Jon stumbled into the bedroom, using one arm to carry his too-many books and the other to keep Athena hidden. In an unexpectedly elegant motion, he used a pendulum hip to slam the door shut, sank to the floor, and let out a huff.
“Terrifying,” he said. “The fairies are terrifying.”
“Yeah, no shit.” Athena fluttered from Jon’s palm, surveying the room in a slow spin before meeting his eyes. “It’s even worse when the fuckers think you’re one of them.”
Pointedly, she was one of them. Small and shaped like an oversexed Tinkerbell, with the kind of a sickeningly sweet voice that undermined any attempt at being intimidating. Also, Jon realized, she had itsy bitsy lil’ flowers in her hair. He tried very hard not to point out how cute they were.
Instead, he forced a deep breath and remembered the more pressing issue. Something that could either be very, very useful for fixing all this, or downright disastrous.
Somehow, Athena remembered the old reality, challenging everything Jon thought he knew about the wishing stone.
“Moving along,” he said. “What happened? How are you…”
“Still me? Unlike everyone else? Despite being fun-sized and having giant purple tits?” Athena said. “I’m figuring that out. A lot happened —hey, you got booze here? After today, I think I need a break from being sober.”
The first time the world ended, Athena did not notice.
She was out with Zoe, at some book cafe in Lake Point’s one and only commercial district. The kind with a deliberate worn-down feel, meant to attract hipsters and artsy types who were too cool or misunderstood to go elsewhere. Exactly Athena’s crowd, as much as she liked to make fun of them.
Today, Zoe was going on about her family. She’d been doing that a lot.
“Everything’s been so weird after the accident.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Mom’s pissier than ever, and Jon’s… I dunno. Sketchy?”
“Uh-huh.”
“He was always close to Grampa Jack. But he hasn’t grieved, like, at all. Instead, he’s—”
“Uh-huh.”
“God damnit Athena, this is serious!”
Athena looked up from her phone, gave Zoe a once over, and sighed. Zoe was the kind of person who could be beautiful and imposing with as little effort as possible. Today’s look only added to this; a dark, in-your-face outfit that looked equal parts thrown together and meticulously curated.
It made it all the more awkward to see her so off-balance.
“Talk to him,” Athena said. “Or, honestly, do literally anything. It’s weird to see you not take the initiative.”
“It’s not that simple, Athena! I think Jon’s hiding something really—”
The ground rumbled. Athena did not notice.
“It’s no simple matter, Athena! I fear my sister’s guarding something truly…”
The effect was quick and instant. One moment, coffee shop. The next, they were jerked to Zoe’s house, walking down the hall like it was nothing.
Athena didn’t notice the walls stretch and warp. The castle interior had always been this impressive, after all. She also didn’t notice her own outfit change. The elegantly goth, not-quite-witchy look she’d spent so much time on—gone. Now, Athena was dressed as a proper palace maid, makeup kept to a polite minimum and hair bundled in an easy updo.
Attractive as always, but dressed plain. Forgettable.
Zoe’s changes were more drastic.
She barely noticed the sensation of hair tickling her back, her simple ponytail cascading into a long, complicated braid. Or how her cheekbones tightened to model-esque arches, how her lips puffed into a delightfully heart-shaped pout, or how her eyes widened into adorable little gems.
In seconds, Zoe Gibson was the third most stunning woman in Lake View.
Again, she did not notice.
She did not notice her breasts ballooning into orbs of enormous, gravity-defying perfection, her rear jutting out in tandem, growing bigger and bigger until the sway of her hips was downright hypnotizing. How her legs lengthened, how her skin smoothed and brightened to a pale color one could only even dream of. Even her posture changed, each and every movement laced with some sort of carefully rehearsed elegance.
Athena noticed Princess Zoe’s beauty, of course, but this wasn’t unusual. Zoe was a princess. One was expected to stare.
“Surely princess, it can’t be all bad. Perhaps your sister discovered another new academic distraction?” said Athena.
“Perhaps,” said Princess Zoe. “But she speaks of those! At length! Regardless of whether they’re even interesting! This quietness, it’s… Unusual for Jeanne.”
Neither noticed Zoe's clothing shift. The goth, in-your-face look melted to a gray and black formal dress, cut simple for ease-of-movement—as simple as her royal station allowed, at least. Still, it was crafted from the nicest fabrics the kingdom had available, and did a truly distracting job showcasing the splendors of her new curves.
Reality rippled one last time. Zoe transitioned from boots to heels effortlessly. She did not, however, get a tiara. She wasn’t next in line, after all.
As it turns out, Princess Jeanne did have booze. An assortment of wine bottles, each more whimsical than the last, varied in shapes, colors, and even how they glimmered with subtle magic energy.
Princess Jeanne’s room was cozy. Walls of bright, intricate woodwork, lined with pretty tapestries and mismatched paintings of all kinds of styles. The furnishing was rustic and good quality, but unimposing and easy to navigate around. Unlike the rest of the castle.
The room was also extremely messy. Books on every surface but the floor, with just enough space for the occasional note or half-melted candle. Part of Jon wondered why he even bothered with the library.
Athena settled at the desk, cross-legged on a book pile, with a thimble filled with some drink called ‘Frost Brandy’ nursed tight in her arms. She let out a hiccup. “Hey… Jimmy… Johnny… Jon? Hey Jon!”
“Yes!?” Jon squeaked and twisted around, his showstopper hips knocking over a different pile of books. He’d been sorting through them, in some attempt to better understand this new world, and in some other attempt to distract himself while Athena became more and more drunk.
“You know what I don’t get? Like, at all?”
“What?”
“You!” Athena said. She waved a hand at him. “You’re movin’ all dainty and graceful and stuff. And I know you’re not dainty and graceful and stuff. Zoe makes fun of you ‘bout it.”
“Maybe it’s ingrained in my body. Like how you’ve been flying so naturally,” Jon lied, glancing at some mirror nearby. Apparently, he’d been sliding about on gentle, tiptoe steps, despite kicking off the heels a good while ago. Stupid mom wishes.
He made some attempt at standing like his original self. The voice in the back of his mind, typically shy and quiet, gave a pointed harrumph and prevented this—Jon kept posing like a dainty little princess.
A sigh. He couldn't understand the rules of his mom’s wish. He had full control over his thoughts and speech, so why were his movements so rigidly altered? Something to worry about later, Jon decided. For now, he had to figure out Athena.
“So you were a maid?” He asked. “How’d that lead to being a fairy?”
“I was gettin’ to that!” Athena shot back, before pausing and not getting to that. “Hey, you wanna drink with me? This stuff is, like, really good.”
The second time the world ended, Athena didn’t just notice, she remembered.
Something about being a purple fairy, she’d later guess. Apparently, differently colored fairies were good at different kinds of magics, and the purples were all about mind stuff. In theory, this meant pranks like “making two strangers fall in love” or “stealing someone’s sense of direction and leaving them lost in their own garden.”
In practice? This made them immune to the wishing stone’s memory-altering properties.
The shift was… jarring. One moment, Athena was a dutiful little palace maid, readying the laundry of some oh-so-important foreign diplomat. The next, she noticed a splotch of purple on her hand. She blinked, rubbed it, and yelped when the splotch started growing.
That’s when she remembered the original Athena DeVries.
“What the fuck!?”
Thighs and breasts and hips swelled violently and tore through her maid’s uniform, just as her dark hair fluffed into a wild, curly mane. She stumbled against a nearby table, mind reeling at the sensory overload of having her clothes torn off and sense of balance thrown to the wayside, the two sets of memories warring in her head, the—good god, she was completely purple now.
Oh, and she was shrinking.
The world jerked once; Athena glanced around wide-eyed, everything in the room appearing an inch or two too big. Another jerk—this time, everything was off by about foot. A third jerk, and she was barely taller than the bedframe. A fourth, and Athena was standing at a proud three inches tall.
“Again,” she said, her voice forced into an adorable squeak. “What the fucking shit!”
Two more changes; the leftover fabrics of her uniform wrapped into a tight, uncomplicated dress that puffed wide at her knees. There was something cute about it, whimsical. Like a cartoonishly overdone tu-tu. Following this were a pair of gorgeous butterfly wings bursting from her back.
Athena was ready to let out another stream of high-pitch swears, when reality shifted once more. Gone was the random guest room; she was suddenly atop a tree branch. A giant tree branch, from her perspective, attached to an utterly massive tree, in what could only be an incomprehensibly huge forest. Even more bewilderingly, it was filled with floating colorful spheres, roughly the same size as herself.
And some distance away, she noticed… Some kind of barrier? A wooden cage?
“Hi there, friend! My name’s Applejack. What’s yours?”
The voice was high-pitched and grating. Athena turned to see a handsome young man, apple green, barely clothed, and only slightly taller than her own three inches. Also, he was glowing. And had turquoise eyes. And dragonfly wings, in contrast to the butterfly set she sported.
An actual fairy.
“Uhh…” She winced at the sound of her own voice. Even higher-pitched than Applejack’s, it sounded more like bells chiming than human speech. “Athena. Hi. Where the hell are we?”
“Athena?” Applejack giggled. “That’s not a fairy name, silly!”
A grimace. “Whatever. Can you tell me literally anything about this place?”
“Oh, I know! This is a game, isn’t it?” Applejack said. “I’m supposed to guess your name!”
“What? No, I…” Athena shuttered and gasped. Something about that word—game—forced a reaction from her body. A manic excitement she’d expect from downing a twenty ounce coffee. “Look, I’m not here to play! Something’s extremely wrong, I need to figure out—”
“Catmint, maybe? Or Bell Heather!”
Another surge of excitement. Before Athena could realize what was happening, she found herself bounding to her tippy toes and giggling in delight. “Wrong! Try again!”
Just as quickly, she slammed her hands to her mouth.
“What the fuck just happened?”
Applejack tilted his head. “We’re playing a game, silly. I need to guess your name.”
Athena looked down in horror. Her… Oversexed parody of a body was almost vibrating in place, her ludicrous hips swaying side to side like a dog wagging its tail. She went hot in frustration.
“Candytuft!” Applejack continued,
“Nope!” Athena spat out uncontrollably.
“Sea Holly!”
“Wrong!”
"Moonflower?”
“Nuh-uh!”
With each new name, the excitement built just a little more. Athena attempted to step away—but she was locked in place. Something about being a fairy, playing a game, was doing this to her.
“Poppy Seed!
“Nope—Dude!” She finally forced out. “Enough, I’m not named after some dumb flower…. What?”
Applejack was giving a big’ol grin. “Miss pretty-purple fairy, you gave me a hint! That’s so nice of you! I’ll have to pay you back later…”
“You can pay me back now. Seriously, either answer my questions or leave me alone.”
That, he ignored. Instead, he guessed a final name. And this one dragged a new reaction out of Athena. Over-empowering and joyful; a middleground somewhere between the feeling of a warm hug, a job well done, and straight drugs.
Basically, it was addictive. That’s when Athena, giggling, dazed, and panting, realized she needed to get the hell out of there.
“Plumdrop. Your name here is Plumdrop.”
“Sh-shut up!” Athena hiccuped. “It’s fucking embarrassing, okay?”
“Sorry, sorry!” Jon giggled, before taking a sip of his own drink. “After a literal apocalypse of a day, I just wasn’t expecting your story to end up so… Silly.”
“I was stuck playing with those dumbasses for hours!” Athena said. “I don’t know what it is about being a fairy, but I can’t stop myself. Like… the moment I’m invited into a game, I have to see it through til the end. No matter how fuckin’ stupid it is.”
Jon nodded apologetically, before grabbing a nearby book as an excuse to look away.
He felt guilty. The world changing because of his and his mom’s dumb wishes was one thing. Seeing someone affected? Not just mindlessly fooled into believing this was their reality, but aware of what happened? This drove home how badly they messed up.
So… What? Should he tell Athena about the stone? Or make it up to her in some other way? Jon grimaced, realizing he couldn’t just leave her like this for the time-being, either. Left on her own, she’d either be captured by the guards or stuck dealing with other fairies again. Neither a good option.
A deep breath. He needed to do something.
“Hey, Athena…?”
