"Oh my God!!" Trish exclaimed. "Are you alright?!"

Greg sat on the edge of Parvati's bed, while Trish stood nearby and Parvati sat in the chair at her desk. The two had come home together, and Greg had just explained to them what had happened earlier that day, up to the point where he was grazed by Irene's magic attack.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Greg replied. "Lucky for me, Heidi fixed me right up, and then she kicked that other witch's ass. If she wasn't there, I'd've been toasted."

Parvati folded her arms. "I saw that witch sitting at the bus stop earlier, but I didn't pay her too much mind. ...I was careless."

"I saw her, too," Trish said. "She was just sitting there, texting on her phone. I didn't even think that she was probably faking."

"So, where is Heidi now?" Parvati asked.

"She took the witch back to the Aurora Realm," Greg answered. "...It was the funniest thing, though. The witch made some kind of movement with her hand, and then Heidi lost her cool. She started yelling at her for knowing some kind of forbidden spell, and then turned her into a doll."

"Forbidden spell?" Trish asked.

"Heidi said that any witch who knows it must be killed." Greg turned towards Parvati. "You happen to know what it is?"

Parvati shook her head. "No. I don't know anything about it."

"I see..." Greg sighed. "I don't think Heidi will tell me, anyway. I guess I'll never know what it is."

"If it's as dangerous as Heidi made it out to be, I think you're better off not knowing," Parvati said. "In fact, there's a lot of things about us witches that you're better off not knowing."

"Like the Abyss," Trish casually said.

"Trish!" Parvati shot a glare at Trish.

"Oops," Trish covered her mouth.

"The what?" Greg asked.

Parvati sighed. "Like I said, you're better off not knowing."

"...Now you got me even more curious," Greg said.

"Well, anyway," Trish said as she stepped closer to the bed, "I'm glad that you're okay, Runt. We don't want to lose you, do we?" She reached down and patted him on the head. "You're our little Joker."

"Uhh... Thanks, I guess," Greg said as he tried to push her hand away from him, but to no avail.

"I'll be going, now," Trish said, withdrawing her hand and walking towards the door. "I'm sure you and him want to have some alone time, huh?" She said in a sly tone. "After all, Heidi's not here, so..."

"She could be back any minute now," Greg said.

"Then you two better hurry." Trish winked, before leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.

Greg stared at the door for a few seconds, before turning towards Parvati, who was looking at him. Her facial expression looked to be one of slight worry and guilt.

"What?" Greg asked.

"I'm starting to think that I should have taken you with me to work after all," Parvati answered. "I can't believe that I let you get so close to death..."

"It's not your fault. You didn't know that that witch was going to come in here."

"Yeah, but if only I had not been so cautious... I could have hidden you very well today. I didn't even take my shoes off..."

"Parvati... What matters is that I'm fine. So stop worrying. It doesn't suit you."

Parvati stared at him for a few seconds, before sighing. "You're right. You're safe, so I have to thank Heidi when she gets back." She smiled.

Greg smiled as well. "Yeah, I'm sure she'll appreciate it... Even if she doesn't show it."

"Yeah." Parvati stood up. "...So, do you still want to go for that walk?"

Greg gasped. "You remembered that?"

"Of course I did. I was the one who brought it up, remember?"

"Oh yeah..." Greg chuckled.

Parvati stepped in front of the bed and bent down, and then pulled her ballet flat from her right foot and set it down on the floor between her and the bed. Afterwards, she reached for Greg and grabbed him off of her bed, and placed him into the empty shoe.

Greg looked up towards the towering woman above him. "You didn't let me climb in on my own?"

"No," Parvati answered. "Remember? We're in a rush now, right?"

"Oh yeah..." Greg looked behind him, towards the inner section of the shoe. "It's pretty dark in there..." he said to himself.

"Lay down," Parvati ordered.

Without a word, Greg did as she said, laying his body down onto the insole of her shoe. The fabric of the insole felt rather nice against his body, and the floral fragrance of her foot was present inside.

"Are you ready?" Parvati asked. "I'm about to put my foot in."

"I'm ready!" Greg shouted out.

As Greg slid himself a bit further inside of the shoe, he saw the light flowing in from the shoe's mouth slowly fade away. Then, Parvati's massive toes appeared from above, followed by the rest of her foot, as it made its way inside of the shoe. His vision was soon completely blocked as her foot slid over his body, her soft sole rubbing against his skin, until it settled in place. Greg was pressed against the ball of her foot and the insole of her shoe; a perfect place among many to be if he had to say so himself.

He felt the pressure from her foot lighten briefly, and then intensify on his body. Then, lighten up again, and reintensify, and so forth. It did not take much to figure out that Parvati was now walking through the house, probably making her way towards the front door.

Greg was a bit disappointed that he could not actually walk beside her, so he could actually see the neighborhood, but he knew that the sight of someone as small as he was would cause a massive sensation among the neighbors, which would soon trickle all the way to the world news. He was more than content with being like a small pebble inside of her shoe for the duration of her trip.

~~~

Standing near a wall with her arms folded, Heidi watched as two of the robed animated dolls escorted Irene into the chamber. Her arms were bound in front of her by magical restraints that subdued the use of her powers, and her attire had been changed to just a mere white jumpsuit. While being brought inside, she kept her head dropped downward--understandably so, considering the verdict that the Head Witches had given her.

After reporting her crimes to the Council, and suggesting that they execute her, Heidi was dismayed when they decided not to kill her after all. However, the punishment that they instead handed down to Irene was possibly even worse than death.

The large doors to the chamber closed with a loud creak, and the sound of the doors shutting echoed throughout.

The dolls released Irene from their grips, and then walked forward to the center of the room, where another pair of doors were closed on the floor. Both of the dolls grabbed hold of a rope that was tied to the handle of each door, and then pulled on it. The doors opened, revealing a spiraling portal that bathed the entire room with its bright golden light.

"Irene Bradshaw," Heidi said as she stepped forward. "This is your punishment, one that the Head Witches have handed down onto you: you will spend a year in the Abyss. When you are released, you will no long be a witch, but a mere human with no memories of your powers or anything relating to them. You will also have no family to turn to, as we will have wiped any shred of your existence from their minds and lives."

"So, you completely fucked up my life?!" Irene spat on the floor. "You really are spiteful!"

"Yes," Heidi said. "Yes, I am."

"Also, a year?! You make it sound better than it actually is!"

"For us, it'll be a year. For you, however, it will be a lot longer."

The Abyss was truly a hellish place, one that witches dreaded even more than death. All perceptions of space and time are distorted inside of the endless plain: those unfortunate enough to wound up inside will fall in all discernable directions for what feels like forever; as time is warped in this realm, one would feel as if millions of years have passed, when in reality, only mere seconds have passed in the Aurora Realm. While there were several witches in the Abyss at a time, the spaces between them were so great that they had no hope of ever seeing each other during their stay there. Due to being trapped in the realm for seemingly eternity in near complete isolation, few who have been released from this torture have managed to keep their sanity afterwards.

Heidi stepped away from the wall, and stood several feet behind Irene.

"Before you are thrown inside," Heidi said, "I have one question."

"What?" Irene crudely asked.

"Where did you learn how to use the forbidden spell Cephei Aldebaran?"

Irene said nothing.

"The only ones who know of that spell are the Head Witches and us General Witches. All details of those spells were locked away hundreds of years ago, far away from the hands of you lower witches. How did you learn in?"

Irene remained silent. Heidi stared at the backside of the condemned woman, becoming irritated from her refusal to answer her question. The two dolls also stared on at the two women.

"If you can learn it, then there is a danger that others can. I need to know so that we can prevent a possible apocalypse."

Still, Irene refused to answer.

"Irene!" Heidi snapped. "Answer me now-"

"No," Irene replied. "It's not like I have anything to gain from answering you. You'll just have to deal with it, you spiteful bitch!"

Heidi's patience had run out. "Fine. Just for that, I'll add another year to your sentence. Now-"

Irene quickly turned around in shock. "What!?"

"Receive your punishment!"

Heidi thrust her right arm forward, which sent out an invisible burst of magic that pushed Irene off of her feet and into the portal. Her screams were heard as she disappeared into the vortex, and soon faded as she disappeared from that reality. The dolls looked at each other, before pushing the portal's doors closed. Heidi then pointed her index finger towards the doors, and a bolt of magic shot forth from it and surrounded the handles, before a giant lock materialized around them.

"Finish up here, and give the report to the Council," Heidi ordered the dolls. "I have to get back to my assignment."

Heidi then walked towards the large closed doors of the chamber, and pushed them open. She then exited the place, and then walked towards the Aurora Realm's main area, which was far off in the distance. She could have just warped there, but several things were on her mind.

Namely the forbidden spell Cephei Aldebaran; the spell that, in the wrong hands, could spell disaster for all those in the reality that it is used in.

It bothered her that Irene did not cooperate and tell her where she had learned it from. As she said, the documents that told about the spell, and how to use it were locked away. If someone like Irene could learn it, what was to say that there were not any other witches who also knew the spell.

The only ones who were supposed to know of the spell were, as she said before, the Head Witches and the General Witches. That pointed to one conclusion.

There was a traitor among her peers, or even her superiors.

~~~

Parvati stepped into the house, holding a plastic bag from the nearby convience store in her right hand, and her purse on her left shoulder. The walk she had just taken helped to ease her mind about the events that befell Greg earlier that day; she felt better now, though the charred spots in the front hallway still bugged her. A simple spray of magic would easily solve that problem, though.

She looked downward towards her right foot. The feeling of Greg's small body squirming under her sole, inside of her shoe, also helped soothe her, and she knew that it helped him to get his mind off of what happened to him as well. Though she wondered if she should have made him a bit smaller for the trip. There was no question in her mind that he would have loved that.

She closed and locked the door behind her, and walked into the kitchen. Upon arriving, she found Heidi sitting at the kitchen table, looking out towards the open window before turning her attention towards her.

"Heidi..." Parvati said.

"Hello, Parvati," Heidi said. "How was your day?"

"It was fine," Parvati answered. "...Greg told us--Trish and I--what happen earlier. Thank you for saving Greg."

Heidi smiled slightly. "No problem. That witch was after me, and I didn't feel that it was right for him to be caught in the crossfire."

"What's going to happen to that witch?"

"Her sentence is already being carried out. Two years in the Abyss."

Parvati shuddered at the thought of spending even a minute in that realm. "Yikes..."

"She deserved it." Heidi looked back towards the window. "She learned a very dangerous spell, and when it comes to those, we can't take any chances."

"Oh yes... Greg said that you became frantic when she started to use it."

"Parvati."

"Huh?"

Heidi looked back towards her. "Do you know any highly dangerous--even forbidden--spells?"

Parvati shook her head. "No. What would I do with any spell like that?"

Heidi chuckled. "Of course... I don't think anyone would admit to a General Witch that they know any forbidden spells."

"Heidi... I'm being serious. I don't know any forbidden spells. Especially knowing that they could cause me to be sent to the Abyss."

"...I suppose you're right... Especially since you're scared to death of the Abyss."

Parvati twitched. "I wouldn't go that far."

"I would, but that's how it should be. That's how all of you witches should feel about the Abyss. That way, you won't do anything that would send you there."

"Right..." Parvati rolled her eyes, before continuing for the back hallway.

"Once more thing," Heidi called.

Parvati stopped, and looked back behind her at Heidi.

"Have you spoken to Lily lately?"

Parvati sighed. "Of course not."

"I see..."

"Why?"

"...No reason."

"Oh..."

Heidi turned her attention back to the window, and Parvati exited the kitchen. She walked through the back hall, still relishing in the sensations of Greg in her shoe, and entered into her bedroom.

She wondered why Heidi had brought up Lily all of a sudden. She had known about the friction between the two, so perhaps she wanted to know of any recent events concerning them.

Deciding not to dwell on things that she cannot be sure about (especially considering how secretive Heidi is in general), Parvati closed the door and walked towards her bed, and placed her purse and plastic bag onto it. Then, she sat down on it, and pulled her flats from her feet. She reached down and grabbed her right shoe, and turned it upside-down, causing Greg to tumble out from within and onto the floor. Placing the shoe back on the floor, she watched him closely as he breathed heavily on the floor.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "Maybe I should have let more air come in?"

"...I'm... just fine..." Greg said between breaths. "That... was... wonderful..."

Parvati smiled. "Glad you enjoyed it. I enjoyed it, too."

"Really?" Greg sat up. "That's great...! You're becoming a great... giantess...!"

Parvati pushed him back on the floor with her big toe, and kept him pinned there. "Didn't we already establish that?" she asked half-jokingly.

"True!" Greg said as he attempted to push on her toe; his tiny arms failing to do so amused her.

"Heidi's out there now, so we have to cool it for now." She removed her toe from his body.

"She is? Aww man..." He said in a disappointed tone.

"Wait a few days, my pet," Parvati said. "Then, I'll let you have all of the fun you want. Sound good?"

"That sounds better than good!!" Greg excitedly said as he sat up again.

"Wonderful," Parvati said with a smile. "You're not the only one looking forward to it. I hope you have some new things planned."

"...I'll see what I can come up with," Greg replied.

Parvati chuckled, and then stood up.

"Where are you going?" Greg asked.

"To the bathroom," she replied, before getting another idea. "Try to beat me to the bathroom."

"You want me to race you?"

Parvati nodded.

"But you'll cream me!"

"Oh, you don't know that." She winked at him.

Greg stared up at her for several seconds, before he stood to his feet and began to run towards the bathroom. Parvati watched him for a minute; she found the sight of this tiny man scurrying along the floor to be rather cute.

Then, carrying out the thought that she had just had, she began to walk towards Greg. In just one step with her left foot, she had covered the entire distance that he had ran. He looked up towards her just as she moved her right foot forward and stepped down on him. His run came to a complete stop as her foot pushed him into the floor with the full weight of her body, before stepping off of him and continuing for the bathroom.

As she reached the doorway, she looked back towards the defeated Greg, who was still laying face-down on the floor, his head slowly rising.

"Looks like you were right," Parvati teased, before going into the bathroom and closing the door behind her.

Before he had come into her life, she never thought that she could even have half as much fun with a tiny person as she was having with Greg. Thanks to him, she discovered a side of her that she never knew existed.

While she was prepared to send him back to his old life should Heidi order it, deep down, she wanted him to remain with her for as long as she liked.

~~~

Hours later, Greg sat on the couch in his dollhouse's living room, flipping through the channels on his television for something interesting to watch. His fun with Parvati had ended, and she was now sitting on her bed, typing up something on her laptop; he could hear the keys being pressed by her fingers high above him, however faint it was.

He then heard the door open, and then shut. He knew that that could only mean one thing: that Heidi had returned.

He looked towards the hallway, and indeed Heidi had arrived. She walked into the living room, and approached Greg.

"How are you feeling?" Heidi asked.

"I'm fine, thanks to you," Greg replied.

"Good." Heidi walked past him, and sat down in the chair to Greg's left. "Did you hear what happened to Irene?"

"No, what?"

"...That's surprising. I thought for sure that you'd be eavesdropping on the conversation that Parvati and I had earlier."

"Well, I wasn't." To tell the truth, at the time, Greg was inside of Parvati's shoe, but her flesh made it difficult to hear what the two women were saying.

"Anyway, she wasn't killed. She was just sent to the Abyss for two years."

"There it is again." Greg sighed.

"What?"

"They mentioned the Abyss earlier, but they wouldn't tell me what it was. They said that I was better off not knowing."

"I see. I have to agree with them. I don't think a human should know of that place."

"So, you're not going to tell me, either?"

Heidi shook her head. "I will say that the Abyss is worse than death. It's probably the closest thing we have to what you humans call 'Hell'."

Greg's eyes widened. "What? ...That's horrible."

"She deserved it."

"Yeah, but..."

"Don't worry about her, Greg."

"...Alright, fine. She did try to kill me, after all."

"Exactly."

Greg continued to flip through channels, still finding nothing of interest, before Heidi suddenly spoke up.

"Change it to Animal Planet," she suggested.

"Whaa?" Greg was surprised to hear this.

"Yes."

Greg shrugged, and did as she said. A documentary on the wildlife of the animals on the American plainlands was being shown. Losing interest rather quickly, he placed the remote on the table, stood up, and prepared to leave.

"What's wrong?" Heidi asked.

"I don't like animals," Greg responded. "You have fun with your nature show."

"Oh, I will." Heidi shifted from the chair to the couch that he had been sitting on, and laid across it.

Greg watched her become more and more enticed by the program on the television, before she had noticed that he was still standing in the doorway.

"You're still here?" she asked.

"Sorry..." Greg apologized. "I'll be going now. ...But I have a quick question."

"What is it?"

"I've been wondering... How old are you, anyway? You look around Trish's age, but you act like a middle-aged woman."

"Greg." Heidi sat up, apparently taking offense to what he had just said. "Weren't you ever taught to never ask a woman her age? It's rude."

"Sorry... Forget it." Greg turned around, and began to leave the living room.

"Let's just say that I'm much older than you, Parvati, and Trish combined."

"Huh? Really?!"

Heidi laid back on the couch. "Yes, really. Now..." She made a "leave" motion with her hand.

Greg shrugged, and headed for his bedroom. With the only television in the house taken over by the very same person keeping him from playing with Parvati, he had officially run out of things to keep himself amused.

Though he was left with three things to ponder over in his room. Firstly, what exactly the Abyss was. The witches seemed to not want to talk about it. Was it really as horrible as they said it was? Was he truly better off not knowing about it, and thinking it merely as Hell? More importantly, would it be a place that Parvati, and possibly even Trish, could end up in if the Head Witches do not approve of him being there? Greg doubted it that they would go that far, but he could not be sure.

Secondly was the forbidden spell that had condemned Irene to such a fate. What exactly was the nature of that spell; a spell that made even the usually collected and calm Heidi lose her cool? If Irene could learn it, he wondered how many other witches could also know it at that moment?

Finally was Heidi's exact age. He knew that she wouldn't tell him exactly, and her answer was rather vague and only made him even more curious. He would be happy with even an approximation. Admittedly, knowing her age probably would not help him in the long run, but he just wanted to know.

"They're just giving me more questions," Greg said to himself as he entered into his room.