Steph ended her call and rested her face on the Shops counter, she couldnt believe that all her coworkers decided to call in sick today. As if their little Prank on the beach last weekend wasnt terrible enough. She did hope that the Girl didnt took it to heart. Still, she had eight hours ahead of herself, being stuck in a magic shop with no one to toy with. And with nothing interesting on her timeline, did she pick up a cloth, to whip some of the Products. Knowing her usual Customer base, she would have four hours of certain silence.

After an hour of Cleaning swords and impaling imaginary Assistants, did her gaze fall on the old Guillotine in the corner. Yeah, she could definitely see the spiderweb on behind it, from experience, did she know, that she couldnt move the thing on her own, so she kneeled down into the stocks, to reach the corner, blocked by the Guillotines frame.

a cloud of dust formed, rather quickly, forcing her to sneeze. before she knew it, did the Stocks lock her into place. Steph wanted to turn her hands to unlock the emergency release, as she remembered, that Alice used the Guillotine to cut watermelons and she wasnt sure, if anyone switched the blade for the one used on volunteers yet.

Knowing that trying to free herself, would drop the blade, made the decision to stay in place rather appealing. So she just spent the next hour on her kneees, hoping for a Tourist or the like to wander in. Like a trickster god, heard her plea, did the door of the Shop open and someone stepped inside. Steph took her chance and called for help.

before she knew it, stood a pair of sandals at the edge of her vision. "Uhm, miss, could you grab the Rope attached to the blade and hold it, till i am free?" she asked and the woman wearing the sandals stepped out of view, to grab the Rope. Steph felt the familiar shaking of the blade moving, so she freed herself as fast as possible and slipped out of the Guillotine.

The Woman let go and Steph stared as the Blade hit the floor. No doubt about it, that was the wrong blade to be caught with. "Thanks, i should have checked the Blade- Oh, hey. We met on the Beach." the girl laughed. "You really got a think for risking peoples heads, even your own." she said after taking a deep breath and Steph smiled. "You could say it like that. So, how can i help you?"

The Woman pulled out the coupon. "I couldnt let that go to waste." she said. Steph took it. "i had no intend of letting that one go out of date, but you did save my neck, so you get a second one. Which brings me back to my original Question, how can i help you?" The Woman thought. "Since i get one more wish, my original idea can wait, what is a trick you would do, to convince me to trust you?"

Steph crossed her arms. "Well, you did let me take off your head and in the end it landed back on your shoulders, but i know what you mean. You want something impressive, that doesnt involve anymore sharp objects. Thankfully i got just the trick for you." she said and grabbed the womans hand, soon both ended up at the counter. "So whats your name?" asked Steph while searching for something.

"Reina" the woman answered and leaned over the counter as Steph got up, with a larger cloth in hand. "This, my lovely Assistant, is a vanishing cloth. Well, it makes stuff vanish." She said and grabbed a Pen from the side and covered it with the cloth. Allowing her assistant to see how the pen is pressing against the cloth. "And now, hit it with the palm of your hand." she said. Reina rolled her eyes. "Really?" Steph sighed. "fine, to prove its safe, i will demonstrate it for my lovely Assitant."

And with that did Steph hit her hand on the counter. "See, totally fine." Steph said, trying her hardest to swallow the pain. "So whats the largest thing, that can vanish like that?" Reina asked, once Steph stopped holding her own hand. She then threw the cloth over herself, covering her from head to hips. "Why dont you find out and lay your hands on me." Steph started to laugh a bit.

the sound of Sandals hitting the floor was the last thing she heard, before she felt the hands pressing on her head. Sure enough the blanket fell in on itself, the more Reina pressed down, Stopping as she was about hip heigh. And so did she pull the blanket away.

Now only Stephs lower half stood around. A bit unsure of what to do.

taking her chance, did reina run her nails across the freshly created crossection, causing stephs knees to give in. After five minutes of testing how reactive Stephs legs were, did Reina put the Cloth back and slowly raised it again, till she could hear laughing from underneath and steph pulled it off her head. "tada." was all coming from her. "And convinced i can pull of, what you had in mind?"

Reina poked the would be magicians face. "yeah, but its a bit more complex, do you have another pen?" she asked and Steph pulled one from behind her assistants ear. And soon she watched, how her Assistant drew an idea on a piece of paper. "So, you want me to flatten you and then basically cut you up into, a puzzle?" Reina looked at her drawing. "or a shredder. The important part is, that its more than a handful pieces, that can be puzzled together."

Steph looked at it. "I could do that, but i would have to puzzle you together, before i could turn you back and if a piece gets damaged, i cant reverse it. you would be stuck like that forever." Reina looked at her plans. "As long as you keep my pieces in a nice box." Steph laughed. "okay, give me half an hour and put something on, that makes puzzling a bit easier.

--- half an hour later ----

"you are not making it easy." Steph said as she saw the one piece swimsuit in solid green, matching her victims eyes. "Its not supposed to be easy, there would be no fun in that." Not being able to argue with that, did Steph guide her assistant to the press she prepared. Reina took of her sandals and sat down, a top the machine, putting her feet into the proper slot. "You can still back out." Steph said, waiting a second before she started turning the press.

A surprised yelp, came from her assistant, as her feet got dragged into the machine, followed by her legs. At first Steph was worried that her Assistant would freak out, but once her knees vanished into the machine, did she got used to the feeling moving up her body. Steph giggled as she watched her assistant getting red as her hips vanished into the machine. A few more rotations later and Reina could rest her hands on the edge of the machine. "Bye bye, magician girl." was all she said, before her head followed the rest of her body.

Some spins later and Steph had a perfectly flat Assistant in hand. with the cutout did she walk into the back office and took a scissor to cut her in four pieces, before folding each piece to fit into the shredder. Looking at the box with her Shreddered Assistant, did Steph realise, how difficult it would be to piece her back together.

So she sat down for the next half hour, trying to piece together anything, before she just gave up. Reina felt the hands moving across her fragments, hearing the frustration grow in her magician. Which started to make her regret, asking for this.

Suddenly a Cloth covered her shreddered eyes and she stood on a small table in the back office. Reina pulled the Cloth away. "Didnt you say, you couldnt turn me back?" Stephs smirked. "A good magician always got a back up plan. I hope, i did not dissapoint" Reina hugged her magician. "that was fun. i would let you do it again." she said as she stopped the hug. Steph got a bit red, but the door to the shop opened. "Well, you know where to find me." Steph said and guided her Assistant out, watching her leave, as she dealt with her first actual customer of the day.