Chapter 2

Instead of the face and torso of Lucrezia Borgia, her full body appeared. Nude, since in the afterlife one didn't need clothes. It didn't look transparent either, like the other spirits did, but as if she was still alive. She stood in the circle, smoke twirling around her body, and looked around her. She saw the two brothers, then looked down, examining the pentagram in which the nightshade and the other ingredients were smoldering closely. Then she looked at the two brothers again, smiled and evil smile and stepped out of the circle.

"Too much nightshade. Thank you, now I can walk this world again like I was alive," Lucrezia said. "Who may I thank for this?"

Gerald and Philip were dumbstruck. The stared at the naked woman in front of them for a couple of seconds, not knowing what to make of this. It took a while before her words sank in, and it was Philip who regained speech first.

"Too much nightshade? You said you weighted it carefully!", he cried at his brother. "Did you check the scales? Were they calibrated right?"

"Yes," Gerald said, baffled. "It was exactly a pound. 500 grams. I checked..."

"WHAT? 500 grams? You fool!", Philip cried. "A "pound" is 453 grams, not 500! You idiot! You...".

"In the Netherlands, a pound is 500 gram," Gerald said.

"He lived in England! And the book is written in English!", Philip cried back.

"He was a Dutchman!"

Their quarrel was halted by Lucrezia's laughter. The two looked at her.

"And thanks to that, I have the power to leave this circle. For the next three hours, I can walk this world again. Now, where am I?"

"Err, in the outskirts of Kansas City...". Gerald replied like a schoolchild who hadn't learned his lessons too well. "My name is Gerald, and this is my brother Philip."

"Where?", Lucrezia asked. "Never heard of Kansas."

"You are in America. This is the state of Missouri in the United States," Gerald said.

Lucrezia frowned. "United States? Is that something like the Holy League?"

"You are in the New World," Philip intervened, realizing that in Lucrezia's time, America had just been discovered and not yet named as such. Moreover, Kansas City wasn't even founded back then.

"Aah, the New World. And in which part of it are we? Spanish or Portuguese?"

"American. English." Philip replied. "Former Spanish and French though," he added seeing Lucrezia's puzzled look again. He knew her father had divided the New World in two, one part was for Spain (the country the Borgia family hailed from) and the other for Portugal, both major powers in the late 15th, early 16th century.

"So, we are not in Europe, not in Rome or Ferrara?", Lucrezia asked.

"No."

"And how many years have passed since my death?"

"Err, about 500. We now live in..."

"How about the Pope?", Lucrezia interrupted. "Still a Borgia on the Papal throne?"

"No. He is a German", Philip said. "From the Holy Roman Empire", he added, realizing that Germany didn't exist as such either in her time. "But as far as I know, some of the royal families in Europe are descendants of the Borgia's."

"And your royal house?", Lucrezia asked.

"We don't have one. Never had. We are a democracy."

"You mean you've gone Greek? Or like the Republic of Venice?"

"Well, not exactly. We..."

Lucrezia raised her hand, silencing the two.

"It does not matter. Fact is, I am here, and my time is running out. You burned too much nightshade, so I am free to do whatever I want. And I want to experience POWER!", she said, a look like a basilisk's gaze appearing in her hazel eyes. "Never give power to a Borgia. And you did! I almost feel gratitude. Almost."

"Power?", Gerald said. "What power? You may be able to run around here, miss, but..."

"I'm going to take over this Ajerca or whatever you call the New World. And I start with this Kansas...but first, you two. You summoned me, and you might be able to unsummon me. So I'll deal with you first," she concluded.

"Taking over? Deal with us? You may be more than the common spirit, Lucy, but you also are just a little woman, and there is two of us here. So you better stay put, there is no pope around to protect you," Philip said. He was already irritated by Lucrezia's questioning. They summoned her to be questioned, not the other way around. And the impatience and constant interruptions of her were annoying too. And now this woman was threatening them?

"Oh, I can do more than you might think. I'm not bound by the laws of nature. The larger amount of nightshade gave me extra powers. And I am going to use them," Lucrezia replied.

"What extra powers?", Gerald asked, suspiciously.

"This!", Lucrezia said, and with her hands on her hips, she started to grow. Her small frame increased before the baffled eyes of the duo. She slowly inched up, reaching 6 feet after a couple of seconds. Her head rose and inflated, her shoulders widened. Hips and breasts expanded too, slow, but steady. Her entire body seemed like a balloon being inflated as she gained height. Legs stretching, arms getting thicker and longer, feet covering more and more area. Two minutes later, she was as tall as the garage was high.
Lucrezia, 9,5 feet tall now, took a step towards the two brothers. They saw her, admittedly beautiful, body coming, and dove simultaneously for the exit. What had they done?

"You can run, my dears, but I'll catch up with you anyway!", they heard Lucrezia say, followed by another laugh of her.

Outside, they ran a couple of yards, then stopped and turned. Lucrezia just came out of the garage, squeezing herself through the door. Outside, she stood upright, took a deep breath, and looked at the two brothers. She grinned again.
"That was nothing. How about...THIS?" she cried out, starting to grow again, much faster this time.