Rachel was getting tired of the attention she got on the night club. She was there to dance and have fun, take her mind of the studies and the horny guys back at the dorm, but she kind of forgot that the night club was also full of horny guys. A minor miscalculation she thought, and she wasn't going to let them ruin her fun. This one guy though had been very persistant, and he didn't seem to give up. Rachel eventually got tired and fled into the womens bathroom. Obviously more girls had been the target of this Don Juan. There was a small gathering by the sinks talking about this guy they all had tried to ditch. Rachel listned for a while before one of the girls turned her attention to Rachel.
- "I know that look. He was hitting on you too wasn't he?"
- "Yeah... He's even worse than some of the guys back at the dorm."
- "The students life never changes I hear. Went to the local university two years ago, and the guys there are relentless!" one of the girls said. "I even considered going lesbian, but that would probably make the guys worse."
- "I hear you. Girl on girl seems to be their wettest dream." a third girl said. They stood by the sinks chatting for a while when suddenly another girl slammed the door open, and they guy they had been talking about followed quickly.
- "You got spunk I'll tell you that!" he said drunkishly, having a hard forming the words. He laid a hand on her shoulder and she spun around.
- "Look here you idiot! I won't come home with you. Have you no shame? You even got an engagement ring on your finger."
- "She wont find out if you don't tell her. Now come here babe."

What followed made the girls somewhat jealous as the new girl did something they all had dreamt about the whole evening. The guy made a grab for the girl and tried to kiss her, but he hardly reached her before she gave him solid right hook. The guy spun out of control and he flew out the door with impossible speed, and in the comotion he had managed to grab the girls top wich got ripped straight of her body. She stood there for a while looking at the guy who now laid in a heap on the floor. All the girls were quick to rush to the door and look, but Rachel stood still, looking at the girls back. She could have svorn she saw a tatoo there moments ago, but the pattern faded and blended with the girls skin. It was like the tatoo had left her body for a second and fluttered behind the girl when she dealt the humiliating blow to the guy who really deserved it, and as the girl took a deep breath, the tatoo had settled on her skin and faded. Screams and cheers was coming from the girls now.
- "You go girl!"
- "He had it coming!"
A guard came rushing over, and suddenly the girl did not look as confident as she had moments ago. She looked around in somewhat of a panic and tried to cover herself. Her eyes met Rachels. Rachel started waving and pointed towards one of the bathroom stalls. The girl rushed in and closed the door.
- "Lift your feet up!" Rachel whispererd while she opened a window. Meanwhile the guard outside was trying to find out what happened and someone said a girl had beaten him up. The guard made his way in to the bathroom. Rachel pointed at the window.
- "She fled down the fire escape!"
- "Thank you mam." the guard said and climbed out the window. Rachel went out and checked the guy. He was already standing up. The blow however had made him really groggy and people led him away and talked about calling an ambulance. Some of the girls in the room where still cheering. It took her a while but Rachel soon found what was left of the girls top on the floor. She snatched it up and quickly went back to the bathroom. She knocked on the door where the girl was hiding.
- "It's somewhat safe now but we should really get out of here." The girl opened the stall looked at Rachel.
- "Thanks... but how am I supposed to leave like this?" She was covering her naked torso.
- "I brought this." Rachel held up the broken top. She put it around the girl and tied a knot. It could almost pass for a designed top. "It will have to hold until we can get you a jacket. Come on now."

She took the girls hand and led her out through the crowd that had resumed dancing. The guy was sitting on a sofa close to the exit, and when he saw Rachel and the girl leaving he freaked out. Rachel started to run and the girl followed. The ran as long as they could and they didn't look back. They stopped when they were out of breath, and after a while they started laughing. No one had followed them.
- "Thank you for that. I was in a bit of a pinch there." The girl held out her hand towards Rachel. Rachel took the girls hand and shook it.
- "It was my pleasure. I'm Rachel."
- "Nice to meet you Rachel. I'm August."
- "That's kind of unusual if you don't mind me saying."
- "No worries, I hear it all the time. Most people ask me if I was born in august after I say my name... As if my parents had no imagination."
- "Wow... That was really not what I thought."
- "You're kidding? Everyone thinks that!"
- "No seriously... I wasn't thinking that at all."
- "So what were you thinking?" Rachel shook her head.
- "No I can't say." August folded her arms and gave Rachel a meaning look.
- "Come on, you've practicaly seen me naked, you owe me." Rachel hesitated for a while, but she couldn't resist the piercing look that August gave her.
- "Alright. I was thinking it's a guys name." August gave Rachel a long hard look before she started laughing again. After a while she gathered herself and struck a more serious note.

- "To bad we had to run away from our jackets... It's kind of chilly out here, and my top seems to be falling apart again."
- "I live just a block away... You could come with me and borrow a jacket if you want."
- "I would very much like that. You lead the way!" August grabbed Rachels hand again and they started to walk. Rachel thought it was awfully forward of this girl to grab her hand like that, but she shook that thoght and replaced it with that it was probably Rachels who was overthinking things. It was nice though to walk hand in hand with someone. It didn't take long before they were in front of the dorm where Rachels room was.
- "Try to be quiet in the stairs. There is some hag in one of the rooms that complain for the tiniest noises."
- "Oh, I can be really quiet if I put my mind to it. This is the first time I'm in a dorm so I want to make a good impression."
- "Really? You haven't gone to college?"
- "No I started my own buiessness."
- "Really? But you look so young..."
- "Hey! Young people can start their own buissness as well." She folded her arms and tried to look angry, but she failed. Rachel opened the door to her room and August slipped inside.
- "Welcome to my humble quarters. There's not much. There should be some clean clothes in that closet there." August looked around in.
- "It's bigger than I expected. Iv'e seen dorms in movies and they are much smaller than this."
- "I know, that's what I thought the first time I was in here too." Rachel sat down on the bed and August sat down beside her.
- "I know it's kind of awkward to ask, but can I stay for the night? I don't really want to walk home alone in the dark."
- "How rude of me not to think of that. Of course you can stay. My bed isn't that big though." Augusts eyes lit up.
- "Oh, I think we can manage... It'll be cozy."
- "Do you want to borrow something to sleep in?"
- "Nah... If you don't mind, I'd like to sleep in the nude... I sleep better that way. I can put something on if you'd like."
- "No no, do as you usually do..."

August was really quick to get out of her clothes, but on the other hand, half of what she was wearing was already torn to shreds. Rachel looked as the girl undressed before her. She was checking for evidence of a tatoo, but August smooth skin seemed untouched. August caught Rachel staring at her back.
- "Like what you see?" she said seductivly. Rachel quickly snapped out of her stare.
- "Oh... I'm sorry, I just thought I saw something."
- "You don't have to exuse yourself you know? If you want to look then look... I'm not ashamed." Rachel started blushing.
- "No really... At the club I thought I saw a tatoo on your back." August looked suprised.
- "Oh... must have been the lights or something. As you can see, there is nothing on my body." August twirled around to show off her body and then she laid down on the bed.
- "Wow... you really are stunning. I bet tons of guys would be so jealous of me if they knew I had you naked in my bed."
- "So you did look?" August said with a teasy voice.
- "You said I could." Rachel teased back.
- "So why don't you strip? Level the playingfield. I feel kind of alone here." Rachel was not sure what to do all of a sudden. She usually didn't sleep naked, but she would feel really mean for some reason if she had clothes on so she decided to strip.
- "You should feel very lucky. No one has seen me naked in four years."
- "Aw... why not? You look great. It's a shame to keep all that to yourself."
- "I've been busy studying."
- "All work and no play make Rachel a dull girl. Come here and play with me." August patted the bed beside her and Rachel laid down.
- "And all of a sudden there was more naked skin in my bed than it has ever been before." The girls started to giggle. Rachel turned around so she laid on her back and August laid herself on the side, looking at Rachel as she pulled up the covers.
- "Aw... you're sleeping? I was kind of serious about the play part..." August put her hand under the covers and on Rachels stomach. "And by the tension here I sense that you could really use some playtime..." She leant forward and planted a gentle kiss on Rachels cheek.

Rachel was a bit confused, but then again not for some reason... There was a beautiful girl beside her that wanted to play, and at first it seemed unreal to her since it had been so long since she been with someone, and she had never been with a girl at that. But she got rid of her doubts. Feeling August beside her made the choise easy for some reason. Her body wanted this, she wanted to play. When August leaned in to kiss Rachels cheek again, Rachel turned her head so their lips met.
- "There we are... I knew you'd come around." August started to move her hand up and down Rachels stomach. "Were do you want me to go?" She wasn't talking to Rachel now, but she was talking to Rachels body. It felt weird that Rachel knew that, but she didn't care. The tingleing sensation of Augusts hand started to spread around and warm up Rachels body from the inside. August was patient as she tried to read Rachels body. Long strokes up and down along with gentle kisses. Rachel was in extacy. The hand and the kissing seemed to have an almost electrical charge and August had a nack for caressing Rachel in the most sensitive spots, in a not so naugty manner. She never went below the waist with her hand, but she did go everywhere above.
- "These are neglected." August said placing her hand on Rachels breasts. "They want you to touch them from time to time. And I can't see why you don't, they are marvelous." Rachel felt marvelous. She didn't know how August knew this, but it was true that Rachel somewhat neglected her boobs. The few times she masturbated she didn't touch them, but after this she would most certainly. Augusts touch was magical. Rachel felt like she didn't need August to go below her waist. The way her breasts felt right now was something she never felt before and she could have an orgasm right now. However, August had other plans.

She was truly reading Rachels body in a way Rachel couldn't understand.
- "We are not there quiet yet, be patient." and at once the orgasmial feeling subsided within Rachel. Augusts hand moved slowly down over Rachels body. Rachel imideatly took back her previous thought about not going below the waist. August could do whatever she wanted on wichever part of Rachels body. Caressing the insides of Rachels thighs sent her close to the edge again, but this time August didn't seem to want to slow it down. Instead she kept Rachel on the edge and looked her in the eyes. Suddenly August moved her hand all the way up Rachels thigh, and she placed it gently over Rachels pussy. Rachel moaned loudly.
- "I think you are ready to be released now." August whispered as she let one finger slip inside Rachel. She went deep and slow, and when she was as far inside Rachel she could get she lowered her thumb upon Rachels clitoris and started to massage Rachel from the inside out. Rachel couldn't believe what she felt. She had already felt extacy tonight. This was something different, but at this moment she didn't really give a crap about what she was feeling, she just went with it. August had to put her free hand over Rachels mouth to keep the screams from getting to loud. Rachel was out of control for the moment. She couldn't help the screams, they just came. August hadn't felt this good in a long time. Sending someone so far into pleasure was an amazing rush by itself, and August really did work as hard as she could to keep Rachel at that place.

When Rachel came to her senses, she had no idea how long she had been gone for. She must have fallen asleep or lost coincesness but she woke up beside a sleeping August. Her body felt great, but tired. Rachel managed to lay herself on the side and spoon August from behind. She leant in close and smelled Augusts hair. It was a fresh scent. Nothing artificial about it. It just smelled like autumn. She brushed Augusts hair from out or her way and kissed Augusts neck. August made a humming noice and stretched. This time Rachel got a clear look at Augusts back, and there definitley was a tatoo there. Rachel looked around her room to see if there was anything close that could cast a shadow like that on Augusts back, but there wasn't. Rachel touched it, traced it with her fingers. There was a tingeling in the tips of her fingers, and where Rachel had traced, the tatoo seemed to change color for a second.
- "That tickles you know..." Rachel pulled her hand from Augusts back.
- "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
- "I didn't say you had to stop. I liked it." Rachel put her hand back and started tracing the lines again.
- "You said you didn't have a tatoo."
- "Yes I did..."
- "But there is definitley a tatoo here."
- "No there isn't... not really..."
- "So... what is it then if not a huge tatoo? It covers your whole back."
- "My legs too." August kicked the covers aside and lifted her legs so Rachel could see, and as she said, the tatoo went on from below her shoulders down to her ankles.
- "Amazing... why didn't I see this before?"
- "I hide them usually, but sometimes they show when I'm asleep..."
- "Them?"
- "Yeah... they are my wings..."
- "Your kidding me? Wings? Like an angel?" August giggled.
- "No no... Nothing like an angel. Think smaller..." Rachels mind was racing. It wasn't that hard to belive that these were wings. A regular tatoo for instance wouldn't change color when you touched it.
- "Smaller than an angel? A demon?" Rachel sugested and August laughed.
- "Do I look like a demon? If I didn't like you already I might have taken that as an insult... Besides, demons would be the same size as angels... You're still not thinkin small enough."
- "How could I think smaller? You are the size of a normal person... You're even taller than me."
- "I see how that could confuse you... Okay, look." August got out of the bed and stretched.
- "I'm looking."
- "Wait for it... It takes a while to do this properly." August stood with her back against Rachel so she could clearly see the wings. They were glimmering in the moonlight shifting and changing colors vividly. Suddenly they started to move and with kind of a peeling motion the wings separated from Augusts back so that the colors were fluttering right behind her, midair.
- "You look like a fairy..." Rachel said in a low voice.
- "Bingo." She got back into bed beside Rachel.

Fairys was not for real... at least that was what Rachel thought but she had a live one in front of her. She could touch her, and she could touch the wings, but it didn't add up. Fairys was supposed to be small.
- "Aren't you a bit big for a fairy?"
- "It would be hard for me to blend in if I was smaller... And besides, how do you know what size a fairy is? Met one before?" August teased and nudged Rachel in the side.
- "No I haven't... but all the storys... And you told me to think smaller."
- "That I did... And it's true. we are not really this size normally."
- "That's what I thought... So how come you are... big?"
- "I want to."
- "So you can choose size?"
- "Easily... Takes some magic to alter the size but staying a size once altered is nothing. The hard part is hiding the wings."
- "Magic?" Rachel felt stupid for some reason.
- "You really should belive in magic by now... After you've seen my 'tatoo'."
- "I do belive you! It's just alot to take in all at once..."
- "It's not like Hogwarts or anything... Magic is just... unknown."
- "Well thank you for that. Now it all makes sense. It's 'unknown'..."
- "It's the best word I got for it. We don't analyze it, it's not an exact science. We just do stuff. Some things we can do, and other things we can't. We just call it magic."
- "Just do stuff?" Rachel scratched her legs. For some reason she usually scratched her legs when she was feeling confused.
- "Yeah... I can will myself to another size, I can hide my wings, but I can't turn myself into a frog or I can't conjure a chair from thin air..."
- "It's still a lot..."
- "Don't think about it. I know I don't."
- "I'm trying not to."
- "Here... Let me take your mind off things..." August grabbed Rachels hand and kissed it, then pulled Rachel into sitting position.
She took a pillow and put behind Rachel and she pushed Rachel against the wall. Rachel hadn't really noticed but Augusts wings were gone again.
- "Where do they go when they are not... here?" August winked and put her finger on Rachels lips.
- "I thought I told you not to think so much. But since you asked, they are kind of in my skin." Rachel could see the lines on the fairys skin again for a short moment, and then they were gone, as if absorbed.
August straddled Rachels legs and grabbed her hands. She gently placed the hands on her hips, then she pulled Rachels hands alongside her body and let go. Rachel moved her hands on her own now, gently caressing up and down the side of Augusts body. August leaned forward and kissed Rachels forhead so that Rachel tilted her head back. Their eyes met again, and a new kiss was placed on Rachels lips. It was a deep and passionate kiss, and August even nibbled on Rachels lips and the tip of her nose some times. The teasing made Rachel a bit more frisky with her hands, and now she was not as gentle as she had been. Almost scratching, she moved her hands all over Augusts back, and once in a while she even grabbed her butt.
- "You definitley took my mind of things..."
- "Good... That was what I was aiming for."
August sat up straight and once again she placed Rachels hand on her hips. She bit her lip and fixated her eyes on Rachel.
- "What are you planning now?" August just smiled.
- "Oh you'll notice..."

August were just sitting there, staring into Rachels eyes for a couple of seconds before Rachel could feel the difference. At first she thought August had tightend her legs around Rachel but as it turns out, August were getting smaller. Rachel didn't know what happend with her feelings, but she clearly could see the difference she went all giddy inside. She started to giggle as she saw August reduce in size just in front of her, on top of her even, and by the looks of it August was clearly having a good time to. Watching Rachels reaction made her realize she definitly made the right choise in partner for the night. Most people would be scared when seeing the change in size, heck, even fairys wasn't to fond of this particular kind of alteration. Rachel had swooped August up, and now she was sitting in both Rachels hands, and she continued to shrink while Rachels expression went from happy to happier.
- "Just... look at you..." Rachel was at loss for words and August started to laugh.
- "This is my original size."
- "Wow... Your legs are as about the size of my index finger." Rachel held her free and out to compare, and August climbed onto her finger.
- "So... are you going to get me off or do I have to beg?" August said in a seductive tone and squirmed a bit on Rachels finger. Rachel felt a familiar warmth against her finger. Usually this warmth came when the finger was inside herself, but now someone else was using her finger to play. She looked as the fairy squirmed and rubbed herself against the huge finger first, but then she decided to take action. She threw the covers from the bed and placed the fairy in front of her and started to explore the tiny body. She stroked August gently with a finger feeling the smooth skin. August seemed to like it, as she grabbed Rachels finger and pulled it down on her body. Rachel got the hint and applied a little more preassure almost pushing the tiny body down in the soft bed. She positioned her hand so her finger was massageing the fairys upper body, and then by impluse she placed her thumb between Augusts legs and started to rub gently. The fairys response was quick. She grabbed Rachels finger tight and started to push against the thumb and Rachel could see how the whole of the tiny body worked up an orgasm. The tiny moans were getting more intense, and the bodys muscles tightend against her finger, all while Rachels thumb was getting showered with juices. Rachel wasn't doing anything, all she could do was watch as August got herself into about the same state Rachel had been in before she passed out. It really wasn't a bad show but as August settled down, Rachel actually felt a bit guilty by her own passiveness in this play...

Rachel was airborne. And horrified. She wasn't all sure how she had gotten into this free fall. August had told her to close her eyes, and then there had been a very pleasant moment where August had stroked her hair and gently kissed her. And then, suddenly, a big jerk and the air rushing around her naked body. It felt like minutes, and she didn't open her eyes. Even though she was horrified, she felt kind of safe. She heard Augusts wings so she knew there wasn't any real danger.
- "You really need to open your eyes when exciting things happen to you." August swooped in and picked Rachel up, or rather catched her with one hand. Rachel opened her eyes.
- "You shrunk me again!"
- "That's what you had in mind the first time. Besides, flying with you would be easier if you were smaller." Rachel saw the logic in this argument. August were hovering in the air while inspecting the tiny girl in her hand. The look on Rachels face was priceless when she realized her new size, twice shrunk to the size of Augusts thumb. August fought the urge to put Rachel in her mouth as a joke, but she had a newly found understanding for why her ancestors did this to humans. Her stomach was full of butterflies when she looked at Rachel in her hand. She couldn't stop smiling.

Rachel spun around in Augusts palm. This wasn't all that different from the first shrinking, but she was smaller. From a doll to a thumb. Then she realized, that she had only compared herself to August. Looking beyond the giant hand that held her there was an even more giant world. She wasn't the size of a normal thumb, she was the size of a fairy thumb. This was a concept that was hard to grasp. She noticed Augusts piercing stare. And that big, beautiful smile. She almost wanted to reach for them, touch her lips, but they were to far away. Rachel sat down and August closed her hand around her.
- "Let's go for a ride!" said August and took off.
   The speed was incredible. August was flying around the whole room, zig zagging between small trees and flowers. Rachel hardly had time to look at it all. August had a tight grip around her, and Rachel felt that she needed it. There was no way she could have braced herself for all the turns and loops August was doing. At first the ride had been hard to enjoy, but Rachel warmed up to it, and she understood why August had said it was a shame that Rachel didn't have her own wings. To do this by yourself must be even more incredible. When August finally stopped, Rachel felt a bit dissapointed.

- "That was one hell of a ride. But you didn't even break a sweat!" August was sitting down and leaning against the trunk of a tree.
- "Fairys can fly for hours. At least fairys in good shape." She put Rachel down on her stomach. "I did however hold back some. We could have gone faster, but then I definitely wouldn't have lasted that long." Rachel laid down on August and felt the whole world move as August was breathing.
- "You could have gone even faster? It felt like we were super sonic already."
- "Fairys are fast but not that fast. Speed of sound is pretty damn fast if you think about it." August giggled, and Rachel almost bounced off the stomach. "I'm so sorry."
- "That would be something to put on my tombstone: Death by giggeling fairy." Rachel said and August snorted.
- "Don't try to make me laugh or you might just get your tombstone."
   The girls lay silent for a while. Rachel was on her back staring at the leaves beneath the glass roof, August was looking at Rachel. She felt proud for some reason. She had found someone who she could share her secret with. Being alone in the human world wasn't so bad, but it did get lonely from time to time. She had never imagined it coming to this level though. Shrinking a human is not what she had in mind when it came to sharing.
- "Aren't you cold?" she asked after a while.
- "Nope. Your tummy is all warm. I thought you would know what this feels like. You did sleep on my stomach last night if you don't remember..."
- "Oh... that I did... It's just that... you look kind of cold... Is this what I looked like to you?"
- "I couldn't know that, but I guess it is kind of similar, except I'm smaller than you were."
- "Yeah... that's right. How does it feel to be that small?"
- "It's weird... I mean... First of all, you are gigantic, and then I realize you are small compared to a human. How small am I really?"
- "Want me to grow to human size?"
- "Hell no! I think my question is best left unanswered. I'm happy right now, right here on your stomach."
   August stroked Rachels hair gently with a finger and Rachel shuddered. She grabbed the finger and put it on herself like a blanket. Then she felt it. She didn't know if August did it on purpose, but she felt the same electric charge from August that she had last night. And it felt good.

- "How do you do that?" Rachel asked after a while under Augusts finger.
- "How do I do what?"
- "That electric touch of yours that you use to make me horny."
- "You feel it too?" August said with genuine suprise.
- "So you didn't do it last night either?"
- "No! I thought it was you!"
- "You are the one with the magic!"
- "Who cares? It's making us both crazy." Rachel had started rubbing against Augusts finger during the conversation. The view was spectacular. August could see every tiny bit of Rachels body working against her finger. And if seeing it wasn't enough, she could feel it too. The struggle with her finger, and the warmt on her stomach as Rachel moved around. She remembered being under Rachels finger and felt a bit jealous, but mostly satisfaction. She gently slid Rachel down on her body and placed the tiny woman on her pelvis.
   Rachel, oblivious to her new position, was out of her mind, and now she knew why August had insisted that she had done enough by just letting August use her hand to play with. The electricity shot through her every inch. She found herself wishing that she had another body to interact with from time to time, but then she remembered that the giant finger she was playing with was attached to a fairy. A fairy that had her all in her mercy. She looked at August face, and she was glowing. They didn't make eye contac though. August was far to busy inspecting what was happening to her hand, but Rachel didn't mind. They were both enjoying this to much to ruin it with thoughts.

Darkness had fallen. August was asleep, but Rachel was still too excited to get some rest. She looked up at the sky. Even though they were indoors, the room had considerably cooled off when the sun had dissappeared. Or perhaps it was the heat from their play that was leaving their bodies now. But it was a good chill. Rachel needed it to wind her body down. She still hadn't grasped her size in full, and perhaps that was the reason she was having trouble winding down. Everything was still new and exciting, even though she didn't dare to make any excursions. August was her safety. She felt small breezes as August was breathing.
   She looked up at the fairy from her spot at the pelvis. She couldn't see that much since August had folded her arms on her stomach, but Rachel could tell Augusts bosom was moving up and down in long soothing motions. The sound of her breathing had a calming effect on Rachel. Rachel tried to see if she could get some sleep by now, and decided to stare at the glass roof for a while before closing her eyes. She had no idea what time it was, but she didn't care. She was to small to care about stuff like that. Every thought of school had left her conscious mind, even thoughts of her future. Why would she care when life could be like this?
   There was a noise. A rustle in the leafs. Rachels heart skipped a beat. Surley she had imagined it. There would be no wind that could make the leafs rustle in here. Something slithered around her legs. She tried to scream but whatever had her legs were covering her mouth. A great yank and Rachel saw August dissappear into the darkness. Her safety was gone.

- "Ränner hjemne! Jeg stanner åg vakter!" Rachel had no idea where they were. Outside was all she knew. She could see the stars. It was a rough ride. She managed to see the back of whatever was holding her. A big, round, furry thing, and by the feeling of her restraints she had deduced it was a rats tail, so the big furry thing was probably a rat. But where had that voice come from? It was really hard to see, but she thought she could see someone sitting on the rat. They slowed down finally, and now she definitly saw someone getting off the rats back. There was a rushing sound and now they weren't outdoors anymore. The rat sped up again and they were rushing into a pitch black tunnel.
   Rachel was in shock, too scared to think straight. This ride seemed to never end. When they in fact stopped and Rachel were put down, she didn't feel anything. When she came to her senses there were a group of people surrounding her. They were huge, all with grey or white hair, and one old looking male were prodding her with a stick.
- "Hon vakner!" the man told the crowd, and then he turned to her. "Hvor er du fraan?"
- "What?" Rachel had no power in her voice and she had no idea what they were saying. The crowd parted and an older heavy set lady came forward.
- "Ho er feeren sjyk! Brenn henne!" The crowd gasped. One of the men picked up Rachel and carried her through a corridor. He kicked a door open, and inside it looked like a simple doctors office. There was a fireplace in the back where a green flame was burning, and the man threw Rachel in the fire without flinching. Rachel passed out.

August voke up smiling. She hadn't inteded to fall asleep, just to close her eyes and get some rest. Then something occured to her. She had to put Rachel in a safe place, so she could grow back to her normal size without hurting herself. Besides, August herself remembered she had a tendency to grow to human size when she slept so she might also need to stay somewhere safer than in a small tree.
- "Rachel?" she whispered. "Wake up, we need to sit somewhere safe." She looked down. "Rachel?"
   She looked around her. Maybe Rachel had grown already? But there was no sign of that in the tree. No broken branches, no footsteps in the soil beneath. August flew down and looked around the tree. Rachel couldn't have fallen down. August wouldn't forgive herself for being so reckless if Rachel had tumbled down the tree without her noticing. No sign of Rachel anywhere. She called out for her, but no answer.
   She grew to human size and ran towards the bedroom. Maybe she was big and had gone to the bathroom? Nothing. No one in the kitchen either. August spent an hour looking for her, turning everything upside down. She soon came to realize. "Rachel isn't here..." she thought. She had never felt lonlier than she did now. She knew Rachel hadn't left her. All of Rachels clothes were still here. But where was she? August fell to her knees. She screamed at the moon as the tears were running down her cheeks.

Rachel opened her eyes. Everything was green. She couldn't tell what was up or what was down. Nothing made sense. Her eyes adjusted. She was still in the fireplace, floating mid air, the green flames licking her body. It was warm, but she wasn't burning. In fact, it felt pleasant, but it is hard to appreciate the pleasantness of not burning when the rest of you is in total panic. She screamed. The old lady came and grabbed Rachel and put her down on a bed.
- "Roligt nu, du er sikker. Shh..." She was trying to comfort Rachel.
- "Get off! Let me go!" Rachel tried to punch the ladys giant hand, but it was no use. Where was she? Who were these people?
- "Ho er engelsk." the lady said to the man who had thrown Rachel in the fire. "Hjemte mi dotra."
- "Leave me alone!" Rachel tried to get away from the lady, and she almost backed off the edge of the bed. The lady caught her, and put her in center, and then she backed away. Rachel sat down and watched. The man came back and whispered something to the lady. She looked at Rachel and lifted her hands, showing Rachel her plams, then she walked to a bowl of what looked like fruit.
- "Eat!" she said in very broken english. "Help soon." She picked up a piece of fruit that looked like a potato and took a bite. Then she took a similar piece of fruit and put down on the bed. Rachel followed her with her eyes as she walked away to a chair by the fire and sat down.
   It was a stairing contest at first. Rachel and the lady never broke eyecontact. Something moved in the corner of Rachels eye. The man stood guarding the door, and a couple of similar looking people were gathered outside the door.
- "Stäng döra! Ni skremmer henne." the lady barked. The man obeyed. The lady then ignored Rachel and picked up something from a basket. Needles and thread. She started knitting. Rachel watched. Her stomach started growling and the lady smiled. Rachel was torn. She was really really hungry, but she was to scared to move. She sat for a while and watched the lady. She was a fast knitter. When the lady looked really absorbed in the knitting Rachel started to scuffle towards the fruit.
   It was a huge fruit. And it smelled nothing. Rachel poked it. Hard. She leaned in and tried to bite it. No luck, it was rock solid. She tried to scratch it, and kept on gnawing at it, but nothing happened, except the fruit started to smell sweet. Her stomach growled again. A shadow fell upon the bed. Rachel spun around and saw the lady standing over her with a knife. She let out a scream and tried to run away, but she tripped and fell. The lady cut the fruit in half, and then returned to her chair and kept on knitting.
   The sweet smell got the better of Rachel. She dove onto one of the halves of the fruit and started eating. The inside of the fruit was definetly easier to deal with. It tasted like an apple and a strawberry at the same time. Once she was full she went back to looking at the lady. Nothing had changed. She just sat there, knitting. Suddenly she got up and walked towards Rachel with the needles. Rachel didn't move this time. She caught the ladys eyes, brown and kind. She smiled and came a bit closer, then she pulled out some scissors and cut the thread. She tied some knots and removed the knitting needles, then she put something down on the bed and walked back to the chair. It was a red dress.

August was lost. What was she supposed to do? What was she supposed think? She had gathered herself for now and stopped crying. Where could Rachel have gone? For a brief moment, she feared that she would have eaten Rachel in her sleep, but she felt hunger. She had never eaten a human herself but she quickly remembered that those who had described it as beeing full for weeks, and if August was hungry now, she couldn't have eaten anyone. She thought that she might go and eat something. Maybe it would be easier to think if she wasn't hungry.
   She didn't feel like cooking something. She just wanted to eat something quick and be on her way, looking for Rachel. She decided to pour a bowl of milk and some cereal. She opened the cupboard and pulled out a box, and cereal poured all over the floor. "Damned rats" she thought. She didn't mind them really. If they were hungry, she would feed them, so she kept fruit near the floor, but the rats always found their way to the unhealty, sugary cereal. Nifty climbers and crafty thieves.
   Nifty climbers... crafty thieves... A thought struck her. She couldn't figure out why a rat would steal Rachel. It made no sense at all, but it was her only hunch so far.

Rachel woke up with a jerk. She couldn't belive she had fallen asleep. She already knew that this wasn't a dream. She was well aware that she was shrunk, twice, and whisked out of her comfort zone into the hands of some strange people living underground who made no sense at all to her when they talked. And with a pang it hit her: What was August doing in all this? How would she find her? Rachel scratched her legs. The red dress the lady had made her was a perfect fit, although a bit itchy.
- "Mother's dresses always were a bit itchy. Like wearing burlap the first week, but once you wash it, it'll be really nice." said a womans voice. Rachel toppled over. Just now she saw the giant face by the edge of the bed. She turned and noticed that the old lady was still asleep.
- "You speak English?" It was a stupid question, but having your guts scared out of you has a tendency to remove smarts temporarily.
- "Yes, that is why mother sent for me. However, I was on asignment so it took me some time to get here. But it seems you settled down, since you were sleeping."
- "Where am I? Why was I taken here?"
- "Um... We saved you? Don't you remember?" Rachel was stunned by this piece of information.
- "Saved? More like kidnapped!" she yelled.
- "Shh... no need to yell... mother is still asleep. Let's take a walk."

For a moment Rachel had almost forgotten that she was tiny. Just seeing the womans face had created some illusion of a face to face conversation, but when the woman rose to her full length Rachel became painfully reminded that she was in a really vulnerable position here. She was a beautiful young woman. Tall, but with a petite figure. Or maybe she wasn't that tall, it was really hard to tell from Rachels perspective. She wore a small red top and a matching loincloth. She looked a bit like a warrior in her minimal clothing. Rachel felt a bit scared still, but this woman did not radiate malice at all, and when she placed her hand beside Rachel she climbed up on it and sat down while they exited the room.

"Crap!" August thought to herself when she heard the birds singing. She knew that when the birds start to sing, there is about an hour until sunrise. She had been out all night and made no progress. She even started to think it was silly of her to think a rat would have taken Rachel. She decided to go home first and see if Rachel was there, and if she wasn't, she planned on heading over to Rachels place and look there. By now she would be big because the magic would have left her body, and nude, in the middle of the city. As soon as the sun rises her places to hide would drasticly decrease.

- "Where are we exactly?" Rachel was looking around her. They walked through corridors with doors on the sides.
- "These are our living quarters. I thought I'd take you to the gardens. We won't disturb anyone if we talk there." After a while they came to an open space. There were some patches on the ground with plants, and even things that at first looked as trees, but when Rachel looked up she saw that they were actually roots. The woman set Rachel on a rock and started inspecting the garden.
- "You are also fairys?" Rachel asked. The way the woman inspected the plants reminded her of August. And the similarity in size. August had said after all that fairys in general prefer their original sizes. However, the woman laughed at Rachels statement.
- "No heavens no... How hard did you hit your head? We are totem, just like you."
- "Totem?" Rachel didn't understand anything. The woman came and looked at Rachel.
- "You must still be confused from the poison. You got a pretty big dose by the looks of it too. I've never seen anyone so small survive before. You are lucky we got you in the fire as quickly as we did." She turned Rachel around and prodded her. She was a bit rough but it didn't hurt.
- "Poison? What poison?"
- "Dear me... Fairy magic is poison to totems."
- "But I'm not a totem! I don't even know what a totem is!"
- "If you aren't a totem, then what are you? She wouldn't do this to another fairy."
- "I'm not a fairy, I'm human." The woman looked stunned at Rachel and backed away slowly."
- "It's not possible!"
- "Yes it is." The woman was thinking hard.
- "Well, we still did you a favour then."
- "How'd you figure that?"
- "She was about to eat you! That is why she shrunk you."
- "No it wasn't. We were playing..."
- "Oh, it's all fun and games until someone gets eaten."
- "I know she wouldn't eat me."
- "How can you be so sure?" Rachel blushed
- "Because... we're... lovers..." She fixated on a spot on the ground. Suddenly the woman put a finger on Rachels head.
- "I know you're lying! If you were human, I would be able to enter you."
- "Enter me?"
- "Yeah. And I couldn't, so either you are totem or fairy. And since the magic didn't kill you I guess you are fairy."
- "Okay... Say I am a fairy, then you should take me back."
- "We can't do that. She'll punish us for taking you!"
- "So what are you going to do with me?"
- "I see no other choise than to detain you until we can gather the elders." She made a swift motion and grabbed Rachel. She couldn't move. The giant hand was squeezing her, and she couldn't see anything either. Suddenly she found herself in the old womans room again, trapped in a jar of glass, watching the young woman leave and close the door. Rachel started to cry and hit the walls, but they stayed solid, and it seemed her tiny voice wouldn't carry through the jar, since the old woman was still sleeping in her chair.

No sign of Rachel. August was well on her way home to Rachels, and the sun was already up, but no sign of her. Hardly any people had woken up yet, but August felt the stress overpowering her anyway. What if her magic had misfired? What if Rachel was simply gone? It wasn't unheard of, magic running amok, but August had never seen it in her lifetime. She had to figure out what to do if that was the case, but first things first. Look for Rachel at Rachels place.

A glass prison is about the worst place to be when you are scared. No place to hide, either from the outside or from one self. Rachel was haunted by thoughts. She had given up screaming a long time ago and now she sat, shivering. She wasn't cold, just scared. She couldn't cry anymore either. The stains from her tears on the dress was gone. That itchy dress was her only comfort in this harsh prison. Her thoughts were pounding in her head, or perhaps it just was her heart beating. She didn't feel like she was thinking, or when she thought about it, it felt like she was thinking to much. Nothing made sense. She was even unaware of the shadow lurking outside of the jar.
- "My daugher is too impatient sometimes...". The pounding in her head stopped. That voice had broken the spiral. "I try to teach her kindness and look what she does."
- "What did she do?" Rachel blurted. The old lady was moving around the room.
- "She put you in there for one thing. Instead of listening to you. She made one try to understand you, and when she couldn't, she gave up."
- "I thought you didn't speak english..." There was no other person in the room so the voice must have been the ladys.
- "I don't... It's confusing, I know, but let's just accept that we understand one another for now. It will pass soon so I suggest you listen." She came to the jar and scooped Rachel up. On the desk now there was a bowl of what smelled like tea. The lady gestured to it, beckoning Rachel to drink.
- "Thank you..." The bowl was huge and Rachel wasn't really sure how to drink from it.
- "It was the smallest object I could find to pour the tea in I'm afraid." the woman said smiling. "Drink up, you'll need the strength."
- "What was it you wanted to tell me?"
- "You are just as impatient as her... I guess you would be around the same age." It was hypnotizing watching the lady speak. Like a badly dubbed movie, the sounds and the movement of her lips didn't match.
- "I'm sorry." Rachel apologized. She found a way to drink at last, and the ladys smile became even warmer.
- "There is no need to apologize... I was just thinking out loud. I don't get to see her much these days." The warmth of the tea poured out in every inch of Rachels body... well... relative inches at least. She felt comfort, her mind was clearing up, and the lump in her throat from all the crying disappeared. "You are human, and I know this because I entered you. My daugher tried and failed. She sensed magic in you and assumed you are fairy. We are totem, and we mistook you for one of ours, and for that I am deeply sorry. Totems are allergic to fairy magic, and when I sensed all that magic in you I thought you were dying, so I made a quick desition. A little too quick..." She pointed to the green flames in the fireplace.

- "That is our defence against the magic poison. It removes the magic in totems, leaving them to heal over time. With you on the other hand, it locked magic inside, and that is what confused my daugher. Humans don't usually posess magic, but fairys do... The magic inside you made it so that my daughter couldn't enter you."
- "What is this 'entering' you talk about?"
- "Totem are animal guardians. We protect life of creatures. Fairy are forest guardians. They protect the life of plants. They have magic. We have communication. We are at liberty to enter creatures minds, control them even. Don't be alarmed, I only use this skill to communicate with you. However, your magic has started to regain it's strength so I won't be able to keep the connection. Drink your tea in peace, and I will fetch you a means of escape. She will know you, and you can tell her where you want to go." The lady was standing by the door.
- "Thank you." said Rachel, confused by this information overload, and the lady left.

August was in Rachels apartment. She didn't expect Rachel to be there. The key was in Rachels clothes, and Rachels clothes was in a pile on Augusts floor. Being a fairy, August didn't need a key. She felt like she was invading Rachels privacy. Usually she would never enter without permission, but this wasn't a usual situation. Rachel wasn't here and August decided that this problem was out of hand. She couldn't solve this on her own, and she headed home, taking one last look between Rachels place and hers to see if she could find Rachel...

It's a very angry young fairy running through the forest. She has sensed something. She can't say what it is, but it's nagging in her mind. She at least knows where it comes from. Her tree... her very first tree. She has only been taking care of it for a couple of weeks. She got the tree from her grandmother when she turned 7 years old. A very old and proud willow that her grandmother in turn had gotten when she was a little girl. It was family heirloom, so she wasn't going to let anything bad happen to her tree.

It had been a fine day until the bad feeling in her stomach arrived. Sun was shining, but in just a couple of minutes, dark clouds had gathered and the forest had gone silent. All animals were preparing for storm. The tree was far from the village. So far in fact that her parents had been warning her about going there alone. She might think she was a big girl now that she had gotten a tree, but her wings were still weak, so she could only fly tiny bits at the time. Hence the running. She didn't even notice when the rain started falling hard around her. There was a brigh flash and she turned her head. Lightning... and loud thunderclaps. Lightning had struck somewhere near. she just kept on running until she saw the old willow.

She couldn't see much. Partly because she collapsed of exhaustion and partly because of the rain. She gathered herself and moved closer to the tree. Now she saw it. There was something sitting on the ground in front of the tree. The angry fairy was so sure it was that thing, whatever it was, that was hurting the tree and making her feel bad. She strode forward, not really thinking about what she might find, she just knew she had to get rid of it.

It was a girl. A huge girl. She looked like she was younger than the fairy, but still, she was immensly big. A human girl. A sobbing human girl, curled up by the roots of the tree. The fairy was taken by surprise. She had never seen a human before. She had imagined humans more... scary. This was just a four year old girl who was sad... or afraid, or both even.
- "Hi there..." the fairy said. She remebered that she wasn't supposed to talk to humans, but she didn't really care. What was this girl going to do to her? The girl looked up from her sobbing and saw the fairy waving at her, but she kept on crying. "It really is rude to ignore people when they are talking to you..."
- "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers..." the girl managed to get out between sobs.
- "And I'm not supposed to talk to you either, but here we are... kind of already talking..." The girl just pulled her knees up and buried her face and continued sobbing. "What are you so sad about? You are making my tree feel bad."
- "I'm sorry... didn't mean to make her sad too..." The fairy reacted to hearing the girl call the tree a she, but she didn't mention it. "It's just that I'm lost... and thunder is scary..." the girl said, really trying her best to pick herself up.
- "How did you get lost?"
- "We were playing hide and seek, but I ran too far, and now I can't find my way back." Great thought the fairy. More humans around. This one she could manage but if more was coming for the girl she might need to get away fast.

Suddenly there was a shooting pain in her stomach. She had almost forgotten about it when she met the girl, but this time it was really painful. She had a look around to see if anything was wrong with the tree, and as soon as she saw the clouds above, she knew it was already late. Her skin prickled and she took off with greatest speed possible. She remembered the human, but by now there wasn't anything she could do for the girl. All she could do was watch in slow motion as a white light was formed over her tree. A human of course would never be able to see this, but the fairy saw the lightning form, and rip through the air, and down through her tree. Every branch lit up with a white flame. It was too bright, and there was a pressure wave pushing the fairy away.

She found herself in a bush, with some bruises, but she was feeling empty. She got up and looked where her tree used to be. Nothing. It was like the tree had vanished, leaving only a hole in the ground. The fairy started crying. She saw a faint glow over by the new hole. It was her grandmother. She could hear her calling.
- "August! Aaaaaaaaaaaaauguuuuuuuuuuuuuust!" The young fairy took a great leap and flew into her grandmothers open arms in tears.
- "I'm sorry!" Her grandmother stroked Augusts cheek and smiled.
- "I'm just glad you weren't harmed." August let go of her grandmother and started to look around.
- "The girl! There was a girl by the tree when it got hit!"
- "What?"
- "A human girl by the tree! She must be here somewhere!" She got almost angry over how slow her grandmother was. While she was trying to look for the girl, all her grandmother did was close her eyes. And then she felt it. It was like a bubble that grew around her grandmother. It continued to expand. August realized her grandmother was using magic. What a weird day. First time she saw a human, and shortly thereafter, the first time she saw, or rather sensed magic. Her grandmother took off towards the ground and towards a rock. There was the girl. she was bleeding heavily from her head. August froze at this awful sight.
- "August! Snap out of it!" her grandmother yelled. "I can keep her alive, but she needs human care! Her parents are in that direction. Go get them!"

Her grandmother was amazing. Not only did her magic bubble find the girl, it also found her parents. August was getting tired now. She knew she had to hurry, and she tried to fly in the direction her grandmother showed her, but her wings didn't have the strenght. It became half running and half flying. She stumbled a lot, but she had to keep going. She heard a deep male voice calling something. She looked up and saw a man. The second human she ever saw was a full grown man. But she saw him too late and stumbled right into his stomach and fell to the ground. He spotted the young fairy. She could see that he had been crying as he bent down and picked her up. He had the same eyes as the little girl. She tried to yell to him that his girl was over there, but she couldn't get a word out because of exhaustion. She pointed franticly towards where her tree used to be and it seems like he understood. He set off running with her in his hand. August had never travelled this fast by foot. His giant steps echoed through the forest, and the wind was howling in Augusts ears. She saw the hole from the tree now.
- "Over there!" She was finally able to speak. As he heard the fairy he charged for all he was worth for the last bit towards the rock.
- "RACHEL! Oh thank god!" he screamed as he saw his daughter lying on the ground. She wasn't bleeding anymore. He set down August on the ground and picked the girl up instead. He took off again. August fell to her knees, head spinning.
- "There there..." her grandmother said, lifting the fairy up on her back. "Everything is going to be alright..."

The old lady had been right. Shortly after she left, someone had come to pick Rachel up. A tiny brown mouse had come into the room and jumped up onto the desk where Rachel was. Of course it wasn't so tiny to Rachel. It would be the size of a dog to a fairy, or a totem for that matter, but to Rachel it was more of a whale. In her mind she named it Sandy, after the color of her fur.
- "You're my ride out of here?" she asked Sandy. There was no response from the mouse. "Well... you can't blame a girl for trying. I've seen some strange things lately, and if you were able to talk, I wouldn't be surprised." She started to climb the mouse, which was no small feat. The fur was helpful to grab on to at first, but climbing it was hard. Rachel got tangled up in it sometimes but after a couple of minutes she was on top of Sandys head.
- "Okay, I'm ready." The mouse moved quickly and came to a sudden stop and Rachel almost fell off. It was like she was trying to tell Rachel that this would be a bumpy ride and you'd better hold on tight. Rachel, who don't speak mouse, still got the message. She purposly tangled herself in the fur and held on tight, and then Sandy took off. She took a leap and jumped down from the desk, and landed surprisingly smooth on the floor. Rachel was thankful for the soft landing, but the speed and the sudden change in altitude had made her nauseous. The mouse might be whale-sized but it still moved like a mouse: quick and agile.
   Rachel was still worried about the whole situation. She had no idea where they would go and how they would find August, or even if she could escape from the totems without notice. But some part of her suddenly started thinking about roller coasters, and astronauts. She guessed that she was pulling several Gs the way this mouse moved. Like going on a race car that could do 90 degree turns in full speed without flipping over and crashing. She tried to keep an eye on the surroundings, but everything was kind of blurry. She heard that strange language fly by a couple of times, but it was just the Totems talking amongst themselves. No one was chasing them, and soon everything went completely dark. Rachel gathered that they turned into a tunnel leading away from the Totems lair and that there wasn't any need for torches to light this path up. Rachels heart was beating fast and she was feeling really good for the first time since she was snatched from the comfort of August. She was headed for safety, and once the nausea was gone, the ride was actually kind of fun.

August was lost. Not physically. A worse kind of lost. Lost in despair, hopelessness, lost in thoughts. She was at her warehouse again. She had been up all night, searching all over town for Rachel, and she had no idea what to do now. She was ashamed of herself. She should never have agreed to shrink Rachel. This innocent experiment had turned disastrous. And it was all her fault. Her fault that Rachel was lost, and probably hurt. What if she had been eaten by some animal? August was determined to find Rachel when she stepped inside her indoors garden, but when she got to the bedroom and saw Rachels clothes she lost it. That's where she got lost. She threw herself on the bed in tears. It still smelled of Rachel.
   August was crying uncontrollably by now. She tried to choke her tears and screams with a pillow, but it only made things worse. With each breath she felt that her tears were washing away the scent of Rachel. She wasn't even sure what to do now. She wanted to throw the pillow away, to save the scent, but she needed to smell it. She had to, or else she felt that Rachel was really lost. She curled up and hugged the pillow as hard as she could. She had a flashback to when she was younger. To the night after a strange storm. No fairy in the village had sensed this storm. It came in a matter of minutes, it lasted for an hour or two, and then it was gone. Lightning had struck at several locations in the forest and started fires. August remembered this night because it was the only time before losing Rachel she had been this sad. The storm had taken away her most prised possession; her very first tree.
- "There there... I told you before that things will be okay." her grandmother told her.
- "No they won't! I screwed up!"
- "You did no such thing..." Her grandmothers eyes were glistening in the light from the fireplace. Augusts parents were out, and so were most of the village, trying to make the most of the forest fires. A forest fire might not always be a bad thing. They are scary, sure, but the wake of the fire most often brings new life to the forest. August however wasn't crying because of the fires.
- "I DID screw up! I lost the tree... my tree... your treasure. It's gone!"
- "And that had nothing to do with you. You must never forget that mother nature gives, and she takes. There is a reason that she took your tree. We might never know it, but we don't need to care. She has given us a gift already..." August looked at her grandmother, waiting for her to tell what this gift was. "The forest is her gift to us. And the power to tend to it. You and I are going to plant a new tree tomorrow. It will bring new life to the forest. Besides, you should be proud of yourself for what you did today."
- "I did nothing!"
- "You saved that little girls life. If you hadn't brought her father, she would have expired..." August thought about it for a while... She still felt like she hadn't done anything. All she had done that day was go in the direction her grandmother had pointed her. It was her grandmother that found the girls dad. With that thing she did. The magic bubble. Augusts heart stopped beating for a moment as the gears in her mind started turning, and with every click of a gear, hope was returning. She wasn't lost anymore. She didn't know exactly what she was doing, but she didn't care. She already knew it would work.

There was a lot of twists and turns, and in complete darkness it's kind of hard to know what to expect when racing on giant mouse at high speeds. Rachel thougt it miraculous that she hadn't tumbled off Sandy's back once since this wild ride started. It felt like it had been going on for hours though. At first Rachel couldn't understand what was taking so long, but soon she realized that she hadn't been entirely concious when she was brought underground so she had no idea how far from the surface they were. She also realised that Sandy avoided lit up corridors because every time they got closer to one of those she could either see or hear totems patroling. Those were probably the main shafts and not a great alternative if you wanted to avoid detection, so it was probably for the best to stay in the dark, even though it was a depressing experience. Suddenly though, things looked a lot brighter. Literally. Rachel could actually see a bend in the tunnel and light were poring in around the corner. Not artificial light, but sunlight. She started to shiver as a breath of fresh autumn air hit her. She could feel it in her body. This horrible experience was about to end. The end of the tunnel came rushing towards her even faster as Sandy increased her speed. For a brief moment Rachel was surrounded by light and fresh air but a shadow appeared in their way and Sandy came to a complete stop.

- "I should have known better than to leave you alone with my mom." Rachel couldn't see because of the blinding light, but there was no mistake on the voice. "Mother has no respect for my decisions... But then again, she is a lot wiser than I am. She tells me that you are human and that you can be trusted." As Rachels eyes adjusted she could see the shadow slowly taking the forms and contours of a woman, and at last the face of her captor became clear.
- "So why don't you let me go?" Rachel could hear her voice cracking. She didn't want to cry and plead like this, but she was scared. "I just want to go... you'll never see me aga.."
- "How do I know it's not just a fairy trick?" the woman interrupted. "How do I know you haven't put some kind of curse on my mom? Deluded her with your magic? I sense it in you... Growing stronger by the minute." She was slowly coming closer, her shadow swallowing Rachel back into the darkness.
- "But I'm human!" Rachel cried out. "Someone else used magic on me. That's why you can sense it! Don't you think that if I could use magic I would have done so by now?" The woman was looking at Rachel. Inspecting her. "What would be the point of me staying this small? It makes me easy pray for you."
- "I've been thinking the same... And I've spent a lot of time around fairys... I know what they feel like, in my gut... You don't feel the same as them. But you don't feel like a human either, but maybe that is because humans usually are not the size of a finger..." She was standing right in front of Sandy now, towering over Rachel.

- "Please..." Rachel couldn't find the words. She was so close to freedom, but the presence of this woman had shattered all hope. All she could do was cling to Sandy as hard as she could. Then suddenly she felt the light washing over her again. She looked up and found that nothing was blocking her from the exit.
- "I won't keep you." The woman had taken a step aside. "I trust my mother, and by extention, I trust you." She turned towards the exit. "But I don't trust you! And that is what got us into this mess in the first place." Rachel didn't understand anything. Who was she talking to now? "Our tradition tells us not to trust you." Another shadow appeared. "We thought you had taken one of ours, but we were mistaken. We ask for your forgiveness."
- "I'm not sure I'm ready to give it yet." There was a cold tone to that voice. Rachel had never heard her speak like that before, but there was no mistaking it. August took a couple of steps inside the tunnel, bent down and picked up Rachel from Sandy. "You really should eat the fruit thogh. Those cereal are bad for you." she said to the totem before she turned around and walked away.