“Remind me why I'm doing this.” Beth addressed Fred, while looking down at the costume he had supplied. It was a black bikini that covered more than she had expected it would when Fred had told her that she would be wearing a bikini for the event.

“There are several answers, the shortest of which is you lost a bet and I get to do whatever I like with you for an evening, as long as it does not involve sex, or harm to you. This is the evening.”

“But you cheated! But I should have seen it coming, really.”

Fred put on an offended expression, marred by a smile. “I did not cheat; I just used several techniques that you did not realise fell within the rules that you agreed to. Besides, if I had really cheated, you could have not turned up this evening; but here you are.”

“OK. I agreed to that bet, but it was loaded against me. And I don't want to be seen to be welching on a bet. But all that is beside the point really. What I want to know is, what will I be doing this evening. And why do I need me to wear this, actually quite surprisingly nice, bikini for it. If I'm going to be waiting at a party or something like that, why aren't I in maid outfit (or similar)?”

“You're right, that we're going to a party, but it would be a waste to have you waitressing. You may have heard that I have a little sideline going as a party entertainer; I do some magic tricks. I'm going to be entertaining at the party and you are going to be my assistant.”

“I vaguely remember Joanie mentioning something like that, but I got the impression you did card tricks and other stuff you could carry in your pockets. Why do you need an assistant?”

“When I got hired, they wanted something more than I usually do. They wanted something with an assistant. Rather that miss out on the job, I thought of you and something, by way of an illusion, that I could do with you.”

“So, I'm more than just eye-candy? But we haven't rehearsed anything. So how am I supposed to know what to do?”

“Well, actually, most of the time you will be someone to fetch things for me, but, in that bikini, you'll also provide plenty of distraction. But at the climax of the evening you will be the assistant in the new illusion that I invented for us to do. Don't worry about the fact we haven't rehearsed it, because you don't have to do anything, but follow a few simple instructions and I make it work. If you like it and want to do something like it again, I'll forget the second part of the bet and even give you half the money I'm getting for this as a starting bonus.”

Beth frowned, trying to think what the second part of the bet was, until she realised that they had agreed that the 'evening' was from six to midnight and had heard that the party would officially run until ten; so there would be two hours in which Fred to make her life hell if she did not cooperate in her role as his assistant. She tried to show interest in what she was likely to be asked to do as Fred's assistant. “So, what is this new illusion you invented, and what else do I need to know?”

“Once we get there I'll lay out everything I need on a table and ask you to fetch things by telling you the letters I've used to label each trick. And then, about nine, I think, we will perform my new illusion (well actually, I don't think anyone has done it before, but I don't know everything). I have called the illusion, 'The Indestructible Lady', and naturally you'll be playing the title role. I don't really want to you tell more about it, because I'd like your reaction to be natural.”

“I, kind of, don't want to trust you, but somehow I do. Just remember that if you hurt me in any way, I am quite capable of kicking you into the middle of next week.” She flexed an arm, displaying more muscle than Fred had.

“That's exactly why I chose you to be my assistant for this party. You have the muscles to pull off being indestructible while still being attractive. If I wanted super muscles, Keri would have been my choice; and if I wanted someone that looked like an airheaded bimbo, I'd've chosen Dawn (and before you get huffy on her behalf, I know she's top of the class, but you have to admit her looks don't show it, especially when she takes off those glasses, which she doesn't really need).”

“So, when do we leave?”

“Now is as good a time as any. You might want to wear this over your costume, because the weather is a bit cool for wandering about in a bikini.” Fred handed Beth an overcoat, which she gratefully put on.

The journey to the party venue took about ten minutes in Fred's car. Beth helped him unload a suitcase of stuff, while he handled a large travel case. Fred consulted with an organiser, who showed him to a stage area with some space behind the plain dark blue backdrop where a large table had been set up. “Why don't you go and have a snack and a drink now? But I would rather you don't eat or drink once the party gets started, because I will be circulating and performing my tricks, so I'll need you to bring me the stuff for them. Oh yeah, nearly forgot, put in this earpiece. That way I can speak to you with my lapel mike, when I need something. When you're not fetching stuff, feel free to mingle; it'll let everyone see that you are a real person and make the finale that much more effective and impactful. Just be ready to bring me stuff when I need it, right.”

“And how will I know it's time for the big illusion?” Beth asked.

“I'll tell you when it's time, then you take the earphone out, because I'll be switching over to the P.A. and you don't want to be deafened. After that it will be clear what I want you to do.”

Beth left the stage area and went to find some food and drink to sustain her until the end of the party. She soon encountered George, the event's organiser, and asked where she could get some food before things started. George lead her to a second room and suggest that she help herself. “So you're a professional magician's assistant?” he asked.

“I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm just a friend of his that he conned into coming along. He made a rigged bet with me and losing got me involved in this thing as his assistant; and before you ask what he has planned, I wouldn't tell you if I could (you know magician's secrecy and such), but I can't tell you because he hasn't told me, only that I won't get hurt.”

“You are aware that this party is a formal affair? You'll look out of place in that bikini; I think I can organise a dress for you if you want.”

“Tempting as that sounds, I think I'd better stick as I am; Fred said something about people seeing me as a real person and I think this is my costume for the big illusion at the end. I guess that people might be suspicious if I had to go and change into something that they had not seen me in already.” Beth wondered why she was making excuses for Fred's choice of her costume. Then a sudden thought hit her. “You don't think I'm indecent do you? I thought Fred would have me in something much more immodest, when he said he'd be providing a costume.”

“No, I imagine, knowing some of the guests, that some of the ladies will be wearing dresses more revealing than that bikini.”

“Well, I am part of the entertainment, so I should be dressed as such and not as a guest, but thank you for the offer. Now I'd better grab a snack, because Fred doesn't want me eating during the party; something about being at his beck and call to fetch things for him.” Beth tapped the side of her head to draw George's attention to the earpiece nestled in her ear.

“Ok, I hope the big illusion is worth money we paid.”

“So, do I, because I'm as much in the dark as you are. The only clue he's given me is the name he's given the illusion and that hasn't helped me.”

George left Beth to load a small plate with some salad and a slice of pizza and fill a plastic glass with something fizzy, but non-alcoholic, although she had been tempted by the presence of a row of champagne bottles. While she ate she wandered round to get some idea of the layout of the party, mostly in case someone mistook her for a maid or waitress.

Soon the first guests arrived. They did notice Beth, but assumed that she was someone related to the hosts, who would be packed off out of their sight soon. The guests soon discovered Fred and he quickly gathered a group of onlookers. Within twenty minutes, and three trips back stage to fetch things from the table, the guests realised that Beth was the magician's assistant. In her downtime, between errands she chatted to anyone that approached her in a friendly manner and tried her best answer the questions they had, with her negligible knowledge about what Fred was doing and what to expect later; in fact she learnt from the guests that the promise of a magical finale to the evening had been a deciding factor in their attendance. Some were fans of the magical arts and wanted to see a performance closer than the view from the front row at the theatre and a few of them had in mind to volunteer if there was a chance to do so.

Between fetching for Fred and fielding questions about what to expect later, Beth was kept busy; she did not feel particularly hungry and lost track of the time. She also observed that George had been right about some of the dresses worn by the female guests; many were low cut, some to the navel, thus showing a lot of cleavage; others had very short skirts that allowed glimpses of panties or the lack thereof; still more slitted skirts seemingly designed to leave a leg on view most of the time.

Beth appreciated the admiring glances at her toned body and the questions that she could answer about how she kept fit; she almost forget that she was intended to play a role in the finale. Until the appointed time arrived. She heard in her earphone, “It's time to remove the earphone, because it's nearly time for the climax of the evening. Be ready to come up on stage when I call for you and then it will be just a case of following a few simple instructions, relaxing and letting what happens happen; remember I will do you no harm. See you in a minute.”

Beth saw George and asked him to hold onto the earphone; she lacked a pocket in her bikini. Fred began to announce the beginning of the magical finale, but the P.A. let out a squeal, which while an interruption to the announcement, certainly got everyone's attention. “Sorry about that.” Fred said, seeming flustered. “But I wish to call all those interested to watch the sequence of illusions that I have concocted which I am calling, 'The Indestructible Lady'. So those that wish to should gather near the stage, while I find my assistant, who will be acting the part of 'The Indestructible Lady'.”

When Beth got to the room that contained the stage area, Fred was in the process of dishing out cloakroom tickets to those interested in helping with 'The mayhem that was about to unfold'. He spotted her, but continued with collecting possible helpers; each had a ticket and the second part was dropped in a glass bowl on a stand at the corner of the stage. As Beth approached, she spotted that the tickets in the bowl seemed to be a mix of blue and pink, with blue being in the majority.

Beth arrived at the edge of the stage and looked at the equipment that had been laid out there, in the hope of getting some idea of what Fred was about to do with her. What she saw did not help. A glass screen with a hole, did not suggest what illusion it might be part of; similarly a box on a stand was uninspiring. The block that resembled a tree stump, also failed to trigger ideas. There was a table at the back stacked with items of unclear nature and use. The only thing she felt that she might recognise was covered in a cloth, so she could not tell more than it was a foot shorter than her, but otherwise about her size and round rather than square in horizontal cross-section.

Fred made a point of refusing an enthusiastic spectator a second ticket, then stepped onto the stage. “My assistant has arrived,” he announced.

He leant down and thrust his hand towards Beth, with the evident intent of helping her mount the low staging. She grabbed his hand and raised a foot to the edge of the stage, before allowing him to pull her up.

A twirl later, Beth was stood beside Fred. “This is Beth. You will have seen her about. You will also be sure that there is nothing particularly special about her, besides being quite intelligent and looking good in a bikini.”

There were some scatter cheers and clapping to signal the audience's agreement with this sentiment.

“I chose her to be my assistant for this little show, because she is indestructible; I know she doesn't look it, but rest assure that by the end, you will be convinced (even she will be convinced). To start this series of demonstrations, I shall ask Beth to pick two tickets from the bowl and welcome the holders of the tickets with the matching numbers to the stage.” To Beth he added, “pick one pink and one blue!”

Beth pulled two tickets from the bowl and offered them to Fred. “You picked them, you might as well call them up too.”

“Ok. Can the holders of tickets Blue-2-6-3 and Pink-1-8-7 please come to the stage.” There was some movement in the assembled onlookers, as they checked whether there's was a lucky ticket.

Soon the crowd parted to allow the two people with the tickets to approach the stage. Someone offered to buy the gentleman's ticket, only to have the offer refused. The man and woman used the steps at the corner of the stage and crossed to the centre where Fred greeted them and asked their names. The woman was Hilary and the man was Boris. The man, like most of the men was attired in a dinner jacket, but showed a spark of individualism by accessorising with a silver and purple bow tie. Hilary was dressed in a dress that was slit up the left side up to the waist, and had a neckline that plunged to the tip of her breast bone; while not the most revealing dress in the room, it made it clear that she lacked any underwear.

Fred made a formal introduction between Beth and the two volunteers. “Now you will have heard of the Indian sword basket illusion; we will start our demonstration of Beth being indestructible by performing a variation of that classic illusion. Instead of putting Beth into a basket and allowing her to prove that she is still in there by waving a hand out of the lid at a couple of points in the illusion, I have had a different design of basket made so that you can be sure that she is in there throughout.

Fred pulled the cloth from the item in the centre of the stage. Beth's impression had been right; it was a tube about shoulder height, but supported on a thick wire frame at the bottom so that it was raised an few inches from the stage and remained upright. What she had not been able to see was that it was made of wicker and narrowed as it went down. Fred undid some toggles and lifted the front half from the back. The audience got to see that the front and back were both thin curved walls of woven stuff with nothing more that stood out.

Despite the obvious simplicity of the basket, Fred had Boris and Hilary inspect the two half tubes, before handing the front to Boris to hold onto while he and Hilary got Beth into position.

During the inspection, Beth whispered to Fred urgently, “You didn't say anything about swords! This had better not hurt!”

Fred's reply did nothing to calm Beth's agitation. “I promised you'd come to no harm; I didn't say there would be no pain. But honestly I don't think it'll hurt; well maybe prickle a bit, perhaps. Don't worry, try to relax and enjoy being indestructible.”

“Now, Beth, please stand in the basket, so Hilary can strap you in.”

Beth stepped up to the back part of the basket, then turned to make the final step backward into the interior. She was careful to get her neck into the gap in the centre top of the wickerwork.

“Good. Almost like you had rehearsed it. Down by your hips you'll find a couple of holes that you can put your fingers through.” While Beth felt for the holes she had just been told about, Fred stepped to the table and returned with a pair of cable ties, one of which he handed to Hilary. “Ok, Hilary, take that and feed the pointy end through the weave an inch or so above the hand-hole, round Beth's wrist and back through. Once it is back out feed it through the hole in the lump at the other end.” As he was saying this he demonstrated the action he was expecting. “Pull it tight enough that Beth isn't going to be able to pull her hand back into the basket, but not so tight that she loses circulation in her hands. Got it?” The final question was unnecessary, because Hilary was already tugging, the tie causing a brief stridulation as Beth's wrist was pulled against the wicker.

“Boris, could you please bring the front of the sword basket here and we'll help put it in place.” Fred and his two volunteers, placed the front onto the hooks and the fed the toggles through the loops to hold it place. The wicker covered all of Beth, except her head at the top, her feet at the bottom and her hands either side.

“Ok, Boris please take hold of Beth's right hand. And you, Hilary can take her left hand. Please let me know if you feel she is moving about too much, because I am not going to convince anyone of her indestructibility if she seems to be twisting to avoid the swords I am about to thrust through this basket.”

Fred returned to the table and lifted a tube which he brought forward. He stood the tube on the stage and pulled out one of the things that stuck out of the top. He swished the sword about for a few swings and thrust it into the stage, which showed that it did not collapse, but bowed under the pressure. Beth tried to count how many of these swords there were in the tube; she came up with six.

“You're not thinking of sticking that through here, are you?” Beth asked, as aware as the rest of the audience of how little room for manoeuvre she had in her wicker prison.

“Of course, I am. It wouldn't be much of a sword basket illusion, if the swords did not go through the basket, would it?”

“I'm not worried about the swords going through the basket,” Beth protested. “I'm worried about the swords going through me!”

“Well, they're going through, and you won't feel much as they do. You might feel a prick as it goes through your skin, but after that it should be painless.”

“And then I'll feel more pain as it goes through my muscles. And after that the blood welling up from the wound you've just inflicted.”

“Of course not. I wouldn't do that to you. Now hold still because I don't want to damage these swords, because I have to return them to the fencing club by Monday lunchtime.” He lifted the tip of the narrow epee and locate it in the weave of the basket about an inch below her neck.

Beth felt the tip of the sword touch her skin between where her collar bones met. She took a deep breath and said, “I hope you know what you're doing.”

Fred stood a little to the side to allow as much of the audience as possible to see, before pushing the narrow blade home. He asked the volunteers if the tip had come out of the back, which they affirmed.

After the initial prick of the sword piercing her skin, Beth felt nothing more than a tension at the spot where it had happened. Her eyes widened with surprise when the hand-guard of the weapon stopped touching her wicker containment. Contrary to her expectations of pain and dripping blood, it felt cool, but quickly warmed to body temperature. She was surprised to feel a pleasant warmth that aligned with where she supposed that blade ran through her body. Her expression went from terror, when she first felt the sword tip touch her skin, to relief.

Fred collected another sword. He asked Boris and Hilary to take a step back towards the backdrop, while still holding Beth's hands. From the side where Boris stood, he pushed the narrow sword through the basket a few inches below where the held hands emerged. Beth felt a momentary stab high on her outer left thigh, then half a second later another stab on her inner right thigh.

The next two swords were also pushed through Beth's legs. One at knee level from Hillary's side of the tubular basket and the other from Boris' side a couple of inches above her ankles and another inch above her visible feet.

Fred picked up another two swords. It soon become obvious where he was planning to push these; Beth's chest. While Beth was getting used to being pinned in place by swords that did not hurt; and felt pleasant if she did not move, she was worried by two swords. “Won't those damage my bikini?” Beth asked.

“Not enough to notice, and it'll prevent more damage later.”

Beth was glad that the swords missed her nipples; she felt sure that she would have cried out if the swords had touched there. The final sword went through her bikini bottoms.

With a little cooperation from Beth, Hilary and Boris, the basket was turned to show that the tip of the swords extending from the back of the vertical wicker tube. Fred grabbed a couple of the sword points and wiggled them back and forth, to demonstrate that the swords had traversed the interior of the basket, and presumably Beth inside.

“I think we can all see that Beth isn't going anywhere at the moment, so you can let go of her hands. I guess that you were a bit disappointed to just be holding Beth's hands while I pushed swords through her,” Fred suggested. The crowd caught Hilary's nod. “How about we up the pace a bit and I give you some things to push through Beth's body yourselves?”

Both volunteers seemed excited, but repelled by the prospect. Fred went back to the table and grabbed some clear spikes, which he handed two each to the volunteers when he returned. The spikes half inch diameter cylinders, each four feet long with a one inch point on one end; they appeared to made of acrylic.

“There are, of course, rules. In this instance, the rule is don't interfere with the swords, otherwise you may stick the spikes where ever you want. Understood?”

“Are you sure about this?” Beth asked. The volunteers seemed equally doubtful about the idea.

“Would I suggest it if I thought there was any chance that it might go wrong?” Fred made a gesture of invitation to Hilary. “Ladies first, I think.”

Hilary set the pointy end of the clear spike against the basket and applied some gentle pressure to it, in the hope of failing to penetrate between the willow that made up the weave. Her expression showed shock when the weave deformed to allow the spike through, Beth joined her in her shock, as she felt the spike touch her on the side of her belly.

“Keep pushing!” said Fred, taking a position behind Hilary, which, not only prevented her from backing off, but allowed him to apply pressure down Hilary's arm. While the volunteer was wide-eyed feeling the spike in her hand slowly forcing its way through trapped assistant, Beth was going from a frown to a near-smile, when she discovered that the progress of the spike through her abdomen, yielded similar sensation to the swords, but more intense. There was another pause in the pushing when the spike encountered the inside of the back of the wicker tube.

Boris did not need so much encouragement, but did pause briefly (long enough to look at Fred and receive a nod that he interpreted as, 'You're doing fine'), when moments after his first spike bullied its way through the wicker, it encountered the flesh of Beth's thigh. Beth bit her lip as the spike pushed into her thigh, until it began to add to the warm tingles that were caused by the many other runnings-through.

Hilary's second spike, mirrored her first, by going through where Beth should be on the other side of the wicker tube. She was still cautious, but did not need to be forced into inserting the the spike. By this time, Boris had had a brainwave and when Hilary stood back he raised the spike in his hand, then pushed it through the top of the wicker beside Beth's head in a diagonal direction that emerged at a level just above Hilary's first spike.

The tube was once more shuffled round to show that ends of the clear plastic spikes that penetrated the walls of the wicker sword basket. As a further demonstration, Fred called for the lighting to be lowered and then shone a torch into the rear-facing ends of the spikes, causing the visible end to light up.

He thanked Hilary and Boris for their help and asked them to draw tickets of their own colour from the bowl and call up the holders of those tickets to take their places as helpers.

While the helpers were trading places, Fred pulled the swords from the basket and returned them to the tube that they had come from. The tube of swords was moved out of the way. Beth expected that pulling out the swords might release some of her blood, but it felt relaxing in a way she could not find a way to describe to herself. While he extracted the swords, he told Beth they had been used mainly to avoid having the spikes damage the bikini. He then took a set of bolt cutters and snapped off the ends of the acrylic spikes with it.

“You can't leave the plastic inside me,” Beth whispered with some concern.

“It's not forever, just until I can get you somewhere where I can get them out. They don't hurt, do they?”

“No, they don't hurt, but that's not point. I'm not supposed to have chunks of plastic running through me.”

“You're not supposed to have survived being stabbed with swords either, but here we are.” Fred had turned his attention to undoing the toggles and removing the front of the sword basket.

With the front of the wicker enclosure tossed to the side, Beth stepped forward. She was a little surprised that the spike through her thigh did not seem to impede her movement. To the audience she looked much as she had done when she entered the sword basket, except for a pair of patches on her abdomen and one on her thigh where the blue of the backdrop showed through in contrast to her lightly tanned skin.

Fred left a bewildered Beth, to greet his new helpers, who introduced themselves to the performers and the audience as Naomi and Jack. Jack was another suited man. Naomi wore a body suit with black patches that covered her crotch and nipples, but nothing else, and probably not even that if she moved too energetically.

“It is now time for the second and third demonstrations of Beth's indestructibility. She has survived and not suffered from many penetrations. Next we shall demonstrate that she has no trouble with cuts or flame.”

Beth did not like the sound of that, but until she was actually harmed, she felt obligated to cooperate. Fred instructed her to fetch a chair the box and the screen, while he chatted with his new pair of volunteer helpers.

Beth placed the chair in the middle of the stage with the screen and the box, both of which were on small caster wheels, on either side. She sat on the chair, waiting for the chat to finish.

“Great, it looks like Beth is ready for us.” Fred observed. Beth made a move to rise from the chair. “No, You'll need to be sitting for this one, which is why there is a chair in the first place. Naomi, could you please move the screen to one side of the chair and help Beth to feed her arm through the hole. While she does that, Jack, please position the box on Beth's other side and help her put her arm through the holes so that her hand comes out the far side of the tank.”

With some cooperation from Beth, she soon had one arm through the hole in the screen, up to an inch or two from her shoulder, and her other arm through the box and sticking out the other side.

“Now I need to provide each of you with gloves for your protection.” Fred gave Jack a pair of leather working gloves. Naomi got handed a pair of disposable polythene gloves. “Naomi your job is to take this ointment and rub it into Beth's arm, from the tips of her fingers right up to the screen. Be generous with it; I expect you to use most of the tube. Then rub it in thoroughly.” He got a nod of confirmation from Naomi as he passed over the tube of ointment. He left Naomi to her task.

“Now, Jack, you see that stack of glass sheets and that funny little hammer with the pointy end.” Jack nodded. “What I want you to do is taken a sheet of glass at a time, rest it on the top of the tank, then hit it with the hammer. The glass shards will fall into the tank. Repeat that until the tank is full of glass fragments. Beth, our indestructible lady, will not be harmed by the glass.”

Beth's expression showed that she was worried that Fred might be wrong. With Naomi applying ointment to her arm and massaging it in, Beth was more worried about the possibility of the glass harming her so maintained most of her attention in that direction.

When the first sheet of glass shattered and showered Beth's arm with falling shards of glass, it became obvious that this was not car windscreen glass or safety glass; it failed to remain intact as windscreen glass would or become a shower of small glass pebbles as safety glass does. After three sheets of glass had been smashed into to the tank it was full up to Beth's arm. The next two sheet hid her arm from view. Beth made a conscious effort to remain as still as she possibly could so as not to move her arm against the sharp edges she could feel against her skin. Another two sheets finished the filling of the tank with broken glass.

While her arm surrounded by glass fragments prickled, her other arm felt more relaxed from having the ointment rubbed into it and now felt greasy.

“You've done well, Jack,” commented Fred, “but I think we can fit another one in, if you pack it down a bit.” He presented Jack with a sledgehammer. Jack initially looked shocked, but fuelled by Fred's confidence began to tap the top of open box of glass shards. Beth felt the prickling increase slightly. After six taps, the level of the glass had changed by not enough to be noticeable. Fred reclaimed the hammer from Jack and immediately swung it with as much force as he could muster. Beth flinched, but not because of any increase in the prickling in her arm, but the sudden noise of the hammer's impact. The second impact resulted in a visible lowering of the level of the broken glass in the tank. With another sheet of glass smashed into the top of the tank, Fred placed a lid on top of the tank; it did not rest on the top, because several up-jutting shards supported it half an inch higher. Fred's solution was to get a pair of ratchet straps and wrap these round the tank and ask Jack to tighten them until the lid touched the rim of the tank.

Switching to Beth's other side, Fred asked Naomi how she was doing with massaging the ointment into Beth's arm. He took the tube and another polythene glove, added an inch of ointment to Beth's arm where it passed through the screen and rubbed it in.

Fred had Naomi stand back, before announcing this was Beth's test of indestructibility by fire. He removed his glove and put it in a bin with the well squeeze tube of ointment and passed the bin to Naomi, so that she could remove her gloves. From his pocket he pulled a small disposable lighter, gave it two flicks before a flame appeared above it and then moved the flame to play on Beth's thumb.

At first Beth flinched away from the flame, but a combination of Fred's persistence and the movement of her arm being restricted by being through a hole in the clear screen meant he was able to hold the flame under her thumb for the second or two that he needed.

It seemed to Beth that the flame from the lighter was not as hot as she expected. Her thumb took on a tickle that she was beginning to recognise as whatever was protecting her from these destructive happenings doing their thing, while letting her know that something potentially dangerous was going on. With the tingle came a fizzling sound and there were sparks appearing from her thumb. Beth felt tempted to move her hand to spell her name with the visual trails that the bright point, that seemed to be the source of the sparks, would leave.

Having ignited Beth's thumb, Fred stepped back and took a curious Naomi with him. The reason for this became obvious within about five seconds. This was how long it to for the flame that licked at the end of her thumb to spread to her hand, and a further ten seconds later it had continued up her arm as far as the screen; where it halted, much to Beth's relief.

The first flames were the yellow of a candle flame, but the line of flame along Beth's arm was soon a shifting array of colours, which Beth felt as a tingling warmth no hotter than sunshine on a warm day; she smiled despite not being able to see the colourful display.

The tingling that Beth felt intensified as more sparks left brief trails across the vision of the onlookers. Then without warning that was a bang follow by a crackling, this coincided with an incandescent flash from Beth's arm.

As the audience's vision began to recover from the sudden brightness, they thought that Beth's arm had disappeared. As the purple flashes that marked where they had been looking at the moment of the explosion cleared, they saw Beth's arm had not disappeared, but all the flesh on it had. Beth herself was still blinking to get her sight to return.

“Ok, Naomi, could you help free Beth on this side and be careful not to get any of Beth's bones caught as you move the screen away. While she's doing that, Jack, could you move the box away from Beth's other arm, because I can't think of any other way to remove her arm from a box of glass other than moving her.”

Naomi came forward to remove the screen from beside Beth, who found she could move her now skeletal arm so that it passed through the hole as the screen was wheeled away. Beth's concentration on this was not perfect because she could feel the tingling in her other arm intensify.

Once her arm was clear of the screen that Naomi was taking away, Beth turned her attention to what was happening with her other arm. She felt the tingle in the arm enclosed inside a box of broken glass move down her arm and into her hand. When she looked the tank of glass shards was being slowly pulled away from her and the bit of arm that came out of the tank was nothing but bone.

Soon her hand scraped down to the bones emerge from the hole in the side of the tank, followed by a short-lived trickle of glass fragments. She looked at both her fleshless arms. She looked at Fred and asked, “How does removing the muscles from my arms prove that I'm indestructible? Tell me that!”

“If you weren't indestructible you'd have bled to death or be writhing about in severe pain. Is there any pain?”

Beth considered this question. There was tingling where the acrylic rods went through her body, but her arms tingle only slightly, but were mostly numb. “No; no pain,” she answered, “But some of it tingles a bit.” She admitted to herself that the tingle was pleasant, but she was not going to let Fred know that.

Fred turned to his current helpers and thanked them before returning them to the audience. He asked Jack to pull another ticket and find his replacement. While Jack sought out the holder of blue 3-9-7, Fred called on George to help out too. The holder of the final ticket introduced themselves as Simon and he and Fred were soon joined on stage by George. Both helpers were asked to shake Beth by the hand and confirmed that it was not an illusion of bones.

Fred had the helpers move the wooden block that resembled a tree stump to the centre of the stage. He then brought Beth to the block and had lie down on the stage with her head on the stump. To make this position more comfortable, Fred unrolled a thin foam mat for Beth to lie on. He also insisted that she lie on her side, so that the width of her shoulder elevated her head enough that she did not get a crick in her neck.

“Next we need to make sure you don't move too much; if you move too much, it might hurt as much as people will think it should.”

The first part of Fred's solution to this problem was the nail a leather strap to the block either side of his assistant's neck. The next part of the solution was to put a bag over her head, telling her that if she flinched too much, it might hurt horribly. Beth suspected the truth was more likely to be that he did not want her to know what he planned, so she was not going to raise objections that meant she would not be free of the ill-considered bet until midnight.

While Beth waited, Fred picked up a large spike and the sledge hammer and silently offered George the choice of which he wanted to wield. George chose the spike, so Fred handed it to him and the hammer to Simon.

The next part of the scene was played out in near silence. Fred whispering instructions to his helpers and the audience trying to hear so they knew what they might be expecting to happen. Beth was also trying to hear, but the velvet of the bag muffled what little sound reached it to nothing more than the audience could hear, which was attenuated by distance.

Fortunately for the audience they could see Fred arrange his helpers and the mimes he made to help augment the whispered instructions. Soon George was kneeling behind the block holding the spike and inch above Beth's ear, Fred made a show of adjusting the position where George held the spike. Simon was positioned on the opposite side of the block from where Beth lay. He was told to raise the heavy hammer as if he was going to strike the spike. Simon was uneasy about the implications of this, but Fred assured him that he was posing for a photo-opportunity.

Fred waved a few finger gestures in front of both his helpers and whispered a few more instructions to them. He then counted to three.

Simon swung the hammer, hitting the spike out of George's hand, through the bag that covered Beth's head and embedding it into the stump-shaped block. The audience gasped, but their shock quickly turned to awe when instead of slumping, Beth reached the arm that was not under her body to discover what had happened.

Beth had heard Fred's count and braced herself for whatever was going to happen. The next moment was dreadfully loud, but she now had tingles all over. She could feel pressure against her head, behind her ear and reached up to find out what had happened, because she found that she could not raise her head. Her hand found the blunt end of the metal spike. “What the heck is going on?”

Hearing Beth speak, released the tongues of the audience, who were about evenly divided between those that applauded what seemed to have happened, and those in disbelief that it could have happened and Beth survived.

Under cover of the sudden noise, Fred said to Beth, “I'll get you free, then you can mingle, or get some food, if you want to. Once I've packed up, I'll take you home and get you back to normal. You may want to consider my offer of being my magician's assistant, too, because I shall be asking once you are back to normal.”

Fred took the hammer back from Simon and fetched a pair of scissors and a crowbar from the table. He took the time to dismiss the his helpers, before using the scissors to cut the bag and pull it free of Beth's head. This resulted in further applauds, now that the onlookers could see that the spike went through Beth's skull just behind her ear.

Fred tugged on the spike and quickly discovered that it was thoroughly embedded in the block. “I think the spike was hit harder than I expected, so it's buried in the block and because of the broadened hitting surface you won't be able slide your head off the free end, even if I had already freed you neck. This may seem a bit loud to you, but it's the only thing I can think of.”

As the audience watched, Fred took the hammer and tapped the top end of the spike sideways a few times in each direction. Each strike produced a wince on Beth's face. When Fred was satisfied, he took up the prying tool and pulled one of the nails through the end of the leather strap over Beth's neck.

With exaggerated care, Beth tried to raise her head from the stump. It took more effort that she had estimated at first, because she had not thought to take the weight of the spike into account. It took her about twenty seconds to sit up from her recumbent position. She then raised her hand to the spike through her head.

Fred assured her that he knew what he was doing and told her to sit still so that he could remove the spike from her head. While she was sceptical, she sat still. Fred swung the hammer at her head, but made sure to connect with the tip of the spike. It seemed clear that Fred had hoped that this blow would send the spike flying, to land a few feet away; what it did was move the spike an inch or so through Beth's head. Beth reached up and pulled it the rest of the way and then dropped it on the stage, with a clang.

“So, what's next?” Beth asked.

“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our demonstration of Beth being an indestructible woman. I hope you have been simultaneously amazed, appalled and entertained.”

“Is that it? I thought you might have more tortures for me to endure.”

“That's it. Put your earpiece back in, so that I can let you know when I'm ready to take you home to be restored. In the meantime talk to people, maybe get a snack, but probably best not to drink anything alcoholic. I'll clear up and pack the stuff in the car.”

Still tingling lightly all over, Beth left the stage and was soon the centre of a group of people wanting to check the evidence that what they had witnessed on the stage had really happened. Many people shook her skeletal hands, looked through the cut-off acrylic rods through her body and peered through the open hole through her head. It took her several minutes to find George and ask for the earpiece back, but she did not make it to the buffet room, before Fred called her that he was ready to depart.

It took Beth more minutes than she expected to make her way back to the backstage area. Fred was waiting and led her back to his car.

“So, when do I stop looking like a freak of nature?”

“A little while after we get back to my place, unless you want to stop somewhere first and freak people out with your bony arms and that hole in your head.”

While they drove to Fred's place, Beth asked, “What's exactly does this offer of being your magician's assistant entail?”

“The idea would be that I would get some proper magical illusions and we would perform them together and share the earnings, but unlike tonight we'd have to rehearse some, so we are both are absolutely clear on what we are doing; I might even teach you a few tricks so that I can get some backstage prep-time.”

“And with these illusions feel like what you did to me tonight?”

“I guess so. They might feel better if we rehearse well enough to smooth the rough edges. So what do you say?”

“I say, I'll let you know once I'm back to normal.”

At Fred's place, he handed Beth the clothes she had arrived in and bottle of shower gel.

“What's this?”

“That's the stuff that will restore you. Go into the bathroom and have a shower and get dressed; use that stuff and you'll be right as rain.”

In the bathroom Beth looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She looked strange with skeletal arms, small patches where the light transmitted through her, corresponding to the rods. She did not get a good look at the hole through her head, but could see the entry and exit wounds. She double checked that the bathroom door was locked, then shed the bikini and took the bottle into the shower.

When she stepped out of the shower she felt clean and invigorated. In the mirror she saw that the flesh was back on her arms, their were no transparent patches on her body and the evidence that she had been spiked through her skull had disappeared. She dried off and got dressed.

“Are you feeling better,” Fred asked as she exited the bathroom.

“If you mean, back to normal, then yes, although I quite like the tingles that being part of the magic gave me.”

“So, would you like to be my assistant?”

“I think I would, and I'm not saying that just to get the bonus you promised me if I said yes.” She checked her watch. “You know; it's only ten to eleven and according to the terms of the bet you have me to do as you want, within reason, so what's next?”

“I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. How about we go to Marco's for some late night pizza and discuss what we are going to do in our magic act and what we are going to call it.”