On Sunday morning, the couple arrived at the mall just in time. At the main entrance there were already more than a dozen people standing, and some of those faces Tiffany knew. 

"Hey, Tiffany, Leonard!" Kayleigh cried and winked, Eileen, Richard and Cory standing next to her. 

"Did you ask them to come?" Leonard whispered to Tiffany and she nodded. 

"Yeah, I told them about this. They were totally enthralled by the idea and wanted to come as well." 

While they were greeting each other, a middle-aged, spectacled man came forward, welcoming the group. 

"Hello, I'm the Exhibition of Legends' chief curator Thomas." he started. "It's wonderful that we've got so many volunteers this time. It looks as if we can fill nearly all of our exhibition sites! Please follow me!" 

He produced a key and opened a mall's side door. The mall didn't open before 8 a.m. on Sundays, therefore everything was calm, almost eerie. It was odd seeing the mall without humans, but at least that meant that they didn't have to share the Venn Machine with anyone. 

"Okay, guys." Thomas said as they'd reached it. "Now please form a line and I'll change everyone into mythical being out of Greek Legends."

There was some squeeze now since everybody tried to get a place at the front. Tiffany and her friends, on the other hand, had trolled behind the main group and therefore only managed to add themselves to the line's end." 

Tiffany pouted as she realized that she was next to last, with only Leonard being behind her. 

"Oh, don't worry." he said soothingly now. "The curator said that he'll be able to fill most of the slots. Therefore he has more slots available than people. So you will be able to enter the exhibition. Albeit a little later than the rest..." 

Sullenly, Tiffany nodded.

But it's still disappointing. Because I'm sure that one of the first changes will be... oh, hell. As I thought.

"Damn!" she said heartfelt as the first transformed volunteer exited the machine. "That was what I wanted to become!" 

He'd been a teenaged boy and now he walked out of the booth on four hooves, curiously eyeing his centaur's body. His upper body had shrunk to the size of a child's and his horse's lower body was only the size of the deer, otherwise he wouldn't have fit into the Venn Machine. But aside from those minor irregularities, he looked like a being popped out from a 2500 year old tale. Hooves clattering on the concrete, he positioned himself at the side and waited as the second volunteer came forward, this time a petite girl. 

"Oh, don't worry." Cory consoled her. "There are enough other interesting mythological beings which are similar to centaurs. And perhaps not standing in the front row isn't that bad. Or would you have wanted to become that?" 

"Iehh, no!" Tiffany grimaced as the girl emerged, well, not as a girl anymore. She was gigantic, easily topping ten feet so that she had to exit the booth in a crouched stance. Her body was still human, only that it was definitely male, with bulging muscles of ridiculous proportions - and a bull's head. But she (he?) apparently seemed pleased with his change. The Minotaur walked over to a mirroring shopwindow and tensed his biceps, marveling at his impressive muscles and distorting his snout to something which looked like an evil caricature of a grin. 

Next came a girl as well, this one also leaving with a giant body. The newly created Cyclops walked over to his waiting companions and he and the Minotaur seemed to hit off instantly, impressing each other with the display of their respective muscle groups. 

The fourth volunteer, a man in his thirties, exited the booth as a Manticore, having a scorpion's tail, a winged lion's body and his human head. His friend who was changed immediately after him emerged as a Harpy, and Tiffany had to suppress a giggle as her now undoubtedly female face looked down in consternation on the female breasts bulging below her feathers. That she tried touching them with her wings, but failed in doing so (because they weren't flexible enough), brought fourth a collective chuckle as well. 

The next two volunteers were a young couple who expressed a wish to be transformed into something similar to each other. Shortly thereafter, the girl was a majestic Pegasus (although pony-sized), galloping around the mall in exhilaration and flapping his wings, briefly becoming airborne with each flap. The boy emerged as a mighty Gryphon (pony-sized as well) and set out to follow his flying-stallion turned girlfriend. 

With approximately half of the group already transformed, Thomas looked at the remaining humans.

"Okay, guys." he said grinning. "It's half-time. Now I'm going to transform you into more 'interesting creatures'."

"I'm wondering what he meant with this?" Kayleigh whispered, but Richard grinned. "I think I know what he means. There are many 'interesting' creatures in Greek history, just wait..." 

Somehow tentatively, probably unsettled by Thomas' explanation, the next girl entered the machine. 

Tiffany furrowed her brows as she exited shortly thereafter. "What exactly is 'interesting' in being transformed into a dog- oh, wow!" 

Bewildered, the girl looked around in her canine shape, craning all three necks. She had emerged as a three-headed dog, a Cerberus.

A little bit unsteady, the Cerberus walked towards the shopwindow, staring at his strange, three-headed dog body. Alternately he barked with each of his three heads as if he wanted to prove to himself that he could indeed control all of them. In the meantime, the boy who'd been directly after him in the line had been transformed as well, and the Cerberus was joined by an equally bewildered looking Chimera, an animal with the body and head of a lion, an additional goat's head and a snake for a tail.

Tiffany had been so enthralled by the multitude of mythical animals wandering around the mall that she hadn't paid attention to the line. 

"Yeah, it's my turn!" Kayleigh squealed excited and Tiffany's head whipped around as her friend went forwards, entering the machine. 

As she emerged again, her five friends gasped. Kayleigh's change had probably been the most strange so far. At first glance, there seemed to be a wolf-sized spider exiting the booth on eight, long, spidery legs, her mouth-claws twitching ominously. But then everyone saw that Kayleigh's body was still there - on the spider's back. It looked as if she and a giant spider had been merged back to back, her legs becoming the spider's two hind legs and her arms becoming its two front legs. Her head's back was the spider head's front and vice versa. 

Gingerly, she moved the strange body towards her friends. 

"Oh, wow, this is awesome!" she exclaimed. "I have practically two heads!" To confirm this fact, she let her spider's mouth parts click a couple of times. 

Mesmerized, Cody stroked one of her legs. "That's... just wow. But... what are you? I don't know any mythological creature which looks like you do now!" 

"She's supposed to be Arachne." Thomas put in smiling. "A giant spider is a little bit terrifying, therefore I went for a design which incorporates human parts. But we're still not finished. Who's the next?" 

Richard raised his hand and Thomas signaled him to follow. Arachne, meanwhile, scurried away, testing out her new body by starting to climb the mall's storefronts.

"For your change, you need to be good at multitasking..." Thomas said, grinning mysteriously at Richard who simply raised an eyebrow. Eagerly, Tiffany, Leonard and Cody waited for the mythical being to appear he'd be changed into. And then, the door vanished - and an old lady with long, grey hair slowly exited the booth. 

"He's transformed him into a grandma?" Leonard asked uncomprehendingly. "Wait, two grandmas?" he added confused as a second, identical woman exited. And then a third. "And all three of them are... blind?" 

Tiffany looked closer. Indeed, Richard's three bodies had only empty sockets and no eyes. 

"Ah!" Cody exclaimed grinning. "I know what Richard is. If I'm right, he's forgotten something in the Venn Machine..." 

And indeed one of the three women went back into the booth, emerging again with a large eyeball clutched in her hands. 

"Urgh...!" Tiffany said. "What's that?" 

"He... or they are the Graeae sisters." Cody explained. "They are three witches out of Greek Legend. All three of them have only a single eyeball which they share between each other." 

Unsteadily, the witches walked towards their three friends. 

"Wow, this is... ups." all three of them began saying at the same time with an ugly, rasping voice. Then all three sisters grinned, their old and deeply carved faces twisting into a scary sight. "This is interesting..." only the middle one who clutched the eyeball said, pointing the eyeball at the group.

"Having three bodies and such..." the left one added, only to be supplemented by the right. "Although having only one eye sucks a little bit..." 

Tiffany wanted to ask the Graeaes how they were coping with this strange state of their body, well, bodies, as Thomas harrumphed. 

"Excuse me, guys... and ladies." he bowed ironically towards the three witches. "We're still not finished. Next one please." 

Grinning, Cody stepped forward. "Now I'm expecting an awesome change, though!" he demanded and Thomas grinned. "I can promise you that it will be interesting." 

Tiffany and Leonard waited expectantly and less than a minute later, Cody reappeared again, this time in some kind of lizard's or dragon's body. With seven heads writhing on seven long necks above it. 

A little bit awkwardly the Hydra stumbled out of the booth, using all seven heads to look at its friends and hiss appreciatively. Then it walked off towards the mirroring shopwindow, twisting and craning all necks. The Graeaen sisters joined it there, scrutinizing its body from three different angles, that is, passing her one eyeball through all three sets of hands, and Tiffany felt her heart beat faster. Because now she and Leonard were the only ones left. 

"Shall we?" Thomas asked friendly and nervously Tiffany entered the booth.

I wonder what he has in store for me...? she thought as she heard him mumbling commands on the other side of the interface. But then the change already occurred. 

The first thing she realized was different were here legs. They were gone. Instead there was a long, flexible, scaled tail. And then the door disappeared and she became immediately disoriented by a multitude of different, similar images showing up in her head. There was one 'main' image. But it was supplemented by dozens upon dozens of other images, all of them only of poor quality and only showing a little part of her environment, but all of them together making her aware of, well, everything all around and above her. 

Dazed she slid out of the booth, then noticed that her hands were different as well. She watched down to look at them. Only that they weren't hands. Or even arms. Instead of those she had two snakes sprouting at her shoulders, complete with snake heads at the end. Now that she'd seen them she realized that she could feel both of her "hand-heads". Even, smelling, seeing. She opened and closed her hands' mouths, marveling at the sensations this action was providing her with. Then she gingerly turned one of her snake-arms around to look at her face. 

She had to suppress a gasp. Instead of her hairs, there was what looked like an entire nest of wreathing snakes. 

So that's what's giving me all those additional 'views'. she thought. But her entire attention was focused on her face. There were still traces of her human face to be seen, but they were faint. Her whole face, just like her body, was covered in greenish scales. Her eyes were large, with slit pupils and her nose was gone. Instead, her entire mouth-section pushed forward, forming what looked like a snake's snout. A twisted tongue was needling in and out and as Tiffany opened her mouth, she was greeted by the sight of four large fangs. 

All in all I probably look incredibly vicious and hideous... she contemplated stunned. 

"Thissss issss intererissssting..." she hissed, turning towards Thomas. "What am I?" 

"You, my beauty, are Medusa." he said. "One of the three Gorgon sisters, whose visage supposedly had been that hideous that it petrified every mortal who dared to look at her." 

Fascinated, Medusa took her strange new body into account. And by now, Leonard had come closer to study her as well. 

"Wow..." he breathed. "You're really a hideous creature, if you pardon me for saying so. Although I'm now interested into what I'LL become..." 

"Well..." Thomas said now, grinning. "I have an idea there. There's something I have in mind which would complement our new Medusa here. You're her boyfriend, aren't you?"

As Leonard nodded, he continued with a mischievous look on his face. "How would you like becoming her... prey?" 

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