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Chrissy grinned excitedly as she darted into her co-worker's office, clutching a hand behind her back. "You got it?" asked Sean, her assistant on the company's latest wand design project. "Please tell me you got it!"

"Right here!" she replied, holding up the prototype--a scarlet rod with a black power cap on one end, and a green focusing crystal on the other. "Now we just need to practice with it, and get ready for the demo. You ready?" She held the wand up eagerly.

"What? Me?" Sean looked aghast, backing away with his palms up, shaking his head vigorously. "Not a chance! I thought you were going to be the one doing the intro!"

Chrissy just laughed, her short hair bouncing around her face in adorable little waves. "No way, I don't use magic any other time, I'm sure as heck not going to let someone use me as a prop for a project update. Besides, I barely trust you now--I'm sure not letting you make me tiny!"

He chuckled at that. "Good point...I'm not exactly subtle, am I?"

"No, you're not," she agreed with a devious grin, "and I can bet you're already thinking about who to invite to this little show, am I right?"

"Sara Collyer," he replied instantly.

"I knew it! You've really got the hots for her, don't you? You do realize she's probably slept with every guy on the staff at least once already, right? You'd literally be going where every man has gone before."

"Yeah, yeah, why do you think I just look and don't touch? She's gorgeous, and those legs...mmmm...yeah, she'd be perfect for what we're after. The higher-ups love her anyway, so why not get her to do the demo? It wouldn't be the first time, and plus, did you see what she's wearing today?"

Chrissy rolled her eyes at that. "Yes, of course, and so did everybody else. I agree, though--some eye candy is just what we need if we're to sell this concept right. Give her a call, but don't tell her what it's for till she gets here."

"Can do." Sean picked up the phone and punched Sara's extension, actually jumping as her loudly cheerful voice blasted through the speaker into his ear. "Sara? Hey, it's Sean Morrow here in wand design. Can you drop by for a bit? Got a favor to ask you. Okay, sure, in my office. See you shortly. He hung up the receiver, grinning. "She sounded pretty eager, but before she gets here...last chance to try it out yourself..."

She clutched the wand tightly. "No way, mister! I guess I should be glad these things only work on willing targets, huh? Otherwise, who knows what people might--"

The door opened suddenly and Chrissy had to jump aside as Sara Collyer strode in, dressed in a tight black top, red leather miniskirt and matching knee-high boots, looking more like someone you'd meet on a street corner rather than a high-magic research office. "Hey, you two!" she said effervescently, tossing her long brown hair back as she glanced over at Sean, only to suddenly take notice of the gleaming red item in Chrissy's hand. "Whatcha got? Something shiny? Ooh, a new wand!" Her cobalt-blue eyes fixated on the wand right away, especially the glittering green jewel at the tip.

"Yes, that's why I asked you here," Sean explained. "We're giving a presentation to introduce it to the bigwigs upstairs, and need someone to help demo it. You're always so happy and excited, we thought you'd make the perfect one for the job."

"So nobody else would agree, huh?" she chuckled. "I may look ditzy, but I'm not that dumb, Sean. What does it do, anyway?"

"It's a resizing wand," answered Chrissy proudly. "It can make things bigger or smaller. Here, watch." She pointed it at the nearby office chair and uttered an arcane syllable. The emerald gem flared, drawing mystic energy stored in the power tip, empowering it as it passed though the rod's specially designed internal crystal lattice, spreading it outward in the form of flickering green magical sparks. The chair, enveloped in the cloud, shuddered slightly before growing to double its normal size over the course of the next few seconds.

"Wow!" gasped Sara excitedly. "That's so cool! It goes the other way, right?"

Chrissy nodded, saying the command word again, in reverse this time. The wand flared once more and the office chair dwindled swiftly back to normal. To show everything worked properly, she sat down in the seat and spun around. "See? We already worked out all the possible side effects down in testing. You'll help us, right?" She stood up again, looking at the slightly taller woman hopefully.

"I don't know," said Sara, frowning a bit at the idea. "I remember what happened when I tried to demo that timeslip wand. The next thing I knew, it was two in the morning and I was locked in the office, in the dark."

Sean rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that one didn't go over too well, did it? Too inaccurate. We scrapped it and started over. This one, though...well, the core's fragile and expensive, but you can't deny the possibilities, right? Here, tell you what, I'll try it out on you a couple of times here in the office, just so you can get used to it. If you don't like it, I'll put you back to normal and we'll find someone else, okay?"

She considered that. "I'm willing to try it out, only because it sounds cool to be bigger or smaller for a while, but what's in it for me, hmm? Other than just what's sure to be an amazing experience?"

"Well," said Sean thoughtfully, "you wanted Halloween week off, right? For the coven convention? Well, I could probably make that happen..."

"Done!" agreed Sara at once. "Go ahead, try it out on me. First, make me grow, just not so much that I break through the ceiling or anything."

Chrissy and Sean exchanged glances, grateful to find a willing volunteer so easily. "Okay," she replied, "it's either double, or half, each time, right? So just get ready to duck and you should be fine."

She uttered the command syllable, pointing the wand at her target, and the little emerald flickers surrounded Sara in a faint, shimmering glow. Three seconds later, she'd expanded to twice her size, dropping to her hands and knees in the process. "This is amazing!" she exclaimed, peering around at the office and its two occupants, who backed up reflexively. "Can you make me even bigger? Not now--I'd go right through the walls--but in a more open space, I mean?"

"Theoretically, yes, but the power drain gets excessive at larger sizes," explained Sean. "We probably drained a quarter of its energy just doubling you like that. If we used an enhancer, we could get you to four times normal, but anything after that would take more energy than any easily made crystal. So, sorry, you don't get to walk around the city as tall as a skyscraper."

"Aww, bummer," complained Sara. "All right, let's go the other way, then. Shrink me!"

"Smaller you, coming right up!" said Chrissy eagerly, using the wand once to return Sara to her normal size. As she stood up and brushed off her knees, drawing an appreciative eyebrow-lift from Sean, Chrissy uttered the command word again. This time, the slightly taller woman collapsed downward quickly, stopping at a level just below Sean's belt. He stared down at her in wonder, as she spun about, looking up at everything, a huge grin on her face.

"This is so cool!" Sara said excitedly, climbing up onto the office chair, where she stood still a bit shorter than the others. "Wow, it's like everything went from small to big just like that! You're the giant ones now!"

"It gets better," said Chrissy, pushing the rolling chair over to the nearby desk. "Here, climb on--I'll show you what I mean."

Sara nodded and slid onto the platform, remaining seated as Chrissy used the wand again. The effect quickly reduced the pretty volunteer to about a foot and a half tall, and she stood up, taking a few halting steps around in front of the computer. "Totally awesome," she said, spinning about with her arms extended. "For once these cramped little offices actually have some space!"

"How about now?" Chrissy laughed, using the wand again. Sean leaned in to watch intently as the diminutive brunette shrank even further, until she stood only about eight inches tall.

Sara scurried along the desktop, looking utterly fascinated by the ordinary objects scattered there. "This must be what Barbie feels like!" she exclaimed happily. "Okay, I'm in! I'll do your demo! This should be fun! It does wear off, right? If you don't zap me back to normal, I mean."

"Yeah, eventually," Sean told her. "Nothing's permanent in the world of magic."

"Good, I'd hate to think people could get stuck like this," said Sara. "It's fun to try but I wouldn't want to be like this forever! In fact, put me back to normal now--I should really get back to my desk, and I couldn't possibly do my work if I'm this small!"

"One last thing," Chrissy told her, holding the wand out again. "They said it could work up to five times on a single target, so before I go spouting that off in the meeting, let me just make sure." With that, she uttered the syllable again, and Sara shrank down once more, this time to about four inches in height.

"Okay, this is a bit much," complained the little woman. "You're all getting really huge now..."

"Just a moment, and I'll reverse it, okay? I've got to be sure of my facts before I brief the execs."

Sara sighed. "Fine, whatever," she agreed reluctantly as the green sparks struck her again, whereupon she dwindled down to only about two inches in height. She threw her arms out and called up to them in a faraway voice. "Okay, now I'm really super tiny. It works, congratulations! Now put me back, okay?"

Sean leaned in and stared at the minuscule woman, standing there with her hands on her hips. "Yeah, she's awfully cute like that, but I liked her better at doll size," he agreed.

Sara smiled up at him, almost blushing at the complement. She looked noticeably less upset now, but still eager to get big again. She almost jumped for joy as Chrissy reversed the effect and she swiftly expanded to four inches once again. However, when the next command word was spoken, the wand simply fizzled and only a couple of faint sparks popped out, doing nothing at all.

"What's wrong?" demanded the miniature Sara. "It better not be broken!"

"No, no, just need another power tip," said Chrissy with a quick shrug, turning toward the exit. "I'll just go get another one and--"

As she turned, she had her eyes on the tiny woman on the table, and wasn't looking where she was going. The wand struck the doorknob and flew out of her grip. When the scarlet rod struck the ground, they all distinctly heard the sound of dozens of internal crystals shattering. Chrissy gasped and held the device up, horrified, only to watch the emerald on the end break into pieces and fall away. A faint wisp of green smoke rose up from within, in mute testimony to the wand's destruction.

"This better not mean what I think it means," demanded little Sara, folding her arms in disgust.

"Um, well, that was the prototype," admitted Chrissy sheepishly. "There's more on the design table, but it may be a few, um, days before..."

"Days!" shrieked the tiny secretary in frustration. "I can't be like this for that long! What am I supposed to do like this?"

"I'll, uh, just go check on the status of those wands," muttered Chrissy, dashing out the door. "Good luck, Sean!"

"Yeah, thanks," he replied, folding his arms across the table as he sat down to regard the miniature woman scowling in front of him. The intense smile on his face couldn't hide his interest in her slim, hypnotically diminutive figure. "Look, it was an accident, okay?" he managed after a moment.

"I bet she did it on purpose," Sara moaned, stalking around amid the giant papers. "She probably did! Damn it, I had a party to go to tonight...and no, before you ask, I'm not going like this! I don't want anyone seeing me this way--I just want to go home and hide until this wears off!"

"I understand," he agreed, leaning in a bit closer. "Tell you what, I'll take you home and keep you safe, okay? Plus...you could always let me make it up to you in another way..." He grinned seductively at her.

"What do you mean by that?" she demanded, catching the look in his enormous eye instantly, and reacting exactly as he'd hoped she would. "What's a huge, terrifying, horrible giant like you going to do to a tiny, pathetic little thing like me...?"

In a single quick motion he plucked her off the desktop, drawing a gasp of surprise followed by an eager little scream. "That's for me to know," he told her, opening up his briefcase and casually dropping her inside, "and you to find out."

Description

Chrissy grinned excitedly as she darted into her co-worker's office, clutching a hand behind her back. "You got it?" asked Sean, her assistant on the company's latest wand design project. "Please tell me you got it!"

"Right here!" she replied, holding up the prototype--a scarlet rod with a black power cap on one end, and a green focusing crystal on the other. "Now we just need to practice with it, and get ready for the demo. You ready?" She held the wand up eagerly.

"What? Me?" Sean looked aghast, backing away with his palms up, shaking his head vigorously. "Not a chance! I thought you were going to be the one doing the intro!"

Chrissy just laughed, her short hair bouncing around her face in adorable little waves. "No way, I don't use magic any other time, I'm sure as heck not going to let someone use me as a prop for a project update. Besides, I barely trust you now--I'm sure not letting you make me tiny!"

He chuckled at that. "Good point...I'm not exactly subtle, am I?"

"No, you're not," she agreed with a devious grin, "and I can bet you're already thinking about who to invite to this little show, am I right?"

"Sara Collyer," he replied instantly.

"I knew it! You've really got the hots for her, don't you? You do realize she's probably slept with every guy on the staff at least once already, right? You'd literally be going where every man has gone before."

"Yeah, yeah, why do you think I just look and don't touch? She's gorgeous, and those legs...mmmm...yeah, she'd be perfect for what we're after. The higher-ups love her anyway, so why not get her to do the demo? It wouldn't be the first time, and plus, did you see what she's wearing today?"

Chrissy rolled her eyes at that. "Yes, of course, and so did everybody else. I agree, though--some eye candy is just what we need if we're to sell this concept right. Give her a call, but don't tell her what it's for till she gets here."

"Can do." Sean picked up the phone and punched Sara's extension, actually jumping as her loudly cheerful voice blasted through the speaker into his ear. "Sara? Hey, it's Sean Morrow here in wand design. Can you drop by for a bit? Got a favor to ask you. Okay, sure, in my office. See you shortly. He hung up the receiver, grinning. "She sounded pretty eager, but before she gets here...last chance to try it out yourself..."

She clutched the wand tightly. "No way, mister! I guess I should be glad these things only work on willing targets, huh? Otherwise, who knows what people might--"

The door opened suddenly and Chrissy had to jump aside as Sara Collyer strode in, dressed in a tight black top, red leather miniskirt and matching knee-high boots, looking more like someone you'd meet on a street corner rather than a high-magic research office. "Hey, you two!" she said effervescently, tossing her long brown hair back as she glanced over at Sean, only to suddenly take notice of the gleaming red item in Chrissy's hand. "Whatcha got? Something shiny? Ooh, a new wand!" Her cobalt-blue eyes fixated on the wand right away, especially the glittering green jewel at the tip.

"Yes, that's why I asked you here," Sean explained. "We're giving a presentation to introduce it to the bigwigs upstairs, and need someone to help demo it. You're always so happy and excited, we thought you'd make the perfect one for the job."

"So nobody else would agree, huh?" she chuckled. "I may look ditzy, but I'm not that dumb, Sean. What does it do, anyway?"

"It's a resizing wand," answered Chrissy proudly. "It can make things bigger or smaller. Here, watch." She pointed it at the nearby office chair and uttered an arcane syllable. The emerald gem flared, drawing mystic energy stored in the power tip, empowering it as it passed though the rod's specially designed internal crystal lattice, spreading it outward in the form of flickering green magical sparks. The chair, enveloped in the cloud, shuddered slightly before growing to double its normal size over the course of the next few seconds.

"Wow!" gasped Sara excitedly. "That's so cool! It goes the other way, right?"

Chrissy nodded, saying the command word again, in reverse this time. The wand flared once more and the office chair dwindled swiftly back to normal. To show everything worked properly, she sat down in the seat and spun around. "See? We already worked out all the possible side effects down in testing. You'll help us, right?" She stood up again, looking at the slightly taller woman hopefully.

"I don't know," said Sara, frowning a bit at the idea. "I remember what happened when I tried to demo that timeslip wand. The next thing I knew, it was two in the morning and I was locked in the office, in the dark."

Sean rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that one didn't go over too well, did it? Too inaccurate. We scrapped it and started over. This one, though...well, the core's fragile and expensive, but you can't deny the possibilities, right? Here, tell you what, I'll try it out on you a couple of times here in the office, just so you can get used to it. If you don't like it, I'll put you back to normal and we'll find someone else, okay?"

She considered that. "I'm willing to try it out, only because it sounds cool to be bigger or smaller for a while, but what's in it for me, hmm? Other than just what's sure to be an amazing experience?"

"Well," said Sean thoughtfully, "you wanted Halloween week off, right? For the coven convention? Well, I could probably make that happen..."

"Done!" agreed Sara at once. "Go ahead, try it out on me. First, make me grow, just not so much that I break through the ceiling or anything."

Chrissy and Sean exchanged glances, grateful to find a willing volunteer so easily. "Okay," she replied, "it's either double, or half, each time, right? So just get ready to duck and you should be fine."

She uttered the command syllable, pointing the wand at her target, and the little emerald flickers surrounded Sara in a faint, shimmering glow. Three seconds later, she'd expanded to twice her size, dropping to her hands and knees in the process. "This is amazing!" she exclaimed, peering around at the office and its two occupants, who backed up reflexively. "Can you make me even bigger? Not now--I'd go right through the walls--but in a more open space, I mean?"

"Theoretically, yes, but the power drain gets excessive at larger sizes," explained Sean. "We probably drained a quarter of its energy just doubling you like that. If we used an enhancer, we could get you to four times normal, but anything after that would take more energy than any easily made crystal. So, sorry, you don't get to walk around the city as tall as a skyscraper."

"Aww, bummer," complained Sara. "All right, let's go the other way, then. Shrink me!"

"Smaller you, coming right up!" said Chrissy eagerly, using the wand once to return Sara to her normal size. As she stood up and brushed off her knees, drawing an appreciative eyebrow-lift from Sean, Chrissy uttered the command word again. This time, the slightly taller woman collapsed downward quickly, stopping at a level just below Sean's belt. He stared down at her in wonder, as she spun about, looking up at everything, a huge grin on her face.

"This is so cool!" Sara said excitedly, climbing up onto the office chair, where she stood still a bit shorter than the others. "Wow, it's like everything went from small to big just like that! You're the giant ones now!"

"It gets better," said Chrissy, pushing the rolling chair over to the nearby desk. "Here, climb on--I'll show you what I mean."

Sara nodded and slid onto the platform, remaining seated as Chrissy used the wand again. The effect quickly reduced the pretty volunteer to about a foot and a half tall, and she stood up, taking a few halting steps around in front of the computer. "Totally awesome," she said, spinning about with her arms extended. "For once these cramped little offices actually have some space!"

"How about now?" Chrissy laughed, using the wand again. Sean leaned in to watch intently as the diminutive brunette shrank even further, until she stood only about eight inches tall.

Sara scurried along the desktop, looking utterly fascinated by the ordinary objects scattered there. "This must be what Barbie feels like!" she exclaimed happily. "Okay, I'm in! I'll do your demo! This should be fun! It does wear off, right? If you don't zap me back to normal, I mean."

"Yeah, eventually," Sean told her. "Nothing's permanent in the world of magic."

"Good, I'd hate to think people could get stuck like this," said Sara. "It's fun to try but I wouldn't want to be like this forever! In fact, put me back to normal now--I should really get back to my desk, and I couldn't possibly do my work if I'm this small!"

"One last thing," Chrissy told her, holding the wand out again. "They said it could work up to five times on a single target, so before I go spouting that off in the meeting, let me just make sure." With that, she uttered the syllable again, and Sara shrank down once more, this time to about four inches in height.

"Okay, this is a bit much," complained the little woman. "You're all getting really huge now..."

"Just a moment, and I'll reverse it, okay? I've got to be sure of my facts before I brief the execs."

Sara sighed. "Fine, whatever," she agreed reluctantly as the green sparks struck her again, whereupon she dwindled down to only about two inches in height. She threw her arms out and called up to them in a faraway voice. "Okay, now I'm really super tiny. It works, congratulations! Now put me back, okay?"

Sean leaned in and stared at the minuscule woman, standing there with her hands on her hips. "Yeah, she's awfully cute like that, but I liked her better at doll size," he agreed.

Sara smiled up at him, almost blushing at the complement. She looked noticeably less upset now, but still eager to get big again. She almost jumped for joy as Chrissy reversed the effect and she swiftly expanded to four inches once again. However, when the next command word was spoken, the wand simply fizzled and only a couple of faint sparks popped out, doing nothing at all.

"What's wrong?" demanded the miniature Sara. "It better not be broken!"

"No, no, just need another power tip," said Chrissy with a quick shrug, turning toward the exit. "I'll just go get another one and--"

As she turned, she had her eyes on the tiny woman on the table, and wasn't looking where she was going. The wand struck the doorknob and flew out of her grip. When the scarlet rod struck the ground, they all distinctly heard the sound of dozens of internal crystals shattering. Chrissy gasped and held the device up, horrified, only to watch the emerald on the end break into pieces and fall away. A faint wisp of green smoke rose up from within, in mute testimony to the wand's destruction.

"This better not mean what I think it means," demanded little Sara, folding her arms in disgust.

"Um, well, that was the prototype," admitted Chrissy sheepishly. "There's more on the design table, but it may be a few, um, days before..."

"Days!" shrieked the tiny secretary in frustration. "I can't be like this for that long! What am I supposed to do like this?"

"I'll, uh, just go check on the status of those wands," muttered Chrissy, dashing out the door. "Good luck, Sean!"

"Yeah, thanks," he replied, folding his arms across the table as he sat down to regard the miniature woman scowling in front of him. The intense smile on his face couldn't hide his interest in her slim, hypnotically diminutive figure. "Look, it was an accident, okay?" he managed after a moment.

"I bet she did it on purpose," Sara moaned, stalking around amid the giant papers. "She probably did! Damn it, I had a party to go to tonight...and no, before you ask, I'm not going like this! I don't want anyone seeing me this way--I just want to go home and hide until this wears off!"

"I understand," he agreed, leaning in a bit closer. "Tell you what, I'll take you home and keep you safe, okay? Plus...you could always let me make it up to you in another way..." He grinned seductively at her.

"What do you mean by that?" she demanded, catching the look in his enormous eye instantly, and reacting exactly as he'd hoped she would. "What's a huge, terrifying, horrible giant like you going to do to a tiny, pathetic little thing like me...?"

In a single quick motion he plucked her off the desktop, drawing a gasp of surprise followed by an eager little scream. "That's for me to know," he told her, opening up his briefcase and casually dropping her inside, "and you to find out."