Lucy climbed out the window from her room using the rope that Mason
had left behind to hoist herself down. Thankfully, Miss Scuttlebottom
hadn't realized that Mason had been there the night before, so she didn't
bother staying up as late as she had the past two nights. That meant
that Lucy had a chance to break the spell before the pixie realized
she was gone.
When she reached the ground, Lucy crept through the underbrush till
she arrived at the tree that Mason had spoken of. It was an old tree,
with boards attached to the bark that could be used as steps. Lucy held
her breath and took her kerchief out of her pocket. This was the moment
that she had been dreading.
Mason had instructed that she climb the tree blindfolded. When she
reached up and found that the only step left was round — like a
broom handle — she was to reach out her foot and try to find the
nearest heavy branch. Then she was to shimmy around the trunk until
both feet were securely planted on the branch. If she reached out, she
should be able to find a hanging swing. Lucy was supposed to climb on
to the swing and sit down, making sure to let her feet dangle. Mason
would join her on the swing, and kiss her as they swung through the
air.
Lucy tied the blindfold around her eyes, prayed, and climbed.
So far so good; she had climbed the first six steps without any problems.
Lucy ignored her quivering stomach and tried to focus on her task: 10,
15, 20. How high up was this swing? Lucy's hand reached up and found
the rounded bar. She reached her foot out and felt the branch.
Lucy tried to slide around the tree. Her foot slipped. Desperately,
she clung to the rounded step with her hands as her feet swung wildly
looking for a foothold. Her strength was failing. Where the hell was
that branch?
Lucy reached out one last time, slamming her foot down onto the limb.
She inched around the trunk more carefully, every muscle in her body
determined that she should make it. When both feet were secure, she
held onto the trunk for a moment to calm her beating heart.
"It's now or never," she whispered to herself as she reached
for the rope.
Her hand caught it and she inched forward, brushing by a branch. Suddenly
there was a tug on her blindfold. She must have gotten it caught on
the branch. Lucy struggled to move forward, all the while attempting
to be sure in her movements so that she didn't misstep. She moved another
step forward. The blindfold loosened and slipped off. Lucy watched in
horror as the cloth floated down to the ground below.
She tried to close her eyes again, but it was too late. She noticed
Mason down on the branch below her in all his monstrous horror.
Down below his waist, there was something wriggling like nothing she
had ever seen before.
It was a leech, nine inches long and six inches around, black and slimy,
wiggling and squiggling as though possessed by some evil force. And
it wasn't just attached to Mason; it was part of him. The big toe she
used to play "this little piggy" with was gone.
Mason turned pale.
"How could you," he demanded, "after all that we'd been
through. How could you condemn me to a life like this? By sunrise my
whole body will be gone!"
Without waiting for her to respond, Mason scrambled down the ladder,
careful not to whack his new appendage. Lucy fought back tears as she
called out to him, begging him to stop. He didn't listen. She'd have
to go after him. She started back towards the trunk and realized something
odd. There were no low hanging branches in the way. How had the blindfold
come off?
Lucy looked down. In the distance, she could barely make out Mason's
form scurrying in the darkness. But coming up behind him, with remarkable
speed and brightness, was a ball of glowing light.
"Miss Scuttlebottom," Lucy cursed as she began her descent.
Lucy peered through the bushes at the bizarre scene in front of her.
Mason was bound, his hands held above his head by a rope that was tied
to an overhanging branch. Miss Scuttlebottom cackled like a she-devil.
As her voice grew stronger, her body began to grow.
First she was as big as a melon. Then she was as large as a dwarf.
Within moments she was human-sized.
The nose swelled into a bulbous blob. The pixie wings fell off. The
hair-bun ballooned into a hair-loaf, two feet high, with yellow and
black stripes like a bumblebee's backside. The eyes darkened into two
orbs of onyx. The voice deepened.
The only things remaining of the housekeeper were her pudgy arms and
pear-shaped figure.
"You!" Mason called out. "You knew that I would go to Lucy for help, so you got to her first!"
The woman shook out her arms and legs as if getting the blood flowing again.
"Poor, poor, Mason," she said with a devious smile. "You
actually believed that you had a chance to break the spell."
Mason looked as if he would burst.
"But why? Why are you doing this to me? What have I ever done
to you?"
The sorceress shrugged. "Who needs a reason? You men are all
the same. You happen to look like a former lover who took and took
and took all I had to give. So, since I couldn't punish him, I decided
to punish you instead."
Mason struggled against his bonds. His big toe thrashed violently.
"No one said that life was fair, Mason. Now do be a good boy
and conserve your strength. You'll need it if you want to survive
the transformation process."
