"You, Miss! What's your name? Would you like to help me with my next illusion?"

My heart skipped a beat as the Magician pointed at my girlfriend. She looked at me, then back to the stage. "Alison," she smiled, "And I'd love to!" She started to stand.

"All right- but who are you here with?"

Alison turned and looked at me. "This is my boyfriend, James."

"Well then, why don't you both come up and help?" He stepped forward, helping my girlfriend and me onto the stage. I glanced over at Elisha, watching us from her pedestal on the side of the stage. This was going to be an evening to remember.

I turned to admire Alison in her short black strappy dress and heels, her dirty blonde, shoulder-length hair framing her face. She busied herself examining the props. The first item the assistants brought out was a thick steel plate, six feet long, two feet wide. My girlfriend looked at the holes that pierced it, and smirked. "I suppose that's where the spikes go through?"

The Magician smiled, bemused. "Very perceptive, but hopefully, not tonight. Yet, there will be spikes." His assistants brought out a frame, spikes dangling down from the top. They placed the steel plate on two supports so it rested like a table, about three feet below the spikes. "You see, most spike tables illusions make the mistake of using far too many spikes- and, like a bed of nails, there is no danger. The weight is distributed enough that they'd never penetrate the victim."

Alison raised an eyebrow. "So, what are we going to be helping you with, then?"

"Oh, I propose an experiment, to show just how few spikes it takes to remove the danger of impalement. Would you like to assist, my dear Alison?"

She smiled and said, "Sure!" That was my girl! "How do we start?"

The Magician took her hand and led her to the steel plate. "Let's sit here, to start."

Alison hopped up with his help, then reached forwards and took off her shoes. The Magician swung her legs up, centering her down the line of the table. "Okay, lay back, Alison. And lets be sure you don't move- it might spoil the experiment."

When she was prone on her back on the steel plate, the Magician tied a strap around her ankles and locked them down. She wiggled, getting comfortable, and he secured another strap across her neck. "James, why don't you come over here? Yes- stand upstage of her, and take her hand."

Alison grasped my hand firmly with her left hand, smiled at me, and winked.

"Good. Don't let go of her."

The Magician pulled out a red silk sheet. "Since we don't want her lovely dress damaged, I'm going to cover it before I bring on those sharp spikes." He pulled the sheet over her body, from the bottom, until her bare feet were exposed, and let it float down over her head, covering her down to the ankles, only her feet and left arm left exposed. Still, the cloth was so thin as to conceal nothing- I could clearly see her body's shape beneath it.

"Now for the spikes!" The Magician wheeled the frame over the steel plate, centering the spikes carefully over Alison. "Are you ready, Miss Alison?"

"Of course!" she said from under the cloth, and squeezed my hand. Even through the silk and her dress, I could see her nipples harden. Anticipation?

The Magician spun a wheel, which loosened a cable to slowly lower the spikes over her body until they nearly touched her. "I need to make a few adjustments before we continue," he said. "Be patient for a moment."

The Magician twisted the first spike, lowering it on the screw threads that attached it to the frame. I watched it press into Alison's left breast beneath the silk cloth.

"Mmmm," Alison murmured faintly, and wiggled a bit.

"Please try to stay still, Alison." The Magician twisted the second spike, resting it against her right breast, gently pressing onto her nipple. She squeezed my hand.

"We must evenly distribute the pressure from the spikes." The Magician adjusted the position of two more spikes, and twisted them down until they rested against her thighs. I watched them pressing into her flesh.

"Almost there, Alison," The Magician said, as he lowered a fifth spike onto her midsection, below her waist. "I've estimated six spikes are all that are needed. Are you ready for the last spike?"

I could feel her hand shaking a bit with some eagerness. "Yes! Put it where ever you want!"

The Magician twisted the last spike downwards, lowering it into her mouth.

"Mmmph?" My girlfriend managed, surprised.

"Please trust me, I've calculated the balance very carefully, Alison. And try not to talk- just hold that with your teeth."

"Mmmhy..." She replied.

The Magician turned to the audience. "Now, we're ready to begin the experiment- if Alison is as well?"

Alison snaked her right hand out from under the cloth, giving a thumbs up. She let it drop back to her side.

The Magician walked back to the wheel on the spike frame. "All right, we'll start." He turned the wheel. I watched the frame just a bit more, then stop. The cable supporting it began to gain slack as the spikes pressed into my girlfriend. She squeezed my hand tightly with her left hand. Her right one gripped the edge of the steel plate. I watched her belly rise and fall shallowly as she wiggled against the pressure.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, the frame is weighted down, so Alison is supporting a hundred pounds on those six needle sharp spikes, three feet long." The slack on the cable kept increasing. She gripped my hand even tighter.

The Magician's assistants came out, and carefully placed some free weights on top of the frame. I heard Alison suck in her breath from beneath the cloth.

"Now, two hundred pounds, on just six small points." The Magician quickly spun the wheel in the opposite direction, taking in the slack, and the spikes lifted up. "James, still got her?"

I held up her hand in mine.

The Magician pulled the cloth aside to reveal her face. "Alison, how you doing?"

"Much better now that I can talk." She smiled and looked at me.

"Excellent. Now, shall we see what happens when one point is off?"

Alison's eyes widened. "Please?" My eyes widened as well. The audience murmured, mostly enthusiastically, trusting the Magician.

He took the spike above Alison's mouth and moved it a bit down her body, then covered her head with the cloth again. "Ready?"

"Yes!" my girlfriend said from beneath the cover.

"James, hold on tight!"

The Magician spun the wheel again, and slowly the spikes descended, pressing against Alison's thighs, belly, and breasts. The one he moved was now centered above her throat, but the others touched her body before it did. I watched the spikes push downwards, dimpling her thighs and breasts, and her belly. The dimples grew deeper. Alison gripped my hand hard. Then, suddenly, the dimples popped back up.

"Ahh!" Alison gasped, as the tips of the spikes seemed to enter her body, and sunk lower as the Magician continued to spin the wheel. The last spike touched ther throat, pressed deep, then continued unhindered along with the rest of them.

Alison's hand went limp in mine, as the audience started applauding. I looked down, and could see the spikes emerging through the holes in the steel plate she was laying on. The spikes had apparently impaled her completely. Her left arm fell and hung loosely down the side of the plate.

The Magician stopped spinning the wheel, and stepped back to examine the scene for a brief moment before stepping forward, running his hand across Alison's face, and pulling the cloth covering her head back as far as the spike in her throat would allow.

She looked at me and smiled, and her hand tightened around my fingers. I stared in disbelief as she looked at me, happily impaled on six spikes.

"James, that's Alison's hand, right?"

Her fingers fluttered in my grasp as I managed a "Yes..."

"Alison, how are you feeling?"

She mouthed some words, but no sound came out. She put her left hand to the spike that ran through her throat, then made a thumbs-up sign.

"All right then, let's get her out of there, shall we?" The Magician pulled the cloth back over her face, and spun the wheel in reverse. The spikes slowly ascended, clearing the plate, then Alison. The cloth stuck to them as they went up, until Alison was fully uncovered. I looked over her body as she stared at me, eagerly. She appeared completely unharmed.

The Magician wheeled the spike frame away from the plate and my girlfriend, then unbuckled her neck and ankles. I helped her sit up, not letting go of her hand, as the audience applauded wildly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, a big hand for Alison and James!" We took our bows, and the Magician's assistants guided us off the stage.

I held Alison's hand the whole way back to our seats. "Wow- that was amazing."
"Wasn't it?"
"How did it feel, impaled like that?"
Alison chuckled softly. "It made me wish you were impaling me instead, in another way." She squeezed my hand, and I gulped. "Don't worry, dear Jamey," she whispered. "I'm absolutely going to let you do it to me... after the show, of course." She reached over and patted my thigh. I tried to concentrate on the next illusion...