The seven contestants still left in the house woke up groggily and stiffly the next morning. The five on the bed in the living room woke first, the movements of one jostelling the others until they all woke up. Serine was still sleeping in front of the door, and they could just see Cameroon’s peaceful sleeping head popping out of the neck of her shirt. The five of them thought about doing something sneaky to them in their sleep, but decided that it was not the best idea.
Serine did wake shortly after that and started to make a breakfast of scrambled eggs. Everyone was a bit grumpy and moapy this morning. They were all grumpy at each other for various reasons and even the couples weren’t being very coupley. They mostly sat around facing away from each other.
Breakfast was finished and they all ate in almost complete silence. It would not be long until Betty came. They all both dreaded and looked forward to Betty’s explanation of what “erratic shrinking” was, and how they could un-eliminate players.
Betty arrived just when she said she would, smiling broadly as if nothing gave her greater pleasure than to see them all. All of them stopped what they were doing and paid the hostess their complete attention.
“Today I will explain erratic shrinking.” Betty said. “It’s a simple enough concept to understand. By erratic shrinking, I mean that I will be coming at random intervals throughout the day and putting certain numbers of you into the shrinking booths.” Everyone looked uneasy.
“Of course, it won’t be completely random.” Betty said. “There is a plan. Each of you will write the name of someone you would really like shrunk on a piece of paper. On another piece of paper, write down someone you would like to have grown. I will take the papers, shuffle them, and pick one, or two, or none, at random and shrink or enlarge those people. Of course, to keep it erratic, I cannot do this in front of you.”
“There are a few rules.” Said Betty. “The queen is, for the moment, untouchable. You can’t shrink her, and you obviously can’t enlarge her. Also, you cannot enlarge someone who is already half-sized. There cannot be two rulers. If you shrink anyone who is one-eighth size already they will be eliminated. If you enlarge someone who is one-sixteenth size, that person will be un-eliminated.”
“Those are the rules.” Betty said. “Have any questions?”
There was silence, and only fear and determinated looks on the player’s faces.
“All right then.” Betty reached into her pocket and took out a stack of notecards. “I will take your entries now. I promise I will not look at who wrote who’s name down.” Betty passed the notecards to all seven people present. To Cameroon and Sherri they were the size of large posters.
Betty followed this by passing out pens. It was easy for Serine to write a name down, but for Cameroon and Sherri they had to maneuver something as large as themselves. Nevertheless, they did get their names written down. Betty collected these notecards and handed out another bunch for people to write down who they wanted to be big. Betty collected these two.
“Very good.” Said Betty. “I will be coming back in a little bit to lead a few of you to the shrinking booth. But it might be a while. So enjoy your sizes while they last.” And with that Betty walked off.
Betty walked back to the compound across the short yard and made the short walk back through the hallways and stairs to her apartment. She thought about the treat that waited for her inside. She thought about how much she absolutely loved this job.
Betty unlocked her door and walked inside. She made a left turn and headed into her kitchen/living room. There she found Tom exactly where she had left him: sitting inside a large empty glass pitcher.
Even a day later Betty’s sheer size amazed Tom every time her saw her. The giantess was dressed beautifully in a colorful sleeveless top and blue jeans. Her hair was tied in a ponytail and she was wearing clean white sandals.
Last night had been quite an experience. Last night, after the sex, Betty had given Tom a good bath in the sink. For a while he had thought that she had fallen asleep because she was not moving. But when he tried to move away from the giantess’s sticky body, she sat up and picked him up.
“Let’s wash that stick off you.” Betty had said.
She brought him into the bathroom and turned on the fountain. The water was initially cold and made him jump but it warmed up as Betty let it run. Tom could feel the goo start to come off of him, and even moreso when she started rubbing him vigerously with soap.
Betty’s fingers bounced Tom up and down as she rubbed him hard. She rubbed him so hard that he was a little sore afterwards, but it went away and he was clean. Betty then brought him back into the bedroom where she stuffed him in between her warm comfortable breasts.
“Don’t worry, I don’t roll in my sleep.” Said Betty, soothing an anxious Tom who was worried about getting crushed. The heat and the exaustion from the evening’s events made Tom fall into an easy sleep.
Today, Tom had been allowed to put his clothes back on and Betty fed him breakfast, then left him in the glass pitcher when she went “too work”, i.e. talking to the other contestants.
Betty lifted Tom out of the jar and put him on the table, where at least he would have room to stretch out his legs. She sat down at one of the tables with the card spread out in front of her.
“Hmmm,” Said Betty. “Who to pick, who to pick?” Tom walked over and took a look. “These are the cards for the erratic shrinking.” Explained Betty. “This pile is for those who were voted to be shrunk, and this is the pile for those who were voted to be enlarged. I’m supposed to shuffle them and choose at random, but…” she smiled at Tom with her eyes narrowed and said: “I’m not going to do that.”
Tom now knew that Betty had a lot more power over the game than had been originally thought. Not only did she play the hostess, but she also seemed to be a chief organizer, and for some reason the studio trusted her with the care of the shrunken people. Well, that was a mistake thought Tom.
“A lot of people want to shrink Cameroon,” Said Betty, looking over the cards. “They want to knock Serine’s little boy toy out of the picture. But I don’t think I want to enlarge our party quite yet. But I see someone wants to shrink Sandra, yes, and someone wants to shrink Dave and Bill. Hmmm.” Betty thought about it. “I think I’ll shrink Sandra and Bill. Yes, that would keep their proportion in line so they can continue their little fling.”
Tom watched this obvious breech of the rules and obvious setting of the game, but he said nothing. There was clearly nothing he could do about it.
“And for who to enlarge.” Said Betty. “Well, the distribution’s a lot more finer here, everyone wants to get big!” Betty smiled at reading exactly what she predicted she would read. “Someone wants to enlarge you, Tom, but I’m not willing to let you go so easy!” Betty gave Tom a sneaky smile. “Hmm. I think I’ll enlarge Sherri, your old girlie-friend.”
Tom wasn’t offended at this remark. Truth be told, he never felt anything for Sherri, and they both had understood that it was just a fling from the beginning.
“Well, it’s decided.” Said Betty, pushing the cards together then putting them into the recycle bin. “But I’m not going to do it yet. I want some desert, how about you?”
“Desert?” Asked Tom warily.
“Yeah,” Said Betty. “I have a piece of cake, would you like to share it with me?”
Of course, Tom would only eat a few crumbs. “Okay.” He said.
“You’ll have to be naked, though.” Betty said, turning to get the cake.
Tom was taken aback. Naked? Why? But he knew better than to argue with Betty. He stripped down all his clothes and stood naked on the tabletop.
Betty came back with a piece of cake the size of a small staircase. She put it down right in front of Tom. It looked and smelled delicious.
“Well, go on, get on the cake!” Said Betty, as if he should have known this all along. “You’re the centerpiece here!” Warily, Tom walked onto the cake and climbed about halfway up. The icing was sticking to his body.
“There.” Said Betty, and from nowhere she pulled out a camera and took a picture. “One for my personal archives.” Betty put the camera away and Tom was left looking shocked, not to mention seeing dots.
“And the picture will turn out nice too,” Joked Betty, smiling at Tom. Tom said nothing.
“Well, eat up.” Said Betty, then she swiftly attacked the cake with a fork. Tom jumped in alarm and moved his foot out of the way of the fork. He made to leave the cake, but just as he started to do so Betty had produced a can of whipped cream and was starting to spray a thick layer all over Tom and the cake.
Tom thrashed around and wiped the whipped cream from his eyes and mouth. Thick layers of it clung to his skin and try as he might he couldn’t get them off. Betty laughed at him as she continued to eat the cake.
“You know, I figure it’s alright to play with your food.” Said Betty, as Tom lie in a pile of whipped cream. Just then Betty brought her fork under Tom and lifted him up onto it. He jumped in alarm, but soon he was too high off the table to risk falling off. The fork was two feet wide to him and six feet long and he sat on it amidst cake bits and whipped cream. Betty smiled as she opened her mouth.
“Don’t eat me!” Tom cried as the maw opened. Even as small as he was Betty’s mouth didn’t open as high as he was tall. Still, the fork was going on a one-way trip to Betty’s mouth. At the last moment Tom fell sideways off the fork, grabbing onto Betty’s lip.
A second later, Betty grabbed Tom’s little right foot in her hand and held him out upside-down before her. “What’s this?” She said. “I may play with my food, but I’ll be damned if my food plays with me!”
With that, Betty soaked Tom with another layer of whipped cream. Tom flailed about but did not manage to dodge the spray. He wiped his eyes fast enough to see Betty lowering him into her mouth.
Tom screamed. Betty’s mouth closed around him, and he felt himself in a dark, hot, and damp world. Betty licked him, sucked him, and tossed him around. Tom flailed around helplessly, knowing it was no use. Then Betty’s mouth opened and two fingers came to retrieve him, her lips cleaning him as he came out.
Betty held the sweating, panting, and sticky Tom in her hand and giggled at him softly. “You didn’t really think I would eat you, did you?” Tom said nothing; he was still shaking. “Silly boy. But you still make a good Tomsickle, don’t you?”
With that, Betty rolled Tom around in the whipped cream and licked it off him she did this several times until it was all gone. Tom was now stickier than ever.
“We need to wash you off.” Said Betty, and she brought him to the sink and did another rigorous scrubbing. Within a minute Tom was sparkling clean.
“Well,” Said Betty. “I better be getting back to work. Get dressed quickly.”
Tom put his clothes on in a real rush, completely sure that Betty would leave him naked if he inconvenienced her at all. Sure enough, just after he had his shirt on Betty scooped him up and placed him back in the pitcher.
“When I get back, we can watch some movies.” Betty said, smiling as she left Tom to sit in his glass prison.
The seven competitors in the house stood silently after Betty left with their cards stating who should be shrunk and enlarged. They knew the game was coming down to the nitty-gritty. People were small and getting smaller. They all had the feeling that it wouldn’t be long before people would start getting eliminated left and right.
It was Annie who suggested the idea of breaking the tension and going outside. Sandra agreed that it was a good idea, and in a moment Bill, Dave, and Sherri followed them outside. Serine stayed inside holding Cameroon.
“We’re not going to go outside?” Cameroon asked.
“No.” Said Serine. “I don’t feel right. I don’t know, but I’ve been having this nagging feeling of guilt.”
“About Bill?” Cameroon asked.
“About everything!” Serine said. “I clawed my way to the top, crushing Bill in the process. Annie won’t talk to me, Sandra’s cool at best with me, and all the others keep their distance. I’ve been something of a sheer dictator since I’ve been the queen. Even you; I’ve been feeling guilty about using you for my own pleasure—you’re so small!”
“Don’t feel bad about me.” Said Cameroon. “I enjoyed it as much as you did.”
“I know.” Serine said. “But still…I don’t know. Maybe it would have been better if you had gone on and won that competition. Everyone liked you before I was the queen, now I’ve ruined your chances.”
Cameroon felt a pang since there was a ring of truth to that last statement. “Please Serine,” Cameroon said. “I did what I did so that you wouldn’t be eight inches tall. Don’t worry about it.”
“I can’t stop thinking about it.” Said Serine, sitting down heavily on the couch and bowing her head. “I keep thinking more and more that I’ve been a seductress and a cheat. If you want…you don’t have to be with me anymore, you can just go somewhere else.”
“No, it’s alright,” Said Cameroon.
“Please,” Said Serine. “Can I be by myself for a little bit?”
Cameroon climbed out of Serine’s hand and lowered himself down to the floor. “Okay,” He said. He walked down the long hall and out the trapdoor to the outside. He felt a little angry at Serine, and a little angry at himself for bringing this all on. He probably could have outlasted both Tom and Serine at that last competition. But that was the past, he reminded himself. What was important was to keep plugging away.
Outside, Annie and Sandra had started a two-person soccer game. Dave sat on Annie’s shoulders and Bill sat on Sandra’s shoulders as they ran. Little tiny Sherri sat on Dave’s shoulder, and shouted and whooped in wild abandon as she was whipped around over four stories in the air. It seemed her fears of being small had finally been vanquished.
Cameroon walked up to the group as they played in the grass. At first they didn’t see him because of his tiny size. Then Annie spotted him, whipping her shoulders—and Dave and Sherri—around to look at him.
“What is it Cameroon?” Annie asked. “Does Serine want something?”
“No,” Said Cameroon, nervously. “She wants to be alone…can I play?”
“Sure!” Said Sandra, walking up. She leaned forward, almost causing Bill to be tossed head first off her shoulders. She picked up Cameroon and said, “Get on Bill’s shoulders and we’ll play!”
Sandra helped Cameroon get on Bill’s large shoulders, and he held on tight as he surveyed his precarious position. It was dangerous, alright, but it would certainly be fun.
Annie and Sandra got back into the game, kicking the ball between each other’s feet and running back and forth in the grass. Dave and Bill swung wildly on their shoulders, and Sherri and Cameroon swung even more wildly on their shoulders, clinging wildly to the men’s necks to stay on board.
After a while the shoulder stacks were dismantled and Dave and Bill started their own game, although the cumbersomeness of the ball and the tall grass made playing very difficult. Annie and Sandra stood on the sidelines cheering their respective partners, and Sherri and Cameroon recklessly played goalie, but of course they jumped out of the way whenever a ball was kick towards them because the force of a larger person’s kick would have mauled them.
After this game, Annie and Sandra made a little arena by putting the bottoms of their feet together and spreading their legs. Sherri and Cameroon stood inside the arena, trying to kick a tennis ball (which was to them the size of a beach ball) into Annie or Sandra’s crotch area. Since Sherri and Cameroon were so small they couldn’t send the ball with enough force to hurt, but Annie and Sandra still shrieked in fear of a direct hit as they played.
All the while, Serine sat inside alone on a couch. With nobody in sight, it hit her just how ordinary the room looked. There was a couch, two chairs, and a TV. This could be someone’s living room in their apartment. Serine was feeling strangely dissociated with the whole process. With everyone out of sight and out of mind, Serine found it unbelievable that little people had been in this room. She found it unbelievable that she herself had been tiny.
It all seemed like a vauge dream now. It was all unbelieveable; tiny people, real tiny people in real life. Not even in the movies. This was real life and shrinking technology actually existed. She tried to comprehend what shrinking technology would do to society, expecially in this country. It was mind-blowing.
Serine tried to convince herself that she was at her friend’s house, merely visiting her. This was her friend’s living room and in a moment her friend will return from another room and they would leave to get something to eat, or to play tennis, or something like that. Something that didn’t involve shrunken people.
Serine took in a deep breath and decided to face reality. Shrunken people did exist, she had been shrunk as small as seventeen inches, and she was still in a game that might very well cause her to shrink again. Not to mention there were tiny people right outside. Sandra and Bill, Annie and Dave, Sherri and Cameroon. Not to mention Tom, wherever he was right now.
Serine stood up and walked to the door. There was only one thing she could do; she had to straighten things out with everyone else. She walked outside into the sun and around to the back of the house.
The other contestants, who had been playing in the yard, stopped and fell silent as they watched the giantess approach. They all looked up at her: many solomly, waiting for her to hand out an edict or something. All were cautious and wary, thought.
“Look, guys,” Serine started. “I feel that I owe you an apology. I’ve been treating you all badly, and I’d like to say I’m sorry.”
“Annie,” Serine said, and Annie looked up. “I’m sorry about yelling at you and blaming you for the loss at the first competition. It really wasn’t your fault. And for the quirp at the second competition; that was wrong. Bill,” Bill looked up. “I’m so sorry about betraying you. I was leading you on, I didn’t tell you that I didn’t have any deeper feelings for you.”
“And everyone else,” Serine said. “I’m sorry, okay? I’ve been a bad queen.” There was a pregnant silence as everyone digested this information. Finally, Annie spoke.
“It’s okay, Serine.” Annie said. “I haven’t been so nice to you either.”
Most of the others didn’t move, but Sandra and Dave gave her a face that seemed to convey forgiveness, and Sherri didn’t seem too mad either. Bill didn’t meet her eyes still.
“Why don’t we go in the hot tub?” Asked Annie. “We can all fit on Serine, we’re small enough!”
There was a general murmur of agreement and everyone went inside to change into their swimming things. The hot tub was turned on and pretty soon the water was bubbling. Serine went in first, leaning back on the side of the tub. Annie and Sandra climbed in and each sat on one of Serine’s legs, leaning against her. Dave sat in Annie’s lap and Bill sat in Sandra’s lap. Serine sat on Dave’s lap, and Cameroon sat against Serine’s belly, between Annie and Sandra.
They all sat and relaxed, enjoying the hot water. Serine was amazed at the fact that she now held the entire game in her lap, save for Tom, who would have easily fit anywhere in the ensamble. Everyone was comfortable and relaxed with warm bodies pressed up around them from all sides.
After a few minutes they got out and towled off. It was during this towling off that they noticed Betty approaching from the other side of the house. They all looked up at the hostess as she came up to them.
“I am here to collect two people for shrinking and one for enlarging.” Said Betty. “Will Sandra, Bill, and Sherri please follow me?”
The three who were chosen put down their towels and started to follow Betty back to the compound.
“Sandra, if you could carry Bill and Sherri it would help a lot,” said Betty with an air of kindness rather than impatience. Sandra obliged picking and picked up the two smaller people.
Sandra thought as she walked. Which one of the three would be enlarged? Obviously it couldn’t be her, because she was already half-size and Betty had said that there would not be two queens. So it was either going to be Bill or Sherri, and if Sherri was shrunk again it would mean elimination.
They reached the shrinking room in a short moment, and Betty revealed to them what would happen. “Sandra and Bill, you will move into the booth first to be shrunk to half your current size.” Betty explained. “Sherri, you will go into the booth next to be enlarged to twice your current size.”
So no one was being eliminated yet. The booth doors opened, and Sandra carried Bill inside.
“Well,” Said Sandra to Bill, “We’ll both be smaller than we’ve ever been.” The door closed and there was the flash of light. Now Sandra was quarter-sized and Bill was eigth-sized. Sandra had never been smaller than half-size and now seeing the immense booth from this size made her jaw drop. Bill felt extremely tiny, and clung to Sandra for support.
They walked through the other side, and Sherri entered the booth. She looked up at the immense surroundings, recalling the days of height when she was one of the two full-sized people. She wouldn’t be that big, but she would be growing.
With a flash of light, Sherri was one-fourth size, the size she had been before her ill-fated attempt to turn herself into a giantess. This was an improvement, of course, and gave her a safety zone now that she was not just a step away from elimination.
She walked through the other side and encountered Sandra and Bill. Sandra, who had towered over her beforehand, was now her size. Even Bill, who was just taller than Sherri, was now smaller. Sherri smiled at the little man, knowing that there were now three people smaller than her.
The door in the far side of the room opened and Betty walked in. Sandra and Bill gaped; for them, Betty was taller than she had ever been; she absolutely towered over them.
Betty smiled down at them and said, “Now you will go out and rejoin your group. Tell them I expect two more groups of notecards on the front porch of their house. I will be back later to shrink—and/or enlarge—some or none of you. I trust you can find your way out, so be off with you!”
Betty shooed them away good-naturedly, then disappeared through a door they hadn’t noticed before. It closed behind her, leaving only the regular hallway back outside. Sherri and Sandra looked at each other and shrugged.
“I guess tampering with the machine’s out of the question.” Sandra joked.
“Yeah,” Sherri said. “I just got some height back, I wouldn’t want to loose it!”
Sandra and Sherri excited the building, Sandra carrying Bill. Meanwhile, Betty walked back to her apartment where she immediately went to the glass pitcher that held Tom and plucked him out.
“Let’s go check the monitors, shall we?” Asked Betty, then she sat down on her swivel chair in front of her main computer. Betty punched up a few things on her computer, and Tom could tell that the movie screen-sized monitor was showing views from different cameras around the gaming area.
Betty punched a few buttons and a picture of Sandra, Sherri, and Bill walking away popped up. “Aw, that’s too bad.” Said Betty. “I was kind of hoping that they would try to fiddle with the machine so I could shrink them again. I’d love to add Bill to our party, wouldn’t you?”
Tom didn’t say anything. For some reason, he wanted to keep everything just between him and Betty, and as odd as it sounded, he didn’t want to share Betty with anyone else.
“At any rate,” Betty said. “I’m fixing to bring in someone else.”
Tom wondered who this “someone else” would be. Probably a guy, but even that he didn’t know for sure. Tom had the suspicion that Betty wanted to reel them all in, one by one, using the guise of the “game” as long as she could. Tom tried to imagine Betty with all eight of them, tiny, forcing them to pleasure her. It wasn’t hard, and Tom didn’t like it.
“Well,” Said Betty. “Do you want to watch a movie? I have all the classic SC’s here: we can watch one now and try it out later.” Betty winked. Tom didn’t really want to give Betty the ideas from some of the flicks; those were actors in pretend situations, not real shrunken people.
“How about we go with a classic.” Tom said. “I Wasn’t There.”
“Oh, that’s just a tease,” Said Betty, pretending to pout. “I guess it’s okay though.” Betty rifled through her collection until she found the movie and stuck it in the DVD player. They started to watch the classic as Betty decided that the people in the house would be okay for a while.
Sandra, Sherri, and Bill returned to the house about the same time as Betty and Tom started watching the movie. Now Annie was the only one half-height; Sandra, Sherri, and Dave were quarter-height, and Cameroon and Bill were one-eighth height.
The others were not surprised at who had shrunk and who had grown. This way no one had yet been eliminated. Bill was very nervous about being around all the comparitive giants, even though Sandra held him close. Annie smiled at Bill, making him nervous.”
“Boy, Dave,” Said Annie. “I do wish you were that small.”
“I don’t.” Dave said. “I’d be just one step from being eliminated!”
Sandra explained to the group that the cards had to be placed down for Betty in the next half-hour. They made two neat stacks of cards, then went inside for some lunch. Now that everyone was so much smaller Serine didn’t have to cook any more than she usually did for herself and it suited everyone fine.
It had only taken twenty minutes before Bill was back on his conspiracy theory. “I’m telling you, this isn’t right!” Said Bill, to eye roles from everybody else.
“It seems alright to me.” Said Dave. “I don’t see any problems with the way things are being run.”
“Just the way we keep shrinking away,” Said Bill. “If nothing else it’s going to widdle us all out, and who knows where we go when we’re four inches tall?”
“Not all of us are going to be that small.” Said Annie.
“Yeah, but all but one of us will be.” Said Bill. “Unless there’s another elimination method that Betty hasn’t told us about yet.”
“You better hope not,” Said Sandra, “Or we might just vote you off the island!”
“Maybe that’ll be better,” Said Bill before he could help it. “Sometimes I think I just want to walk, million or no million.”
“That’s fine with me,” Said Dave. “One less dude in my way.”
“People, please,” Said Serine, authoritatively. “I know this game has been rough on us all, but I feel we all have to stick it out together.”
After lunch they all once again watched a movie, a nice old action flick with no shrinking whatsoever. It was at the end of the movie that Betty returned to the house.
“This time I come for Annie and Dave.” Betty said. “But before I take them I would like to explain what is to come tonight.”
Like always, she had everyone’s complete attention. “There shall be one more erratic shrinking round in the evening, then there will be the evening vote.” Betty explained. “The vote is for your Queen. You will, tonight, vote whether to keep your Queen or to dump her. If you decide to dump her there will be a new vote for a new Queen or King, a vote in which you cannot vote for yourself.”
Betty motioned for Annie and Dave to follow her. Annie scooped up Dave and they followed her out the door. The five in the house were nervous and quiet, expecially Serine. Serine knew she had no chance—despite her attempt to make up with the others, it would not give her enough support to remain Queen. Serine excused herself and walked off to her room.
“Bill,” Said Sandra. “You know that Serine doesn’t stand a chance. No one’s going to vote for her except Cameroon. So I need you to vote for me.”
“Why you?” Bill asked.
“You know that I have an alliance with Tom and Annie,” Sandra said. “Well, that alliance is pretty much irrellevent now. Annie is still loyal to me, and if you vote there’s two for me. I plan to throw my vote away on Dave or someone else that has no chance.”
“But Sandra,” Said Bill. “The game’s getting near the end! If we help you…there’s not much time for the rest of us to win.”
Sandra laughed. “Wasn’t it you who wanted to duck out and forget the million?” She said. “So vote for me and I’ll make sure to treat you well until it’s over.”
“Okay,” Said Bill. “But please make sure you and Annie don’t eliminate me. I don’t want to fall into Betty’s clutches.”
“Alright,” Said Sandra, still somewhat impatient with Bill’s insistance on conspiracy theories. “In return for your vote, Annie and I’ll vote for someone else to be shrunk. And you can’t vote for either of us. Knock out Sherri or Cameroon or Dave if you can.”
“Okay,” Said Bill.
In a few minutes Annie returned quarter-sized and Tom returned eighth-sized. It was now, for the first time, clear-cut that all the girls were bigger than all the guys; the girls were no smaller than one fourth and the boys were no bigger than one eighth. Bill, Dave, and Cameroon were all just eight inches tall and one step away from elimination.
Now, of course, there was no one left at half-size, and Serine had to watch over all those people that were so much smaller than her. The outside sky was beginning to darken and she started to feel a forboding feeling about the night. Tonight she would shrink again—she just knew it.