Wires lash out from the darkened ceiling piercing Sel's and Mike's wrists. Additional wires penetrated their heads and feet. They felt themselves yanked off the floor and suspended by wires. Weirdly there was no blood.
Stepping closer and seemingly growing bigger and bigger, the puppet says, "Now let's see who should be Jack and who the giant?'
He raised his shiny wooden hand to his shiny wooden chin, and then raised his hand in triumph, "I know! But first a wardrobe change. These clothes are all wrong." He waved his hand in front of the two youths, who suddenly felt a chill as their clothing was deftly ripped from their now naked bodies.
His long wooden finger felt cold on Mike's chest, as the puppetmaster renamed him gleefully, "Jack!" The wooden finger ran down his chest and treasure trail stopping at his embarrassingly erect penis. The puppetmaster shook his head, "You won't be needing this anymore, but we will be needing a beanstalk," he paused and added theatrically, "Jack's beanstalk!" Instantly, Mike's penis started to grow longer, and thinner, and it sprouted leaves and turned green.
"Puh-lease d-d-d-on't!" begged Mike as his voice broke, he was getting younger, and smaller and harder. He was becoming the Jack puppet.
The puppetmaster wiggled his fingers as if pulling marionette strings, and Mike dropped to his knees in midair, "Forgive me, Puppetmaster! Thank you for making me Jack. I am happy to be one of your fine players," he sobbed as tears flowed down his cheeks.
"Okay, I'm leaving!" said Sei turning around and running nowhere in midair as his wires held him fast.
"Oh, but why should you run? You're so much bigger than Jack now!" the puppetmaster said pointing at the now puppet-sized Jack dangling from his wires with a 12 foot beanstalk growing from his otherwise smooth wooden body.
"Because I know how the story ends!"
The Puppet Master laughs. "You know how the fairy tale is supposed to end, but you've never seen one of my renditions of a fairy tale!"
"You mean I grind his bones to make my bread?"
"Eep!" squeaked Jack unable to say more now.
"Possibly, I make them up as I go along! After all I am the puppet master!"
Sei spun around to face the puppetmaster, he realized he couldn't escape, but maybe he could make a deal?
"You win!" he sighed loudly.
"I always do," said the puppet master.
"But wouldn't you rather have two other guys instead of me? If you let me go, I could go get Johnny and Ryan. Then instead of only two new puppets, you would have three."
"Oh, there are more of you in the house?"
"Yeah, but they would never find this place without me, and I'm sure you need a cow as well as a giant?"
"And Jack's mother and the peddler,yes," the puppet master said rubbing his wooden hands together in glee.
"Then we have a deal?"
"No, puppet, I already have you, and soon I will have your friends," the puppet master explained.
"No way!" Sei the Giant said, but he dropped to his knees as the puppet master tweaked the air and he felt his wires tug at his body. On his knees in front of the wooden doll, Sei said, "Oh, thank you, Great Puppet Master, I am honored to help you add to your vast collection of puppet people!"
"Eep!" said Jack.
The puppet master chortled.
Sei stood and felt his feet touch the floor. He moved awkwardly down the hallway away from the puppet show, he didn't want to but he couldn't resist. He wanted to shout warnings as he approached Ryan and Johnny. He could hear their voices as he entered the room.
"Sei! You're naked! What happened? Where's Mike?" Ryan asked. Apparently, the expression on Sei's face revealed pain.
He turned and ran silently away from them. They followed as the puppet master planned.
"Hey, his feet aren't touching the floor!" shouted Johnny, as Sei disappeared through the doorway leading to the Puppet Master.
Ryan hesitated by the door, and Johnny caught up to him. He noticed something written in dust on the mirror on the wall next to the half open door.
It read, "Sorry boys, you're trapped in someone else's story. I forgot to sign in, so I am leaving this warning for you. If you go through that door, someone else will be pulling your strings. Signed Drakkenfyre."
"Who's Drakkenfyre?"
"Johnny, that could've been written years ago," Ryan said, "And doesn't have anything to do with us."
"It wasn't there a minute ago. That's why I came over here, someone or something is trying to warn us."
"If Mike and Sei are in there, I'm not leaving them," Ryan said.
"Let's go for help first. Call 911 or something," Johnny suggested.