Thomas walked up the driveway with an impatient air. He looked around as he passed the side yard, and quickly caught the eye of a middle-aged main waiting expectantly.

"Hi. You're Lucas, right?" Thomas asked, his voice weary and bothered.

"I am, welcome! And you're... Thomas, right?" Lucas asked. He was smiling benevolently, unfazed by Thomas's impatience.

"Look, I don't know who you are... the only reason I'm here is because you said I'd find out why my employee has been AWOL the whole week. So... where's Christine?", Thomas asked bluntly.

"Let my show you. Right this way," Lucas said cheerfully, leading Thomas through a gate in the fence that enclosed his backyard. Thomas took in the sight of the large, luxurious backyard. It had a swimming pool with a small pavilion, chairs, and lounges... and standing near the pool's edge, a life-sized polished marble statue of a nude woman. Lucas watched contentedly as Thomas's attention snapped to the statue, and he started approaching it unconsciously.

"Wow, that's... Christine?" Thomas turned to look at Lucas, who nodded and smiled. All of the impatience was gone from his voice, replaced with awed interest.

"She's been modeling for you?" Lucas shook his head. "No, you couldn't have done that in just a week."

Thomas finished approaching the statue and put his hand on her shoulderblade, feeling the stone. "You... turned Christine into this?" He looked away from Christine's stone face to Lucas, who smiled and nodded affirmation, but didn't speak. Thomas continued. "Wow, she's... beautiful. I knew she was pretty, but I never saw her naked. And transformed like this, she seems... majestic and timeless, too." His hand ran down Christine's stone shoulder down to the small of her back.

"Aw, thanks. I'm proud of how she turned out," said Lucas, in a gloating tone.

Thomas took a step back, looking up and down Christine's nude stone body unashamedly. "How did you do it?"

"Magic," Lucas grinned, "even a real magician doesn't share his secrets."

"Can she still hear us?" Thomas asked.

"Hold that thought for just a second," Lucas answered. "A couple more friends of Christine's are coming by, and I bet they'd like to know too. I need to go fix us some drinks--be gentle with her while I'm gone." He winked at Thomas and briskly walked to his house's back door.

Thomas watched Lucas enter the back door of his house, then turned his attention back to the statue of Christine. Standing behind her, he put his hand on her stone cheek, then ran it down her neck and over her breasts. "I never thought I'd get to actually feel you up..." he gasped quietly to himself, "...even if it's just your stone body. God, you feel good." Glancing back toward the house to look for Lucas, he took his hands off Christine and stepped back to gaze at her again. Her face remained immobile and impassive.

Lucas came out of his house shortly, holding a pitcher and some cups. "The others should be here soon--in fact, I think I see them heading up the driveway now." He hurried ahead to meet them, then came back up the driveway leading two new guests, a couple holding hands affectionately. Near the gate of the fence he made brief introductions. "Thomas, this is Andrea and Ben, longtime friends of Christine's. Ben and Andrea, this is Thomas, her boss at work. And, of course, the guest of honor... Christine." With a flourish he opened the gate and pointed to Christine, still standing nude by the pool.

"That's really Christine? It looks just like her," murmured Andrea.

"He turned her to stone! Can you believe it?" Thomas murmured to the new guests, his voice tense and excited.

"You made her a... naked stone statue?" Ben asked. Lucas grinned and nodded.

"Wow, look at her just standing there. Completely exposed," remarked Andrea, quivering slightly. Ben took her hand and squeezed it. "Did she... object? Did you have to trick her?"

"I assure you, she did not object, no trickery was required," Lucas leered. "Being a display piece like this was... something she dreamed about. She knew you all liked looking at her body, but she couldn't just strip naked and let you all ogle her. But like this, she has no choice. So she doesn't have to be ashamed."

"You liked looking at her?" Andrea asked Ben, in a voice of mock accusation. He winced. "Just kidding. It was fun when she showed off, and you certainly didn't want me any less afterwards. She winked at him, and walked up to Christine to get a close look. She ran her fingers over Christine's stone hair. "So detailed," she whispered to herself. Then she asked out loud, "Can she still hear us?"

"Yes, she can," Lucas answered. "She can still feel, too."

Thomas choked. "Does she... mind?"

"Why don't you ask her?" Lucas smirked. "Joking aside, no. Being touched, and being unable to do anything about it, is another part of the draw. Also, Christine's very sensitive in this state. She can't move, so her body gets very little stimulation--so the touch of flesh on her is heightened. She's probably quivering in there, wishing someone would."

The guests exchanged nervous glances at one another. Finally Andrea spoke. "OK, fine," she sighed exaggeratedly. "It's hot if the girls make out, right?" She rolled her eyes dramatically and stepped up to Christine, taking the statue's stone hand into her own and wrapping her other arm around her. Andrea pulled Christine close in an embrace, and kissed her stone lips gently. Then she whispered in Christine's ear, "You're really beautiful. I'm glad we all got the chance to see you naked like this." Then she nuzzled Christine's stone ear gently and pulled away. Ben, who had been watching intently, gave his girlfriend a kiss, which she smiled and returned affectionately. "If you want to touch her too, you can," Andrea told Ben.

Ben grinned and stepped toward Christine. "Might as well go right for the boobs," he chuckled out loud, and ran his hands along the curves of Christine's chest. He then knelt down, running his hands down Christine's stone stomach, and lightly trailed one finger near her stone vulva before veering off to the side. "It seems crass to go down on her in front of everyone," he remarked, looking around. Thomas and Lucas shrugged and nodded agreement. "Still, it feels like a waste--somebody should." He ran his hands down her thighs, down her legs, and to the toes of her stone feet. Then he ran his hands back up the insides of her legs--up her calves, up her thighs, stopping just short of her womanhood, and teasing gently with his finger. "I guess you have to wait a little more, Christine," he said, consolingly.

"Don't worry," said Lucas. "No hurry. She doesn't have anywhere to go." He roughly patted Christine's head as if tousling her stone hair.

"So..." Ben asked hesitantly, "...are you going to turn her back?"

Lucas chewed his lip thoughtfully. "Wouldn't she like to know?" he said, stroking Christine's stone cheek. In a low voice, away from Christine, he whispered to the others. "Yeah. I mean, I love having her frozen on display like this. But she has a life and it's probably not right to keep her from it forever, as much fun as it would be." He sighed again and shrugged.

Thomas remarked, "You know, it was a hassle trying to make do without Christine at work. But seeing her like this has made it worth the pain! I'm not cranky at her any more, that's for sure!" He winked at the statue. "I'd take pictures and show them to the team, but I'm pretty sure HR would find a way to have my head for that. Even though I'm sure there's nothing about petrification in the employee manual."

"I'm sure she wouldn't complain if you took some pictures and kept them to yourself," remarked Lucas.

All three guests looked at each other for a moment, then pulled out their phones and began taking photos of their helpless, transformed friend. "Make sure to share them with her when I turn her back," he smiled. "She should have something to remember this by too. In fact, let me take one with all of you." The three of them looked a little uncomfortable, but didn't want to offend their host. "Don't worry," he continued, "even if it gets out, who would think twice about a picture of you next to an artistic statue?" They shrugged and the three of them posed next to Christine. Lucas took a photo of his own. "I'll send it to all of you, don't worry."

"And now," he continued, "now that you've seen what's become of Christine, do you want to stay a little for drinks and snacks? Watch the show a little more before dinner?"

"Yeah! Sure," they all murmured together.

"Great!" said Lucas, pouring some drinks from his pitcher. "And hey--if you happen to know any other volunteers--let me know..."