now."
"...wait...you sold someone a magic ring that....did THIS to me?!"
Eva felt her emotions flying out of control. The pain she'd gone through, losing Scylla to
that BITCH...and now...she couldn't take it. She managed to leap to her feet and she
hurled the mug of tea at the old man.
Thunk. It struck him in the chest, soaking his robe with tea. Standing up to his full height
(and he was a lot taller than you'd think!), Merlin looked about ready to turn Eva into a
frog...or worse.
Her rage vanished at once and she crumpled to the floor, sobbing. "I'm sorry...I'm so
sorry..."
Just like that, she felt gentle arms pick her up and set her back on the couch. She noticed
his robe was clean again, and dry (well, clean-er, at least).
"No, I should be apologizing. I had that coming, I suppose. Normally, I don't let people
strike me, you have good reflexes. Ever consider training to be an Assassin?"
Eva blinked. "Wha..?"
The old man laughed. "Just kidding. I can tell you're a gentle girl, even if you have the
talent for Mage-Slaying. Tell me, what magic do you know?"
"Um...nothing really. I mean, I've read books, and I helped the Coven and Scy..."
At the thought of her former lover, the tears came back. She wasn't normally this weepy,
but it was like her body was too small to contain her emotions.
He patted her on the shoulder. "There, there. Let it all out. You're very right, you know.
You have a grown woman's feelings, and your body is currently too young to deal with
them."
She looked up at him, shocked, though the tears still flowed. "You read my mind?"
"Ah, only the surface thoughts. Any more than that would be rude. Has anyone told you
that you're a natural sorceress?"
"Ah...a few of the girls in the Coven said so, but...I don't really believe in....oh what am I
saying? Look at me! This has to be magic!"
He nodded sagely. "It is, in fact. Very dark magic. You've been affected by a cursed ring.
While I'm not to blame..fully...the fact is, you would have been transformed by Bobby
either way. It's just I would have been able to do more for you."
"Transformed...into what?"
"Oh I sold him the Ring of Age. He mistook you for a much younger girl, and was going to
add a few years to you, to see if you got any sexier."
"WHAT?!"
"Well he's only 15, what do you expect? I doubt it would have made much of a difference,
he'd have likely only made you 24 or so...you'd have larger breasts and a fuller figure, but
that's about it."
"Really? I didn't think I had much to look forward to. Well that's nice to know."
"Not...really. See...um...the ring he used...like I said, it's cursed....so..."
"You can't reverse it. So you mean, I have to grow up all over again?" Eva felt very cold,
and her hands shook.
"Actually, worse than that. This is as grown-up as you'll ever be."
With that, Eva fainted.