Annie LXXXV: Here It Starts

(Chronological index: Lasting Changes 1)

"I swear to the goddess," the old guy said, "I thought she was going to send you a dream."

"Uh huh," Denise said. Ray's hand quivered under her knees. He was as angry as she'd ever seen him, as angry as the day he met Annie's father. Thirty some years of sympathy for his friend's pain came out slugging.

But he was in better control this time. She glanced up at his clenched jaw. Then she saw Annie was on his shoulder with a death-grip on his ear lobe. Her patented 'Master on a leash' grip.

The brunette winked down at her sister and leaned back. Ray's jaw clenched a bit tighter. Denise turned back to the old man.

"So, dream?"

"A dream. The goddess sends us to find sylphs who aren't happy, and give their owners something to think about."

"Then what the fuck," Pet shouted, "made you give Denise the stone??!?!"

He held out a palm to the angry little woman. "I made a mistake. Maybe."

"MAYBE?!?!" she shrieked. Ray's fingers close over her as she started to stand up. She strained against his grip like she wanted to attack. "SHE could have been grabbed by a TEENAGER!" Pet spat.

"What do you mean, maybe?" Denise asked as Pet spiraled down into incoherence. "Because my Sylph Sympathy dream was real?"

"Yeah. Something about your relationship got Gaia's attention. She.... I think she found something in you she wasn't finding anywhere else."

Ray moved his hands together. Denise reached out and grabbed Pet's hand. Pet growled and squeezed back.

"Sorry about this," Denise said. "She's usually very forgiving."

"I'm actually on her side of the fight," the old guy said. "I picked wrong. I'm usually pretty good, but you went right under my radar. You two love each other in ways most people never find."

He raised his eyes at a small cough from Ray's shoulder. Then he nodded. "You all love each other very strongly. But these two..."

He shrugged. "She noticed you. And through the two of you, Gaia noticed Ray and Annie."

"And by noticing us...?" Annie asked.

"She's an old goddess, Gaia. Lives life on a geologic scale. Humanity is a flash in the pan to her.

"But pollution...she's been feeling the pain. Sharp, growing, spreading. She wanted to do something. She reached out to make sylphs. I'm not sure why or how, but it makes a magical connection to her. Sylphs became her eyes into human society."

"Kind of a foreshortened perspective," Annie said.

He ignored her interruption. "Then she made some sylphs into undines to clean up-"

"Why did she wait so long?" Denise asked. The man responded with a bark of laughter.

"As I said, the whole of human history is an eye blink to her. Thirty years between events...that's..." He raised his hand and tried to snap his fingers. Two knuckles popped arthritically instead. "Dammit. Anyway, like lickety split."

"But she shrank me before the undines," Denise protested.

"I think she was getting a lot of information from all sylphs, but when you got the obsidian... She saw your relationship from two directions.

"And it was a wonderful relationship."

"It STILL is!" Pet shrieked. Denise gasped in pain. Pet yanked her hand back from the stressed digits of her friend's hand. "I'm so, so sorry, Denny!"

"Just...chill for a bit, Pet, okay?"

"Okay, Denny," she said quietly. Ray shifted his grip to give her a finger-hug. She rested her cheek on his knuckle.

"Yes it is," the man agreed. "And she came to know the two of you. And through you, the world."

"Good thing he picked the optimists, huh?" Annie asked. Ray nodded. "Imagine if we'd had that stone."

Old Guy rubbed his chin, staring at Annie. "I think...the only thing that would have changed would be gnomes before undines. The rest? Same bonds. Same love. Same general respect for others. Same sense of justice. Just a bit more snark to cover the depth of affection."

"Take that back," Ray snarled.

"All of it," Annie growled. "Every word."

"Exactly," Old Guy said. He smiled.

Denise rubbed her forehead. "Okay, okay, okay. Long story short. Because of us, because I love Pet, and Pet loves me, your goddess shrank me. And with that accomplished, she made undines to bribe humans to clean up the world."

She glanced up to see Old Guy nodding. "Then," she went on, "people were still abusing sylphs so she made gnomes to protect them." Another nod. "And people misused sylphs to make salamanders. So she made efreets and devas."

"You got it," he said.

"So what now?" she asked. "Is there... Is there any way back to 'normal?' For me, for any sylphs?"

"Now," he said, "Gaia says thank you. There is a portal," he said. "You go through that and you come out the other side...human. Human sized, anyway."

"How many?" Denise asked very quietly.

"Well, Gaia has to work up an interest in you for it to work. It's like a bank account. You get a little bit of credit just for being alive. A bit more for everything you do that creates life. A bit more for fighting death. Another bit for-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Annie said. She made a hurry-up gesture. "We'll check the instructions later. How. Fucking. Many?"

"You have keep in mind that making people big is harder than making them small. Mass has to be matched, located, placed gently in specific spots... Takes a lot out of the old girl." Annie snarled. He held his hands up in surrender.

"The four of you," Old Guy said, "Have garnered enough interest from Gaia to change one person."

"Denise," Annie and Pet said in chorus.

"Guys, I-"

"Shut up," Annie said.

"Yeah, Denny, shut up."

Denise looked up to her husband. "Ray! Tell them it's not a foregone-"

The Old Guy cleared his throat. "If I may," he said. "There's a bit more you should know. As I said, I feel really guilty about picking you two. About judging you. About misjudging both of you.

"I'm....willing to trade places with you. I'm willing to donate Gaia's attention in me, to make one more of you human."

"Wow," Ray whispered.

Old Guy stepped along the counter to a corner of the store and bent down. He lifted a trap door as Ray moved to see what he was doing.

A small hole drilled down into the dirt. A couple of feet below the store the chimney stopped with a floor. A passage led off into the dirt. Some sort of light shone from up the passage, out of direct sight.

"Go through the light, come out...whole." He stood and smiled at Ray and the women. "Blessed be," he said.

And disappeared.

Ray dropped to his knees and put Denise and Pet on the floor. "Did he sylph?"

"Unlike Obi Wan or any sylph, his clothes are gone," Annie pointed out. She jumped to his elbow then to the floor. There she tumbled, ending on her knees with a short gasp of pain.

"Annie?" Pet stepped over to her. "Are you okay?"

"I think I twisted my ankle," she replied. She poked her left foot gingerly. "I don't want to walk on it."

"You have to, Annie!" Pet said urgently. "You have to go through the light."

Denise looked up at Ray. He was frowning. She misunderstood his expression. "Two is enough, Ray," she said. "Pet doesn't want to grow."

"I don't," Pet said.

"I know," Ray answered. He still frowned at Annie. That sylph shrugged. "I know, you talked about it. You promised."

"I did," Annie said.

It wasn’t Denise's fault that she missed the interplay between her husband and his first sylph. Her mind was focused on becoming human again. Was it real? Was it finally real? After all the time and all the weirdness...the end?

"So," Denise continued in ignorance, "Annie and I will go through the portal. We'll still be a family, Ray."

"Of course," he said with a nod. "Well, let's get you down there." He lay prone on the floor and reached into the hole. "I can lower you down."

"I'll help Annie to the light," Denise said. She held out her arms.

"Wait, where do we come out?" Annie asked. "I mean, we're going to be naked and huge. We should figure out where." She pointed at her ankle. "So Ray can come get me and carry me to the car."

"Okay. I'll go first, then come get Ray, then Pet can help you get to the light."

Ray lowered his wife to the passage and set her down. She squeezed his thumb then walked off. The light flickered a few moments later.

"Put us down there?" Annie asked. Ray carefully picked up his other wives and lowered them. Annie leaned on Pet and hobbled out of sight.

The portal glowed like a wall of melted pearls. There was a bare outline of what looked a lot like Denise. They got up to the edge and Pet leaned Annie against a wall of the tunnel.

"Pet? Can you forgive me?" Annie asked.

"Of course, Annie," Pet replied. "But there's nothing to forgive. I don't want to be big."

"Well, I didn't want to be small," Annie pointed out.

"But you adapted well," Pet said. "You're strong."

"So are you, Pet."

Pet shook her head. "I was born a sylph. I never had to adapt to it."

Annie nodded. "Pet? I want you to know...I forgive you."

"For what?" Pet asked.

"If...you should do something. Later today. If you get overcome with emotion and do something you regret? I don't want that hanging on your conscience. Not me, not because of me. Okay?"

"Okay," a confused Pet replied.

"Remember. I forgive you."

"What could I possibly do today that I'll regret?" Pet asked.

Annie shrugged. "You might kill me." She spun off the wall and kicked Pet in the belly. Pet staggered back, hands around her gut, balance failing.

The light of the portal flickered and went out.

"Pet?" Ray's voice called. "Pet? Are you there?" After a moment of silence he asked: "Annie?" The silence dragged for a moment. "Oh, Annie, what have you done?"

The tunnel remained dark, silent...and empty.

---------

Pet felt sick. Her stomach hurt, her skin scratched, she was hot, she was heavy, she felt weak and slow and...

She sneezed. Her nose exploded three or four times. She sat up, trying to brush whatever was on her face away.

"That'll only make it worse," she heard. It was and it wasn't Annie's voice. She was far away and shrill. Pet tried to open her eyes but they scratched, too.

She shook her hands then slapped the material...the odd, odd material away from her face.

"It's hay, Pet. Try standing up."

"Annie? Where are you? I can't..." She sneezed seven or eight more times. She thought about wiping her face with her shirt but she wasn't wearing one.

"Stand up, Pet. Get out of the hay."

"I'm sick, Annie!"

"No, you're just trying to breathe hay."

"I'm heavy!" She stood up. Balance was an issue. Her ass felt like it had doubled in size. And her breasts dragged on her laboring rib cage.

She kept hands on her knees and tried to breathe. It got a little easier. But it didn't sound right. Her ears seemed dull. Congestion?

"Are you alright, Pet?"

"I'm getting better." She eased through four deep, slow breaths without sneezing. "My eyes! They sting!"

"The tears will move the crap out, just blink a bit." She obeyed her friend. The scratching eased. She started to see the room in blurry flashes. "How are you doing, Pet?"

"I can breathe... But my stomach still... Hurts." Pet paused as he remembered why it hurt. She opened her eyes, wiping the tears with the back of her hand.

She was in a barn. And if it was a toy barn, it was incredibly expensive. Scaled tools hung on walls with scaled grains in the lumber. Bales of hay stacked beside her, all of it to sylph scale.

And outside the door...it looked like Ray's rental car. Also to scale. "Pet?"

She looked down. Her friend...former friend stood at the bottom of a wooden post. A tiny little woman against a 4x4. Looking up at her with concern.

"You BITCH!" Pet screamed. She dropped to her knees and reached for Annie. "You fucking FUCKED ME!"

"And I forgive you, Pet." She didn't try to run away. The clawed fingers stopped, curled into a fist and hovered. Annie swallowed and stood still. Pet's hand dropped to the ground.

"Why?" Pet whined. "I didn't want..."

"Pet, you're my friend and I love you," Annie said. "I want you to live the life you should have had. To pick flowers and pet kittens and eat omelets and taste ten flavors at once.

"To learn to drive, to travel without being mauled... Crap, Pet, you should want all this!"

"I don't!" she cried. She rocked back to sit down. The flump of her ass raised a cloud of dust. "I'm big and fat!" she wailed.

"A bit of mass is welcome in a heavy wind," Annie said in a lecturing tone. "And you're about as fat as a trombone."

Pet's hand shot out and snatched the sylph into the air. Annie writhed under the pressure but didn't complain or protest. Pet had never had to learn how to hold sylphs....

"It should have been you, Annie!"

"It SHOULD have been all three of us, Pet. But Mother Earth Goddess is a stingy bitch. So I did what I had to do."

"Why?" Tears flowed freely down her cheeks. They felt weird, individual drops instead of leaking lines.

"Oh, God, Pet, I told you," Annie said. She stroked fingers with her one free hand. "To touch, however belatedly, that long, wonderful world that's waiting out there."

"I've been in the world, Annie! I was HAPPY in the world...as long as Denny took care of me!"

"And Denny was happy to take care of you. NOW she'll be happy to teach you how to drive. How to work the oven. How to play golf."

"Denny doesn't play golf," Pet said absently.

"Then YOU take lessons and teach HER!" Annie said cheerfully. Pet sniffled. Annie's eyes narrowed. "You can soap Ray's back, Pet. And you can kiss him."

"I already kiss Ray," Pet said. She wrapped her arms around her knees and lowered her head to rest. Annie dangled by her armpit.

"Pet! I mean... You can... KISS. Ray. Long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days."

Pet raised her head. "Oh, my."

She started to lift Annie to her face. That's when the others ran into the barn. Denise was wrapped in a blanket that came from the store. Ray carried another one.

They rounded the corner and skidded to a stop in the dirt of the doorway. Denise had been saying, "...so if I came out in that barn, Annie may have landed on a bale of hay in..."

Pet was watching their faces. Denise looked shocked for a second. Pet waited to see the disappointment. She knew Denny liked her pet Pet as a pet. But what came over the other face was joy.

Denny dropped her blanket and ran over to hug Pet. "Oh, God, Pet, you're HUGE!"

"I'm fat," she complained. Then she put her head into Denny's shoulder and cried.

Strong hands peeled the sylph out of her fingers. She hugged Denise tight and got as good as she gave.

Ray shook his head as he lifted Annie up to his face. "You okay?" he asked.

Annie raised hands to her face and silently mouthed: LOOK SURPRISED IDIOT! She was willing to let Pet feel betrayed by one of her sisters. If she realized Ray had suspected, though...

He showed an expression of mock awe. She rolled her eyes. Then he nodded and adopted a more pole-axed look. She approved. He lifted her to his shoulder.

She dug in as he leaned down to hug his other two wives. Hands clutched at his shirt. Big blue eyes looked up into his.

"Long, slow, deep," Annie said softly. Pet opened her mouth. Ray leaned down to kiss it. Annie and Denise smiled.

"Ray... It wasn't my fault," Pet said a bit later. "Annie, she pushed me. She KICKED me!"

"Aw," he said. "Can I kiss it and make it better?"

"Are you mad, Ray?" He leaned down to kiss her again. Strong hands stroked her back. Pet purred. "Well, I'm mad at her," she said after a few deep breaths. He kissed her again, sitting down to pull her into his lap. Denise spooned Pet from behind and hugged them both.

"But," Pet said after a long, lovely moment, "I can see forgiving her some day in the future..."

"Well," Denise said. "I don't think all four of us can fit in the shower any more. So we'll leave Annie out tonight. That'll be her punishment."

"Shower," Pet said. "Ray! I can soap your back now!"

"You can't have a conjugal shower without me!" Annie protested. Ray lowered her to the ground and helped the other two stand. Then they lifted him.

They found the dropped blankets. Ray walked with the taller wives hugged under either arm. Annie ran along behind them.

"I said, you can't have a group shower without... Pet! Denise? Hey, Ray, wait up!"

Just before they left the barn, Ray dipped down to scoop her up into a pocket.

The Fosters stepped out into the world.



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