Fairies, or The Sphere

The curtain opened and the lights shifted, revealing a starry night scene. The Magician raised his left hand, pointing half way up the large stage to present... nothing? He looked over, then looked down. Laurel stamped out onto the stage, wearing a ragged green skirt, matching green haltertop, and fairy wings. She walked straight to the Magician and crossed her arms. "That's it. It's not enough you let Marisol put me together backstage, but you had her put me in this stupid costume when she did it?"
"But Laurel, with your hair, you do look like Ti-" Laurel put her hands on her hips and stomped her bare foot. The Magician, and the audience, laughed. "All right, with that expression, you look exactly like her."

Laurel gave an exasperated sigh, pulled off the wings, threw them on the floor, and stormed off the stage.

"Okay then," The Magician called off stage, "Can one of you other ladies step in for Laurel for this next one?"

"I can!" Marisol entered, rolling a large sphere about two and a half feet across, made up of crossing bands of metal. "I love this one. Need me to get in costume?"
The Magician picked up the wings Laurel had left behind. "No, just put these on, it'll be fine."

Marisol picked up the translucent wings and positioned them on her back, and twirled. They matched her black sparkley boy shorts and tight tank top rather well. The Magician walked to the sphere, touched a latch, and opened it into two halves. The inside was empty, though it had already been apparent through the gaps between the bands. "Care to step inside, Mari?"

She giggled. "Sure! Bye everybody!" She grinned and waved to the audience before stepping in and curling up, letting the Magician close the sphere again. She stuck a hand out through one of the gaps and wiggled her fingers.

On the back of the sphere was a gear ratchet and a crank wheel. The Magician kneeled down, and began to turn the wheel, which started to compress the bands, making the sphere get smaller. Soon it was about two feet across, and Marisol, still visible though the gaps, was curled tightly in a ball with no space left to maneuver. "Better pull that hand in, Mari, before the ball gets much smaller." There was a faint grunt of effort from inside, and she shifted her hand under a band, curling it beside her thigh. The Magician turned the crank some more, and the bands tightened even further.

"Marisol is, as you can see, being tightly compressed inside this ball- it's about eighteen inches across. Don't worry, she enjoys this sort of thing, though I'd think it was quite uncomfortable myself." With another turn of the crank, the bands fully overlapped. "Now there are no gaps for Mari to be seen through- or escape through... or even breathe through, though I doubt she could expand her lungs anyway at this point." The Magician kept turning the crank.

"You know the longest bone in the body is the femur. Marisol, at 5'2", has a femur about 14" long." The Magician paused. "Our sphere is now just sixteen inches across." He turned the crank again. There was a loud crack. "And under considerable pressure, as well." There was a second crack. "Mari, if you want me to stop, knock on the side." There was no sound from the sphere. "That assumes she could move her hand, of course." The Magician turned the crank even more, to the sound of small crunches and pops. "She's been reduced to a ball just twelve inches across." He picked up the sphere, gave the crank a few more turns, and unlatched the clasp. "Nine inches. Let's see how she's doing, shall we, ladies and gentlemen?"

The Magician opened the sphere. Inside was a round ball, flesh colored, with black sparkle fabric. He turned the sphere over, and the ball popped out into his open palm. The long, dark hair that spilled over his fingers was the same color as Marisol's. He removed a pair of scissors from his pocket, and carefully cut the fabric, then pulled it away from the ball. "That would be her top," he shook it out. It did look like the tank top she had been wearing when she entered the sphere. "And her shorts." He tossed them into the audience, and turned the ball around in his hand. "I see she's wearing a thong. Note the birthmark on her right buttock." He snipped the cloth, and removed the thong, then turned Marisol's spherical body around some more. The ball seemed to shudder a bit. "Guess I should be careful where I put my fingers," the Magician joked. He dumped the crumpled wire wings out of the metal sphere, and pulled something else from his pocket. A stagehand came out with a camera, to let the audience see what was happening on a big screen above the stage.

"I borrowed these from a butterfly," the Magician said, placing the black and orange wings into the metal sphere. "They should look good on Marisol, don't you think?" He put the ball of girl back into the metal sphere, closed the lid, and latched it tightly. He then turned the crank again, compressing the sphere even further in his hands. Soon he was left with a ball only three inches across. The Magician removed the crank wheel, and unlatched the sphere, then opened it and held it in one hand. The camera zoomed in to what was curled inside- a small woman, who slowly stood up straight and stepped onto the Magician's fingers. From her back, the butterfly wings spread slowly, gently flapping. She turned- the camera zoomed, and showed the same birthmark the audience had seen. She completed her turn, brushed the hair from her face, and smiled- Marisol had apparently been compressed into a 5" tall fairy. She flapped her wings harder, and began to hover as the Magician pulled away his hand. The audience feel silent.

He brought out a 12" ring, and twirled it around Marisol, showing she was solid, and not suspended on wires. She landed on the ring and smiled at the camera, and a soft light seemed to start shining from the wings. She flapped them again, then took off and circled the Magician, her glow showing the audience where she was, as her speed and size made it impossible for the poor stage hand to track her with the camera. The Magician held up the ring, and she flew through it, then circled around and flew through from the other direction- then flew low over the heads of the audience, and to their delight, straight up to the camera, for a close up. She winked, stuck her tongue out, and licked the lens.

The Magician raised an eyebrow. "Eww. Mari, why don't you come back here?" The fairy Marisol seemed to ignore him, and flew off above the audience again, then over head of the Magician, and turned to pose for the camera... pausing just long enough for the jar and lid to trap her. The Magician held the glass jar tightly, and Mari floated inside, before coming to a rest to stand on the bottom and pout. "Be glad you remembered to poke holes in the lid, Marisol, before you volunteered to take Laurel's place."

The Magician looked at the audience. "I always keep that jar handy during this trick, ladies and gentlemen, just in case. We can't have over-enthusiastic fairies flitting around and distracting from the show. Speaking of which, it's time for another escape trick. And this one involves a blender..."

(To be continued...)