Chapter 3

The three cousins and George stood in front of the Archway. Gwendolyn had volunteered to be the first to test it. But as excited as she had been, now it was creepy. Even for a girl who spent most of her life living dangerously. It was like the first time she had been robbing a bank.
Man, had she been nervous then! But everything went fine. For the Goblin Gang, that is. Grace had shot an employee who tried to press the alarm button.

The Archway came to life as George pushed a button. A blue field filled its space, like a thin film of light.

Gwen wore a T shirt and a pair jeans. No socks. Gwen never did, only during very cold winters. Her footwear was a pair of knee-high leather boots. She had taken off her earrings and rings, just in case.

"I'm ready", she said.

"OK, I'll teleport you 100 feet from here, in the meadow. You'll be 50 feet tall. Just step through the Archway," George said.

"OK...", Gwen said, butterflies in her belly. She walked towards the blue energy field in the Archway. It's shimmering light looked like a thick mist. She sighted and stepped through.

Gwen felt a tingle all over her body as if she was being pricked by countless small electrically charged needles. Then the feeling was replaced by a slight light-headedness. She had just shot up a little more than 44 feet!

Gwen looked around her in amazement. She could hardly believe her eyes. Everything looked like she was standing on the roof of a 5-story house!

The tops of the tallest trees were eye-level to her. The grass, far below, seemed moss. Looking back, she spotted the now much smaller Archway and George, Giana and Grace standing next to it. They gazed up at her, George grinning and her two cousins in awe. Giana had clasped her hands on her mouth, staring at Gwen with a look of unbelief. Grace just stood there, her eyes wide open.

Gwen, too, was a bit shocked. The three people looked so small, they hardly reached halfway her calves!

"WOW!" Gwen said. "This...this is amazing! Look at me! I'm a giant! A real fucking giant! You are a genius, George!"

She grinned.

"The power! The possibilities! Am I stronger now as well?" Without waiting for an answer, Gwen walked towards a tree. It was a pine, about as tall as she was. She wrapped her hand around its stem and pulled. The tree came up slowly and with difficulties, but after half a minute she had yanked it out of the ground.

"PHEW!" Gwen said, her arms like lead. Then she smiled.

"Look! I uprooted a tree! A full grown tree! I'm the strongest woman in the world! No, the strongest human!"

She flexed her muscles in a double biceps pose. Although Gwen was not muscular and one could hardly see a muscle bulging on her arm, both George and the two cousins knew she was right.

"And by pushing this button, I can get you back," George said after a minute. He pressed a large red button and Gwen disappeared almost the same instant. A split second later, she was standing in front of the Archway, 5'7" again. Walking towards George, she embraced and kissed him. 

"A wonderful experience," she said.

"Thanks! And it will become even better. I can make you much bigger. If you want to rob the really wealthy places, you need to be really gigantic after all! Now, who wants next?" George asked.

"Me!" Grace said. "But make me bigger than Gwen!"

"All right." George replied. He pushed a few buttons and motioned for Grace to proceed.

Grace walked with glee through the Archway. In a moment she was going to be a giant! Exciting!

She too felt the tingle, but was more light-headed than Gwen. No surprise, because Grace was now no less than 200 feet tall!

Grace marveled as she took in the world around her. Everything looked so small. As if she was standing on the top of a skyscraper!

The Archway looked tiny and the three people... hardly as big as her pinky finger. She could hardly make out their facial expressions.

You thought you were strong, Gwen?" she said at the miniature people at her feet. "I'll give you something strong!" She spread her thumb and index finger and bent over to the grove. "With two fingers," she said, and plucked one tree after the other like picking roses.

"This is strength!" she remarked. "You tear a tree out of the ground with trouble, but I, I pick an entire GROVE like NOTHING! Without breaking a sweat! That is power, ha, ha!"

"She surely has gotten the taste", George said to Gwen, who was watching her cousin with a broad grin on her face.

"Can you do that Gwen?" Grace asked, and stepped on a pine tree. Its wood shrieked, cracked, and then splintered as Grace lowered her now immense weight on the little pine. Her enormous boot crushed the tree like a dried twig. Grace grinded her foot, smashing the wood into tiny little splinters.

"Destroyed a tree like nothing! This is amazing!" she exclaimed. "The power! The might! Ha, ha! This will be the future of crime! Imagine, giants robbing banks! Money extortion will be easy! Pay up, or else..." Grace made an eating motion. Gwen grinned, while Giana didn't like it. She was uncomfortable with the idea of being so big.


"Why not?" George asked her. Grace had just been reduced to her normal size. George told her she would be next but Giana refused.

"No. I don't like it. It is... no, thank you." she said.

"Come on," Gwendolyn said. "It is fun. Try it."

"Yeah, don't be shy," said Grace. "You don't have to be 200 feet. 50, like Gwen, is enough already."

"It is weird. No, let me just sit behind the computer and... HEY!!!" Giana stumbled towards the Archway. Gwen had given her a push so that she fell through the blue field. A moment later, she was in the meadow, 50 feet tall.

"You.. BITCH!!!" Giana exclaimed. Gwen and Grace were laughing. George too.

"Make me small again!" Giana said, annoyed. "I don't want to. NOW!"

"Or else what? Are you going to stomp us?" Grace grinned.

George, smiling, pushed the red button and Giana was back in place.

"You bitch," she spat at Gwen. Grace had to hold her back, or she would have punched Gwen in her face.

"OK, ladies," George said. "Everything works fine. Now, let's get started then..."