Tales of Carion Mansion

Chapter 24

by Skytower

Wake up

Elvira Peterson woke up instantly once she realized something wasn’t right. The various clues were not, after all, subtle. Fist she was upright, not lying down. Second though the rest of her felt wet her face was dry. Also there was some sort of tube in her mouth. There were other tubes in her as well, in places she didn’t like things stuck into. Eyes opening Elvira saw that she was in a tank of some kind. Immersed in a bright green liquid. Beyond the tank were the sights of the laboratory of Carion Mansion. Her own breathing roared in her ears as it did every time she went swimming. But she wasn’t in water. The stuff felt warm, slippery yet at the same time thick. It was almost like being stuck in a large warm frappe. Elvira relaxed slightly when she realized where she was. Not that being experimented on, as she obviously was, was a lot of fun, but at least it wasn’t fatal. Or hadn’t proven to be to date.

But what the hell was she doing there? Elvira tried to think and immediately found herself remembering events that felt dreamlike in quality. She could remember getting up, eating, drinking, going to school, but at the same time there was something wrong with the memories. For a few moments she struggled with the Will-o-the-wisp that held her memory. Then Elvira decided to think outside of the tank.

Gathering her strength the young woman pushed herself to the top of the tank and broke into the air. She pulled off her facemask and then reached down and pulled the other tubes out of her body. Taking a deep breath that was filled with the smell of chemicals and ancient stone walls Elvira looked around. Though she called it "the dungeon" the chamber Elvira was in hadn’t been used for either torture or imprisonment for at least 15 years. Or at least so Jeremy and Helga kept telling her. Elvira, noting the chains and manacles that hung from the walls, had her doubts.

"Your awake." Jeremy said looking up from the computer that filled much of the western wall of the chamber. He was wearing a blue NASA style jumpsuit with his name sewn over the breast pocket.

"Yep." Elvira said.

"How do you feel?"

Elvira took a deep breath and let her mind feel her body. There was no pain, no aches, she was hungry but that was it. She was also relieved to be her normal five feet five inches instead of a foot in height.

"Ok."

"Good, stay in there while I drain the NS and fill it with water." Jeremy pushed a few buttons on the console. "You have to wash all the NS off or there could be some damage."

"To what?" Elvira asked as the liquid began to drain away. The liquid stuck to her body like honey.

"The floor. The NS solution is very hard to clean up."

"Oh."

Elvira watched as he manipulated more of the computer’s controls. Though Jeremy Carrion looked 12 he was in fact over 80. Many people would have had a hard time accepting that, but not Elvira. The green eyed red haired urchin and his twin sister had proven they were not ordinary children more than once. Still it was a bit disconcerting as the solution drained from the tank leaving her standing naked infront of him. Elvira’s wide hipped, small breasted body was not the sort that sent armies into battle, but it was attractive non-the-less. Elvira thought her face with it’s square features and shoulder length brown hair was her best feature. Jeremy for his part didn’t seem to notice her nudity, but then he had seen her nude many times.

Elvira screamed as ice cold water flooded into the tank. Quickly loosing her balance she fell down and submerged only to emerge a few seconds later gasping.

"Warn a girl next time you're going to do that!" she shouted scrambling to her hand and knees.

"Sorry." Jeremy said absentmindedly as he worked on the computer.

Growling Elvira dunked herself, working the greenish liquid out of her hair. It took a few minutes and when she at last stood again the water was draining.

"Can I get out now?"

"Yes."

Clean, naked and sopping wet Elvira climbed out of the tank and onto the floor. After her cold bath the hard stone under her feet felt almost warm. The stones long since worn smooth still felt rough against the wet soles of her feet.

"I don’t suppose you got a towel or a robe or something." She asked putting her hands on her hips.

"Didn’t think of it." Jeremy said.

"What about getting me dry?"

"No problem." Jeremy said, manipulating another control. Before Elvira could react an arm dropped down from the ceiling. She had a moment to close her eyes as the wide field laser bathed her body with heat. It lasted only a few moments and when it passed she was dry, even her hair.

Holding back her temper with an effort Elvira walked over to Jeremy. She was breathing hard from the sudden cold and the unexpected heat and now she was starting to feel the chill of the lab once more.

"That little trick is another thing that comes under the heading ‘give a girl a warning’, ok?"

Jeremy nodded, entering in data to a keyboard. Elvira sighed and sat down in the chair next to him. The laboratory was in the deepest cellar of Carion Mansion. The place was built of grey stone with vaulted ceilings and many small alcoves. There were things in the alcoves, experiments and machinery that Elvira didn’t understand and some that Elvira didn’t want to understand.

"Why was I in a tank full of green goop?" Elvira asked suddenly as her head started to clear.

"That ‘green goop’ as you call it" Jeremy said sounding slightly offended "saved your life."

"Oh my god Bonita’s giant robot!" Elvira nearly shouted as her memory started to work once more. She had grown to nearly 24 feet tall to stop the deranged widow of the town’s former mayor. Giant and naked she had fought a leftover battle robot and nearly lost. Elvira remembered shrinking back to normal size after the battle. She been weak and in pain. Staggering down the hillside looking for her moped. She barely remembered reaching it, only to find someone else already there. Timothy, the idiot who was helping Bonita, and someone else.

"Is she awake yet?"

Elvira looked up to see a tall slim woman with long hair so blonde it was white. She looked to be in her late forties. She was wearing a pink waitress outfit and her named tag read "June". Like the rest of her the woman’s face was slim but it was lined as well. It was the face of a woman who worked even when she wasn’t working.

"She is." Jeremy said. "And fully restored to health thanks to my genius."

"Good, then we can free Timothy."

"It may not be that simple." Jeremy said.

"Remember we also have to find Mindy and Calliope." Jeremy’s sister Helga announced walking into the chamber. She was carrying a red robe and Elvira quickly went over to her.

"My son first, that was our deal." June said.

"But..."

"Wait a minute!" Elvira shouted putting on the robe. There was a moment of silence as they all turned to her. "Two things first, I want some cloths and I want some food. And then I want a recap of who I have to save and where they are."

"That’s three things." Helga pointed out.

Elvira growled and Helga took a step back.

Ten minutes later Elvira sat in the dining table and packed food into her mouth almost as quickly as Theodore Y. Bear, the butler at Carion Mansion could put it infront of her. The robe was snug and warm, and smelled faintly of lilac. It was also three sizes too big for her and she had rolled the sleeves up so much they kept hitting the plate. Jeremy had vaguely promised her actual cloths soon. Jeremy and Helga sat on the other side of the table while June sat next to Elvira. For the twins it was a normal day and each worked quietly on laptops. June’s hands shook slightly as she drank a glass of milk and stared at Theodore. Elvira understood why. Theodore was the spirit of a long dead English butler Helga used to animate her teddy bear. Seeing him move and hearing his British accent was unsettling.

"I remember getting back to my moped." Elvira said. "That’s about it."

"Tim and I were waiting for you." June said. "I wanted to get him home and get the hell out of town but he said you might need help. We got you and your moped into my car and was about to take you here when these spiders attacked."

Her voice reflected her shock and Elvira could sympathize. Carion Mansion served as a home to a race of centaur-like half-human/half-spider men who flew around the city on flying rats. They were ruled by Jeremy and Helga’s Aunt Petunia, herself a human-spider mutant.

"It was insane." June protested. "I get a call from Tim in the middle of the night he’s wearing some crazy costume and talking about ghost, and giant robots... I thought he was on drugs until I saw you fighting that thing."

"Bravo on that battle by the way." Jeremy said.

"Yes you were very brave." Helga added. "We have a recording of it of course if you want to watch it."

"Thanks. Maybe later." Elvira said stuffing a pancake into her mouth. "I hope no one else saw me."

"No one we know off." Jeremy said. "I hazard to say it was too early."

"Good." Elvira looked at June. The woman was holding it together, but she was worried. "So the spidermen got Tim?"

"Yea, one minute he was running away from them, the next he was shrunk and they were flying off. All I had left was his cloths. I followed them here and told these two I wouldn’t let them have you until he was safe."

"Thanks a lot."

"He’s my son." June protested at the sarcasm in Elvira’s voice.

"Ok, point taken. So where is he now?"

"Doing hard labor for crimes against my people." Aunt Petunia said dropping down from the ceiling. Aunt Petunia stood about 15 inches long, the 4 armed, 4 breasted body of a human woman grafted to the lower half of a large spider. She had the aristocratic features of the Carion family, green eyes and long red hair. Delicate silver jewelry served as clothing for the upper half of her human body, accentuating her breasts while in no way hiding them, while the spider half wore nothing. "That child is indirectly responsible for the deaths of at least 40 of my warriors and was directly responsible for the plague that killed many more."

"Yea, I heard." Elvira said. "I was kinda curious about that, how the hell did Tim get smart enough to make biological weapons? We both failed biology."

"He’s always been smart." June protested. "He’s got the brains he just doesn’t use them for the right things."

"He used them well enough to kill many of my people." Aunt Petunia said. "They demanded justice."

"I think it safe to say that Elvira is not the only person leading a double life in this town." Jeremy remarked.

"Yea, I guess so." Elvira looked at June. "Let’s face it, Aunt Petunia’s group has a real gripe against him."

"He made a few mistakes." June said. "He doesn’t have a father… I work…"

"A few mistakes…" Aunt Petunia interrupted.

"Wait a minute." Elvira said. "This is the same group that tried to skewer Mindy and Jill, and you tried to eat me once, so we’re not talking saints here. Did you or any of the spidermen try to get in touch with Tim? Talk to him?"

"No."

"So you never asked why he was doing it? Or for that matter why Benita Karloff was doing it?"

"Well… no." Aunt Petunia admitted. "The ant creatures had been giving us minor problems for years, We thought they were wild creatures, like cattle or buffalo. They were dumb and they tasted good. But suddenly they started to become stronger and more organized. It was a shock when they started fighting back. Even more of a shock when they started carrying weapons.

"Yea I bet. So basically Tim had no clue that you really weren’t aliens trying to take over the planet."

"Anyone with any intelligence would have seen my spidermen are no threat to anybody."

"They were a threat to Mindy and Jill." Elvira pointed out. Then added. "And me."

"Mindy and Jill are fairies."

"Were fairies."

"Are still fairies." Jeremy said.

"I don’t care about any of that I want my son back!" June shouted.

"Calm down." Elvira said. "We’ll get him back if I have to go and get him myself."

"I don’t think either of us want that." Aunt Petunia said. "I would have to fight you once more, and that can lead to a series of problems in itself. My people now have a bit of affection for you after you helped us battle the ant creatures, we don’t want to throw that away. Besides I don’t harbor any real ill feeling toward the boy, he is infact rather fetching. But I can not simply order him freed. My people accept me as absolute ruler, but to free him with no excuse would cause them to have doubts about my godhood."

"That would be very bad." Helga said.

"But..."

"Calm down June." Elvira said. "We’ll get him back but when Jeremy or Helga say something is bad it’s worse. I’m sure he can handle a night or two."

"It’s been three weeks." June protested.

"Three weeks?" Elvira asked stunned.

"Two weeks five days." Jeremy corrected.

"I’ve been stuck playing little mermaid for nearly a month?" Elvira stopped eating for a moment as her mind searched backward. "But I remember the last three weeks... sort of."

"What you remember is actually an overlaid memory pattern of an external semi-sentient automaton designed to mimic you." Jeremy said. "We needed one for Mindy as well, though her’s required no experience feedback."

Elvira thought for a moment.

"Ok, as soon as you translate that I think I’m going to be mad."

"To put it simply." Jeremy said with a sigh. "When it was determined that you would need at least 2 and 1/2 weeks of treatment to remove the damaged nanites from your system, it was decided that you simply could not vanish for that amount of time."

"Treatment? Yea I was kinda in pain wasn’t I? Every time I grew or shrunk. How come?"

"Remember when you got hit with geta radiation?" Helga asked.

"Yea. You said it was harmless."

"To you it was. To the nanites in your body it wasn’t. It caused a gradual degradation in the nanites in that part of your body that was hit. They got out of synchronization with the rest of them. Thus when you grew or shrunk one part of wasn’t growing or shrinking with the rest of you." Jeremy said.

Elvira stopped eating and leaned back in her chair. Suddenly she wasn’t that hungry. It had always been one of her worst fears that one part of her body would grow without the other. Picking up her spoon she rolled it around her fingers.

"When Mindy also turned up missing mother authorized Helga and I to create robotic replicas of you until you were well and Mindy was found. Calliope, since she lives with us, has just gotten very sick. Or at least this is what we told the school."

"So where am I now?" Elvira asked. "Do I still shrink and grow?"

"Yes. Infact I’m afraid there is no longer any hope of removing the nanites from your system. They have linked themselves to you at a sub-molecular level."

"Do you mean…" Elvira said, her voice trembling slightly as it trailed off. Slowly she stood and faced Jeremy and Helga. The spoon bent in half in her grip and June pulled her chair away silently. "That from now on, any time I have sex, get tickled, eat or drink anything with chocolate in it I will grow or shrink and there is NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT?"

"That is how things stand." Jeremy said. Beside him Elvira noticed Helga had her finger poised over her laptop. Elvira considered letting her temper go, just for once it would be satisfying to hit and smash problems like she used too. But over a year of being shrunk by small children and played with had taught Elvira to hold her temper. Shouting at a 10-year-old who was 10 times your size was counter-productive. Along that same line of reasoning doing anything to Jeremy or Helga was futile, however good it might feel. For a full minute Elvira stood and warred with herself. The rest of the room waited in absolute silence. Then slowly the young woman sat down. With a grunt she dropped the spoon, picked up a fork and started eating again.

"But I can help you out somewhat." Jeremy said. He handed Helga a small case and Helga walked around the table and handed it to June.

"Give this to her please." Helga said retreating back around the table.

"Here." June said handing Elvira the case.

"This unit is a more advanced version of the watch." Jeremy said. It can actually give you some control over your size."

"How much control?" Elvira asked opening the case.

"That I’m not sure of. The mutation of your nanites was very severe what with all you’ve been through. It will not stop the external stimuli induced size change, but it will allow you to have some control when the stimuli is not present."

"Great." Elvira said taking the watch out of the box. "So I can shrink and grow on my own now, but I still can’t have sex, get tickled or eat chocolate without growing or shrinking."

"Those are the facts yes. The unit will allow you to shrink or grow, but will need time to recharge before you can reverse the process. Recharging will take one hour and you’ll be notified mentally when it is done."

"Well I hope this watch…" Elvira trailed off as she looked at the watch. The black strap was wide, about three quarters of an inch and made of a smooth tough fabric. A small clear gem was set into a brass setting and on either side of it were similar smaller gems. Silver pictures, looking vaguely like Egyptian hieroglyphics lined either edge of the band. The band used Velcro instead of a hook and eye. "How am I supposed to tell time with this?"

"You don’t." Helga said. "There was not enough room in the watch. Another problem was it had to affect your entire body from one wrist."

"After some consultation with Mother and my professors it was decided that a better unit fitted around the neck would perform at a higher rate of efficiency."

"So you made me a collar." Elvira said.

"Aunt Petunia helped with the final design." Helga said.

"I believe it’s fashionable in your high school." Aunt Petunia said smiling. "And it’s a choker my dear, not a collar. A lady does not wear a collar."

"A choker." Elvira sighed holding the strap up.

"What about Tim?" June asked breaking into Elvira’s thoughts.

"Ah yes." Aunt Petunia said. "Tim."

Something in the tone of her voice set off all sorts of alarms in Elvira’s mind. Her first meeting with Aunt Petunia had been intense, erotic and dangerous. If the mutated ruler of the spider people still held onto that part of herself Tim was in definite danger. He’d die happy, but he’d die.

"What’ll it take to get Tim out of prison?" Elvira asked.

"Well I believe a personal appeal from Mindy will do, or if you could supply me with more slaves, an exchange could take place."

"Ok where is Mindy?"

"We don’t know." Jeremy said. He pressed a button on the laptop and recording started to play. "This is the last communication we had from her."

"Carrion Mansion, Theodore T. Bear speaking."

"Mr. Bear let me speak to Jeremy or Helga." Mindy’s voice said.

"Theodore T. Bear, please madam. I'm afraid the children are busy at the moment. Can I take a message?"

"This is Mindy, look you gotta put me through to them, that robot isn't going to attack the mansion, it's going to attack the town. Elvira's gonna grow to giant size to fight it but she'll need help!"

"Robot, attack town…" Theordore said, repeating her slowly. "Elvira needs help… I will see that they get the message. Is there anything else?"

"Yea, I think my wings busted and I don't know where I am."

"You are at 15 Sour Simon lane, home of a Mr. Lawrence CastleWorth."

"How the hell do you know that?"

"Please Miss McConell, your language. All calls into and out of the mansion are traced and logged."

"Oh. Well can you send some one to get me?"

"Everyone is busy at the moment, but I will relate your situation to Master Jeremy. I'm sure someone will be sent for you soon."

"Soon? How soon is soon? I'm twelve inches tall and I got a busted wing! What if this place has a cat? I need better than soon!"

"I'm afraid I can only give you and approximate time frame." Mr. Bear said in the infuriatingly calm tone of voice that only the English butler has managed to cultivate. "In the meantime I suggest you stay out of sight of the owners of the house. Good evening."

"Castleworth…" Elvira repeated. "I know that name."

"I believe Calliope said you call him: "the Troll."

"My god the Troll has Mindy?"

"There are trolls in this town too?" June asked.

"He’s a creep of a science teacher." Elvira said. "Guys got a thing for boobs you would not believe. He gave Mindy and some other girls a hard time once and I almost punched him out. Great, now he’s got Mindy."

"No he doesn’t." Helga said. "After she heard that recording Calliope grabbed a flying rat and went out to help her." She pushed a button on her laptop and Calliope’s voice filled the room.

"Ok, I’m across the street from the Trolls house, but I don’t think he’s got Mindy. He’s wandering around the neighborhood with a butterfly net and a flashlight. I’ll keep an eye on…"

There was shout, a crash and the recording ended.

"A few of my men have searched, but haven’t found her." Aunt Petunia said. "And this troll person came closing to catching them.

"Ok, so to run it down." Elvira said standing up. "I have to find Calliope, find Mindy and get Mindy back here so that she can tell the spider guys to free Tim."

"You also have to retrieve the car and the video tape Lisa Douglas made of Mindy transforming into a fairy." Jeremy said.

"Right. Simple." Elvira sat down and put her face in her hands. "I wanna go back to the tank."

The first thing Elvira noticed about riding a flying rat was the smell. Or rather the lack of any one smell. Riding a rat wasn’t at all like riding a horse. When Mindy had told Elvira her theory on how the rats flew (methane or some other gas filling their light bodies) Elvira had agreed it could work. The rats were as large as small cats and had arms and legs that ended in fans. Mindy had spent days in the school lab after her first encounter with them, trying to find out what sort of gas they used. In the end she failed but she swore up and down to Elvira that asking Jeremy, Helga or Aunt Petunia was out of the question. Elvira had slept over Mindy’s house for a week just to help her get over the nightmares of her first encounter with them. After that Mindy had recovered enough to go to the mansion, but seldom alone. And she never got up the courage to even speak to Aunt Petunia or any of the spidermen.

By what she smelled as the rat descended toward her house Elvira was sure it was using helium. Mixed in with that was a strong greasy burger/musk/beer smell from the spiderman who road the beast with her. She road in the front, her toes gripping the rats surprisingly soft fur while her hands held onto the bridle. It didn’t help she was naked but for the choker around her neck. The cold air was rushing around her skin like she was standing infront of a large freezer. The rat flew just a few feet above the height of a telephone pole. Elvira was amazed how many people in her town didn’t draw the shades on their second and third floors. They climbed over one four-story house and she spotted her own house easily. On the top of its chimney four lights, one set at each corner, blinked on and off in an alternating sequence. Green, yellow, green and back to yellow.

"Land on the roof." Elvira ordered pointing to a small wooden platform next to the chimney.

Nails grunted and the rat slowly came to rest on the platform.

"Me waits?" he asked as Elvira climbed off of the rat. He didn’t look crazy about the idea. Elvira was still considered a dangerous demon by most of the spidermen.

"No, I’ll be ok from here." Elvira said. "Thanks."

Nails gave an odd bow, leaning the human portion of his body nearly parallel to the spider portion then spurred his rat and took off. Elvira stood for a moment and watched him go. The spiderman and the rat should have looked ungainly even comical, but they didn’t. The spiderman was a Cro-Magnon’s upper body seemingly grafted onto the lower part of a spiders body. The rat basically a big balloon with arms and legs. The grace in their movements stunned her. After they were gone she turned and started to climb down toward her room. One of the things Elvira had done when it became apparent that her shrinking was going to stay a problem was to install various "movement aids" around her house. Taking toys apart (ripping them apart joyfully at times) she had put small ladders on her roof, along the gutters and throughout the house itself. She and Guenivere had disguised the activity as a game so as not to make her mother suspicious. Calliope and Guenivere convinced Elvira to add the landing lights and platform on the chimney, when Calliope had thought Jeremy could be convinced to make her a jet pack.

Elvira climbed the ladder down the side of her house and got off on her windowsill. The plastic ladder was smooth and cold but she had no trouble getting a good grip. The wood of the windowsill was rough and badly in need of paint. Carefully she walked across to her sister’s window gripping the grain of the wood with her toes. The wind was quick and chilly, whipping her hair around her face. Elvira made a note to put a small railing around the windowsill. Elvira hadn’t wanted to fly home on a rat, but her robot double had her moped and June was forbidden to leave Carion Mansion. The rat was the quickest way short of using the teleporter and there was no way that Elvira was going to use that machine again.

As soon as Elvira stepped in front of the window it opened and her sisters hand shot out and enveloped the young woman.

"You're back!" Guenivere cried throwing Elvira into the air and catching her. She hugged her sister to her chest and danced around the room, nearly smothering Elvira. Then Guenivere threw her into the air a few times. "You're back." Throw. "You're Back!" Throw. "YOU'RE BACK!"

"GUEN!" Elvira shouted finally getting her breath back. She had grabbed again and again for Guenivere’s blonde hair but kept missing. Her sister giggled and put Elvira down on her bed next to a Xena action figure.

"Now you’ve been very naughty being gone like that." Guenivere said giggling despite her stern words. She rolled Elvira onto her stomach and held her legs firmly. "You deserve a spanking."

Growling Elvira reached up and touched the two small gems on her choker. There was a rush of heat and a howling of air as her body grew back to its normal size. Instantly her hand shot out and grabbed her sister’s arm.

"Did you say spanking?" Elvira asked keeping her grip as she sat up.

"No." Guenivere said suddenly subdued.

"You sure?" Elvira asked standing on the bed and lifting her sister up by one arm. For the past few months Guenivere had taken a positive delight in mildly bullying her sister when Elvira was shrunk, up to and including occasionally spanking her. She’d always made it a point to be somewhere else when her sister grew to normal size and to stay in that place until Elvira cooled off.

"Yes." Guenivere said quietly her legs dangling in mid-air.

"Good." Elvira said dropping her. "Look Guen I don’t have time to play right now, I got three people to save and I have find two of them to start with. I need some cloths and…"

The door opened and Elvira’s voice died as she saw herself walk into the room. The robot was a perfect double. It was as if she were staring at some bizarre moving mirror. The face was the same, the body was the same. But Elvira didn’t usually wear a pink ballerina dress. The robot carried a tray filled with a bowl of popcorn and a large milkshake. As Elvira watched it walked over to Guenivere kneeled and held the tray up to her little sister.

"Your food is ready oh great and glorious one who the stars and planets revolve around." The robot said bowing its head. "Is there any other way this unworthy one can serve you?"

The growl that started in Elvira’s throat was low enough to start the window glass shaking in its frame. Guenivere gave her sister the cherubim-wide-eyed, gap-toothed look that got her out of so much trouble. It was a desperate gambit and she knew it. Elvira got off of the bed and advanced on her little sister.

"Unworthy one?"

"Well… The manual said I could have a "secret personal title…" She started to back up.

"So I’m your maid now?" Elvira said advancing on her. For the first time she noticed how clean the room was. Toys put back in place, bed made… all the things Guenivere normally did not do.

"Not all the time." Guenivere said backing into the door. "You’re passing Spanish now." She said hopefully.

"Uh-huh." Elvira said forcing her back into the door.

"Three people." Guenivere said suddenly. She held up three fingers on one hand. "Remember, three people!"

Elvira stopped and took a deep breath.

"This" she promised, "is not over."

"Right." Guenivere said breathing a sigh of relief. Giving Elvira a wide berth she scurried over to her sewing table. "I got your cloths right here."

Elvira stared at her robot double. It was still kneeling, awaiting further orders. She had memories of the last few weeks, but they were a little hazy and Elvira wondered just what Guen had been up too. The thought that her little sister had control of her life was enough to make Elvira shudder.

"What?" Elvira asked looking up.

"Didn’t Jeremy tell you?"

"I was in a hurry to find Calliope and Mindy. He told me a lot of things, none of them had to do with cloths."

She should have waited a little longer and asked a few more questions Elvira knew, but the thought of Mindy and Calliope out there in the town somewhere, possibly held captive by the Troll, barely a foot tall either of them, was too much. Besides she had the feeling that Aunt Petunia was eyeing Timothy for a bit more than menial labor. Elvira doubted he’d survive. If he didn’t, neither would June. June Simmons had been a prisoner in the mansion since bringing Elvira there and it hadn’t been a good experience. She’d had one run in with Uncle Frank, the invisible tickling relative and three times Helga had tried to test a potion on her. The Carion family, fearing she’d go to the authorities, had forbidden her to leave the mansion or even call anyone. She’d been stuck watching tv as the military investigated her sons connection to Bonita and turned her house into a major crime scene. She didn’t know if they were both fugitives or not. She and Tim were alone in the world her husband having long since abandoned them. Elvira, her own father long gone, had a lot of sympathy for June and promised to help as quickly as she could.

"Oh." Guenivere said pulling a box out from under the table. "Well he sent over a bunch of fabric and said I should make it into cloths for you, said it was made of ‘unstable molecules’, but my science teacher said there aint any such thing."

"You talked to Jeremy?" Elvira asked.

"I had too, the you robot stopped working and the 800 number on it’s stomach just got me hours of Beethoven on hold. While he was telling me how to fix it he mentioned the fabric and I said I’d make some cloths for you."

"You didn’t go up to the mansion did you?"

"No, the box popped into my room with a note on it. But I really want too. He and Helga sound nice."

"Guen, do you remember what I’d say I’d do if you ever went up to Carion Mansion? Ever?"

"But…" her sister started to protest.

"I’d tell mom and Aunt Tracy that her car wasn’t stolen that time, that you sold it on ebay and Mindy and I had to get it back. Do you really want me to tell them that?"

"No." Guenivere said sullenly.

"Do you want me to tell them what really happened to the furnace?"

"No." Guenivere admitted.

"Good." Elvira walked over to her. "Stay away from the mansion. Now what the fabric is is the stuff superheros wear. It’ll shrink and grow so I don’t have to be naked all the time.

"Oh. Well that should save you money on underwear."

"I hope so." Elvira said. Shrinking was one thing, growing and getting dressed before any parents saw her was another. For the most part Elvira skipped putting on her underwear simply because there wasn’t any time.

"I did three outfits for you and Jeremy suggested I do one for Mindy too." Guenivere said opening the box and handing it too her. "I thought they meant you needed some small cloths."

"So that’s what you made." Elvira said looking at the tiny costumes.

"Yep."

Elvira picked up the first of the tiny suits. It was a black halter with padded silver shoulder blades, a pair of black shorts with a gold belt and a hood like mask. On the belt were the letters "GtW" in hard grey roman script outlined in silver thread. A small pair of gold boots and gloves was hooked onto the belt. The rest of the cloths were in similar superhero style. Elvira sighed.

"Now you can be a real superhero." Guenivere said brightly.

"GtW"? Elvira asked holding up the suit.

"Giant Tiny Woman Defender of the World!" Gunivere cried. "This ones for Mindy." She reached into the box and pulled out a tiny silver miniskirt and bareback halter-top with a hood like mask. The mask not only had eyeholes but holes for Mindy’s antenna too. The front of the halter had two blue capitol "F"s in handwriting style script on either side that would frame the cleavage.

"F, F?" Elvira asked.

"Your sidekick FireFly!" Guenivere exclaimed.

"Firefly." Elvira repeated.

A buzzer sounded downstairs and the robot Elvira looked up.

"Great and glorious one, your laundry is done. Shall this unworthy one retrieve and fold it for your illustrious personage?"

Elvira turned to her sister.

"Three people." Guenivere said holding up her fingers again.

Elvira growled and went to her room to get some cloths.

Up next…

The Adventures of Giant Tiny Woman!

PREVIOUS CHAPTER  SCARLET'S SANCTUM MAIN PAGE   SKYTOWER'S MAIN PAGE  NEXT CHAPTER