As Rhodora the fish grew into a solid beam of light beside us, Carl scrambled to get back to his feet.

“You seriously think you can escape?” Jake cackled delightedly as the officer made a mad dash to the front door.

The beam of light poured out of our tank and flowed into the room. It created a ring around the frightened man, who tried to push through it. “That won't stop me!” he yelled at the glow, which started to emit an odd laughter.

“Well, this might,” Rhodora's voice echoed eerily from the light, and suddenly she was flames.

The ring of fire did not touch the ceiling, nor did it seem to be burning anything. But Carl stood inside it, shivering, trying not to let the living blaze touch his skin.

She is so damned awesome, Simon said beside me. I just wish she was wearing me right now.

I think you'd go on fire, Tommy pointed out.

No. She'd never hurt me, Simon replied assuredly.

I want to be fire, added Lance. No, maybe I could be electricity, or a photon...you think she could do that?

“Okay, Rhodora. You have me,” Carl blubbered, his eyes locked on the odd phenomenon surrounding him. “Just, do it already. I...give up,” he slunk to the floor and curled up, his hands cradling his knees.

The fire continued to crackle, and we knew Rhodora's mind was at work. “Carl, you know no one is here against their will, and I have never hurt anyone. So why would you have a problem with me?”

“It's wrong, it's unnatural, and... you can destroy the world with power like that! You need to be controlled, and studied, and...stopped! I don't care that you're helping these...disturbed men live their fantasies! They have lives! They're people, not objects for your pleasure!”

“We want to be here, you asshole. We wouldn't have it any other way!” Jake muttered. “And I shudder to think what your fantasies are. At least ours are harmless.”

His fantasies probably involve blood and guts, added Joey.

Suddenly the flames drew together, and Rhodora formed, looking tired. She ran her hand over her leg and glanced at Carl. “I need you,” she murmured.

“Need?” He tried to run, but his body stiffened. He could only stare as his legs melded together, and his arms melted into his body. “Oh, no. Oh, God, what are you doing now?”

Rhodora smiled, and walked towards him. His feet fused and he fell stiffly to the floor, shrinking and thrashing all the while. When his body was thin enough, Rhodora grabbed him and held him up, watching him transform in her very grip.

“What are you making me? Please, I'm getting...small, and, blue....and...hard....”

Jake snickered. “Well, I'm getting one of those things...well, at least in my mind I am.”

“No...no...” but the officer's head melted away, leaving his features behind, etched in blue plastic.

“Oh, it's nice to hold someone as they transform,” Rhodora commented blithely. “Definitely fun.” She looked down at the plastic T-shaped object she now held, and ran her finger down it. “Oh, Carl, I like you like this.”

“What the hell am I now?” he moaned in a small, defeated voice.

“Try to guess. Meanwhile, let's get everyone back to what they want to be,” she tossed Carl onto the table and began to put us back into our normal object-forms. Transforming from fish to chair, for me, was quite an experience, I had to admit. Rhodora tossed me to the floor and I began to flail for air, the ultimate fish out of water. But then the pleasure of transforming set in, and I relaxed as I began to grow. I felt my fins and tail begin to form into my four legs, and my fish-head tilted upward, forming my back. I could feel my body solidifying into the familiar wood, and soon I was happily back as an inanimate object.

My friends were restored as well, and Rhodora turned back to her 'victim'. “Okay, Carl, what are you?  Did you guess?” she cried, even more fatigued from all the changes she had brought on.

“Mmf,” Carl murmured.

“Oh, I threw you down on your face. Poor little razor.” Rhodora picked the object up.

“Razor?!” gasped Carl. “Oh, my God, no.”

Rhodora tapped at the little plastic face. “Oh, my God, yes! Yes, Carl!” She practically skipped into the bathroom, gripping him tightly. As the bath water went on, we could still hear Carl's protests and Rhodora's answers to him. “Come on, Carl, don't you feel good that way?”

“Yes, but...you're going to...shave with me...That's just...Oh, no! Please, the...no...”

“Shaving cream will help you glide over my skin. It should be even more pleasant for you, you idiot!”

“Why do you need to shave? Can't you just change your legs so they're hairless?”

“I do. But this is even more fun!”

Joey, the original picture frame, began to grumble from where he lay on the table. Rhodora had not gotten around to putting a picture back in him, so he merely lay there, empty. “You know, that's hardly a punishment.”

Thinking about this, I agreed. First the idea of participating in hair removal was not something that sounded appealing to me. But, then, gliding across the skin of a goddess, smoothing it, rubbing it... well, I considered asking for the same 'punishment' myself one of these days...

“Stop it, it's...oooh....Rhodora, my....ooohhh....”

The protests were quashed, and only pleasurable moans now emanated from the bathroom.

“I hate him,” said Tommy.

Rhodora emerged, clad in Simon the bathrobe. She looked radiant as she brandished the silenced police officer in the air. “Now that was a shave!” she cried triumphantly. “I swear to you, a person transformed into a razor works better than the real thing! I mean, Carl, you never dulled!”

“I have a good blade,” he mumbled.

“That's his punishment, Rhodora?” Steve asked, obviously hoping for something far worse.

“Oh, hardly. I just needed a razor. If any of you want to try it, let me know!”

“I'm not done?” cried Carl in horror.

Ignoring Carl, most of us volunteered to be her next razor. She grinned. “We'll pick names out of a hat, I guess.”

“I'll be the hat,” Jake volunteered.

Carl raised his voice. “I can't go home yet?”

Rhodora ran her finger down his bumpy front, and he shuddered. “No, Carl. I need to teach you. We need you to stay put.” She opened her hand, letting him lay on her palm.

“Oh...no...I learned my lesson, I–”

“Now Carlie, you said that last time...”

Rhodora began to stroke the object tantalizingly, drawing gasps and moans from him as his form shrank even more. He could not utter a word between the sounds, and I wondered if he even knew that he was changing.

“What are you making him?” I asked, enthralled.

She put her other finger to her lips with a giggle. “Sh. You'll see!”