In the morning Sondra seemed keen to see to her exercise.
    Wendy took the opportunity to let the family restore her protective magics.   Though she did mention that she had no need for tracking wards. 
    Her separation from Sondra also gave Buttercup a chance to approach her. It was clear that the fairy had seen everything last night.  But she was strangely serious.
    “Would Witch Wendy like to come to Fairy Home?”  She asked, out of the blue.
    “Could I come back?” I was the first question that came to mind.  She’d heard the stories.
    “Yes...” Still, only a hint of her smile.  “After a while...”
    That could mean a day or a century, again, she had heard the stories.
    “Why?”  Wendy was getting worried, this was strange. “What would I do there.”
    “Become fairy.”  A bigger smile started to cross the tiny face.  “Like Buttercup.”
    “But I’d be tiny....”
    “Wings!” Buttercup countered. “World crossing.”  Referring to her her people’s ability to shift between realities.
    “I’d have to do what the Queen says.” Wendy smirked.  “Americans don’t like that sort of thing.”
    “Buttercup could talk to Queeny Queen.” The fairy insisted.  “Make sure Witch Wendy is treated special.”  She said special like it was two words.
    “And how are you going to get the queen to treat me special?" 
    “Easy!" Buttercup insisted, “Queeny Queen is Buttercup’s mommy."
    Wendy fell into a stunned silence for a moment, then.  “You’re a princess?  Why didn’t you tell me?"
    “Witch Wendy never asked," The pixie stretched to her full height, “And Buttercup thought it was obvious."
    “Uh huh," Wendy smirked, “Your majesty."
    “But seriously, Witch Wendy should take offer." Her tiny smile waned.
    “Why?"  Wendy felt a little chill.
    “Sees All Seer talked to Queeny Queen.  Friend of Buttercup over heard.  Talk of things dark for Witch Wendy...."  Her tiny voice was low, “Dark and....necessary."  Then the fairy straightened and smiled.  “Should come."
    “I thank you for your generous offer, but I can’t."  Wendy could only manage a sad smile.  “If I flee the darkness my path means nothing."
    Her tiny friend only nodded in return.
    “But you could do me another favor...”  Wendy brightened.  “I know you’ve been checking on me.  Could you also keep an eye on Sondra?”
    “Wargirl Sondra is messed up.”  The fairy lit off her hand and kissed Wendy on the nose. “Buttercup will keep Girly Girlfriend safe.”

    One last surprise was waiting for Wendy on her way off the commune.  It seemed that Agatha had gotten a new pick up and had no need for her white 1970 Mustang convertible.  Wendy suspected the “no need” of being a way of saying “Take this, I love you.”
    “Nice car...”Sondra observed, “But I’m not trading.  So don’t ask.”
    The drive back was uneventful.  The view was beautiful, the California coast in summer.  And even though they kept in sight of each other, Wendy couldn’t help but remember the trip down.  She kept feeling the emptiness of the seat beside her.


    Sondra settled back into the routine of classes during the day and performing at night.  It was starting to get hectic again, but she had dealt with that before.  Wendy and her got to have lunches together and see a bit of each other during the evenings, but she never brought up her outburst.  Hopefully it would be forgotten and Wendy could get back to being best friends.  Though Wendy never gave any sign they were anything less than “besties,”  Sondra feared she had messed things up between them. 
    Of course she only used that pain to fuel her singing.  There had been a run of good crowds and even some probing from the pros.  It seemed dropping some asshole on his head got people talking about you.  And being talked about was the whole point.
    On Thursday evening she showed up at the club as usual.  However, Tony advised her that there were people asking about her.  “Record company weirdos.” He said.  Sure enough there was Avery Welles, in all his man-bunned glory with two desperate-to-look-cool guys. 
    She shrugged and covered “Angel” by Sara MacLachlan, because she really did love Canadian music.  After one song they were signaling her to join them.  “Open stage” She though, “I can get off when ever I want...”  So she bowed and and stepped off the stage. 
    “Miss Dolan,” Welles announced happily, “This is Roger Cornfeld and Roy Byrne from Persistant Vizions.”  Roger seemed to be skinny, stooped and pasty.  He normally would have looked creepy, but done up in “American hipster” he looked kind of funny.  Roy seemed to have never let the eighties die and was wearing a ripped sports coat and had yellow, not blonde, yellow dyed hair.  “I believe you said you were looking for a ‘total creative freedom’ contract.”
    “Uh huh...” Sondra raised an eyebrow.
    “Avery speaks highly of you, Miss Dolan.” Roger spoke up, producing  a legal size piece of paper.  “and based on his say so...and you’re performance,  we’re prepared to offer you a 3 album deal.”  He offered the paper.  “This is just a preliminary document.....I states our intention to enter into negotiation with you and what we will give you.”
    Sondra began reading.
    At this point, Roy spoke up in his reedy voice.  “All this does is state that you will not enter into negotiations with any other party until our negotiations end or until our business is complete...”
    It was one page.  All the responsibility was on their part.  It was perfect.  There was even a clause giving her 48 total hours of studio time to cut “test tracts” which would belong to her if the negotiation fell through.  God, this was the key to everything she wanted...she could make her sure-to-be-short life count for something.  Make her parents proud.  Change the world for the better.  God, these guys were creepy. 
    There’s a moment that few people ever experience.  A moment where everything you want is within your grasp.   It is electric.  It is intoxicating.
    The pen was in her hand and she was not sure how it got there.   Signing the paper felt....weighty?  Now she could accomplish something.  These guys were creepy.  Now she’d grab the world by the horns.  What were those letters at the edge of her vision?  No matter, they were fading.  Why did these guys have an orange glow behind their eyes?  Trick of the light?  No matter, that was fading too.

    “Witch Wendy!”
    She could not have imagined hearing Buttercup’s voice if broad daylight, on the crowded campus.  But, there it was, loud enough for anybody who cared to listen.  Wendy froze, trying to spot her tiny friend.  At least she low-flew right up to her, Wendy held up a book to awkwardly shield her.
    “Wargirl Sondra....” The pixie gasped, “Dark ones have her...so sorry...couldn’t keep her safe....hurry.”  She pointed toward the dorms.
    Wendy simply snatched her out of the air and ran with the fairy in her fist.  When they reached the dorm parking lot, there was Sondra, hurriedly throwing things into her pinto.  Wendy surreptitiously set Buttercup atop her back pack, under her hair, just as Sondra saw her.
    “Hi Wendy!” Sondra laughed.  “I’m so glad you’re here.  I’ve got the best news.”
    “Sondra!” Wendy had to settle down, not sound so panicky, “What happened?”
    “Oh Avery came to the club.” She was setting a pile of clothes in the car.  “He got me signed with a label.  I did it!  The whole world’s gonna hear my music!” Some clothes hit the ground as she hugged Wendy.  “You’re my lucky charm.”
    That didn’t make any sense.  She resisted him just fine a week ago.  She switched her perception to the aura level.  Her friend’s energy field looked like parchment with dried blood letters written on it.  She pushed away from her out of fear and instinct.
    “Whoa!” Sondra said, responding to the shove.  “What’s the matter hon?”
    “You’ve got to listen to me!”  Wendy exclaimed. 
    Then stopped.
    She couldn’t tell her friend anything.  It was a foundational rule of her order.  No secrets to the non-initiated.  Breaking that rule meant the ire of the Goddess, not her favor.
    “Yes?”  Sondra asked, “What?” She shut the back of her car.
    “Sondra...” she started “you’ve been affected....by something.”
    “You can say that again!” She puffed up.”Success! It feels great! We’re gonna have such a great time....you can come with me when I tour.  See the world.”  She pulled her keys from her jeans.  “I bet you’ve got like...holy sites...in Europe...you wanna see those, don’t you?”
    “No!  No!  Sondra!” She moved to block her path.  “Where are you going?”
    “To the label....” The bigger girl gently, but firmly, moved her aside. “ Got to get my final contract?”  She climbed into the Pinto. 
    Desperation surged in Wendy.  She expanded her senses, looking for a weakness in whatever was working it’s dark magic on her friend.  There.  Some wavelength she’d never seen before.   Energy swirling about her friend.  She reached for it with her personal energy.  And pulled.
    Sondra waved to her from behind her steering wheel....and vanished.  In fact the whole car vanished. 
    Wendy felt the extra energy whirling around her.  What happened?  Where was Sondra?  And her car?  She moved forward...then froze.  There it was.  Tiny, like a toy, Sondra’s white Pinto.  She went to her hands and knees, getting a better look.  There was Sondra, behind the wheel, so tiny.  Her eyes were wide with terror.  She was looking at Wendy with terror in her eyes.
    “Oh Goddess,” Wendy intoned, “Help me.”  A slight shift in vision revealed the evil spell still working.  “Well that didn’t do anything.”  Only it did.  Now she could keep Sondra safe until she figured out a way to break the spell.  But first.
    “Go to the commune.” She instructed Buttercup, pulling the fairy from behind her.  “Tell them I’ll be calling for help.”
    The tiny fairy looked a the tinier car and back at Wendy.  Apparently she had an observation to share.
    “Nuh!” Wendy silenced her. “Home.  Help.  Go.”
    Buttercup shrugged and was gone like she was made of light.
    Back to the problem at hand.  Wendy went to pick up the car, then pulled back.  What if it was super fragile now?  What if she crushed it?  She might just send glass flying into Sondra’s face.  “Gee, sorry I blinded you.  I’m kinda new at this.”  She seemed to have a new sense of it, maybe she could read it’s structure to know if she was damaging it.
    She carefully, oh so carefully, held the tiny vehicle between her thumb and forefinger.  She could sense the door panels flexing, but no real damage.  Good, this was working.  She set the car in her left palm.  What was that sound?
    It was Sondra.  She was screaming.
    “Sondra.”  Wendy whispered,  “It’s me.  You’re gonna be okay.”
    The screaming stopped.  That that was all it took gave Wendy a warm feeling in her heart.  Maybe they could fix this together.  The wide eyed expression on Sondra’s tiny face gave her pause though.
    “You should probably buckle up though.”  The tiny head nodded and it looked like she was following Wendy’s advice.  She wrapped her fingers around the pinto and went into the dorm.  She tried to slide past Jay, but he was in the mood to engage.
    “Is Sondra moving?” He asked, sounding concerned.
    For a moment the question had a different meaning.  Like, did you crush your friend?  Is she passed out?  Dead?  She fought the urge to check her hand right there in front of Jay.
    “I....”  Wendy stammered, “I don’t think so.”
    “I saw her taking her stuff.” Jay said, a touch of sadness in his voice. “I thought....”
    “Big weekend.” Wendy managed, brushing by.
    “Starting Thursday?” He asked. 
    “BIG weekend.”  Wendy said, catching the elevator.

    In her room it was tough to get what she wanted one-handed.  Laptop, she hung it over her shoulder by the strap.  Lucky carpet, over her shoulder.  Alchemy kit, in her free hand.  She was ready to go.
    She managed to reach her Mustang and load it, a little awkward, but she kept Sondra reasonably safe and steady through the whole process.  In the driver’s seat she decided to put her tiny package on the passenger side floorboard, with nothing in the passenger seat.  She didn’t want to hit the brakes and have anything flying forward and crushing her friend.
    “Okay.” She said to the Pinto.  “I’m taking us somewhere safe.”
    Where to go was obvious, the commune had a cabin for retreat and meditation about 30 miles from here.  They would be safe and alone there. 
    During the drive through the California wilderness she found her eyes drifting to the Pinto on her floor.  Every time she looked she had a pang of guilt.  Sondra never tried to get out.  She pictured her friend, wide eyed, still gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles.  She’d find a way to make everything okay.
    The cabin was a simple 6 room structure.  Once parked, Wendy gently carried the tiny car inside.  There had lots of leftover artifacts from years of witch’s experiments and the place smelled of dust.  She headed into the bedroom.  There, sitting on a low dresser, like it was waiting for her, was a square cage for small animals.  She shuddered, hoping she wouldn’t need it.
    Once her precious burden was set on the bed, Wendy focused on it.  The energy she had perceived earlier seemed to follow, trailing along with her movements.  She focused on putting some of the energy back.  The vehicle seemed to rise from the bed, growing from a few inches to a little over a foot in length.  The new sized Sondra inside had gone from looking terrorized to ...well....concerned.  With no instruction, her miniature friend got out of the car.  She paused, seeming to get a feel for walking on a giant blanket then came toward her. 
    “Wendy?  You did this?”  Surprisingly, it wasn’t an accusation.
    “Well, yes...” Wendy wished she’d thought about what to tell her. “Yes.”
    “Then you made me bigger?”  She was getting a little more intense now.
    “Yes.” She saw where this was going. “But...”
    “Then finish.”  It didn’t sound like an order, more like she was pointing out the obvious.  “Grow me back.”
    “Sondra,” She started, “listen...”
    “Wendy!” Sondra yelled, hysteria painting her voice. “I...I don’t like this....please...I’m scared...I’m sorry if I....” She dropped to her knees, crying.
    Wendy couldn’t help herself, she reached to comfort her shrunken friend.  At her touch the mini blonde recoiled.
    “Aaaaaaah!” She screamed, trying to shield herself with her arms. “What are you doing?  No!”  She scurried away.  “Stop.” 
    “Sondra.”  Wendy pleaded, “I can’t restore you yet...”
    “Please, Wendy.” Sondra pleaded in return.  “There’s still time.  Put me back and I can still get to the record company.”
    Aha, Wendy reasoned that must be what the curse was doing.  How else could she be shrunk and terrified and thinking of getting to the record people. 
    She scooped up the tiny figure and brought her up to her face.  She instantly regretted that as Sondra actually went limp with terror, like she was about to pass out. 
    “Easy now, honey."  She cooed,  “It’s gonna be okay."
    The gentle sound of her voice seemed to calm her friend a bit, though with the calm came more awareness and she seemed to take in the relative height she was presently at with relative alarm.  Seeing it as the most merciful option she set the nearly catatonic Sondra in the cage. 
    She needed to talk to the family about this.