Mark made it to the quarry first, stripped off and dove in. Lucas yelled, "Mark, be careful."
The quarry was ten miles out of town. It had been a limestone and marble quarry but it was abandoned decades ago when the only limestone and marble left was of such poor quality that it wasn't worth the expense to quarry any further. The hole then filled with water and the forest reclaimed the surrounding land.
The lake itself was as much as fifty feet (fifteen meters) deep with steep sides. The lake was shaped roughly like Maryland with the skinny section being shallower and surrounded by a gentle shore but the fatter portion had steep cliffs as high as twenty feet (6 meters). Although it wasn't completely safe to swim in, most of the junk had been removed and there hadn't been an accident in years since people rarely came out here and they certainly didn't bring families.
Lucas scouted the area to make sure it was safe and then he stripped off and dove in. There were a few caves in the lake. Some of the caves were underwater and some just above the waterline. These caves were the most dangerous part of the lake. Lucas found a partially submerged cave that he had to swim into but it had a large area inside the cave where one could get out of the water. Lucas found piles of trash such as beer bottles in the cave. He also found a broken mirror and was startled by his reflection. He looked younger.
Lucas hadn't noticed before but now that he looked, he had smoother features and slightly less body hair. He still looked like an adult but barely. He called, "Mark, come over here."
Mark swam into the cave and onto the shore. He looked even younger than Lucas. Mark's torso was nearly hairless except a few patches in the right places. He looked closer to fifteen or sixteen than to an adult.
Mark asked, "What."
Lucas said, "Look at yourself." and gave him the mirror.
Mark looked and said, "What about me? Do I have leeches or something?"
Lucas said, "No, man, you look like a teenager. What's happening to us?"
Mark looked at himself and then ran his fingers through his hair, "Yep, I don't look like a kid anymore. We're growing up. Are you okay? You're acting funny."
Lucas shoved Mark and said, "You still look like a kid. Is that peach fuzz on your chin? You still don't have enough to bother shaving."
Mark said, "I'll have you know I won a best beard contest on...my...uh...twenty-first birthday. Uh Lucas, this is weird. I'm twenty-four. Why do I look fifteen?"
Lucas said, "Pshaw, you're not twenty-four...you're...uh...twenty-four." Lucas stopped and looked around. "Okay, if this is an episode of Doctor Who, why are we naked?"
Mark said, "Okay, I can deal with this I grew up in Chicago. After turning twenty-one, I moved out here to get away from the big city. Then I was hired by the Acme Home Installation company where I met you. Today we installed a tub until mom called us to lunch. Then after work, we decided to come out here to the old quarry where we used to swim. Mom is sure going to kill us if she finds out we're out here again."
Lucas said, "Wasn't that a strange smelling spice she used in our lunch today? She's such a strange mother, not like my mother. Uh. My mother Angela from Austin Texas. My mother Emily used a strange spice. Mark, I think that spice did something. I think we're hallucinating."
Mark said, "No way. Mom would never give us drugs. She's too strict about that."
Lucas asked, "What's your dad's name?"
Mark said, "Bill."
Lucas asked, "Is Bill married to Emily?"
Mark said, "Of course not. Bill is married to Heather my mother. Emily is married to...hunh, I don't know my dad's name."
Lucas said, "Mark, either we are hallucinating or Emily has somehow cast a magic spell on us that is slowly turning us into her children."
Mark said, "I knew mom was a witch."
Lucas said, "If we're hallucinating, there isn't much we can do but wait until it wears off. If we are turning into children, we have to decide do we want to turn into children. Can we stop what's happening to us or not?"