Playing with Fire 3

a

transformation story

by

clancy688

"Oh, hi Wayne. Is there a problem with the wand? Does Christine need a replacement?" 

I simply gaped at Leila. When I had turned up with the stolen magic wand on her doorstep, I had expected (or rather feared...) to be turned into a newt on the spot. But judging from her reaction, she knew that the wand had been in Christine's possession. Again. So what the... 

"Uh... does this mean it's not stolen?" I asked tentatively. "You... gave it to her?" 

"Sure. She asked if she could borrow it for her party and I gave it to her. Why wouldn't I?" 

Now I was seriously gasping for air. "But... but... why would you do this? The last two times Shirley and Christine grabbed that wretched thing they totally screwed things up! Why do you think it's going to be different today? Third time's the charm, really?" 

The young witch giggled at me. "Well, that's the point. I don't think it's going to be different. In fact, I hope that they'll drop the ball. When I told my coven about their misadventures, all wanted to watch the next time they get themselves stuck." 

"So you're saying..." I simply couldn't believe what I was hearing here. 

"What I'm saying is that you're taking the wand, driving back to the party, handing it over to Shirley again, and let her run amok with it." she replied with a sweet smile. "Don't worry, we'll change you guys back after the inevitable happens. Eventually." 

"And what if I refuse?" 

Her sweet smile didn't change in the slightest. "Then I'll turn you into a worm to entertain my coven. I promised them entertainment. I will deliver them entertainment. One way, or the other." 

"I guess I'll go back then..." I said lamely. Maybe if I told Christine about Leila's true intentions she'd refrain from using the- 

"And of course you're not gonna tell her a thing. And you're gonna be at the party as well. Or it's wormy time." 

Damn... 


I was silently fuming while Christine explained the power of the wand to the marveling audience, of which about only half seemed to have been present at the last party featuring the demonic wand. We were at the same location like last time, the remote residence of one of her friends, with a large pool and garden. 

Thankfully, she hadn't noticed that I'd snatched the wand, or some awkward explanations would had been in order. Not that I'd had any chance to explain anything in the first place. The moment Christine had picked up the wand, she'd used it to turn me into a sandal heel. Her best friend Shirley had followed of course, but contrary to me she'd of course been begging to become the other shoe. 

Without further ado, my girlfriend had slipped into Shirley and I then and driven off to the party location. I seriously have no idea why I'm putting up with this crap. She's a sweet girl, but she's just incapable of learning that she has to ask first if she wants to turn people into her wardrobe! It's not that hard goddam- 

"...and my shoes here, these are actually my boyfriend Wayne and Shirley." I got yanked out of my gloomy thoughts as Christine's foot slipped out of me and she raised the tip of her wand. 

Uhoh, is she gonna turn me back, but then- 

And suddenly I was standing nude in front of the audience. Girls giggled and guys snickered, and my face took a shade of pink as I tried to cover up my privates. Next to me was Shirley, just as nude, but she was just grinning like a magician's assistant and not trying to hide any of her assets. "Christine!" I gasped, "Did you really have to-" 

My girlfriend pouted. "Ugh, don't yell. Cobra." 

The giggles around me turned to nervous muttering as I coiled my long body together and hissed angrily, showing her my venomous teeth. For fuck's sake, I liked my limbs!

"Oh my, what a drama queen. It was for show anyway... Okay, Panda then..." 

Sulking, I slumped down on my hind legs and posterior and tried to glower at Shirley as best as possible. Given the delighted "Awwws" and "Ohhhs" coming from the girls and the amused snickering from the guys, I wasn't very successful in that. 

"Yip, way better. You're looking really cute now, stay that way please... um, where have I stopped... Shirley, show some modesty, dammit! Black panther!" 

Shirley simply stretched her sinuous, black body and yawned, showing her impressive set of ivories. Then she put herself down and calmly licked her fore legs.

Christine just rolled her eyes. "Right, so... any doubts about the effectiveness of my magical transformation wand? No one?" She giggled. "I didn't think so." 

Say what one will about rich people and their preposterous properties, but they know how to properly equip a garden. I was already on my twentieth bamboo stalk, and to my current body it tasted like chocolate. Just like the last time when I'd ended up as a seal, being this clumsy, fluffy bear had some soothing influence on my mind. And therefore I just calmly munched on my greenstuff while observing the show. 

Of course there'd been a healthy discussion about using the wand. Most of the new attendees and some of the old ones had shown some reluctance at the prospect of being transformed into another species or even object, and given what had happened last time, I could readily understand their hesitation. I didn't know the details, but Leila must have worn herself all out that night - and all her clothing as well. 

Still, excitement (or madness, from my point of view) had prevailed eventually, although Christine had been teeth-gnashingly forced to accept a ban on all object transformations. Now I pricked my ears to hear about what they wanted to do first. 

"...so we're going with the safari theme then." Christine said with a grin right now. "You wanna go first, Shirley?" 

The black panther in the grass next to her growled and nodded invitingly, prompting my girlfriend to giggle. "Yeah, but I think you had enough time as a predator now... I think you always had a nice neck, so how about turning into a giraffe?" 

I nearly dropped my bamboo stalk as suddenly a large giraffe appeared. Shirley seemed surprised herself, because she craned her big neck and looked around. But then she nodded and trudged off towards a large tree. 

"Next one please? And don't forget, everything is game." 

"Um, alright..." A shy looking brunette went forward. "Can you make me a crocodile?" 

Gasp sounded, but Christine didn't miss a beat, and moments later a massive, scaled beast was pushing its large body into the pool. Over the next few minutes, almost everyone else was transformed as well. Three guys became buffaloes while their girlfriends formed an elephant herd. An overweight girl turned into a lightning-fast cheetah and her skinny friend turned into a massive hippo which also went into the pool, warily eyed by the crocodile. 

One couple became lions, but with a twist: The girl turned into a male lion while the boyfriend ended up as a lioness. The girl who was hosting the party stumped around as a giant rhino. Just like last time, one girl had opted to become a python. 

The human population in the garden rapidly dwindled as a multitude of African animals started to crowd the premises. In fact, Christine was the only one left by now and sauntered over to me, capturing the bizarre sight with the camera of her smartphone. 

"Wow Wayne, look at that!" She said with a grin and motioned at the bizarre scene which looked like out one of Disney's nature documentaries. "Isn't the power of the wand awesome?" 

I nodded while munching on my bamboo. Frightening, you mean...  I thought, but then my ears perked up as I heard the garden gate creak. Uhoh, I hope that's not our host's parents, because then we'll have a- 

But as the person came closer, she didn't show any sign of panic at the crazy collection of safari animals inside the garden. Instead she looked around with interest until her gaze fell upon us. "Hey Christine. And Wayne, I guess. Damn, I'm late. You guys have already started?" 

Huh? I focused on the newcomer. Wait, that was- 

"Michelle! And I thought you wouldn't come." Christine grinned at the girl, Shirley's younger sister. 

If I'd still have possessed eyebrows, I'd have cocked one at the statement. But since I was a Panda, I simply waggled my ears and looked at the two girls, actually the only humans left in the garden, in speculation. I'd met Michelle several times before, and she'd always struck me as an odd girl. She wasn't exactly introverted, but preferred to be on her own, most times. The only occurrences when I'd seen her among people had been for Dungeons & Dragons sessions, a game which she apparently loved. Still, that made her appearance on scene here all the more curious. She'd never attended one of Shirley's or Christine's parties before. 

"Why the change of mind?" my girlfriend put my thoughts into speech. 

Michelle looked around in interest, then giggled. "Oh, I just wanted to see the famous wand my sister always raves of in action. Looks like I'm a bit late, though." She pointed at the crocodile. "So which one is my sister... the purse-to-be over there?" 

Christine laughed. "No, that's Jennifer. I've turned Shirley into a giraffe." 

"A giraffe, hm...?" Michelle mused with a wry grin and peered over to the animal in question which was just now plucking some leaves from a large tree. "She's always had a long neck." 

"That's why I did it. Do you want to join her herd?" 

"Oh, I'd be intrigued, but there's something I'd love to find out before. Have you ever tried to transform two people at the same time? Leila has mentioned that something special happens then, but she never went into details..." 

Uhoh... I stopped chewing as my internal danger sensors quivered. Somehow, I didn't like where this was going.

Christine furrowed her brows. "Two at the same time? Um, nope... but something interesting you say?" Suddenly, there was a sparkle in her eyes and warning sirens started to gear up inside my head. 

"Yep, I'm interested in it myself. You know, maybe you could try to transform me and Shirley at the same time later...?" 

"And let Shirley have all the fun." My girlfriend snorted derisively. "Nah, but now I'm curious. Here!" 

And there it was, hook, line and sinker. Masterfully done by Michelle. The girl could apparently manipulate with the best. I dropped my bamboo and tried to scamper to Christine in order to prevent her from handing over the wand, but a Panda wasn't exactly the fastest animal on earth, and so I only managed to pad her feet when Shirley's sister was already handling the wand curiously. 

"Such a frail thing." she murmured. "And yet so powerful." 

But there was a glint in her eyes, something I didn't like, and desperately I clutched my girlfriend's legs and looked up to her out of pleading eyes. 

Of course she didn't get the message. "Oh, are you as intrigued as I am? Yeah, let's have Michelle transform us together." 

No, that's not what I want to tell you! I bleated feebly. You just gave the wand away, what if she runs away with it? We'd be stuck - again! 

"Hey Michelle!" she said with a grin and hugged me tight. "Wanna transform us? How about an eagle?" 

The other girl smirked, then stepped closer. I really didn't like the gleam in her eyes. "Sure, sounds nice. But I got something better in mind. How about a... Grik?" 

A Grik? I thought harrowed. Isn't that some kind of monster out of D&D? What the- But then the transformation already washed over me, and this time, something was different. 

It wasn't my new body which irritated me. I'd become some kind of giant, blind worm, that much I could discern. And now that I'd taken its shape, I remembered the artwork which depicted a Grik in the Monster Manuals. Sure enough, I could feel my massive beak, currently hidden below a quadruplet of twitching, hooked tentacles. 

That alone was enough to give me the creeps, but there was more. For one thing, my new body was moving, coiling itself, without me doing anything. And for another thing, there was some strange presence hovering in my thoughts, almost like... 


"Stop that! Turn me back and give me back my wand!" 

"Your wand?" Michelle taunted. "I think it belongs to Laila... and if you want it, well... just take it. Here." She pinched the wand between her fingers and held it a good inch in front of my girlfriend's nose. Christine stared daggers at the other girl's face, which was all she could do due to our current state. 

"No?" Shirley's sister shrugged and smiled maliciously. "Well then, I guess I'm gonna have some fun with it. I think it's kinda unfair that only you and my sister have been playing around with it. My sister told me what you did with the wand. Kinda underwhelming, actually. So let's see..." She eyed her body critically. "...I've always wanted to look like one of my RPG-characters, so how about... the Minotaur?" 

Christine and I gasped in tandem as the lithe, girly form in front of us bulged outwards. Gone was the human girl. She'd been replaced by a giant monstrosity out of Greek mythology. Michelle's new shape was absolutely massive, easily a dozen feet high. Like the creature out of the stories, she, or rather he now, was a weird hybrid of man and bull. Cloven feet on digitigrade legs supported a heavily muscled, bulky human torso which looked like any weightlifter's wet dream. The two massive pranks alone were bigger than any bodybuilder's rump! The whole body was covered in brown, shaggy hair, but the most striking feature was the head - a big bull's head sprouting a pair of wicked horns. 

My girlfriend was first in regaining her speech again. "Psst, Wanye... I think she just fucked up, now she has to give us the wand bec-" Christine didn't get any further because the Minotaur interrupted her.

"Not bad. I like this body." Michelle rumbled in a deep, distinctly masculine voice. "All this power... I feel like I could uproot trees..." He looked at us, then chuckled, a very unsettling rumble. "Just kidding." 

Again both Christine and me were left almost speechless. "What... why... how..." Christine stammered, not that Michelle was paying her any attention. Or me.

"How the FUCK is she able to speak?" I cursed, speaking out loudly what my girlfriend was thinking. "We never were able to speak when we became animals, so why can she?" 

"Oh, maybe that was just because you guys' thinking was way too narrow when playing around with the wand? You never figured out how the thing really works, and she apparently did by just listening to your exploits. I'm impressed." 

Huh? That was strange... that sounded like it came from Christine, but it didn't sound like her... I turned my head, looking at her. Our eyes met and I saw the same question on her face. 

"Wayne...? Did you say something? You sounded strange..." 

"You mean that wasn't you? Then..." Slowly, both of us looked down at the space between our necks. And gaped. 

The large, black tarantula which sat on our bark there scratched its head with one of its legs. "Shirley's sister really is a piece of work, I'd have given her the wand earlier if I'd known that she'd be this naughty..." 

The little creature winced as both Christine and me cried out in horror. Instinctively, we tried moving away from the little beast, but there was no way that we could move. 

"Hey, shut up! My ears!" The spider cursed and then looked directly at me, the stare of her six, black eyes sending shivers down my, our bark. "Or it's wormy time for you, Wayne." 

My mouth clicked shut. What the... "Laila?" I asked dumbfounded. "Is that you?" 

"Do you know any other talking tarantulas?" the spider, Laila, asked annoyed. "Of course it's me. I wanted a box seat to see what havoc you'll be creating with the wand this time. Although you kinda subcontracted the deed, which is funny." She chuckled, all the black hairs on her body vibrating.

"Laila! That's perfect!" Christine chided in. "Quick, turn us back and then help us get your wand back!"

"Huh? Why would I do that?" 

"But... but..." 

The spider giggled. "I want entertainment, and currently Michelle is providing it. Oh, look, there's Shirley coming. Ohhhh, this is going to be gud!" She used one of her many legs to point.

Shirley, still a giraffe, had finally noticed that was something amiss. She'd stalked closer a bit, but seemingly couldn't decide what to make out of the massive man-bull-thing in front of her. 

"Hey sister, you always had nice legs and a long neck, but this long..." The Minotaur chuckled again. "But I think I need your services otherwise. Here's your younger sister needing your support, so..." 

Shirley noticed the danger too late. Quicker than I'd have ever expected the Minotaur to be able to move, his wand with the wand flashed forward and Shirley the giraffe disappeared. Replaced by a... What the hell?

"Hm, nice... I like it." Michelle rumbled and let his hands roam over the gleaming... throne which Shirley had been transformed into. Just like the Minotaur, it was massive, it needed to be in order to accommodate the hulking bull-beast. Gold and gems sparkled in the sunlight, and Michelle huffed in delight as he sat down on his transformed sister. 

By now, most of the animals... well, partygoers actually, had noticed that something had happened and stared at the Minoan beast perched on his throne. 

"Now then, dear guests." he announced, holding up the wand for everyone to see. "As you've undoubtedly noticed, the magical wand which has been used to entertain this party has had a change in management. So far, the capabilities of it have been criminally underused, so I intend to change that." He grinned, and the animals, even the predators, shooed away from the malicious glint in his eyes. "To put your minds at rest, everyone who participates will be changed back. Eventually. Until then..." he balanced the wand between his big fingers "...we shall use the wand a bit more creatively." 

I could only stare on in horror, just like my girlfriend. The not-so-little spider on our necks on the other hand... 

"Oh my God..." Laila breathed dreamily. "I will so recommend this little beast to our coven." 

Two witches in this crazy family? This just got better and better... 

How is she doing this? There- 

"There is no such thing in the world as this beast?" Laila asked with a bemused voice, and I flushed at the realization that I'd spoken my thoughts out aloud. "You're right, but- oh, I actually know this one! A Chimera!" She marveled at the winged beast the cheetah girl had become, its three heads gaping at each other in consternation.

Which actually underscored my bewilderment. This wasn't a chimera like it was described in Greek legends, it was one straight out of a D&D Monster Manual! Winged and with three heads, dragon, lion and goat horizontally stretched out at the front. Why did an arcane magical relic know about late 20th century pop culture, much less favor it? This was insane!

My confusion seemed to have been palpable, because the transformed witch on our shoulder giggled. "Oh sorry, back to your question... no, there isn't. But you dummies never truly understood how the wand works. You state the shape you want to get and the wand does the rest. Are you truly this naive?" The witch's laughter was way too loud for her smallish shape, and disconcerting to booth. 

"Of course it doesn't work that way." She continued with a chuckle. "Why do you think the clothes you turned your friends into always became just the way you wanted them to be? The wand is merely the transformer, to give shape to your thoughts. The wand doesn't know what you want. You do, and you'll use the wand to channel your thoughts. Actually, you don't even need to talk for it to work."

"But...but...!" Christine stammered in protest. "When Shirley turned into a cat she couldn't speak and couldn't turn back! And I couldn't when I turned into that statue!" 

Laila smirked. Holy shit was the "smirk" of a tarantula unsettling! Even worse to look at than the floating, octopus-like Grell beast one unlucky buffalo had just been turned into. "Oh, she didn't turn back, sure. Because she didn't try thinking about turning back. She just gave up when she realized that she couldn't speak anymore." She giggled. "I knew she could be kinda dense, but that surprised even me! And about you... how about it, did you try turning back?" 

Christine couldn't believe it. "But... why didn't you just tell us? How it works?" 

"Where would the fun be in that?" 

That actually shut Christine up. Just for once, my girlfriend was actually and utterly speechless. I actually was feeling sorry for her. She was just like the poor boy in...