Elizabeth had returned and poked her head in the door after checking on Richard, just like she had said, but after silently seeing her large and saddened daughter, reading a book to Phillip, who was sitting calmly and unafraid on her leg, she decided not to disturb them, backing up and leaving.

                “…and that was the end of that adventure for Arthur and his knights,” said Caroline, her voice beginning to get tired from reading the entire book.  She placed the book on the bed next to her and looked down at Phillip, smiling at him.

                “Do you feel better now, Phillip?” she asked.  He nodded.  Slowly, she moved her long arm up from its resting place on the bed and hugged it around her little brother, pulling him closer and wrapping her long fingers around his shoulder protectively.  “I’m glad.”

                “Caroline?”

                “Yes?”

                “When you become queen someday, will you still read books to me?”

                She smiled, swooping her long hair back over her shoulder.  “I’m not certain there will be much time, but whenever there is, I would be glad to.  But surely by then, you’ll be older, and enjoy reading books on your own much more?”

                He shook his head no.  “No, I’ll always want you to read them.”

                Caroline giggled at his response.  “Well, then, how about we just read many, many books right now, while I’m still just a princess?”

                “I’ll go get more!” chirped Phillip, hopping off of her leg and running back to the bookshelf.  Caroline cleared her throat in preparation for more reading, delighted that her brother had warmed up to her changes so quickly.  He ran back over, playfully placing his feet on top of Caroline’s gigantic, two-foot long feet, swaying from side to side.

                “Ouch!” said Caroline, and Phillip looked a little guilty at first, but then she smiled at him.

                “It was just a jest, Phillip, you can’t really hurt me,” she said, casually raising up her toes, having become strong enough at this point to actually lift up the back of Phillip’s heels as he stood on her bare feet and toes.  Phillip nodded, holding his arms out as if for a hug.  Smiling, Caroline reached down, placing her massive hands on his sides, and easily lifted him up like a doll, gently placing him back on her waiting leg.

They spent the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening reading every book that Phillip could get his hands on.  Phillip had actually shown great promise in the many fields required of him like geography and science, but had frankly had some slight difficulty with reading, still trying to learn how to do it well at the age of 6; Caroline always felt reading to him and allowing him to read the words along with her would help.  Rose came by with a tray of food for both of them at dinner, but was instructed by Elizabeth, who was very touched at the scene, to leave immediately afterward.

As evening turned to night and the moon shown through the drapes of the bedroom, Caroline could feel her brother beginning to nod off, his head resting against her stomach, and she actually had to keep him supported on her leg despite him still being awake.

“You look tired to me, Phillip.  Perhaps some sleep would do you good.”

Phillip shook his head, pretending to wake up more.  “No, no!  I am awake now, I promise, just one more book?”

Caroline laughed but shook her head.  “That’s very sweet of you, but I really would not want you to be deprived of your rest on my account.”

Phillip hugged himself into her arm, which held him more snugly.  “Can I… stay here?”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Caroline nodded.  “Of course you can, then.  You’ll have the bed, and…”

“You don’t want to sleep in the bed?”

She looked down at herself.  “Please, Phillip.  Do you really think I can fit in the bed now?” she answered jokingly.  He smiled.

“I… I guess not.”

“I don’t think so either.  Now, let’s just tuck you in, and…” she said, beginning to swivel around to lay Phillip in the bed.

“But… I’m not tired yet!”

Caroline ran a single long finger through her brother’s hair, stroking it and rubbing the top of his small head.  “Yes you are.  Come on now, try and shut your eyes.”

“Sing to me?”

“SING to you?”

He nodded.  “You know… like you did when I was smaller.”  Caroline nodded her head, noting the odd irony of the fact that her brother was about the same size now to her as when she actually used to do that.

“I don’t have much of a singing voice, I’m afraid, Phillip, you probably just don’t remember or you were too nice to tell me to stop,” she said jokingly.

“Please?”

“Errr…”

“I’ll fall asleep if you do!”

“I doubt that, it may make you just want to get up and cover your ears, but if that’s really what you want,” said Caroline, smiling.  She thought through the small number of lullabies she actually knew, then began to recite the one she knew best, her soft voice the only sound heard in the room.  After a half an hour or so of repeating the same verses and moving on to the other melodies she knew, Caroline saw her brother’s eyes getting droopy.  She slid the arm hugging him under his back, then placed her other large hand under the top of his legs for support, and lifted him up, holding him against her chest in a cradle.  He didn’t react, allowing her to do it as she continued singing.  To help him nod off faster, Caroline slowly stood up, watching Phillip’s reaction.  His eyes opened wider for a second, and she felt him shift his weight nervously, but eventually he adjusted to the feeling as Caroline stood at her full height, holding her younger brother in her arms.  She began to sway, rocking side to side on her feet, moving at her knees in rhythm with the song.  This got her brother to nod off pretty quickly, and with that she leaned far off, crouching next to the bed, and placed Phillip into it, pulling the covers over him for warmth.  She patted his head, then laid back on the marble floor.  It wasn’t comfortable, but her draped makeshift robes were thick enough to help with that.  Soon after, Caroline felt herself falling asleep.

Caroline’s eyes snapped back open, her knees in pain.  She looked down and realized her feet were pressed hard against the bookshelf.  She curled them inward, surprised, knowing she hadn’t fallen asleep that close to it, and then she remembered.  It must be time already.  Carefully, with no light except from the moon, she placed her hands on the ground and stood up, forgetting the rate she had been growing.  Her head smacked into the ceiling with a loud smash, sending some small chunks of debris to the ground.  She immediately ducked down, clutching at the top of her head and moaning a little at how hard she had hit the ceiling; from there, she went back into a crouching position, amazed to look down and realize that her head was roughly level with the top post of the bed in this spot.  Unaware of what to do with herself, she tried to sit back down, but her foot caught on the hem of the old drapes, and she slipped, hitting the ground with a massive bang.  Her foot slipped outward, striking the bookshelf with great force and cracking it cleanly in half, sending all the books scattering to the ground.

“C-Caroline?” came Phillip’s voice as he hopped out of bed, feeling through the dark.  Caroline’s skin went cold with fear when she felt Phillip’s hand gently touch her neck.  It felt like being touched by a doll, his hand small and icy.  Instinctively, she raised her hand up to cover it and warm it, her hand completely engulfing his little fist.  Instantly, he pulled back in the pitch darkness, evidently surprised.  Caroline felt a little tug on the edge of her robe as he tripped backward, bonking his head on the marble, and beginning to cry a little.

“Are you okay?” she cried suddenly, turning around carefully, sliding her hand across the cold marble to find her brother in the dark.  She found him, running her hand along his stomach and up to his head.  He felt like he was just tall enough to go up half of her shin.  Caroline wrapped her fingers around his thin sides, lifting him up like he was nothing, and bringing him up to her torso, where she pressed him against her in a hug, rocking side to side.  She stroked his hair and patted at his back, feeling his chest heaving a little as his crying slowed.  “Shhhh… it’s all right now, I’ve got you…” she whispered.  Shifting into the moonlight where she could see him, the shock went through her again.  Despite the fact that she knew how small she was, now that she could see him, so small and just leaning against her in her lap, it was shocking, like looking down at a child’s toy.  Immediately, Caroline became afraid, wondering if she shouldn’t be holding him for the risk of hurting him in her now relatively much stronger arms.

“Don’t cry, Phillip, it was just a little bump,” she cooed.  He sniffled, wiping his nose, and looking up at her.

“You’re…” he began.

She sighed.  “Yes, I am.”

“How?”

She paused.  “I don’t know.”

There was silence again as Caroline continued to massage the top of Phillip’s head, finally having a moment to herself to think.  Obviously she was growing more and more each night, the increments becoming larger.  What the exact amount was, she couldn’t be entirely sure, but one thing was for certain: another few days, at most, and she wouldn’t even be able to get out of this room.

She began to question what she might do.  Even if the scouts did manage to capture Catherine with whatever sorcery her father knew about and brought her back, a trip and back to the Otherlands would take a month at least, if the travelers were going day and night.  How big would she be by the time they returned?  She went through it in her head.  Easily double as tall as the whole palace.  The thought sent chills down her spine.  To be so large that everyone would see her.  She wouldn’t be able to work in the poor houses anymore, or feed the hungry on the streets.  Her loved ones would be so small she could probably fit them in the very palm of her hand, and she would of course never do this for fear of dropping them or crushing them on accident.  The amount of food she would need would be catastrophic, depriving the poor of so much food, so many people giving up food that would have been donated just for her monstrous form to have enough to eat at a single meal.  She would have to sleep in a field somewhere, perhaps even the mountains.

And Luke.  She so badly wanted to see him, and while she didn’t want him to have to see her like this, practically a beast as she grew into something unhuman, she reflected on the fact that he would, indeed, see her very soon like this, and there was nothing she could do.  Surely he would want to run off, consumed by the horridness of it all.  She would of course understand, but it would make her so sad she didn’t know what to do.  She felt the tears returning, splashing down her face and into the hair of her little brother.

“You’re making my hair all wet, Caroline,” came the soft voice after a minute.  She sniffled, wiping her eyes, and raggled at his hair to help dry it.

“I’m sorry, Phillip, I’m just…”

“Were you crying?”

“No.”

The soft, cool hand moved up and tapped at her sopping cheeks in the dark.  “Yes you were.”

“I’m just fine, Phillip.”

“Do… do you want a hug?”

“Yes…” she answered, smiling again a little.  She felt his small arms press against her torso, just barely reaching around to her sides for a minute.  It was small, but it felt good to her to have such love coming from her little brother, despite his fear about what was happening to his older sister.  After a minute, she felt him let go, wishing a little that he’d continue.

“You didn’t hug me back,” he said, sounding a little surprised.

Caroline felt her eyes welling again.  She desperately did want to hug him back, but wondered seriously about whether or not she could do it without snapping her small brother’s back.  “I don’t think…”

“Please?  I want a hug, too.”

“Oh… Phillip, what if I…”

“I want a hug,” he said, almost pouty, but still not in a whiny way.

“Okay,” she said, closing her eyes to brace herself.  She brought her arms around her brother, pulling him in more tightly, and felt just how thin he was against her stomach.  She felt his arms wrap back across her front, and she finally put some pressure on in a hug, tilting around and swinging her brother’s upper torso side to side.  It felt so good to hug someone without fear of harming them.  She leaned over and pressed her lips against the top of her brother’s head in a kiss.  He looked up, a little weirded out.

“For your bump,” she said, smiling.  He wiped at his hair.

“You got my hair all wet again,” he said, but it was in a joking way.

“Oh, really?  Then WATCH OUT,” she said, getting more playful, pulling him back in and kissing the top of his head in rapidfire succession.  He struggled as if roughhousing, knowing he wouldn’t get out of it, wrapping his arms around his sister’s wide biceps for support.  But at the same time the feeling of his legs and arms struggling against her forearms scared Caroline again.  She knew that with a single arm, she could easily confine her brother against any attempt at escape he made, if she so chose.  Finally settling in, she fell asleep, using the mattress as a high pillow, her brother stretched out along her stomach and lap, one of her massive hands pressed protectively over his back, almost covering the whole thing.

Caroline awoke to sunlight streaming in.  She furled and unfurled her fingers, realizing Phillip was gone from using her upper torso as a bed.  Quickly getting up, she looked underneath her back, terrified for a few seconds that she had dropped him in her sleep and rolled over him.  She stood back up, now getting a good perspective of the situation, careful to bow her head.  She pressed her hands against the ceiling, feeling for the places she had knocked loose during the night.

A minute later, Phillip, holding the hand of Elizabeth, with Richard and Rose in turn coming as well, pulled them all in.  “See?  She’s… she’s bigger now…” said Phillip worriedly.  He stepped forward bravely anyway, standing next to his sister’s humongous bare foot, nearly three feet long now.  Apprehensively, Caroline rippled her toes against the cool marble, ruffling her hair with one hand, the golden cascades falling over her face.

“Good… morning, everyone…” she said sheepishly, smiling as best she could down at their shocked faces.  "I think... I might have gotten a little bit bigger..." she finished, accidently kicking over her bedside table with her heel as she arched her foot against the marble in embarrassment.