Crystal flipped on the hall light switch upon entering the house. Despite the fact that Vanessa had been a centuries-old witch, and her hobby had been transforming humans into various types of birds, her house was a pretty normal looking place. The siblings braced themselves for all sorts of horrors, but none were to be found. Vanessa had a living room with a TV, a few bathrooms, her bedroom, and a small library, or study. With each new room Crystal and Cole uncovered, their anxiety lessened. The whole place was disappointingly dusty and boring.
The study held the most interest for the pair. They returned to the room and flipped on the light switch. Dim light chased away most, but not all, of the shadows. Predictably, all sorts of books lined the shelves and some were written in unfamiliar script. Surprisingly, many were written in plain English. A deep black desk sat in the middle of the room, in front of the largest book shelf.
While Crystal investigated the black desk, Cole began to peruse the shelf, running his chicken fingers over the books and reading their titles aloud. "Bat Taxonomy. African Herbology. This one looks like a catalog... Inaudible Casting. Human Transformation..."
Crystal ran over and snatched up the book. "Human transformation! I bet this will change us back to normal..." Cole looked excited, and bobbed his feathery head up and down. The lights flickered and the pair felt a sudden wind. Cole shivered. "Let's get out of here, Crystal. We can do whatever outside, there's enough light." Crystal agreed, accompanying Cole back outside, to read by the bright porch light.
* * *
The night was becoming long. Crystal had been reading for nearly a half hour now. Cole was getting impatient and upset. "Come on, Crystal! Change me back!" Cole was sick of being covered with feathers. They were itchy. He was also tired of having yellow legs and yellow lips; he thought it looked like he was wearing tights and bright lipstick. He also felt embarrassed to be naked, even though all one could really see was his bright yellow rear end.
Crystal was losing patience with him. Her fury had been boiling for a few minutes now, and hearing him clucking at her only made things worse. Finally she snapped, and yelled, "I'm reading as fast as I can! GROW UP, COLE!"
Crystal yelled those three final words. The book glowed in her hand. And Cole went rigid. His shoulders began to broaden and his yellow legs and feathery arms began to lengthen. His neck stretched out a bit as the poor 17 year old chicken boy began to grow taller. He went from his usual five-foot-ten to six and a half feet tall in a matter of minutes.
"Crystal!" Cole stared at his arms and hands. Giant feathers shook off and littered the ground. "I'm getting bigger! I'm going to become a... giant chicken! Oh noooo...!" Cole moaned in despair. His toes and talons grew longer.
Crystal stared up at him. "Cole, I'm so sorry!"
"Nooooo...." Poor Cole, stuck as a chicken, grew larger and larger. He was over ten feet tall. His feathery head felt heavy; his chest was gigantic. After the twelve foot mark, things seemed to grow in proportion. He was still pretty skinny, but he was becoming gigantic. Fifteen feet. Sixteen. Seventeen.
"Don't worry, Cole! I'll fix this!" Crystal desperately flipped through the book.
Cole had reached twenty feet. He started to panic, stepping away from his sister to avoid squashing her. Twenty five feet. Thirty. Thirty five. Forty. Foot-long feathers fell from his arms onto the roof of the house.
Crystal yelled something up to him. Cole couldn't hear her anymore, she was too far away. Triggered by stress, Cole could feel another egg forming inside of him. He rapidly expanded to sixty, seventy feet tall. Crystal's full height only came up to one of his massive, foot thick ankles.
Crystal's book glowed. Cole stopped growing, but the damage had been done. Unable to control himself, he squatted down. His massive yellow legs spread themselves, and an egg began to appear. Crystal ran inside the house for cover as a five foot long egg crashed to the earth below, covering the yard with white and yolk.
Cole tried to cover his nudity but it was useless. The eighty foot tall chicken-boy, fueled by anger and despair, began to run aimlessly toward the town.