The Apprentice
By: ThatGuy

The striped sundress fluttered listlessly into the chair and didn’t move. As far as Mina knew, it wouldn’t ever move again. Kind of a pity.

The woman leering over her couldn’t have looked more delighted. “Excellent my dear!” She squealed. Her eyes were darting between Mina and the dress as if there were diamonds falling out of them. “I had a feeling that between the two of you, you would be the one to take my offer. I have so much to teach you…”

There she was monologuing again. Mina was hardly going to pay attention to that. Ever since the woman suddenly appeared in her apartment claiming to be a witch and held her and her roommate captive, Mina had been ready to write her off as a screeching loony. The next fifteen minutes of her going on and on about them both having something special and arguing with Amelie over whether or not magic existed didn’t do much but bore Mina’s pants off, even if she hadn’t been wearing pants. Or anything besides underwear, since the woman decided to pop in in the morning when neither of them were fully dressed.

Even when the so-called witch placed a scroll between them and said it would fix their “modesty problem,” she didn’t actually believe it. Supposedly whoever it targeted with change into something “simple” - a dress, in this case. The woman was very insistent on one of them using it. “I give you a choice.” She had said with her velvety voice. “Whichever one of you uses this spell on the other first will become my apprentice, and learn all that I know. The other… well…”

Mina didn’t want to agitate the crazy woman and so said nothing, but Amelie decided she had had enough of the insane games: her rant was so blistery that if she did have magic in her the woman might’ve burst into flame. She went on about how that sort of thing was impossible, about how even if it was she would never do that to a friend and about how the woman was nuts for even suggesting it. It was really quite inspiring. Yet though the whole tirade the woman never lost her smug smile, and she kept glancing at Mina like she knew something neither of them did yet.

Now, Mina had an idea what that something might have been. And yes… screeching loony or not, that didn’t mean she wasn’t a little bit curious. Plus she was half-naked, and needed some clothes. So she chanted the spell, right in the middle of Amelie talking about how stupid the woman was for barging in and insulting their friendship. She had to admit, the look on her face was priceless.

The woman seemed to know what Mina was thinking. Or at least she thought she did. “You felt the thrill, didn’t you? When you turned your insolent friend into that dress? Seeing that instant of shock and betrayal before the little nothing became a mindless thing of beauty? I can teach you how to do that again. You could make every potentially beautiful thing around you yours. All yours!”

Mina wanted to roll her eyes, but she was too busy rereading the scroll. So this woman wasn’t just a witch, she was a witch with an agenda. Wonderful. Not only did she have no idea why Mina really used the spell, she was badmouthing her friend - well, what used to be her friend. Yes, Amelie did have an appropriately crushed look on her face when Mina read the spell, especially when they realized the thing actually worked. Yes, Mina wished she had a camera to preserve it. But Mina also had to admit she felt a little bad - she did like Amelie. At least she knew the girl wasn’t going nuts in the folds of that dress, if the witch wasn’t exaggerating about her being a “mindless thing of beauty” now. She would’ve hated having to worry about something like that, since they did get along fairly well. For one, she never once borrowed her clothes without asking like her last roommate, ironically enough.

Now there’s a girl she wouldn’t have minded testing out that scroll on…

The woman was still talking, unaware that Mina couldn’t care less. “You understand, don’t you? That all around us there are meaningless people, toddling around their meaningless lives, unaware that they are meant to belong to people like us. Their true purpose is to be our beautiful playthings. I shall teach you to make works of art far better than what mortals put in their museums, so you can regale yourself and your home with the pitiful forms of those who don’t bow at your feet. Together, we shall rule this world!”

Mina finally looked at her, and she was still as bored as ever. The woman was actually very pretty, and Mina laughed to herself wondering whether all witches are crazy and make themselves drop dead gorgeous or if this one just happened to be both. In any case Mina had everything she needed here, so she was about to ask just to see the look on the woman’s face… when suddenly the scroll glowed and she was blinded by a flash. When it cleared, for a moment instead of a crazy witch she saw a tight black gown: demure, elegant, perfect for Mina (who liked her night life). It floated as if some invisible body were in it but continued to talk in the witch’s voice, oblivious to what Mina was seeing. Then the flash was gone, and she saw the woman again.

It was like some sort of vision. Mina could actually see what kind of dress the witch would be, if she used the spell - and the poor psycho had no idea. Mina smirked.

“Nah.”

The woman didn’t seem to understand. “Huh? What do you mean?”

“I mean, no. Look, I know you’ve got this weird thing about beauty, but I just don’t care. I’m not out to make other people worship me out of spite. I don’t even really care about other people. Why would I want to make them suffer for not being “beautiful?” If I’ve got the power to make them into things, why bother getting all philosophical about it? There’s such better reasons to use something like that.”

“But… your friend. You must admit she was unworthy!”

“Nah, she was just… here. I think it’s pretty cool what happened, but it’s not like I had anything against her. And she’s already a dress, so all that worthiness stuff doesn’t matter all that much now does it?”

“But-”

“Look, I just like clothes, okay?” Mina scoffed. She was starting to get irritated. “It’s a weakness. Stereotypical, I know, but it’s true. And I’ve got tons of pretty much everything except dresses since my ex-roommate - who is totally going into my closet soon - took off with half of mine a while back. Your spell turns folks into dresses, and only dresses, so I figured ‘why not?’ You go on and on about ‘beauty,’ but do you even realize how expensive decent clothes are these days? I’m gonna save so much money, and my closet is going to get so full…”

“You dare spit on my mission?” She was so enraged that she was swaying on her feet - or perhaps she was starting to feel weak. To Mina it was outright comical.

“Sure. You gave this power to me, you might as well know what I plan to do with it. Maybe this hard sell of yours would’ve worked if you’ve picked a different spell to make us use. But this is all I really want, and I’ve already memorized it. And I can already think of a dozen people who I’m sure will look great on me. In fact, I think I’m looking at one right now…”

It was only then that the woman realized she felt oddly light, almost hollow. She looked down in shock to see her hands reweave themselves into straps, just before she fluttered off of her feet…

The look on her face was priceless. Mina still didn’t have a camera.

A few minutes later, Mina proudly wore her new sundress as she hung her new evening gown into her closet. The first of many, she realized. The woman did have a point: with this spell, she could get as many new clothes as she wanted for free and no one could stop her. She had the power to do anything she wanted, as long as it involved turning people into clothing. Which admittedly was a little specific, but it was a hell of a lot more than anyone else could do. And if she got bored, she could always track down a less crazy witch to help her branch out - provided she can resist the urge to turn said witch into something better.

But first, it was time to show off her roommate to the world. Maybe while tracking down that irritating ex-roommate of hers. She was thinking something skimpy in her case. Or maybe she would just let fate decide. After all, she had the power to do so...