Verity's search for someone to take part in the magic act that would follow the next auction was proving frustrating; she was mobbed by two kinds of people; those wishing to have impossible things done to them (even impossible for her (at least with the equipment that she had brought to the venue)), and those wishing to volunteer another person (she was shocked at the number of people that wanted to see their 'friend'-s sawn in half).

The magicienne had performed a card trick for a group and was charmed by a young woman who had been attentive, following every move, and was still surprised when the expected outcome had not happened. Verity spoke to the young woman to ask if she would be up for being involved in another bigger piece of magic. The young woman seemed uncertain, but did not immediately dismiss the possibility. Then they were joined by another two younger women, both of whom bore a great family resemblance to the first.

“Hi, you're Verity, aren't you?” asked the shortest of the two interlopers. “Are you trying to persuade our Dorrie to be another of your volunteers? I think it's a great idea. Oh, by the way, I'm Molly,” she said placing her hand to the expanse of upper chest bared by her leather mini-dress that was held together and close about her body by many buckles, including several that prevented the plunging neckline from exposing more than her cleavage. “And this is Katie.” She waved a hand in the direction of the third sister, clad in a simple form-hugging scarlet dress that went from neck to knee while leaving her arms bare.

Verity looked at the young woman she now knew was called Dorrie. The mid-thigh length little black dress would be ideal for what she had planned, but the wedge sandals, would be too bulky, but everyone knew that volunteers in illusions were asked to remove their shoes. “Your sisters(?), seem to think it would be a bit of fun and I can assure you it won't hurt in the slightest.” The interrogative about being sisters got a confirming 'aha' from Molly. “Why don't you meet me at the performance area after the next auction and we can have a bit of fun. And bring your sisters, they can help out too.”

Katie looked a bit nervous at the idea of being involved in the magic, other than witnessing it from the sidelines, but Molly told the magician that they would be there. Dorrie looked more resigned to being a part of whatever would happen, but with Molly taking charge, as she so frequently did, she had little choice, unless she left the party completely.

Verity, relieved that she had a volunteer and some helpers for her next spot, paused on her way backstage to prepare the equipment, to do a rope trick for another group.

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Verity pushed out a tall cabinet onto the performance area, the details of which were unclear, due to the red cloth covering it, that sparkled slightly, from a sparse sprinkle of sequins.

The business of auctioning a skydiving experience was done with quickly, as there seemed to be only one enthusiastic bidder and a few supporters of the charity prepared to risk winning the auction to ensure that a fair price was paid.

“And now another piece of magic,” she announced. “This time I shall be performing my variant on an popular illusion that has been with us for over fifty years. And to help me with this demonstration I have a trio of sisters; so please welcome Dorrie and her sisters, Molly and Katie.”

With this encouragement, the crowd that had built up to see what was auctioned and/or watch what the magician would do next, applauded as Molly raised the velvet rope delimiting the performance area and ushered her sisters through before following herself.

“Do any of you have any experience of magic?” asked Verity.

“I've seen some on TV and I have a vague recollection of a magician at a birthday party, but he didn't do anything as impressive as you have done so far,” offered Molly.

Katie chimed in with, “I remember him; he couldn't get a dove to come down from the light fitting.”

“That's the one,” agreed Molly.

Dorrie said, “I had a boyfriend; you remember Chip? He was really into magic. He showed me a lot. I wasn't hugely interested, but I guess I picked up some things by osmosis.”

“Then you can probably identify this illusion.” The magicienne, took two steps towards the covered cabinet, pulled the cloth and tossed it towards the rear of the arena.

Dorrie looked at the tall box with the stylised outline of a woman on the front and took in the fact that at the ends of the depicted limbs and where the head should be were holes in the front surface. “Is that one called the zigzag lady or the mismade lady?”

“In fact, it's the zigzag lady, or more accurately my adaption of the zigzag lady. But if you fancy trying out the mismade lady, I have one out back, that I could get in no time flat.”

“No, I'm good, thank you.”

“In that case would you mind taking off your shoes, because we'll need to see your toes and with them on your feet they won't fit out of the foot holes.”

It dawned on Dorrie that she had unwittingly volunteered to be in the illusion. She glanced at her sisters with an appeal to take her place and was answered with both stepping back, as if offered a glass of smoking poison. Her look of resignation from earlier returned as she bend down to unbuckled her broad-strapped sandals with the cork wedge heel.

The magician opened the front doors of the cabinet; the lowest went from about an inch above the the toe holes to mid-thigh on the front silhouette, the next went from there up to chest height, and the final one went up with the shoulders and painted hair flowing about the face hole.

“Alright, Dorrie, you can be getting in. I'll get the blades so that your sisters can check them out. They are in a holder on the back of the leg section, because they tend to catch on the cloth cover and fall down if I leave them on the top.”

The magician did a circuit of the cabinet while Dorrie stepped into the black painted interior of the cabinet and discovered how little space there was to turn round in. “Now I know why all those assistants step backwards into those cabinets; there's not much room in here.”

“Yes,” confirmed Verity. “And that's my bigger cabinet, because you never know what size of person you might be called perform with. You are about the perfect size, but you would have had to reverse into my smaller Zigzag.” The magicienne handed a blade each to Molly and Katie for inspection, specifically telling Molly to be careful of the edge opposite the handle, because it was sharp.

The sisters examined the blades. Molly waved the blade about and slapped the flat face, then rested her finger against the sharp edge, to discover if it really was sharp; she quickly withdraw her finger, but resisted the urge to suck on it as if she had cut it. Katie was more cautious; turning her blade over by the handle several times, then tapping the blade with her fingernails to assure herself of its solidity.

Verity took this time to get Dorrie standing comfortably inside the cabinet so that her red-painted toes peeked out from the pair of holes in the frame of the cabinet for that purpose. It was noted by some that the hem of Dorrie's dress lined up with the top of this lower door; a few suspected that Dorrie was a pre-planned assistant, the rest dismissed this as a coincidence.

“Molly, Katie, please just hold the blades until they are needed, but can I have you watching while I shut Dorrie into the cabinet.” She shut the middle door, covering the volunteer from mid-thigh up to  mid-chest, so that the tip of the 'V'-neck of her dress that showed a small amount cleavage was concealed behind the top of the door. “Ok, Dorrie, please put your hands out here and here,” she indicated the hand holes at the ends of the painted arms, which were about waist height.

“Isn't there usually a hand hole up here?” Dorrie raise her left hand to beside her face, while she felt for the right-hand hand hole.

“Yes. You seem to have taken in more about magic than you claimed. But, like I said, this is my variant so there are two hand holes in the torso section; besides, do you really want to be in such an awkward pose?”

Dorrie's hands emerged from the holes and her sisters were asked to verify that the appendages on show did indeed belong to Dorrie.

“You might want to lean back a bit, while I shut the last door, then put your face to the hole, and rest your chin on the bottom of it; it will help your balance and make sure that the audience can see your pretty face.”

At the reminder that they were being watched, Dorrie grimaced, but few in the audience saw it as she was moving backward to avoid being bumped by the door that was closing on her. By the time her face emerged she had regained some composure and was wearing a nervous smile.

“Are you comfy in there?” asked Verity.

“Not exactly,” Dorrie replied.

“Ok, hold on! We're going to spin the box so everyone can see that the only way out of there is the way you went in and that is latched shut.” Before Dorrie had time to brace herself the magician was instructing Molly and Katie to turn the box around on the wheels that held it off the ground.

After three hundred and sixty degrees, Verity halted the turning and stepped on the brakes so that the cabinet stayed in place.

“Now we are going to cut Dorrie into three pieces; by we I mean you two.”

From their reactions, it seemed that neither sister had expected to be doing more than holding things, moving things and checking that the exposed parts of Dorrie were still Dorrie, even if those parts did not appear to be attached to their older sister.

Ignoring these reactions, Verity continued, “Sadly, there is not enough space in front of the cabinet for you both to push in your blades, so we're going to have to do this two stages. So, first you, Molly, will start us off by dividing Dorrie into two pieces, then Katie can finish the job by dividing one of those pieces in two to make a total of three.” The magician pointed out a slot at the top of the lowest door. “Don't worry, about not being lined up on the slot at the back; that blade is wide enough to locate in internal guide slots. All you have to do locate the sharp edge in the slot and push it through, then stand clear so everyone can see what you've done. That's great.”

Molly stepped across the front of the cabinet to get into a position where she could easily manoeuvre the blade without going too close to the sharp edge. With the blade located in the slot, she had a minor crisis of conscience about whether should be pushing a blade through her sister's legs, but this quickly passed when she remembered the things that the magician had done to her previous volunteers, who all seemed a bit happier for the experience. The push went smoothly except for a brief moment when she had to apply a small amount of extra pressure to keep the blade moving. There was a 'thonk' as the handle made contact with the door and the insertion was complete.

Dorrie made a face in the anticipation of pain, but when she felt none, she smiled a few steps more genuinely than she had been smiling before.

Katie was a lot more unsure about being more than peripherally involved in cutting her sister into bits; Verity helped guide the blade to the slot in the base of the upper door about five inches below Dorrie's chin. “Go on, push it through!” encouraged the magicienne. Katie applied light pressure to the handle and it slid in half an inch, before meeting sufficient resistance to stop it.

“If you're going to do it, do it; the suspense is killing me,” muttered Dorrie.

Katie withdrew her hand and then thumped the blade with the heel of her palm. There were yelps of surprise from the audience, but Dorrie seemed unmoved by the sudden thrusting of a blade through her chest.

The magician kicked the locks on the casters so that the younger sisters could turn the cabinet and allow her to show that the blades had come out of the back of the cabinet and with no space between their sides and the uprights that formed the frame of the cabinet.

With Dorrie facing forward again, Verity noted, “That's all very impressive in its way, all we've really done is push a couple of blades through the lovely Dorrie, but I said that we'd be dividing her into three. So, it's time to show that we have three chunks of Dorrie, not a whole Dorrie. Molly you will be pushing and Katie you will be pulling, but first I need to erect the shelf on the side for you to pull Dorrie's middle onto.” This was quickly done, by lifting a flap that lined up with the top of the lower door and hinging out a support that had been hidden under it and then releasing another flap aligned with the bottom of the top door. “Right, on the count of three, Molly, push and Katie pull; one, two, three.”

The sisters on the outside of the box pushed and pulled as instructed and the section contained behind the middle door slid smoothly onto the shelf until it came to a stop at a lip on the outside edge of the shelf. The resulting configuration was a tall cabinet with its middle section off to the side overlapping its original position by only a few inches.

Dorrie was feeling a pleasant warmth in her torso between the blades that had begun as she sensed her body shift laterally. While she had not known what to expect of her body being shoved sideways, but felt surprised that she had felt the section of box around her torso move, by way of her wrists, being through holes in its front, before moments later the wall of the made contact with her arm and  the centre section of her body was pushed across the surface of the blade onto the shelf. She could feel the transition from blade to shelf as her thigh stumps passed over it. There did not seemed to be any sensation associated with moving across the underside of the upper blade, except when she tried to stretch her body; the feeling was very similar.

“As you can see, Dorrie is beside herself; and that expression tells me that she is not raging.” The expression in question showed a mix of pleasure, puzzlement and frustration. “Is there something wrong?” the magician asked.

“Not really, if you accept that my hands are over there,” Dorrie glanced down and to her right, “when they should be down there. Maybe you could take a picture, so I can see what you've done to me.”

Dorrie's right hand pulled into the cabinet and reappeared a few seconds later holding a smart phone. With her thumb she made some swoops across the screen to unlock it.

“That's a great idea,” said the magician. “Time for a family photo. Molly you go behind and lean through, you, Katie, can look puzzled by the whole thing; great that expression is perfect!” A few dexterous swipes and a clicking noise later the photo was taken. Verity placed the phone on the fold-down shelf that covered the top of Dorrie's side section.

“Now, of course, this is nothing that a lot of you haven't seen before, so it's time to get on to what distinguishes my variation of this famous theme. Some of you may even have a theory on how this was achieved; what is about to happen will likely blow that theory out of the water.” The magicienne went to Molly's side of the box and erected a shelf and cover that matched the one on which Dorrie's mid-section currently stood. “This time, on the count of three, Katie push and Molly pull. One, two, three.”

The magician used the time to pick up the phone and move into a position to video the transfer from left to right of the mid-section with Dorrie's hands sticking from it. While the onlookers clapped, Verity took another picture, this time with Katie leaning through the gap in Dorrie and Molly standing beside the apparatus, trying not to look awed by what they had done to their sister.

Verity went to Katie's side of the cabinet and pulled deviated part back into place. “Now it's time to show off the second variation that I can do with this cabinet.” She crossed behind the cabinet and emerged carrying a bigger blade. In response to Molly's questioning look, she said, “Sorry, but there are no guides for this blade so I will have to push it in.”

As the magician came round the front, into Dorrie's limited view, she asked, “Where's that going?”

“Between the notches in the handles of the other blades.” She pulled away a strip of tape that had covered a vertical slot that ran between the two already inserted blades at the midpoint between the volunteers twitching hands. The leading edge of the blade was soon aligned with the slot and an inch through, when Dorrie pulled in her right hand to touch the blade that was in contact with the median line of her torso. “Dorrie, please put your hand back out; firstly the blade is very sharp and we don't want you hurting yourself and secondly, the audience will want to see that you are in the position they think you are while I push this through.”

Dorrie's hand returned through the hole, but not before she had touched the flat of the blade and was assured of its solidity, but not reassured by that solidity. There followed another round of the sisters checking Dorrie's exposed extremities and letting the audience know that they were the real thing. Verity leaned on the vertical blade's handle, which began to sink slowly into the volunteer-filled cabinet.

Dorrie felt the blade begin to penetrate from her cleavage down to the base of her belly. Her initial worry was what the blade was doing to her dress, before realised that with a blade through the shoulder straps if there was damage being done to her outfit, it was already too late. The slow movement of the blade into her body was unexpectedly pleasant; the experience of the two previous blades having been too fast to get any sense of the feelings invoked by the blade passing through her. While Dorrie smiled about the feelings that being cut by the slowly moving blade was inducing, she had a moment of worry when thinking through where the blade was going; it would be slicing through her panties and more importantly their contents.

There was a moment of relief when Dorrie felt the blade in a place below the waistband of her panties, but could also feel the tension that held them up maintained. The relief did not last long as she felt the track of the blade between her legs. As the blade came to those most sensitive parts, she relaxed a bit because the feeling was good; perhaps too good. Soon the faces of the blade were rubbing inside her as the magician continued the slow insertion. Dorrie bit on her lip, hoping the build up of pleasure between her legs did not make her orgasm in such a public setting.

There was a scraping noise as the edge of the vertical blade pushed aside a strip of tape at the back of the cabinet that had been covering its exit slot. “Ok, Molly, Katie. This time you will both be pulling on the count of three. One, two, three.”

On three both sisters pulled on their side of the middle section, which parted to allowed the narrow sections, each with a hand sticking out of it, to slide onto the side shelves and come to a stop at the end leaving them about three inches beyond the frame defining the outline of the main cabinet. Verity took more pictures with the sisters posed between the two sides of Dorrie's separated torso.

Pictures taken and applauds acknowledged, the magician announced that it was time to show off the third and final variation in this apparatus. She took a quick tour of the cabinet, pulling a pin at the base of the head section in each of the uprights supporting it. As the final pin came out, Dorrie immediately felt her head and shoulders slowly sinking. It took a little longer for the audience to notice, but they applauded this development. With a gentle bump the head section landed on the lowest section from which Dorrie's toes showed. “Time for you two to both push; so on the count of three; one, two, three.” The sisters pushed the sides of the middle section until contact was made, leaving Dorrie's hands positioned slightly above her head and a few inches beyond where her shoulders were. More pictures were taken, before Verity efficiently pulled the blades free and placed them on the lowered top of the cabinet.

The magicienne unlatched and opened the top and bottom doors, leaving the mid section doors shut. Another picture was taken of Dorrie squatting in the shortened cabinet with her arms reaching up and to the sides where her hands still showed through the original hand-holes. After Dorrie had emerged with no apparent damage to body or clothes, the magician and the three sisters took a bow.

Verity returned Dorrie's shoes and her phone.

Dorrie scrolled through the pictures that had been taken and commented to her sisters, “Chip would love these pics; maybe I'll send them to him.”