Cindy looked up at her older sister Daniel with glee in her eyes.
“Look Daniel, I finished another one.”
Cindy loved to assemble puzzles and today she finished her last one she received for Christmas. She just shook with joy when she finished them, but Cindy soon realized that it was the last one.
“Daniel, do we have another puzzle?” she asked with hope in her voice.
“Sorry Cindy, looks like you will have to wait till mommy is back so you can go buy more.” answered Daniel.
“But that’s going to be hours. Can’t you help?” replied Cindy.
What Cindy really wanted was for Daniel to use her magic. Of the three sisters, only Daniel was a mage, mind you she only knew a few spells. This talent was one that her older sister Mary hated, as it made it difficult for her to bully Daniel. Daniel wanted to say no to her younger sister, but she couldn’t stand to see her younger sister sad. With a sigh, Daniel got up.
“Alright Cindy, but you have to agree on two things. First is that you must finish your new puzzle before you do anything else. And the second is that your new puzzle cannot be more than 300 pieces.”
Cindy nodded quickly a few times in excitement and agreement.
“Ok, go get the rolling pin from the kitchen then”
With a rush Cindy was off in the direction of the kitchen, the sound of pattering feet marking her path. Daniel didn’t really like to use her magic on herself, especially since she only knew transformational magic. The spell she needed was actually quite simple, a moldability spell. It was one that allowed the target to be reshaped for a few minutes before solidifying back into the new shape. Her younger sister was actually quite familiar with it, as they had used it in the past to make a blanket of their older sister when it was cold.
The spell was one simple word “Cadasmak”! With that Daniel could feel her body become soft. She found a nice clean spot on the hardwood floor and laid down, best to not have dirt imprinted into you. Cindy quickly made her return, rolling pin in hand, excitement in her face.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you” rang out from the little sister, who got on her knees and prepped for the next step. She emptied her pockets and removed some basic cutting tools so she would be ready to make her new puzzle. Then she started.
Daniel didn’t mind as the rolling ping began to flatten her. The sensation was pleasant, sort of like a message as it squished everything into a nice smooth paste against the ground. Up the roller passed, squishing more and more as it went. Whenever it passed over clothes the pressure caused them to merge with her skin, making one consistent layer with only the first pass of the roller. Quickly the first pass of the rolling pin was done, and Daniel was helpless, unable revert back until the softening spell was finished.
Cindy admired her work, as it wasn’t often you saw someone flattened. But she quickly got back to work, determined to finish making her new puzzle. She quickly folded Daniels arms and legs behind her back, overlapping her body in such a way to make her as square as possible. A fold her and a tuck there and Daniel was ready for another pass of the roller. As the roller passed this time it left behind an almost perfect square bearing the resemblance of Cindy's older sister.
Cindy stopped at this point to let the next part of the spell take effect. After a few short minutes a glaze passed over the flattened Daniel, changing the sticky soft texture to a hard reflective one. Now Daniel had the ability to reverse the spell as long as she was brought back to this form, which is the reason why she made the rules with Cindy at the start. Cindy pulled out her cutting tools and got to work. Or at least she tried to but was interrupted after cutting only one piece out.
“Hi Cindy, what you playing with?” announced a voice down the hall. That voice belonged to none other than Mary. Daniel quickly tried to revert from her compromised position but was unable to do anything until Cindy replaced the piece she removed.
“Hi Mary, I’m just making a new puzzle.” replied Cindy
“A new puzzle? Let me see” stated Mary as she walked over. Quickly she noticed the resemblance and she smiled at the realization that her sister was the new puzzle. A plan formed in Mary’s head, a new way to bully her sister. “Wow Cindy, that looks cool. Hey I was wondering if have ever heard of a challenge puzzle? It’s a more difficult puzzle that I think you're finally ready to try?”
“A more difficult puzzle? Show me, show me” called out Cindy in excitement.
“Crap” Daniel thought as she tried to figure out what Mary’s plan was even though there was nothing she could do now to stop it.
“Ok Cindy, as long as you promise to let me do as needed till I’m finished with your new puzzle”
With that Mary picked up the two foot by two foot board that was Daniel in one hand and made her way to the shed outside, propping Daniel up against the side before entering the shed. Cindy, of course, was blissfully unaware of the danger her sister was in, only caring about her new, and more complex, puzzle. Mary came back out of the shed shaking a can in each hand. Each can had a colored lid, marking one as green and one as blue.
“Ok Cindy, the first step for a challenge puzzle it to take away any defining features that make it easier to solve the puzzle by making everything the same color. So what color do you want your puzzle to be.”
“So that’s what she wants” though Daniel. “By covering up my features, it will make it longer for Cindy to solve. But I’m not worried, Cindy can solve any puzzle.”
“Blue, blue” the youngest sister cried out.
“Ok Cindy, blue it is” and with that the shaking of the cans stopped and Mary placed the green one on the ground. She popped the cap off the blue can and brought the nozzle close to Daniel. A moment later a blast of paint came flooding out of the can, starting from the top right corner and making its way down to the bottom left. After which it was then just randomly pointed all over the square sheet until only a solid sheet of blue remained. Mary delicately picked up the sheet from the corners and turned it around, repeating the process on the other side.
For Daniel the process was much different however. The paint was cold as it blasted over her body, so cold that it would make her shiver if she could. The paint quickly began to harden, uncomfortably pulling at her skin as it sealed over her. There was no way for her to stop her suffering however as she was still missing a piece of herself. Soon the paint covered every square inch of her, blocking most of the feeling from the outside world. After a few minutes the paint stopped coming and Daniel was left alone until she had finished drying.
“Mary, what’s next?”
“Well the next step is to make the pieces. But this time will be special from the way we normally do it” stated Mary as she picked up Daniel carefully and brought her back inside, with Cindy following quickly behind. There was no hesitation in her step as Mary navigated the house, ending up quickly in the office space.
“The office? What could Mary want here?” thought Daniel
Mary however knew exactly what she wanted. Leaving Daniel on a nearby table, she walked over to a corner, she pulled the lid off a bin and after emptying the contents of it in a nearby garbage can brought both over. She placed them on the floor, just out of sight of Daniel.
“Ok Cindy, now we’re just about done. Can you hand over the blue board?”
“Yay, I almost have my puzzle.”
With that Mary grabbed Daniel from Cindy and brought her towards the big with a big smile on her face. The bin whirled to life, spinning its small blades designed to make it impossible to read anything that passes through.
“MARY WAIT!!!” cried out Daniel even though nobody would be able to hear her. Now she understood Mary’s plan. Make it impossible to distinguish any features to help solve the puzzle, and then make thousands of puzzle pieces. It would take days, if not weeks for her younger sister to figure it out.
Mary lowered Daniel to the lip of the paper shredder, without a world of protest from anyone in the room. Then she let go, and the machine did the rest. Bit by bit the blue sheet was shredded into pieces, leaving a pile of chunks in the bin. Cindy’s face changed from joy to confusion. This wasn’t what she was expecting, her puzzle looked like a pile of bits. Soon the churning of gears came to a halt, and only a pile of pieces remained.
“Here you go Cindy, have fun with your sister!” stated Mary as she gave the bin to her youngest sister. Cindy took the bin in her arms, unsure what she wanted to do with it. Mary left the room, and soon Cindy followed. The youngest sister made her way down to the living room, and after dumping the pieces out started to work on the puzzle. It was definitely a challenge, with Cindy finding only ten matching pieces after half an hour. At that point she got up and went to play in the yard, tired of her new puzzle.
The second Daniel hit the shredder, she knew there was no hope. Bit by bit she could feel herself being ripped apart, chunks falling down into the bin. It didn’t hurt, but instead it was more like one moment it was there and the next it was not. There was no order to the end result, just a bunch of bits and pieces. As the shredder turned off Daniel had no hope. She knew it would take forever to solve the puzzle and for her to return to her normal form, if Cindy even did manage to finish the puzzle. Even then, Daniel knew that Mary had the first piece cut off still with her as she walked back to her room.