In the middle of the afternoon, Michael was in the rehearsal studio wheeling in an illusion. What seemed to be an upright rectangular box was mounted on four leg on a wheeled base, with a smaller square box sat on top of it. Those acquainted in stage magic might see that this illusion looks most like the “Disembodied Princess”.

Not long after, a woman entered the studio, wheeling in a table with an assortment of items. She was wearing a mini dress and strappy high-heeled shoes. Her short wavy blonde hair seemed to bounce with her every step. By all accounts, she seemed overdressed.

“There you a—,” Michael greeted the woman. “Athena.”

“Michael,” Athena greeted back.

“Athena,” he repeated, with a bit more emphasis.

“Michael,” she repeated. Hand on hip, she gave him a cheeky grin.

Michael closed his eyes and sighed. “When I said not to wear anything that reached your knees…”

“Yeah?”

“You—,” he sighed again. “You didn’t have to go all out on a dress.”

“I know, but I wanted to look my best.”

“I want your best in a dress rehearsal,” he said. “I said we’re just gonna mess around today.”

“And I wanted to look my best messing around.” Athena was insistent.

Michael took a deep breath. “Fine, just get in here.” He removed the front panels of the head section and the body section.

Instead of complying, Athena gave him a hug. He hugged her in return. “You look pretty,” he admitted, despite sounding quite defeated.

“Thank you,” she said softly, meeting his gaze with a smile. In the heels, she almost matched his height.

With that settled, Michael helped her climb into the illusion. The boxes themselves weren’t so much boxes as they were actually several panels attached to a metal framework. The framework was composed of metal bars held together by joints in the vague shape of a person. The four vertical bars ran from the corners of the base up to knee level. Each pair of bars on each side was connected at the top by two horizontal bars, before another four continued up from the joints to above shoulder level. These were connected by four horizontal bars to the eight bars that made up the head section.

With the panels installed, Athena had about an inch of breathing space around all sides. Each panel was solid and rigid. Including the removed front panels, four large panels made up the sides of the body section, two additional smaller panels covered up the shoulders, and five small square panels made up the head section.

Within the framework, there was already one half of a set of stocks at knee level and another at neck level. Both had semicircular cut-outs for which Athena’s legs and neck, respectively, had already settled in. The knee stock, however, had a shackle as thick as the stock for each cut-out, and they hinged open and closed over a hook. Michael took two pins off the table that Athena came in with and placed a pin into each hook, locking the shackles shut and trapping Athena’s legs. Lastly, Michael retrieved the matching half of the neck stock and slid it into the bottom of the head section. Athena, watching intently the whole time, lifted her hair up to keep it from getting caught in the stocks. A couple of latches secured the neck stocks in place, trapping Athena’s neck.

“How is it?” Michael asked her now that her restraint is complete.

“It’s tighter than expected,” Athena grumbled but still smiled. The limited space forced her to stand straight, causing her shoulders to press into the neck stocks from below. Meanwhile, the tight shackles around her knees kept her from lowering her body.

Ignoring her complaint, Michael brought his hand up to her face. Realizing what’s about to happen, Athena stood still and maintained her smile, as he instantly put her in a trance. Her eyes closed as his hand pulled away.

Michael put back the front panels he removed earlier, covering Athena from the knees up. He then retrieved a rectangular blade, smacking it as is customary. It had a handle on one side and a sharp edge on the other. He lined the edge up into the framework, into a slot at the side in between the side panel and the knee stock. The blade was half as long as the framework was wide and was as wide as the framework was deep. A forceful shove slammed the blade in place. It was quickly joined by its twin from the other side. Finally, a third blade was inserted into a slot in between the front panels of the body and head sections. This blade was as wide as the head section, and after Michael slammed it in, it extended a bit further out the back.

Michael took a walk around the illusion. He rapped each panel, as if assuring himself that Athena had no place and no chance to avoid the blades. He ducked down and gently touched Athena’s legs that were in full view the whole time. He noted they were soft and cool to the touch, probably a sign to turn down the air conditioning.

After quickly increasing the thermostat of the studio, Michael began removing panels and throwing them to the floor, seemingly vanishing into thin air before they hit the ground. He first removed the front panel, revealing an empty space where Athena’s body once was. He removed the rear panel second, ducking inside the space. He knocked on the blades above and below; they were still solid. He swiftly removed the rest of the body section panels and removed the front panel of the head section for last.

Athena’s head appeared to be suspended in the air by the framework on top of the neck stocks. She wore a peaceful expression, her eyes still closed yet her mouth in a smile, seemingly oblivious to what just happened to her. On the other hand, her legs seem to disappear into the knee stock, capped off by the blades.

Michael snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Welcome back,” he said.

“Hi,” Athena greeted as she exited the trance. “Feels a bit cramped in here. Can’t move my head either too.”

“I know,” he replied. He moved the table away, so that Athena could better see herself in the wall of mirrors in front of her.

Speechless, Athena grinned ear to ear when she saw herself, or what’s left of her, in the illusion.

“This will never not be cool,” she remarked. She alternated tapping her feet, watching in amazement as her disembodied legs responded to her will. “Can you take a picture of me for me? My phone is in my purse on the table.”

“Why don’t we ever do this illusion?” Athena asked as Michael took several pictures per her request. “This is actually kind of fun.” After putting her phone back in her purse, he pondered the question for a moment.

“You know how I don’t like putting you guys in boxes, right?”

“...Yeah?”

“Well, that’s the problem. This illusion relies too much on the ‘box’, so to speak.” He looked her up and down. “I’m not sure what I can change about the core of the illusion, without deviating too much from that core.”

“I’m not sure I follow you,” Athena said, furrowing her brow.

“Well, the Disembodied Princess is both a division and a partial vanish. I have you standing inside some sort of apparatus that designates which middle part of your body is to vanish, and I make it vanish. Show some proof that your other parts are still there, then undo the whole thing. However, some sort of structure is needed to cover the middle part so that it can even vanish, and the fact that it is a vanish to begin with means that your remaining parts need to stay in place.”

“Can you repeat that?” she asked.

“Here, it’s better to show you.” Michael went over and started fiddling with the head section. As he worked on the front joints, his and Athena’s faces came close together.

“Hi,” she said in a cute tone. He seemed to ignore her, before putting a hand on each side panel and lifting up. The head section, with Athena’s head inside, was detached from the framework.

“Whoa,” she exclaimed as her head “box” was lifted up. To prevent dizziness, Athena looked to Michael’s face inches from her as a visual anchor. The head box was placed on the table and rotated so Athena could look back at the framework.

“Okay, now that your head is here, can you still call this illusion the Disembodied Princess?”

“Not really,” she answered. “Okay, I just got it. My head needs to stay over there, otherwise it’s no longer considered a vanish.”

“Yeah, you got it,” Michael confirmed.

“That means...—wait, I got this—...you can only mess around with which part of me is the middle part… and maybe whether or not to cover my remaining parts?”

“Pretty much.”

“That’s a shame,” Athena said. “I’m really enjoying being like this.”

The two fell silent for a while. Michael thought of what to do next, while Athena continued enjoying her new state.

“Oh, right, I forgot to do this,” he went back to the framework and started to remove the bars that made up the middle section. These he threw to the ground, only to disappear.

“This and the removing of the head box are really the only modifications I could think of.” He crouched down and fiddled with some things on the bottom side of the knee stock and on the base.

“And voila.” Michael parted the section holding Athena’s legs cleanly into two halves, like he was showing off the cross-section of a really good burger. Each leg went with its corresponding half section, topped of by its corresponding blade.

“But wait, there’s more.” He swiftly retrieved the last item on the table: a pair of shackles connected by a chain about a foot long. The shackles were hinged metal loops that could be locked close. Michael closed a shackle around the ankle of each of Athena’s now free rolling legs.

“Not my best idea, but doing this is a little fun, at least.” With his foot, he gently nudged a leg “holder” around the room. The other holder would get dragged along by the shackles connecting her legs.

From her head box, Athena looked at him like he was an idiot. Her face quickly softened when she saw how ridiculous it looked that her living disembodied legs were literally yanking each other’s chain.

This went on for a few minutes, before Michael took a breather, sitting himself on the table. He lifted up her head box and brought it up to face him.

“Hello,” he said. Athena was caught off guard, not fully realizing that he had just stopped playing with her legs. “How are you holding up?”

“I-I’m good,” she said. “The new shackles feel surprisingly cozy.” She beamed.

He turned her box around and put it on his lap. “Thanks for coming today,” he said. “I think I’ll shelve this illusion for the time being.”

“You’re welcome,” Athena said cheerfully. “I see you were having fun with my legs.”

“I thought you were enjoying the illusion.”

“I am. See?” Athena tapped her feet across the room. The sound of a jingling chain could be heard in the distance.

Michael let out a chuckle. He couldn’t see it, but Athena smiled upon making him laugh. They sat together in silence for several minutes, until a thought came to Michael.

“I just realized,” he began. “I haven’t seen you wear those shoes, since I first met you. Aren’t they technically sandals?”

“Huh?” Athena was just beginning to process what he said.

“Heels have a back, right? I forget what it’s called, the thing that goes around the back of the foot.”

“Wait, no, no,” she refocused the conversation, “you remembered that I wore those shoes before?”

“Yeah, you wore those same exact ones when we first met,” he confirmed. “Hmm, you know why I request you guys to wear heels?”

“Because you think they’re pretty and you like them?”

“Well, yeah, but those shoes, specifically, they really look good on you. They’re kinda hot.”

“What did you just say?” Her pitch got a bit higher.

“I said that I think they’re kind of hot.”

“What do you mean ‘hot’?”

“Sexy, arousing…, that kind of hot. Now that I think about it, I wonder what other kinds of heels I find hot.”

“You think they’re sexy?”

“Yeah, kind of. Wait, do you not like it when you or what your wearing is called hot?”

“N-No, it’s not that.” Her voice got quieter. “Sorry, I sounded defensive. I, uh, I’m just not used to it.”

“No worries,” he assured her. “Hmm, this might be a sign to restore you.”

“Aw, can’t it wait a few more hours?”

“Don’t you have an apartment to go home to and make dinner in?”

“I figured I could get dinner here…”

“All right, fine,” Michael relented. “Let me just pick up your other bits.” He placed the head box back on the table and hopped off the table. He walked over to her legs and unshackled them, discarding the shackles. He picked them up by her ankles and placed them upside down onto the table.

“What are you doing?” Athena asked, curious. Her head box faced him but away from the rest of the table.

“I’m just… throwing away the wheels real quick.” He took a few minutes to discard all the wheels.

“There, now I can put them right side up.” He took hold of her ankles again and flipped her legs the right way around. Then, he arranged Athena’s pieces in the center of the table, such that her legs flanked her head.

“I’m not sure if I like how you’re manhandling my legs like a… leg of pork,” she commented. Suddenly, from one of his front pockets, he produced an apple. He brought this up to Athena’s face, who unconsciously opened her mouth, letting him gag her with it.

“I guess we’ll never find out,” Michael snidely remarked.

“Mm!” Athena softly moaned as the apple was stuffed in her mouth. Her legs tapped in unison, as if trying to stomp in protest.

“When you mentioned pork, I got the idea,” he explained. “Plus, your legs are technically already in holders.”

Athena looked like she wanted to retort, but with the apple in her mouth and with Michael making a little bit of sense, she decided against it.

“All right, time to make dinner then.” Michael proceeded to wheel the table, Athena’s parts included, out of the studio.

A few hours later, it was already night. Athena entered her small apartment, restored in one piece, purse on shoulder, and in the same clothes as earlier. She turns on the light and crashes onto her sofa.

From her purse, she pulled out her phone. She began swiping through the pictures she had Michael take earlier. She paused briefly on a picture and smiled. It was of her head box and leg holders on the wheeled table. In it, she was still gagged by the apple, and she rolled her eyes for the camera.

She swiped to the next picture and paused again. In this one, Michael took a selfie beside her head, while her legs were both moved to the other side. She wore a smile this time, the apple being placed on top of the head box.

Athena sighed as she quickly swiped through the remaining pictures from that day. After she was finished, she brought up the keypad and dialed a number.

“Hello, Miss Black? It’s Athena, one of Michael’s assistants,” she said.

“I think Michael can feel arousal again.” Unknowingly, she started stroking one of her legs.

“That’s a good thing, right?” There was a brief silence, before a stern female voice from the other side of the call spoke.

“No.”