Several months ago, when I started my journey as a magician using real magic to perform fetish magic shows, I had no show, no assistants and very little prospect of the idea getting me anywhere. Fortunately, I did have my more mundane job as a children's magician, doing all the usual tricks, by the usual methods, to fall back on.

Since then I have performed three shows and gained three assistants.

First and least likely to become a long-term assistant was Angela, who, for reasons that I do not entirely get, introduced herself to me as Annie and was my assistant for my first show; a birthday party where I did sexy tricks with a sexy lady. She was also at my third show, where she used her real name as she was chaperoning a sleepover hosted by her niece and friends (a group of late teens girls, an age group older than I am really set up for); she was part of that show too.

Second and more likely to become a regular assistant is Hannah. She was my second show; a show so private that there was no audience, but it was recorded on cameras so that she could see what had happened; presumably to be a reminder of what I had done to her and with her. She liked it enough that we have had several sessions since each ending with the origami illusion. She calls these "rehearsals" despite me not having a booking as Tom the Fetish Magician or any plan for a show, because the point of being a fetish magician is that a show is customised to align with the client's tastes, some of which, reportedly, can be pretty outrageous. Another of these shows has not appeared yet, but I am hopeful enough to increase the amount of advertising for my services.

Finally, there is Milly. She is in college and volunteered to be my assistant for my kid's shows, but stipulated that she should be featured in at least one illusion using the kind of magic I used on her and the other members of the sleepover. Reading between the lines, she was using rehearsing with me as an excuse not to help the rest of the girls with their homework assignments, while still being approved of by her parents for doing something other than study. A secondary reason was that while she acknowledged the magic that happened to her, but she did not really believe that it was real; so each time we did a trick she was studying what was happening and trying to work out how it happened; the mystery drove her curiosity and her curiosity made her want to seek out more mystery. She came to my place for real rehearsals, because you need to practice illusion and sleight of hand, even if the real magic can be played by ear more. She also got excited by the animals, especially my cat, Harley, and my rabbit, Mr Snuffles.

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This afternoon was going to be busy, because Hannah had postponed her usual Wednesday morning 'rehearsal' saying she had a meeting she could not cancel in the morning, but could make it in the afternoon instead. Also Milly was due to turn up in the early evening, because her homework schedule allowed and we had a booking in a couple of weeks for me to do my first kid's show with my new assistant; the plan was to put some polish on the acts we had rehearsed, make sure that the new assistant outfit I had got fitted and choose which piece of magic she would feature in.

About lunchtime Hannah called and told me that she would be delayed, because her meeting had over-run and be ready to do the origami illusion first because she was feeling more tense than usual and the release it usually produced would allow her to relax and properly enjoy whatever else I had in mind for her.

I set out three illusions in my rehearsal space; it seemed that finding another venue was unnecessarily complicated when I had space at home; it also meant that I did not have to transport my growing collection of illusion cabinets, saving time, petrol, and wear and tear on the kit.

I had been expecting Hannah at about one-ish, as we had planned, but now I was at a loose end. I spent some of the waiting time, between coffees, listing the illusions I had that Milly would fit in and attached the file to an email that I sent to her; she had told me that it was her habit to get out her laptop during each break at school to check her emails and Google queries she had about things the teachers had said that she had not understood first time and wanted to clarify.

An hour later, my computer pinged to let me know a new email had arrived. What I read told me that Milly was excited to check out the illusions listed, but she seemed most likely to go for the sawing in half.

I did not have time to think more about that, because I heard Hannah's car arrive on the driveway.

I opened up the origami illusion while I waited for her to come in. The first surprise when she came in was how she was dressed. Hannah usually came to rehearsals in a skirt and blouse in pastel colours with low heels and after the first session she also had been leaving out the underwear. This time she was in a business suit in grey over a white blouse, flesh tone hosiery and violent red high heels. This power-dressing was off-putting enough, and the sour expression on her face did not help.

Without a word, she went to the table where the Bluetooth earpiece was ready. The earpiece was fitted quickly, then she began to strip out the business gear with sharp movements, laying the components of her clothes on the table in a manner that showed that despite how angry she appeared she was in control enough to not drop the garments where she stood, but she was teetering on a fine edge.

Once naked, she strode over to the origami illusion, climbed onto the table, then stepped into and sat down in the box. She uttered her first words since she had arrived. "Do it!"

She may have had a bad morning, but I felt that there was no need to take it out on me. To me sex is not solely about the act, but about two people having a good time together. This was not my idea of a good time.

I went through the motions of folding the box down over Hannah's back and compressing her into the foot cube that the box became, before I had a plan. I felt it would serve Hannah right if I performed the illusion as it had been designed, but using the swords on her would not improve her mood one iota. I sat straddling the table behind the box and reached back for the top sword with one hand and a condom from my pocket with the other. It took little time to unroll the condom over the hilt of the sword and use it to pleasure Hannah, tilting the box forward to not be in the way of the blade.

When she had reached her orgasm, I replaced the sword on the rack and dismounted the table. It took little time before Hannah could emerge from the expanded box.

"I so needed that!" She said as she emerged. "It did feel a little different, but it was exactly what I needed." She followed my glance at the sword with the condom still on the handle. "Why would you do that?"

"I was severely turned off by your attitude when you arrived, so I improvised."

"Well, it worked because I feel so much more relaxed. I'm sorry; I know I should not bring work here with me." She stepped out of the origami box and jumped from the table to hug me.

I asked if she wanted to talk about it, but she said she wanted to spend a bit of time rehearsing with some magic, to help her relax enough that she could get a good nights sleep and have the energy to tackle the fallout the following morning.

"So what did you have planned for this session?" she asked.

"Well originally I had planned to do two pieces of magic and finish off with the origami, but, because you are later than originally planned, I only have time for one and I guess you'd like a bit time in the steel box."

"Why? I was hoping to have a full length session; start later and finish later; especially as I don't have to be home so soon. My daughter's got herself some sort of irregular after-school job, that she can fit round her study and homework schedule, so she'll be working straight after school. And didn't you say last time that you didn't have a show this evening."

"Sorry, but I'm introducing something a bit new to my kid's shows and I need to rehearse it. I was going to do that this evening, because I won't get another chance until the weekend. And I want to keep Tom the fetish magician separated from Mr Wonder the children's magician."

She seemed disappointed that I was not going to be as easily persuaded to move the end of our rehearsal as I had been to move the beginning. "So, what do I have to do to earn myself a bit of time in The Box." She had started to refer to the steel and glass box from our first session as "The Box" complete with the capital letters. I still did not entirely get what she liked about being in boxes, and The Box in particular, but I did my best to cater to it in the hope that when a show turned up, she would be available and willing to take part.

"Just get the valve and the medical tape and lie on that table there. I'll get the thing to flatten you with."

Hannah had become accustomed to being ironed flat and posted into The Box and then reinflated; I now trusted her to fit the valve the right way, although I had scratched an arrow into the body of the valve to help. Today I had a surprise for her.

From across the room she called out, "This isn't the usual ironing table; what's going on?"

"Nothing particular. I just thought it would be a good time to try flattening you differently. Tell me what you think of the new table; I hope it isn't too uncomfortable."

"I guess it'll be alright; it's got a rubber mat type thing on it, which I suppose is better than the metal the rest of the table seems to be made of." She prodded the rubber band that went from one end of the table to the other. "It doesn't seem to the supported all the way along its length. Won't that effect how flat I can be ironed if some of the surface gives more than other parts?"

"That would be true if I planned to iron you flat."

She paused in the process of climbing onto the table. "You're going to use a different method to flatten me?"

"Wasn't that what I told you a few moments ago? I'm going to be using one of the only other flattening devices I have ever seen illusionists use."

"So, what is it that are you going to use?"

"They would usually call it a 'wringer'." I dragged the frame with its two rollers into view.

"Is that what my Granny would have called a mangle?"

"I guess so. Except instead of clothes going through, you'll be going through."

"Ok, I think. But in my small amount of research on YouTube, about illusions that I might expect to come up, I've never seen the assistant lain on a table and fed into a mangle. Are you sure that this will work?"

"Of course, it'll work. I'll just be concentrating the magic to flatten you into the line where you meet the rollers, instead of the area of that iron. And the reason that you've never seen it done like this is because illusionists don't do it this way. They would not have space for the assistant to tuck herself out of sight, so they usually have a box or cabinet of some sort, and turn the rollers to produce the flattened version while the assistant conceals herself by whatever means they have decided on. Fortunately, I don't have those limitations, but I did have to think of your comfort, because I reckoned that you would not like to dragged along the surface by the rollers pulling you in, so you are on a conveyor belt; as you get pulled into the rollers the surface will deliver the next bit as you go."

"That would explain the rubbery surface and I guess there are rollers underneath, but it does not seem to move much."

"That's because the rollers are locked at the moment; I don't want you accidentally sliding off before you are ready."

"Ok. So other than using rollers instead of the iron, the plan is still flatten me, post me into The Box and then blow me up with the foot pump, as usual, so I can enjoy a bit of Box Time?"

"Exactly." I paused for a few seconds to let Hannah become accustomed to the idea. "Ok, I need you to lie on your back and present your toes to the rollers. You'll be glad to hear that I've applied a small amount of padding to the rollers, because when I tried them on Mr Snuffles with unpadded rollers, he struggled; I tried again with padding and he seemed calmer."

"At least this time, you tried it out on someone or something first." This was a dig at my making her the guinea-pig for the sword box during our first session; still a small bone of contention.

"Yes, I did. Shall we get on with it or there won't be time for you to chill out in the Box."

Hannah touched her toes to where the rollers met. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Turn the handle or whatever you need to do!"

I pressed a button and a motor whirred into life; why turn a crank when a motor will do a better job for a lot less effort, and it left me free to troubleshoot, because putting a bunny through the rollers is not quite the same thing as putting a bunny-girl through.

The beginning of crushing Hannah flat must have been felt towards the pain end of the pain-pleasure spectrum, because she winced and said, "This is what you mean by sometimes the assistant feels a bit of pain when things begin." This was the first time she had mentioned any pain from anything I had done to her. I hoped her mental state was responsible, rather than any problem with the magic. She soon added that after the initial pain, she was feeling the warm sensations that she associated with being flattened. She also pointed out the disconcerting cracking and crunching noises that were coming from the region of the rollers.

Soon Hannah's toes emerged from between the rollers, much the same thickness as they would have been if I had ironed them flat. The table on which Hannah lay was feeding her to rollers at the same rate that the rollers were squashing her flat. I ran my fingers across her flattened feet, but she asked me to stop, even while she was giggling.

I got the 'rolling stick', which was a cardboard tube that I had covered in self-adhesive plastic to make it smooth; with a little experimentation we had discovered this was an easy way to roll Hannah evenly and then extract the tube so that her rolled up form could be squeezed through the slot in the top of the Box. With the tube as a template I began to roll the flattened parts of Hannah while the conveyor table delivered her to the rollers at the rate they required.

Hannah made a terrified squeak as her head was drawn into the rollers; maybe I should have covered her face like I do when I iron her. Her head emerged in profile instead of the usual straight on. With her rolled onto the rolling stick, everything except her arms, a quick twist removed the stick and a slight squeeze allowed her to be posted into the box with the valve hand lying in the top of the box, held there by a bit of reverse levitation, so as not to mark the outside of the box with tape.

With Hannah rolled up with her feet and legs inside, she was soon able to see what was going on while rest of her was still inflating. Once enough her had been re-inflated, I did not need to hold her hand in place, she did that. After the last of her toes had popped back to three dimensions she pulled her hand in and removed the valve.

I was soon moving around quietly, preparing for Milly's arrival, but in such a manner that I did not disturb Hannah's meditation or communing with the Box. I was navigating a thin model sawing box towards the open area of the rehearsal room to be ready for Milly, when Hannah said, "I don't think that The Box is doing it for me today; maybe I'm still too keyed-up. Can you let me out? Maybe another small bit of magic will help. I'm sure you've got time before you need me to leave."

I collected the electric screwdriver and removed the bolts holding the side on the box. With the side resting on the top of the box, Hannah climbed out. She spotted what I had been getting ready. "Can I have a go at that? Do you realise in all our rehearsals you have never divided me?"

It suddenly came to me that this was true; I had only flattened her, squashed into the origami box, pulled her through small holes and stuck swords and sticks through her.

A little guilt about how I had treated her when she arrived and this revelation, made me resolve to correct this. “I think I can fit in another piece of magic, if you don't mind it being the quick version, because I would prefer that you leave before I start rehearsing for my kid's show.”

“What do you plan to do?”

“The original plan, before you were delayed, was to put you in the sawing in half box, let you get to know it a bit, then saw you in half; but with the lack of time, it'll have to be get you in the box, cut you in two, show you your feet, reassemble you and get you dressed and gone.”

“That does sound a bit perfunctory, but given that Angela told me that it feels good, I'll take it. Don't you need some extra people to hold some straps or something like that?”

“No, because this is a different version to the one Angela took part in. You see that table? The one with the red and yellow box on it. Bring it into the middle here, open it up and get in; it should be obvious which end is which. I'll go and get the blades, while you get yourself situated. I feel sure that you recognise it as being the one most illusionists use; exactly because they can do it without needing any help from the audience.”

I paused for a moment to see that she was heading for the right piece of equipment, then went to find the blades. I was nervous, because this was the very illusion that had lost me two girlfriends; not that I saw Hannah as a girlfriend, but I did not want lose a potential assistant. The reason that the blades were not with the equipment was that they were in a warmer that I had plugged in in my office. The blades were in the warmer (a home-made box lined with an electric blanket), because the only feedback I had received from my two previous uses of the sawing table, apart from the issue of consent, which I was coming to understand, was that the cold blades were uncomfortable.

When I returned with the blades in hand, Hannah was already lying in the box with the bottom lid shut and the foot stocks in place. The neck stock lay on the ledge around the box and she was reaching for it. She noticed that I was there. “Can you come and help fit this neck stock thing; I don't think that I'm going to get my wrists in the wrist holes while I'm doing it.”

While I went over to place the blades on the closed lid of the lower half, I said, “It isn't entirely necessary. I got one with wrist restraints so that my girlfriends did not put their hands down where the blades could cut them off, because reattaching loose hands is a very different thing to reconnecting legs that are roughly in the same place they were when they were cut off.”

“So, if I keep my hands above my waist, I can have them free inside the box?”

“Exactly, and if there's still time, I might open the side doors and let you touch your legs and feel where they should be on the other side on the blade.”

“Ok,” she said. Her hand found the stock and slotted it into place over her neck, while her other hand found the edge of the upper lid and closed it over her. “Is everything ready, now?”

“Well, apart from these catches.” I flipped the small mechanisms that would hold the lids in place if Hannah had second thoughts and tried to get out.

I wiped my hands on my T-shirt, because I was becoming increasingly worried about performing this illusion. This was the point where on the previous occasions things had started to go wrong; the point where my former girlfriends had discovered that the holes restraining their lower shins were too small to pull their feet through. I half suspected that, with Hannah being petite, she might have been able to pull her feet in at the cost of a couple of grazes on her ankles. She lay there calmly as I picked up the first blade.

“You're aren't going to saw me in half, then?”

“No, like I said, this is the quick version; the blades go through and you are in two.”

“Will it hurt?”

“As far as I can tell, no, unless you wriggle too much while the blade is going through. The last two times I did this, they were too busy shouting about what I was about to do to notice that I had done it already. I'm sorry I can't rule out the possibility, especially as you felt something from the wringer earlier, but I'm hoping that that was down you you being a bit agitated at the time. And there's always the possibility that different things feel different to different people, but Ann, sorry Angela, did not seem to feel much when I cut her. Probably best if you try to relax.”

“Ok, I appreciate the honesty, but trying to relax is a bit like not thinking of a polar bear when specifically told not to.”

“Do you want a countdown? Or just get it over with?” I asked as I slotted the first blade and rested it on her body.

“Make it quick! I don't want to...” I applied pressure to the blade's handle and thud. “Did you just shove a blade through me that fast?”

“Yes. You said to be quick, so I was. How does it feel?” I asked as I lifted the second blade.

“Other that restricting how I move, not that there's a lot of room in here, it doesn't feel like much. And why is it warm?”

“The main complaint about sawing in half I got after I had done it before was that the blades were cold, so I put together a box, so that I could warm them.” While I told her this, I slid the second blade in beside the first.

She giggled. “Was that the second blade going in? It did not seem as fast.”

“That's because it has to line up parallel to the first one, which takes a bit more care. Are you ready to be twice the woman you were when you arrived?” I reached over the box to unhook the catch on the other side.

“That's a bit of a corny line. But I guess I'm as mentally prepared as one can be for my first time in two pieces.”

“Sorry about the corn; I was trying out a line for when I put this into my kid's show, they'll be seven- and eight- year olds, so it'll be new to them.” I undid the catch on my side and placed my hands on the lids of the separate, but together, halves. “Here goes.” I pushed sideways on both lids and opened up a gap big enough for me to step through.

“I felt some movement. Am I in two pieces?”

“Yes.” I did not get to say more, because the telephone in the office rang. “I'd better go and answer that.” I said as I stepped through the space between Hannah's two halves.

“What about me?”

“You'll be alright. I'll only be a couple of minutes. In the meantime you can enjoy being in two boxes at once and the boxes not being inside each other.”