DwindlingAway
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Unobtainable 2 - Chapter 5
🕑 Added 2018-02-01 05:52:37 +0000 UTC Andy sat across from me on the couch attempting, for the third time, to explain what was going on. “... And that’s how we were able to get here so quickly,” he said.
I pushed off from the arm of the couch where I had been leaning and began to pace across the couch cushion, too full of nervous energy to sit and relax. “So those magic rocks were basically a trap that Heather set off. They opened a gateway between worlds that Lilian tried to come through that also somehow allowed you guys to teleport here?”
“Not teleportation. Using the crystal weakened reality in this area. Caley opened a gate into that weak spot from upstate that we drove the car through,” Andy corrected. “Lilian tried to open a similar but much larger gate from another world.”
“Alright whatever,” I said waving my arms. “The point is no one can open a gate now because of that crazy blue light thing Caley did with you,” I said and looked for confirmation from Andy who nodded. “So we’re safe?”
“Not… exactly,” Andy said scratching his head and looking away as though ashamed to admit they had achieved anything less than total success. I was just glad not to be paste on the sole of an evil titaness. And I told him so. Andy smiled weakly and said, “Caley is out there uhm, shoring up the defenses. She and your girlfriend are probably going to have a bit of talk after that.” Andy bit his lip, there was something he wasn’t saying.
I changed the subject, “So what is your deal anyway? Are you a witch- er wizard or whatever too?”
Andy’s eyebrows raised. “Me? No, well, I mean- Not really. I know stuff academically, but that’s about it. Kind of how reading about great generals in history doesn’t really teach you to lead an army?” I nodded, saying nothing so that he would continue. Andy obliged, “I am a leyman.”
“Yeah I think you just said that, I’m a layman at this stuff too even if I did manage to cast one spell.”
“No,” Andy said quickly. “Not L A Y” he spoke each letter. “L E Y, as in leyline?”
“Leyline, isn’t that astrology or something?”
Andy laughed. “No, leylines are sources of mana that well up from the Earth’s crust. Mana is a physical substance that is affected by gravity and magnetism and such and so it gets denser closer to the earth’s center. Mana wells up along leylines similar to how volcanoes form along fault lines. In fact, Thepistole’s 2nd Axiom states...” Andy droned on for a while about the physical properties of mana and how they overlapped with the spiritual realm or something. I tuned him out, he was a good guy, but a bit of a magic nerd. Plus I think he needed the distraction. He covered it well but I could tell he was terrified by our encounter with Lilian.
We all were.
My own fear felt detached, the enormity of it too much for my body to contain. When I closed my eyes I would see Lilian’s smile, a slash of white beneath the black pits of her pitiless eyes. When Andy finally realized he was rambling he abruptly clammed up and offered an apologetic wave of his hands. Suppressing a shudder I said, “So you’re like a battery for magical power.”
“More or less,” he agreed.
Something Andy said earlier struck me. “Didn’t you tell me Caley and her sister store magical energy as size?” Andy nodded. “Couldn’t she just grow to the size of her sister and fight her directly?”
Andy sighed. “The amount of magic that would require would probably drain the planet. Once you burn up the magic close to the surface it gets harder and harder to extract, at a certain point simple math works against you. The mana expended to dig more out of the earth would eventually equal or surpass the gain. And you as you saw earlier when Caley gets it through me some of my mana scrapes off and I shrink so that can't go on forever either.”
Drain the planet. I stopped listening past that point. Lilian had energy equivalent to the entire earth? My resolve weakened and a shudder ran through my body. “Can we stop her?” I said numbly.
“That is what Caley is going to talk to Heather about,” Andy said.
Heather chose that moment to duck through the bedroom door and unfold her body into the main room of the cabin. “Talk to me about what?” she boomed, the lower register of her voice rattled through the cabin like a subwoofer.
To his credit Andy handled being addressed by someone literally three times his size pretty well. Poor guy was probably used to it. “That’s not really for me to say,” Andy said softly.
Heather frowned. “Well someone better start telling me something. My girlfriend is a sobbing mess, my best friend is a nervous wreck, and I’m hungry.” That she rated her hunger alongside her friend’s trauma was, well, classic Heather.
“Caley should be back soon,” Andy said nervously. “I think she wants to talk with you… Privately.”
Heather looked between me and Andy, lips pursed. “Dana just fell asleep, but Crystal and Mike can hear anything either of you have to say to me.” Part of me was thrilled that Heather did not want to keep secrets, but the rest of me wanted nothing to do with any of this. It was too much, too big. I could not stop thinking that Lilian had as much power as a planet... Did that make her a goddess? I shivered again.
“Either way, it’s not my call,” Andy said holding up his hands defensively.
Heather walked across the room, feet thumping heavily on the wooden floor and rattling the furniture. She stopped in front of the couch, towering over Andy and I. “My little man meal was stolen, but I see two tasty looking morsels right here,” she said.
Oh, fuck that. I thought she had meant food, but clearly she was hungry for something else entirely. I was already so small, too small- I looked up and something rose in my throat.
Andy cut in, “You can feed off of me,” he said. “Caley can grow me back later, won’t be the first time.”
My knuckles itched, a heat rose in my chest.
“I was half-joking,” Heather said, “But since you offered…”
My nails bit painfully into my palms.
“It’s not a problem,” Andy said gregariously. “Caley said you might be a handful but you’ve been very accommodating given the circumstances.”
“Wow,” Heather said, “I’ve never had such an eager participant. You getting this Mike? You could learn a thing or-”
“No,” I said loudly. Both Heather and Andy looked at me. “No,” I repeated. “She is not going to ‘feed’ off of you. Did both of you forget that feeding Heather is what got us into this mess?” Heather’s eyes widened in shock. I glared at her. “You need to control yourself. Is getting your fix worth getting us all killed? Do you not care that you’re putting all of us in danger or are your cravings just too fucking important?”
“Wow,” Heather said, her shocked expression swiftly replaced by an unreadable mask.
“Umm,” Andy said awkwardly. “Mike as I was saying before its more the stones that-”
“Shutup,” Heather cut him off. “I want to hear this. You were saying how this is all my fault, little Mikey,” she prompted.
“You say that like I’m missing something. Did you not make a deal with the fucking devil who has now come to collect? Or is that just another fake version of reality someone put in my head? IT’S GETTING PRETTY FUCKING HARD TO TELL,” my voice sounded shrill to my own ears, but I couldn’t stop. “HEATHER GETS WHAT HEATHER WANTS AND FUCK THE REST OF US, RIGHT!?”
“Sounds good to me,” Heather replied bitingly. She turned to Andy and said, “Alright short stack, time to shrink.”
I threw myself off the couch, landed on the floor and charged Heather. Her foot twisted towards me and I leapt, hurling myself onto her shin and narrowly avoiding her attempt to flick me away with her toes. The hard surface of her shin slapped against my chest driving most of the air from my lungs. My arms wrapped around the thick muscle of her calf and I made the only attack available.
I bit her.
It was like trying to bite an elephant’s flank, my teeth slid across the smooth surface of her skin and closed on nothing. I tried again, but Heather flicked her foot. I lost my footing and lurched backwards. “Ignore him,” Heather’s voice rumbled from above. I gnashed my teeth at her leg, clawing savagely.
“I can transfer size to you directly,” Andy replied hesitantly. “Caley made me learn that spell in case… Well in any case it should, umm, satiate you.”
“Do it,” Heather commanded, ignoring my assault. And just like that, the foot I was standing on began to grow.
Heather’s toes flexed as they stretched longer and thicker. Her calves swelled beyond my ability to encircle them with outstretched arms and I was forced to cling clumsily to the front of her shin. I would have gone flying if she had attempted to shake me loose but she was too caught up in the moment; moaning with satisfaction as her body swelled to greater heights. Why was Andy doing this? Why reward her when this was all her fault? Heather continued to expand, her head thumped against the roof of the cabin and she crouched to allow herself to grow further. I looked up, and immediately realized my mistake. Whatever madness had fueled my attack evaporated at the sight of Heather's massive form looming over me.
Every part of her was colossal, her face was a billboard advertisement for sexual satisfaction, or drug induced euphoria- maybe both. Joyful tears leaked from the corner of her eyes, tracing lines down her cheeks towards the swell of her chest. Her breasts were soft, white igloo’s overflowing the tent-sized halves of her lacy black brassiere. A family could have slept comfortably beneath the material of one of those cups. Heather hands ran down her sides, drawing attention to her house-sized hips and tanker-truck sized thighs. They were still swelling larger when the front door swung open.
Caley Prentice stepped into the room.
Everyone stopped to look at the statuesque blond. Something in her posture made every hair on my body stand on end. “What are you doing to Andy?” she said, her voice as cold and flat as a the surface of a frozen lake. Something was wrong with her eyes. Obsidian pupils covered their surface, lending an otherworldly menace to her emotionless gaze. “C-calm down Caley,” Andy said quickly as the size transfer abruptly cut off. “It was my idea!”
Caley took a step forward and the room seemed to darken.
Even Heather sensed the danger radiating from the dark eyed blond because she took a step backward. I was not ready for sudden movement and went tumbling to the floor, banging my knees and elbows in the fall. Nursing a scrape I looked up in time to see Andy reach Caley’s side. He reached up and grabbed her arm, small fingers not even close encircling her wrist. He said, “Please Caley, you’ve got to calm down. These people are on our side, remember?”
Caley stopped moving forward and her head pivoted to regard Andy. Her movements were disturbingly mechanical. Her expression was unchanged. Fingers suddenly wrapped around Andy’s throat. She was going to tear off his head and kick it across the room or something equally macabre. I wanted to shout to warn him but only a strangled croak passed my lips. After a long, tense moment the black faded from Caley's eyes, dark clouds breaking apart to allow the light through. “Andy?” Caley said uncertainly. Her hands abruptly released his neck and she stared at them as though stunned to find them there.
“I’m here,” he said softly and I felt immediately awkward; a voyeur to a moment I was never meant to see. “It’s okay,” Andy said reassuringly. “You’re just tired. You need to rest.”
Caley put a hand to her temple. Her pained expression said the the only thing keeping her from shattering into a thousand pieces was sheer force of will. It made my heart ache. She had seemed so powerful, so certain, so inevitable when she had arrived; a force of nature that was the counterpoint to her sister. Now I could see the truth. Fighting Lilian was taking its toll and Caley’s demons seemed, if anything, greater than Heather’s. A few moments ago I had been envious, even angry, at Andy’s ability to live a normal life, to so casually give up his size- but maybe things were not so simple.
“Why is she crying?” Caley said suddenly. I followed her gaze back to Heather- without the growth-induced euphoria to brighten her expression the wet trails trickling from her eyes seemed almost… Sad.
For some reason Heather’s eyes flicked to me before answering. “Doesn’t matter,” she said curtly. “You wanted to talk to me?”
Caley nodded before sinking into a chair. She looked exhausted. “It’s going to have to wait. I was under the impression things were okay between the two of you,” Caley looked pointedly between Heather and I, “But obviously that isn’t the case.”
“Why does that matter?” I said at the same time Heather said, “I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”
Heather went to fold her arms over her chest but it looked strange with her half stooped posture so she settled to the floor and sat cross legged across from the blond witch. Caley smiled tolerantly. “It matters because you two are lock and key to a door that will let my sister into this reality.” When it became clear neither Heather or I had any idea what that meant Caley sighed and went on. “Listen the details aren’t important. What’s important is that you two work things out. To be honest I’m impressed you’ve held out this long without help.”
“Thanks, I gue-” I started to say until I realized Caley was speaking to Heather. What the hell?
“The curse Lilian placed on you is very powerful, so much so that I’m afraid that without a great a deal of time, which we don’t have, I won’t be able to remove it.”
“Curse?” Heather said, blindsided.
“The hunger, the constant craving for the lifeforce of others.” Caley said. “Its so strong I can sense it from you without even needing a divination circle.”
“But that’s from the spell Lilian taught me?” Heather off-balance and uncertain was new, but I was not sure I was enjoying it.
Caley shook her head. “No, she cursed you so that you would crave what that spell could give you. You probably noticed the more you care about someone the more you want their lifeforce?” Caley’s voice was matter-of-fact. Heather on the other hand looked as though she had seen a ghost, face pale and horrified. Caley went on, “The crystals she dumped on you were a contingency, and fortunately much easier for me to track. Lilian probably expected you to fall to temptation a long time ago.”
“How is this not falling to temptation?” I said angrily gesturing at my shrunken body.
Caley chuckled mirthlessly. “Little guy if she had given up on you, even for a second, we would not be having this conversation. And if that happened…” Caley trailed off.
“Game over,” Andy said softly.
This was too unfair. Heather had stolen my life, my freedom, and suddenly *I* was the bad guy for not being glad she stopped just shy of draining me out of existence? I let my thoughts fly unfiltered, “Oh yeah, she’s so selfless. That sure sounds like the Heather I know. The sacrifices she has made are practically saint-like aren’t they? A real mother-fucking Teresa, she is.”
Caley’s laugh this time had genuine humor in it. She looked at Andy and said, “He’s a spunky little guy isn’t he?” Her attention moved back to me and I returned her smile with a scowl. “If you could sense what I do you would underst…” She trailed off, suddenly lost in thought. A moment later her fist thumped on the arm of her chair and she exclaimed, “That’s it!” Everyone stared and Caley nodded to herself and muttered, “... empathic connection should work...” Heather opened her mouth to say something but Caley stood up suddenly and began to pace, muttering to herself about choices. I think I heard the word ‘hope’. Finally she reached some sort of decision and turned to the group and declared, “I’m not my sister.”
Heather and I exchanged confused glances before remembering that were mad at each other. She looked away quickly and I studied my feet. “Of course you’re not,” Andy said to Caley reassuringly.
“I’ll give you a choice,” Caley said. It took me a moment to realize she was talking to me.
Part of me exulted at being given say in the course my life took, the rest of me was terrified. “What choice?” I said, craning my neck up at the busty blond who had stopped pacing a few feet in front of me.
“I can return you to your original height and you can go far, far away from here and try to build a new life.” I was ready to say ‘Where do I sign?’ but Caley did not give me the chance. “But if I do that Heather’s bond with you will weaken. Whether she wants to or not she will form a bond with someone else and if she drains everything from them, Lilian wins. Your girlfriend has twice now managed to resist taking everything from people she was close to, I would not bet on her to win over a curse this strong a third time. The slightest sliver of love will turn into an unquenchable thirst for their life, that is the curse Heather bears.”
“That’s horrible,” Crystal said. Her eyes were red and puffy. How long had she been standing in the doorway listening?
“That’s how my sister operates, she uses the best parts of people against them,” Caley replied, her voice heavy with old wounds.
“So you’re saying if I leave, Lilian wins,” I said slowly.
“That is the most likely outcome,” Andy said.
I stared into Caley’s bright blue eyes and said, “But if I say I want out you’ll let me go, just like that?”
“Yes,” Caley said simply.
“Wait a second,” I said, realizing a life-altering tidbit had been glazed over. “If you can grow me back why not just do that?” I could maybe be okay living with Heather if I had an otherwise normal life.
“Because right now you’re like a little dumpling, tempting but resistable.” Caley said. “If I return your size you’re gonna be a big, juicy steak.” Wonderful, I thought, nothing better than being compared to various meals for my… Was heather still my girlfriend? I guess that remained to be seen.
I heaved a sigh, “Guess I should hear option two before deciding but let me say this. Whatever happens, this isn’t on me. This curse or whatever that Heather is under, that’s the risk she took when she made a deal with your sister. I had *nothing* to do with it.” Maybe that was callous. Maybe I was being a huge asshole, but dammit hadn’t I been jerked around enough already?
“No one would blame you for leaving,” Caley said then glanced at Heather, “Almost no one anyway.”
“Fine, good,” I said. “So what’s option two?”
Caley smiled. “An empathic binding spell.”
“Umm, say again?”
“I can’t remove Heather’s curse but I can weaken the symptoms by sharing them between you and her,” Caley explained. For the next five minutes I probed and prodded for more information until I had a decent picture of what she was suggesting. Essentially I would experience cravings in proportion to Heather’s only my cravings could be sated, at least temporarily by Heather herself. Meanwhile Heather’s cravings would continue to grow and grow until she had to feed. In this scenario Heather would continue to get bigger, but wouldn’t have to suffer as much because I would be suffering on her behalf.
Caley felt this would strengthen our bond and keep Heather from devouring me. The whole thing sounded crazy. A little bit of love would make Heather gobble someone up but a lot would stay her hand? That sounded like a lot of sappy ‘love overcomes all’ hippy dippy romcom bullshit. But I did not make the rules and I had no reason to doubt Caley’s word.
“So option two,” I said to summarize, “Is that I share Heather’s curse in order to ‘offer the greatest chance of saving the world’ - as you put it.”
“Its your decision,” Caley agreed.
A week ago I had bemoaned the lack of purpose in my life and now I was being offered the choice between self-imposed exile and world saving heroism. Be careful what you wish for, I guess. I looked at Heather but she turned away the moment our eyes met. No help there. I tried Crystal , silently imploring her to give me her blessing so that I could leave without guilt.
“I understand how you feel, Mike,” Crystal said. I sensed a ‘but’ coming and braced myself. “But what you said to Heather earlier, about letting her hunger come before the rest of us... If you leave are you any different?”
That… But… She… FUCK!
Fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck FUCK FUUUUUCK!
I wanted to scream but all I could do was glare at Crystal. She shrugged apologetically. “God. Dammit,” I said through clenched teeth.
“What’s it gonna be little guy?” Caley said.
Someone once told me that before you make any big, life altering decision you should sleep on it. But I knew what I was going to do. Even though there was no fucking justice in it, even though I had never done anything to deserve any of this, even though I could not even begin to understand Heather. She was like two completely different people that apparently both needed my help. Like those long ago school days when I had defended her from bullies, I was going to do what I always did: Step into the breach.
I glared at Caley and said, “Curse me, witch.”
***
The ritual was short, simple, and frankly anticlimactic. A piece of my hair, a drop of Heather’s milk, a chalk circle, and a whole lot of arcane gobbledegook. When it was over Heather had to support Caley who was falling-down-exhausted. Andy said he would drive them home. Apparently Caley had not exaggerated about not having time- they wouldn’t agree to stay the night no matter how much Crystal begged. Andy said he would keep in touch and I think Caley gave Heather her cell number. I suppose that gave us a crisis hotline, but I still had so many questions.
Before they left Caley told me, “Remember that whatever happens while you’re asleep, they’re just dreams.”
Nothing like an ominous warning right before bed!
Now I couldn’t sleep. Heather’s back was turned to me and she was snoring softly, which sounded a bit like a motorcycle gang roaring down the highway. So much for talking things out. She had barely spoken two words since I had exploded at her earlier. Not even the typical, ‘I’ll make you suffer, little Mikey’ bit she pulled whenever I had pissed her off before. My self-sacrifice apparently had not smoothed things over between us. Truth be told I had not really forgiven her either, if anything I had only agreed to stay to protect everyone I cared about. Whether or not that still included Heather was uncertain.
I hoped she would come around eventually and see things my way. I was the one who was really suffering, Heather had to see that. In the morning, I decided with a yawn, I would make her understand in the morning...
***
I woke in the palm of Lilian Prentice.
