“Pretty lady!”

“You’re keeping one as a pet? Oh and she’s cute to, I’m so jealous.”

“She doesn’t look that tough to me, what kind of a pet would she make?”

“The better question is why your even bothering to keep such a useless insect, I thought you were both better than this.”

Claire’s eyes slowly began to flutter open as different voices rang above her. Rubbing her head, she groaned tiredly before leaning up. “37 minutes, and 24 seconds. That’s a new record Alexis. ”Yet more proof she’s special. The longest any of the others ever awoke was over and hour.”

As Claire’s vision slowly became clearer, she soon wished it hadn’t. Freezing up like a deer in the headlights her breath hitched at the site in front of her, or more above her. Standing over her in a perfect circle were six children.

What petrified her however, was their size! All around her was a flat plain, but towering over it, each child looked like perpetual skyscrapers! Time seemed to slow as Claire scanned each of them. She had never felt such fear or helplessness before but… she was mesmerized as well.

The first one she recognized. It was the little girl she had met earlier in the day. Her bright orange hair and matching cat ears was a reminder if she ever saw one. She wore a light white dress with frills around the neck and shoulders. However, something that hadn’t been there before was… a cat tail?

Blinking, Claire tried to rationalize what she was looking at. Behind the little girl swung a bright orange cat tail. ‘T-That’s I-Impossible…’ Knowing her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her, she chose to just accept it and move on…

As her eyes darted to the next girl she was an odd site as well. Smiling down at her cheerfully was a little girl no older than 5 or 6, her bright cerulean eyes observing her. She wore a long white hoodie with a golden circle right beneath the strings used to pull it tighter. On top of the hoodie was a smiling rabbit face along with two white floppy ears. As noticeable as the hoodie was however, her bright pink hair beneath it was what attracted her attention first. It wasn’t natural, even for hair dye.

As her eyes moved on, Claire shivered as she saw the predatory eyes she was being given by the next girl. Her emerald eyes watched her with what she could only guess was…hunger? The little brunette looked a bit older than the other two, most likely 6 or maybe 7? She couldn’t say.

She wore a red jacket zipped half way up revealing a light white shirt beneath it. Being a bit taller, she could see past the girls waist somewhat. It looked like she wore a pair of jeans, or at least jean shorts. Still rather odd considering what she had seen most of the kids dressed like.

As she watched the girl licking her lips, Claire chose to look onto the next. As her eyes traveled to the next child, Claire viably flinched by the glare she was being given. The little girl scowling over her looked to be 5 as well.  Her eyes however scared her senseless. They were a dark ashen. With her black irises right in the center, her glare seemed to intensify.

Once again she was much different than the others. She had a very royal look to her. She wore a light white blouse, along with what appeared to be a black mini-dress beneath it. The golden buttons on the outside of the blouse furthered her appearance of royalty in Claire’s opinion. Resting below her frilled white collar was a light black neck cut away, which seemed to fit with the dress’s color beneath, it, might have been a part of it actually.

As her eyes traveled a little higher back towards her imposing face, she looked her over, growing more and more uneasy by the second. Her hair was jet black, with her bangs cut in the front, giving her more length in the back. The only noticeable difference from her entire outfit was a dark, red rose on the left side of her hair.

Noticing the shrunken girl’s eyes lingering a tad too long on her, the black haired child bared her teeth, making Claire jump. Looking away quickly, her eyes landed on the last two children, the ones she knew quite well.

Standing hand in hand, right next to one another was Sophia & Alexis, who seemed rather happy with her for some reason. As her brown eyes stared into the twins red ones, the silence was soon broken by Alexis.

“We’re glad you’re awake Claire. Our friends were getting impatient. You picked a good time to wake.” With her mind working a mile a minute, Claire tried to speak but it was like her mouth refused to open. She couldn’t say a thing; she was just completely and utterly speechless by what she was looking at.

“We can answer that for you.” Alexis smirked confusing Claire slightly. “You wanted to know what’s going on, why you’re here, and why we’re big.” Sophia answered startling her. Those were the most prominent questions on her mind.

“A real genius you have here. Why are you even bothering with her she’s just another bug?” Turning back, Claire watched in fear as she noticed the angry expression the black haired child wore. “Why don’t we just do to her what we do with the rest?

As she reached for Claire, the brunette scampered back in fear before two pairs of hands grabbed the girl’s wrist. “You will not touch her Lily, ”She is ours and no one else’s, do we make ourselves clear?” Sophia and Alexis both interjected with matching glares.

As a light bead of sweat traveled down the child now known as Lily’s brow, she tugged her hand back before looking away. “Whatever… Go ahead and waste your time then, your both going to just get bored of her like you two always do.”

“Hi pretty lady, do you remember Kat?” Blinking in confusion, Claire’s eyes traveled to the orange haired girl before she nodded slowly. The girls smile grew as she happily watched her. “Kat was surprised to see you shrunk like all the others, you were nice to Kat.”

Feeling something click in her mind Claire looked around quickly at all the little girls before it dawned on her. Looking down at the flat plain she was on she soon figured it out. “I… I s-shrunk…?” Lily clapped slowly in a mocking manner before receiving another round of Glares from Alexis and Sophia.

“You are indeed. Sophia shrank you earlier. You seem rather well composed as well, how strange.” Alexis muttered the last part intrigued before looking to her sister. Nodding, Sophia lowered her hand in front of Claire.

‘Get on,’ Blinking, Claire looked around for a moment before her eyes traveled up to the blond currently presenting her palm. ‘D-D-Did, did she just…’ Claire gasped as she saw Sophia nodding slowly. With fear and curiosity driving her, Claire slowly crawled to her knees before climbing on the open hand.

She should have screamed, should have ran. She should have done something! But… there was a pestering feeling telling her to do as she was told… As she scooted backwards in the center of her hand, Sophia lifted her up slowly, calmingly.

Moving her hand forward, Sophia presented her to Kat before Alexis spoke up. “Kat, this is Claire. You already met her earlier, but this is a bit more formal.” The orange haired girl smiled gleefully before waving to her with excitement.

“Nice to meet you nice lady!” She giggled. Moving her hand once more, Claire rested in front of the pink haired child who seemed genuinely pleased to see her. “Hello Claire, my names May. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She waved calmly before cupping her hands together.

“Sophia was right, you do seem special.” Blushing faintly by the foreign praise, Claire nodded slowly. It seemed to make May happy. Moving her hand onward, Sophia presented her before the tougher looking brunette from before.

“What’s up? My names Kia.” She smiled, before giving her a quick wave. Now with a better look at the girl, Claire could tell something else about her. Her skin tone was a darker shade then the others. She couldn’t quite place what ethnicity it was though. As she continued to inspect Kai, something caught her attention, or more her sense of smell.

Cringing slightly, Claire wrinkled her nose. Noticing the reaction most people gave her, Kai grinned. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” Unsure of how to respond, Claire chose to say nothing. There was some kind of pungent spell emitting from the child, it was almost like she hadn’t been bathed before… it was disgusting really…

As Sophia’s hand moved over to the last girl, it was pulled a bit further back then it had been with the others. As Claire was presented before the little black haired child, her scowl was still present, and growing. “Why would I bother introducing myself to this bug? It’s a waste of time.”

Feeling a slight tick forming at her brow Claire stood up before thrusting her hand forward. “My… My name is Claire, not bug. I-It’s nice to meet you…” She had no clue what prompted her to do that, or if it was even smart to be so bold in front of the violent looking child, but the dark haired girls glare lessened, if only slightly.

“A cocky little bug isn’t she? Fine I’ll humor you. I am Lily Delacroix, but you may call me Goddess.” Her tone was haughty to say the least. She may have looked 5 but her appearance, stature, and language made her seem much older. In fact all the kids seemed rather intelligent for their ages. Something was seriously off.

“We usually just call her Lilith.” Kai whispered, causing May and Kat to giggle quietly. “Quit calling me that!” Lily snapped angrily before her glare returned. Crossing her arms, it was apparent whatever remark she could make to Lily wouldn’t do her any good.

Stumbling slightly as Sophia moved her hand backwards, Claire looked up as she was presented before both twins. “I know we never really introduced ourselves formally either. She is Sophia Artiste,” Alexis started. “And she is Alexis Artiste,” Sophia finished.

As both twins bowed their heads lightly they smiled simultaneously before Sophia lowered her hand back to the table below. As she was set down, Claire got off slowly, knowing introductions were now finished. As the little brunette stood there, she still tried to piece together what was going on.

‘I still don’t understand… why did they shrink me?’ “I shrank you because we wanted you.” Sophia responded, startling her further. ‘B-But… how did she-‘, “Know what you were about to ask?” Alexis responded with a slight smirk.

Both Sophia and Alexis looked together before smiling. “We’re different Claire, so very different.” Alexis grinned further. Glancing quickly to the other girls, Claire tried to see their reactions. Was she the only one hearing their voices?

“We can talk allowed,” ‘Or we can speak to you directly in your mind if we so choose.’ Taking a slight step back, Claire shivered in fear. Both Sophia and Alexis frowned as they continued to watch her. “You’re scared of us,” “and you fear us to…” As both their heads hung low for a moment they looked to the other girls.

“Can you honestly blame her? I’d be scared to if I was her height.” May giggled before looking towards Kat. “It’s ok pretty lady, Sophie and Alex won’t hurt you. They like you.” She chirped before receiving a slight scowl from the blond twins.

“Why they do is still a mystery to me,” Lily sighed before shaking her head. “I’m kind of with Lilith here, she doesn’t seem all that special to me. I guess maybe a little braver then I gave her credit for but still, an adult’s still an adult.” Kai shrugged.

Both Sophia and Alexis nodded slowly before their eyes lingered on Claire. Feeling all the attention her now, the shrunken brunette looked up into their eyes before feeling a sense of ease wash over her. It wasn’t like before, now… she felt somewhat calmer about whatever was happening to her.

Alexis’s indifferent expression soon shifted before Sophia’s followed as well. ‘We knew you were different. Perhaps we weren’t wrong after all.’ Claire shivered slightly as she continued to hear the child’s voice in her mind. No matter how many times she did it, it still startled her to hear voices in her head… for good reason really.

Looking back at her sister, Sophia nodded before both their hands moved to either side of Claire. “Alright friends. I know you’ve been waiting all summer for this, so please get ready. The fun is about to begin.” Sophia said cheerfully before she and her sister guided Claire backwards towards them.

As she stood near the edge of the table she was on, she couldn’t help but look down. As she gazed upon the ground below a sense of dread filled her. A fall like that would kill her for sure! Did these kids plan on knocking her off?!

Feeling both Alexis’s and Sophia’s hands move around her she jumped slightly before she felt her body being rubbed back and forth. ‘Do not fear us Claire, we already told you we won’t hurt you if you listen.’ Looking up at Alexis, she nodded slightly before they nodded to the center of the table.

It seemed they wanted to give her a better view of something…  As Alexis continued to pet her, Claire watched curiously as Sophia bent over. As she heard a shuffling on the floor, she watched the blond counterpart pull up a small backpack before placing it in the center of the table.

All the girls present grinned as they watched their friend open it. “Man I’ve been waiting for this; I thought summer was never going to end.” Kai chuckled darkly as her fingers drummed on the table. “I have to agree, my last pet died the first week into summer vacation, and I was so alone without him,” May whimper sadly.

‘What’s… what’s going on…?’ Smirking Alexis nodded to her sister as she unzipped the backpack. Without warning, she quickly grabbed the bottom of it before turning it abruptly. Hearing a light thump, Claire tried to look at what fell out but she couldn’t see anything over the red coverings of the backpack.

‘This is a gift to our friends, and a gift to you Claire.’ Looking back up at Alexis’s grinning face, her eyes slowly moved back to the backpack as Sophia lifted it away. Gasping in horror, she stared at the shocking sight in front of her uncomprehending.

Resting in the center of the table, were twelve naked people who looked even smaller than her. As her eyes scanned them all over Claire cupped her mouth in horror. It was the twelve workers at the Daycare. The ones that had gone missing throughout the day… It was them.

Shaking her head in bewilderment, she soon felt the gentle petting from before continue. ‘These things you call adults… they are nothing. They boss us around, they try to force us to do things we don’t want to do. Do you know what that’s called Claire? Slavery!’

The shrunken brunette continued to cup her mouth as she hyperventilated. Why were they all so small? Why were they smaller then her? Why were they all naked?! So many questions ran through her mind, and the gentle giggles echoing in her mind did little to calm her already conflicted thoughts.

‘P-P-People… these are all people… I worked with them all, a-and you… you shrank them…?’, “Yes.” Sophia whispered just quiet enough for Claire to make out. It seemed the other four girls didn’t notice though as their eyes lingered on the shrunken mess in front of them.

‘W-Why…’ Feeling the gentle petting on her back cease, Claire tore her gaze away for a moment before looking up at the twin pairs of eyes focused on her. ‘You will learn in time that this is our way of balancing out society. We make things the way they should be Claire, and you should be honored to be witness to it… and not a part of it.’

Knowing a subtle threat when she heard one, Claire looked down as she tried to make sense of this. These weren’t kids, they couldn’t be. They were acting so… so… she didn’t even know. This was beyond her comprehension.

Feeling Sophia’s fingers pressing on her lightly, Claire stumbled forward before falling to her knees. Looking up she cupped her mouth again as she watched the twelve people beginning to wake up. One by one screams of horror rang through the air as they stared up at the excited faces of the gigantic girls.

Each new screaming voice seemed to fuel the children’s expressions. Joy, happiness, anger… something else she couldn’t quite figure out… These weren’t the expressions of innocent children. She knew, here and now, that these were wolves in sheep’s clothing.

They weren’t children… they were monsters. Feeling the light petting from before return, Claire craned her neck disturbed, only to see the smirking faces of Sophia and Alexis. “This is our gift to everyone; we hope you accept it to Claire. They all did.” Looking up at the other for girls, nearly foaming at the mouth at the sight of the shrunken, terrified people she shook her head.

‘Just sit back… and enjoy.’