Julie and Mary Have a Weekend Off

by Vaughan

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For those who have not read the first three episodes of my
story:

My name is Julie. I am a 5'7" blond, with a good figure,
aged 22. I have just become an assistant the magician James.
James has another assistant, Mary, a 5'7" black girl, who is
a bit older than me. Mary and me have been victim to several of
James' illusions and enjoyed them, after the initial shock of
some of the predicaments.

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My new job seemed to be going well. Audition on Wednesday,
practice Thursday and Friday, and we were booked for a show the
following Friday. I felt that I ought to try and get to know
James and Mary better. The opportunity arose at the end of
Friday. James said that he had been invited to a house by the sea
for the weekend and asked if we would like to come along to
relax, before a hard weeks work next week perfecting the show.
Both of us jumped at the chance. Mary seemed particularly keen,
so I assumed she had some idea of the form. James told us to be
ready at the warehouse at eight on Saturday morning with our
things for the weekend.

I arrived at the warehouse at a quarter to eight. James and
Mary were waiting in the van.

"Put your bike and backpack in the back and we'll be
off," called James, from the driver's seat. I opened the
back shutter on the van and was surprised by the amount of
equipment in there. Mary came back and leapt up into the back. I
passed her my bicycle and knapsack, which she stowed with the two
other bicycles and her small case.

"What's with the equipment?" I asked, eyeing the
other stuff.

"Just a few of James' toys to stop the weekend being
boring," Mary replied, with a wink. I did not recognize any
of the props, so I knew that dull was not going to describe the
weekend.

We closed the shutter and got in the cab with James, who
waited for us to fasten our seat-belts before setting off. The
drive to our weekend accommodation was over in just over two
hours.

While I had fantasized that we might be going to a large house
on a promontory with steps down to a sheltered sun-drenched
private beach and a little jetty with a small power-boat moored
at the end; My practical side thought it will be a pokey house in
a coastal town. We arrived just after ten o'clock and I was
astounded to find that the only thing I had got wrong in my
fantasy was that the power-boat was twice the size I had
imagined.

James drove up to the huge garage door and bipped the hooter
twice. The door opened and James backed in next to one of the
Mercedes.

When we stepped down from the cab the door had shut. A voice
called from the door to the house, "James! Glad you could
make it. It would be awfully dull without you. You've brought the
equipment? Who are the girls? Go on introduce me!"

"Alright, when I can get a word in. Paul, these are Mary
and Julie, my assistants." We nodded in turn. "And
ladies, this is Paul. He's a film director and producer. I did
the effects in his first three films. He's our host."

Paul stepped between Mary and me and spread his arms over our
shoulders. He guided us in to the house, while James stayed
behind to supervise two older suited men, who had the manner of
servants, unloading the van.

About half an hour later James caught up with us relaxing with
a drink on the terrace overlooking the beach. He suggested to
Paul that we have lunch early to make the most of the afternoon.
Paul lift a cord-less phone from the table beside him and dialed
and pressed a button. He told the instrument that we would have
lunch as soon as it was ready and seemed satisfied with the
answer. About five minutes later a bell rang and we all trooped
into the room above the terrace, to find a superb light lunch
laid on the table. We ate and chatted. Paul monopolized most of
the conversation. I gathered that Paul had directed two series of
moderately successful horror movies and that James had been a
find for doing the effects. I did not really want the gruesome
details, so I let them wash over me.

After lunch we were each shown to a spacious room where our
clothes and things had been unpacked.

Paul called out that he would expect us on the beach in half
an hour, so we could go for a ride in his boat.

I arrived at the jetty after Paul and James, who were looking
over a couple of cases that I recognized from the van. I stepped
on board the boat and Paul whistled his approval of my white
one-piece swim-suit, cream sandals and turquoise floaty wrap. I
smiled and moved to the flat deck area in front of the cockpit
and spread my towel and began to collect some sun. A second
whistle alerted me that Mary had arrived. She soon joined me
sunning her excellent figure in a gold bikini beside me. The
boat's engines burbled into life and shortly we were skimming
over the water. The breeze soon became too much for me and Mary,
so we joined James and Paul behind the screen. Mary ducked into
the cabin and quickly returned with drinks for us all.

I asked Paul, "Why are we were here? And where we were
going?"

James responded, "Paul and I are here to watch the
fishes." He gave an enigmatic smile, that I was coming to
know meant he was not telling me the whole truth. "While you
and Mary will get a close look at the reef. So we are going to
the reef."

About ten minutes later, Paul stopped the engines and heaved
an anchor overboard. The boat swung in the current and then stabilized. I leaned over the back of the boat trailed my hand in
the water. The water was beautifully cool. The sun was hot but
not quite as hot as the stage lights.

I asked, "How do I get back on the boat if I go in for a
dip?"

Paul said, "We have a ladder we let down. But why not
wait a short while until we get the stuff unpacked."

Mary was back on the fore-deck sunning herself. I joined her.
I questioned her as to what the equipment James and Paul were
setting up in the back was for. Mary, obviously no wiser than me
on that account, said that it was probably to do with watching
fish, like James said. She also said she did not notice any
snorkel or scuba gear for us to dive on the reef either.

A while later Paul invited us back to the rear of the
power-boat to admire their handy work. It turned out to be a
diving-board that extended out from the back of the boat, at the
end of the diving board was a large hoop, from which hung a
curtain that dipped into the water.

"Well, girls, what do you think." they asked
together.

I think I assessed the situation quicker than Mary. "I
suppose you expect us to dive through that hoop." They both
nodded and smiled.

Mary went straight for the heart of it. "So what's the
catch. I assume there's a catch."

"Umm, well it's not exactly a catch," James
explained, unconvincingly, "it's just that you need to be
nude when you enter the hoop or it won't work."

"What won't work?" we said in unison.

"Your ability to breathe underwater." said James
from behind his enigmatic smile.

"I can't see what nudity and being able to breathe
underwater have to do with each other," said Mary shooting a
you're-not-telling-the-whole-truth glance at James. She turned to
me and said, "I'm game, if your game," giving me a
challenging look.

"OK, let's do it, but the guys watch from the
fore-deck." I responded. "We don't want any wandering
hands."

The guys looked shocked and gratified at the same time and
meekly went to the fore-deck while Mary and I got naked. We
stepped onto the board which felt a lot firmer than it looked. We
held hands and dived through the hoop.

As my waist hit the water I felt the by now familiar
you're-not-there tingle rush up my legs. From the way Mary's grip
hardened, I assume she felt the same. We allowed ourselves to
float to the surface. We floated with only our heads showing and
called to the boat. They obviously knew what they were expecting
and were disappointed to see only our heads.

"Did it work? The underwater breathing and that."
questioned James.

"I don't know but I felt something happen." I called
back.

"You mean you did not check what happened?" He
replied.

I looked at Mary and she looked at me. We bobbed under the
surface and opposite me in the crystal clear waters was Mary the
mermaid. Looking down I could see I also had a fish-tail
where my legs usually were. For several moments we stared and
then admired our mermaid bodies. The elegant line of our tails,
smooth transition at our waists from skin to scale, the way the
water supported our breasts and the transformation in our hair
(my blonde shoulder-length hair was now a healthy waist-length
flowing cascade of blond, while Mary's short fuzz had completely
gone leaving her totally bald.

I said, "They've made us into mermaids, I hope they know
how to turn us back."

Mary's expression registered surprise then wonder, "We
can speak under water and breathe underwater. Shall we go look at
the reef. I'm told it is beautiful."

We swam off together not even surfacing to breathe. The fish
were colorful and not the least shy, the coral was spectacular
in its variety of forms, and myriad colors. After about fifteen
minutes of swimming round the reef, we decided to go back to the
boat and see how the guys were getting on watching the fish, then
it struck me that we were the fish they planned to watch. After a
short discussion Mary and I agreed to put on a show. We were
getting quite used to our altered bodies.

We swam under the boat and tapped on the boat below the water
to get the attention of the boys. When they were there and
looking, we bobbed our heads into view and started giving them
hell for turning us into mermaids. While Mary continued to shout
at them I took a run up at the surface, and dived into the air.
With tail in full view I had no purchase on anything so I lost
control and instead of the planned smooth return to the water I
made a splash like a breaching whale. I tried again and got it
right this time. Then Mary and I rose from the water by thrashing
our tail fins, like the dolphins do in aquarium shows. By this
time they both had cameras out and were taking snaps. Mary and I
in unison stopped thrashing and fell backwards as we hit the
surfaced we splashed out with our tails and sent a satisfyingly
big splash at the men on the boat. While Mary took some delight
in diving over the front of the boat. I decided to check out the
ring and diving board. I thrashed my tail to stand on my tail in
the ring. I was surprised when the top of my tail fin touched the
surface within the ring and my tail became legs again. For a
moment I stood on the surface of the water, I then fell back into
the water as a mermaid. James must have noticed this, because he
and Paul quickly began to take down the ring and board. We
carried on with the show until we were tired.

Mary went to back of the boat and asked them to turn us back.
I pointed out that I knew the ring worked to reverse the effect
and asked why they had taken it down.

"Ok, the truth is we wanted to turn you back the
traditional way." said James, "Come on board and we'll
demonstrate."

After much struggle, because we did not have the legs to climb
the ladder and a mermaid's tail contains much more muscle and
therefore weighs much more, they got both of us aboard and lying
on our towels.

"So, what is this traditional method of get us our legs
back?" I asked.

"Drying, but an ordinary towel is not enough. So, I
brought along super-towels, one for me, one for Paul. Lie back
and enjoy."

They began with our heads. Paul rubbing the towel over my long
hair soon bringing it to its normal shorter length, While James
rubbed the hair back onto Mary's scalp. They then move down to
our torsos and arms lingering, I thought, unnecessarily long on
our bosoms, but the also removed the webbing from between our
fingers that I had not already noticed. The toweling moved down
to our bodies and the area of transition from skin to scale
gradually receded from hip to heel. When the scales had all
disappeared our legs separated and we felt back to normal, but
the boys seemed to enjoy drying us. I was the first to tell them
that enough was enough. I went to find our swimsuits and put mine
on and returned with Mary's.

The return voyage was uneventful. As was rest of the
afternoon, which we spend sun-bathing on the beach. We went up
and changed for dinner. After that we went out onto the flood lit
patio. I knew something was up, when I saw the screens and the
pile of small suitcases from the van.

"I thought we were here to relax," I objected,
"Not to play more of your perverted magical games. I'm not
getting involved in any more magic unless I can see what's
happening." I think Mary wanted a relaxed weekend too,
because she backed me up by agreeing if we could not watch we
would not participate.

James looked a bit frustrated, but Paul reached for the his
intercom. Within twenty minutes, during which we had a few
drinks, the servants had set up two video cameras and two massive
big screen TVs and focused the cameras on an empty area of the
terrace, next to the two screens and the stack of suitcases. Mary
and I capitulated. James handed each of us a suitcase and told us
to change into the contents.

We each went behind the screens and stripped off our dinner
clothes. I opened my case and found a full-length see-through
body-suit, panties, bra, opaque white stocking and suspender
belt, white cotton blouse, cream linen knee-length skirt, white
cotton gloves and a bonnet. It seemed an odd costume, what is the
point of a body suit, especially a transparent one, if you cover
it up with all the other stuff so it can not be seen. I put on
the body suit, it covered everything except my head, my hands and
my feet, but it went down to my ankles with a loop under my
heels, down to my wrists and well up my neck. I put on the rest
of the garments over the top and came out from behind the screen.
Mary was already there sitting on one of the two stools that had
been placed in full view of the cameras. She was wearing the same
as me but the colors were blue. I sat on the other stool. I
noticed that Mary did not seem to be wearing a body suit under
her set of clothes.

James gave me a white mask to put over my face and handed Mary
a blue one which he told her not to put on yet, then her retired
to lounger next to Paul's. I checked the TVs and both showed Mary
and me clearly, Me masked and Mary not.

"Ok, Julie, How about doing a bit of a dance and then a
bit of a striptease." called James. If looks could kill, he
would have been charcoal. He hastily added, "It's part of
the effect and you don't have to go further than the blouse if
you don't think its worth it."

Mollified, I muttered reluctant consent. I started prancing
about, in the manner we had been practicing on Friday for the new
show. I was beginning to enjoy myself and despite my mask I could
see I was performing quite gracefully. It was getting quite hot
behind the mask so I decided that it would be the first thing to
go. Mid-gyration I reach up and took off the mask and flung it in
James' direction. Mary gasped in surprise, but I did not notice
anything unusual until I tossed the bonnet at the screen I had
changed behind. Suddenly I stopped to gawp at my image on the TV
screens. My body was there, I waved at the camera and the images
on both screens waved back, but what had happened to my head? I
could not see it. I waved my hand behind my head and it remained
visible. I felt my head to make sure it was still there. My head
had become invisible. I took a peek inside the gloves, they
seemed empty. I came to the conclusion I was invisible all over.
There was only one way to check, so I unbuttoned my blouse and
dropped it on the floor. The pictures on the screens confirms I
was invisible from the waist up. My upper torso was encased in
the see-through body suit with a bra hanging over my chest area,
but my body could not be seen through transparent fabric,
although the screen behind me could. I looked down to check that
the cameras were not lying. I saw exactly what the cameras saw,
but from my position I could see more, I could see the inside of
the panties and part way down the stockings. Feeling a lot less
inhibited I completed the strip down to the body suit. As I
reached behind me to undo the zip of the body suit, James called
and told me not to. He said that if they lost me how would they
find me to make me visible again. I stood there in a tightly
fitting see-through body suit nearly every curve visible but no
flesh on view.

Having sat there throughout it was Mary's turn to do something.
She was asked to stand clear of any obstacle and put her blue
mask on. She cautiously stood and moved her stool back to her
screen while I did the same and stood to the side. She stood with
her feet set slightly apart and raised the mask to her face, she
was obviously nervous of what might happen to her. As the mask
touched her face, hiding it completely, her clothes fell in a
heap on the floor, The mask landed on top. Mary had vanished from
inside her clothes. Where Mary had stood on the solid terrace,
all that remained was a pile of slightly crumpled clothes.

James told me to hang the mask on Mary's screen and dress in
the clothes Mary had just left. I found a small hook to hang the
mask on and then gathered the clothes and headed for my screen
again. James stopped me and said I should dress in full view so
there would be no question of switching bodies. I dressed in all
the clothes that Mary had worn, over the body suit. It was a bit
eerie putting on clothes had just been worn by someone else,
especially as they were still slightly warm from Mary's body.
When I was dressed James instructed me to put on the blue mask. I
must have looked worried because he added that I would not vanish
into a heap of discarded clothes. Warily I put on the mask. The
mask seemed to fit a lot more comfortable than the white one.
Instantly, I regretted trusting James, because I was flooded by
the by now familiar you're-not-there tingle all over. I knew I
had vanished, but I could still hear and see via the mask.

I turned my attention to the TV screens. The clothes I had
been standing in had not collapsed and the gloved hand still held
the mask to the face. The mask was lowered and my point of view
went with it. I could see enough to tell that the face revealed
by the lowered mask was Mary's, not mine. She turned the mask
round to face her and said, "Hi, Julie, isn't this kind of
vanish better than the going into limbo vanish?" Mentally, I
agreed, but I could not say anything.

Mary carefully hang the mask on my screen, accepted another
suitcase from James and went behind her screen to change. James
invited Paul to come into the arena. James had Paul face the
cameras then standing behind him, held his shoulder and placed
the mask on his face. The exchange process took longer this time
as the tingle flowed away as my presence started at my feet and
worked its way up. My first sensation was woolen socks in
over-sized shoes. As the feel went up I felt trousers and
under-pants that were too large for me and they began to slip
from my waist, then a stiff cotton shirt under a jacket and tie. I
was me inside Paul's clothes, the shirt seemed a little tight
over my bust as it came into being under his shirt. James still
had a firm hold and lifted the mask from my face enough that it
could be seen clearly and then replaced it. My consciousness went
back into the mask and my body went into the tingling limbo of
vanished. As I watch through the eyes of the mask I saw my slim
shaved legs transform into Paul's thicker hairier ones. I am glad
the cameras were not set for close ups, it would have probably
been quite disgusting. James hung my mask back on the screen.
Paul returned to his lounger having recovered his trousers and a
bit of dignity.

Mary re-emerged from behind her screen was wear a costume that
I will have describe. She was wearing two of the three legs of
the harem pants, which were see-through and elasticized at the
ankles and waist. She was also wearing two of the four cups of a
four cup bra. She looked uncomfortable and worried about what
James might have in mind. He told her to stand there and try not
to look like she was facing a firing squad. James whipped out and
blew up a pink balloon to the same size as Mary's head and tied
it to her shoulder on the same side as the spare leg and bra
cups. He picked some markers from his pocket and drew a face on
the balloon. He then went to fetch a stick with some fabric
attached and my mask from the screen.

James attached the mask to the balloon and waved to cloth in
front of Mary's face and the balloon. He draped the cloth over
Mary's head and the balloon so that the fringe at the bottom
brushed the tops of Mary's arms. The vanished tingle left my head
and neck, I knew my head had appeared, but how? The image on the
TV screens was a shock to both me and Mary. Mary's body now had
two heads on its shoulders, her own and mine. My neck merged into
her left shoulder while hers had moved onto her right shoulder.
If I had not been part of it I would have laughed.

James then covered Mary's left arm with the cloth and revealed
my arm in its place and the shoulder had also become my color.
There was an area running from between our heads across the top
of her left breast where our colors faded together.

James next covered Mary's torso. The cloth was removed to
reveal that my part of our body had grown. The transition area
now went from between our heads to the left hip. Mary's right
breast was as normal, my left breast had appeared and fitted
snuggly in the third cup of the bra, but whose the middle breast
was I could not tell as it was right in the no-man's(?)-land
between us.

James' next move was to conceal Mary's legs. I felt my left
leg come into being on the third leg of the harem pants. The
cloth was twitched away to show that Mary and I had become a
three-legged, three-breasted two headed woman.

He followed this by covering our torso again. Our heads moved
apart a bit. The cloth dropped to reveal we now had a proper
torso each, which explained the four cup bra, but they were
joined edge to edge and merge at the hips above the three legs.

Our three legs were covered again. I felt my right leg
re-appear. We were now trans-ethnic Siamese twins. The join was
only from hip to shoulder, but my right leg and Mary's left leg
shared the middle leg of the pants. While were looking at the
pictures on the TV screens and each other, James knelt down and
fiddled with the middle leg, transforming the three-legged pants
into two pairs of two legged pants.

James invited Paul to help with the next bit. While Paul got
off the lounger, James detached the stick from the cloth and
draped the cloth over the join. He told Paul to pull my arm when
he pulled Mary's arm.

On James word they pulled. As they pulled I felt our sides
begin to separate. When the separation reached our shoulders he
stopped pulling. Paul did not stop pulling at quite the same time
and we were nearly pulled of our feet.

James uncovered the join, which was now only our shoulders,
and converted the four-cup bra into two more normal bras. He
covered the join again and told Paul to continue pulling.
Gradually the vanished arms reappeared from under the cloth until
the only part that tingled was my hand. He took the cloth away,
Mary and I were joined wrist to wrist. The next thing he did
shocked us, He grabbed our wrists and pulled them apart, but our
hands did not appear. Paul looked as surprised as we did.

James announced his last trick for the weekend. He pulled from
his pocket a pair of surgical rubber gloves. Each glove he
stretched and put on the stump of one of our arms. He then pulled
out a large skewer which he used to pierce a hole in the end of
the thumb of each glove. He told us to hold the glove onto our
wrists and blow it up using the holes in the thumbs. We both
inflated the gloves where our hands should have been, like
balloons. When they were full but not totally out of shape, James
popped them with the skewer. Our hands were now inside.

We were both glad to be complete again.

The rest of the evening and the following day were spent in
more normal pursuits, but we did review the tapes of that
evening. After the evening meal we loaded up the van and returned
home, relaxed and ready for a weeks hard practice for the show on
Friday.

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To be continued ....