(A Potion Place Story)

(Twinning, Merging, Multiple TF, TG, Melting, etc)

by grapehyacinth

 The Ultimate Potion felt especially good going down Lexi's throat today – that is, once she was able to get up the willpower to swallow it. Sadly, the idea of transforming was no longer bright and new to her. Now it was simply a vehicle to try to escape her depression.

“I'm nothing. I'm turning into nothing.” She felt the liquid eating away at her very molecules, and she sighed as she grew transparent. “I'm nothingness,” she murmured again, and the familiar lightness began to surround her as she shifted from solid to vapor.

The sensation of evaporation was admittedly nice, and she reveled in it as the tiny pieces of her very being were drawn into the air. She was nowhere, she was everywhere. Soon, she hung like a cloud over her room, enjoying the weightlessness and intangibility of her state.

She made another deep sigh, rippling her form in the air. Before her depression, she would have been giggling from the sensation. Now, it merely pushed her to tears. Bits of her vapor-form fell from her as raindrops, and she found herself in the air while seeping into her floor at the same time.

“I don't exist anymore. There's nothing to worry about. Nothing to be sad about. I'm nothing.”

She listened to her voice echo hollowly around the room.

“Oh, God, I need help,” she finally admitted to herself.

“Dr. Fay Burns,” read the sign on the door. Lexi took a deep breath. Her friend Caroline had recommended the woman, and since there were few people she was willing to admit she needed help to, Dr. Burns it was.

She entered the psychiatrist's suite, which looked harmless enough, and was quickly ushered into Dr. Burn's office. The therapist sat at a desk, typing furiously at her computer. Her dark hair was pulled back in a tight bun, but her face was soft and inviting, and Lexi felt comforted.

“Welcome, Lexi,” the woman said without looking up.

“Hi. Thanks for seeing me, Doctor.” Lexi shook the woman's outstretched hand and sat down in a blue velvet chair beside the desk.

“Want the couch?” the woman asked, one finger making a few last keystrokes.

“No, the chair's fine.”

The woman hit 'save' and then turned to face Lexi. Sizing her up, she crossed her fingers together. “Okay, I'll tell you right from the start, Lexi. My sessions are different from most. We take it easy, we're laid back, anything goes. No pressure. Okay?”

Lexi gulped. “Okay.”

“Alright. So, you start. What do you want to talk about?”

“I want to talk about how depressed I am.”

Dr. Burns nodded. “Why are you depressed?”

Lexi looked down at her feet. What was she thinking, coming to a therapist? She couldn't tell her even half of her problem. How could she admit her that her best friends both had abandoned her for men to use transformation potions with? How could she describe how much she missed the weekends she used to spend transforming with her friends? She couldn't possibly mention that lately she'd been punishing herself by turning herself into useless objects, could she? She had just come back from being a piece of chewed-up gum stuck to the sidewalk. When people had stepped on her, it seemed right, like that was the only purpose she was good for.

Obviously this meant she had a problem. But she could never tell this woman she had been chewing gum.

“I'm lonely,” she began instead.

“Do you have a significant other?”

Lexi sighed. “I almost was married.” Yes, way back before her fun with Caroline and her scientist-friend Gena, there had been the disaster with Jordan. Caroline had introduced her to Mr. Wintergreen's shop, the Potion Place, and Lexi wanted to buy a transformation potion to share with Jordan on their honeymoon. But Jordan ridiculed her when she asked to borrow money to purchase it with. He accused her of being gullible and wasteful, touting how rich his family was compared to hers...

The marriage was called off, which ushered in a happy period of transforming with Caroline and Gena. But Gena got married and moved across the country, and then Caroline met Ryan.

So Lexi was alone, and her spirits were at rock bottom.

“Darling, go to this address. They'll have just what you need,” instructed Dr. Burns.

Not even caring how brief her session had been, Lexi accepted the paper and was summarily dismissed.

The address Dr. Burns had supplied looked strangely familiar, and Lexi found herself walking down the street to the Potion Place. She never had really paid attention to the street address, in fact she was surprised it had one. It seemed to only be locatable by certain 'deserving' customers, as Mr. Wintergreen had once mentioned in passing.

“Hey, Mr. Wintergreen,” Lexi said, tossing open the door, which made a little bell ring above it.

Lance Wintergreen was at his desk, busy mixing something as usual. “Ah, Lexi,” he held up a delicate blue bottle and shook it lightly. “It's you. What brought on the visit to Fay?”

Confused, Lexi sat down at one of the stools in front of him. “How did you know I went to Dr. Burns? What happened to patient confidentiality?”

“I'm a pharmacist, Lexi,” he winked. “You know, I even went to pharmacology school.”

“You did? I thought you were just some kind of...wizard-guy or something? You're really a pharmacist too?”

“Occasionally. I'm just filling your prescription for Dr. Burns.” He pushed the bottle over to her. “You have a co-pay?”

Lexi laughed. The bottle had a very normal, everyday Rx label on it. “My insurance doesn't have a co-pay on potions.” She pulled out her purse. “Here, I'll pay you.”
He shook his head. “You know I can't charge you guys. Gena's experiments made me a billionaire. Besides,” he looked her right in the eyes, “you need this medicine.”

Sighing, Lexi studied the label. “'Up Lexi'?” she read, perplexed. “What's this, an aphrodisiac?” She frowned. “Or worse?”

“Oh, Lexi, Caroline's the one with the dirty mind, not you!” He rolled his eyes, but Lexi merely continued to look baffled. “U.P. is the abbreviation for Ultimate Potion. But it's a special one tailored just for you.”

“Again? How much more special can something be if it already does everything you can think of?”

He smiled in the annoyingly mysterious way that he had. “Oh, it can be very special.”

“What does it do?”

“It makes you come out of your shell. Just make sure you drink it outside.”

Lexi digested this. She hadn't always been so guarded and depressive. She thought back to how she had used her honeymoon tickets by herself, and she had remained in the hotel the whole time, experimenting with a potion. But after all that life had thrown at her, she had become more wary of the more odder potion experiences. With Gena and Caroline, she had followed in their footsteps, merging with walls, combining into one person...

But some of the changes her friends came up with were a bit too much for her. When Jim started them on food transformations, she drew the line. Being turned into food was fun. She refused to let anyone eat her, however.

But what did any of it matter? It was all pointless. Who cared about any of it? She was just so lonely...

“The twinning power's especially cool too.” Mr. Wintergreen inserted.

“Great. I could use a friend. Even if it's just another me.”

Lexi stared down at the blue bottle on her kitchen table, debating what to do. Did she really want to 'come out of her shell'? She was fine just sulking around like this. She'd go to work, come home, eat, sleep, and repeat. In times of extreme depression, she'd down some potion and be pointless objects. Could Mr. Wintergreen's potion really change this?

Wait...did 'coming out of her shell' mean she was going to turn into a turtle?

No, that wasn't Mr. Wintergreen's way. Plus, this was Ultimate Potion. She could turn into anything she wanted with it.

She held up the bottle. She trusted Mr. Wintergreen implicitly. His potion would take care of her.

She gulped it down.

She made a delighted moan as she felt a change coming on. “I wonder what I'm turning into?” she said out loud, noting that her arms were blending into her sides and her legs were starting to merge together.

And suddenly, Mr. Wintergreen's words came into her head, “Just make sure you drink it outside.”

“Oh, God!” she yelped, running to the back door. Shrinking, she stumbled into the grass, her legs merged into one and her body thinning out into what felt like a long tube. A shudder ran through her as her head became part of the tubular form, and she felt herself hollowing out. She was hardening into what felt like cardboard, and as she continued to shrink, she wondered if she was turning into a roll of toilet paper or something.

Actually, Caroline, or maybe Gena, had once said that it was especially fun to turn into something without knowing what. Guessing what all those lovely sensations were sculpting her into might have been an fun game if she wasn't so down.

She was definitely some kind of tube, and as her transformation came to a close, she suddenly felt herself stand straight up on her end. What am I? she wondered.

There was a string coming out from her...Am I a candle?

The string spontaneously burst into flame, and suddenly she knew how she would come out of her shell...

The fuse fizzed up into her, which was pleasant in itself. There was an amazing warm pressure inside her, like her whole body wanted to explode...and she wanted it to. She desperately wanted to burst, and expand all over the sky...

Her gunpowder ignited, and every bit of her burst forth, in an ecstatic orgasm of twinkling flame. She was colors, she was lights and rainbows painting the night sky with her beauty, she was everywhere...

And she was somewhere beyond mere human thought...

Her sparkles rained from the sky, gliding to the ground so joyfully. Some of them were snuffed out, others touched the cool grass and died off, until, at long last, she was merely a burnt-out, smoking shell. But she felt warm and tingly as she smoked and cooled, and she happily remained this way.

Someone kicked at her side. It was morning, and the dew had dampened her cardboard body. “Rise and shine, Lexi,” said a voice.

The firecracker looked up into the face of Mr. Wintergreen. “Hey,” she said sleepily.

He settled down next to her in the blackened grass. “You made an amazing display last night. Barbara and I taped you. You'll have to watch it. Did you enjoy it?”

Lexi had the urge to stretch but couldn't. “I'm turning back, okay?”

“You don't need my permission, Lexi.”

The firecracker shell sprouted limbs and a head, and Mr. Wintergreen laughed. “Interesting way to turn back to a person.”

“This feels kind of cool to be a cardboard tube with limbs,” Lexi chuckled, but she sounded and felt more relaxed after her last night's experience, and she quickly became her human self. “Although I have to say, I almost exploded inside the building there.”

“I warned you to go outside.”

“Plus, that transformation was kind of dangerous, if you think about it. I could have exploded on someone and killed them, or someone could have seen me...” Lexi was growing more and more anxious as more possibilities dawned on her.

“Lexi, Lexi, calm down. It's all safe. You wouldn't have transformed if you were in a place that was not safe for fireworks. That includes if others were around. My potions have safeguards.”

“Really?”

“Well, come on. Let's give a few examples. If you turn into food and someone chomps you up and digests you, I'd say normally you'd be dead. Or, you somehow manage to merge with a wall...well, all your molecules get mixed into it, and you'd also be dead. Or you turn into...heck, anything...your body, your brain, everything's changed. It shouldn't be possible.”

“But thanks to you and Gena, it is.”

“Yup.” He stood up. “Now go home. You have a bit more time left before that potion runs out. Go do some twinning soon, because the twinning power goes away first.”

Mr. Wintergreen turned into a pigeon and flew off.

Lexi was back at her kitchen table. The potion was welling in her, pushing her to transform, but she ignored it. Granted, last night had raised her spirits, and she was almost positive Mr. Wintergreen had added an antidepressant to the potion, but the loneliness was still there...

Mr. Wintergreen's previous words echoed in her thoughts, “The twinning power's especially cool too.”

He seemed to really be pushing the twinning part of the potion, so she figured she would get to it. It might be nice to have some company for a bit, even if it was simply herself.

Giving into the constant low-level shudder of the potion in her blood, she allowed a part of herself to separate off, expecting to see the exact copy of herself that always resulted from the potion. Instead, something different was happening.

This twin was forming into a male.

Lexi clutched her hands together in delight. “Hi, male me!” she smiled.

But there was something wrong. Usually when she twinned, she was both people. She could control both bodies, and her mind was in each of them. Yet as she watched this new twin coming to completion, she could feel nothing from it. She could not make it move, and she could not find her way into its body or mind.

The twin was quite remarkable, being somewhat of a male version of herself, but was in addition her idea of the perfect man. She stared at the dashing black hair and green eyes, which she did not have herself, but had always found quite beautiful.

The twin gave a final shudder, then took a moment to steady itself. Then it glanced around, taking everything in. When it made eye contact with Lexi, her jaw fell open.

“Lexi, I'm so sorry that Jordan left you,” was his first comment.

Even his velvety voice was a deeper version of her own, and she giggled.

“You're too good for someone like that,” he added.

Lexi approached him, looking into his face quizzically. “Why aren't you...me?”

He raised his eyebrow. “I am you. I'm a male you.”

“But I can't control you.”

“Well, I'm part of you. I'm just,” he stopped a moment, pondering this. “I have all your memories, I know everything about you.”

“But you're like...another person.”

He smiled, giving a little shudder. “Yes, and I want to be...things for you.” With that, he fell to the ground, a perfect rose.

“Hey, are you a shapeshifter?” Lexi gasped in awe.

“You have...Ultimate Potion in you, so I do too...” The flower managed to push out. But he was shaking and twitching a bit. “Ooh,” it uttered.

“Feels good to change, huh?” Lexi smirked, picking him up.

“Yes, well, I like it, but some of it worries me. Like, if I'm food, don't ask to eat me. The whole idea really freaks me out.”

Grinning, Lexi rubbed one of the flower's petals. “That's definitely me speaking, little rose.”

Lexi marveled at how perfect a mate this man beside her on the bed was, but, as he tried to kiss her, she pulled away nervously.

“What?” he asked in confusion.

“I'm...kind of weirded out.”

“Why?”

“Can I fall in love with myself?”

“Many people do.”

Well, he was definitely right about this. She often felt that her friend Caroline was obsessed with herself. Even when Caroline's boyfriend came on the scene, it was still a race to see how much pleasure she could get through transforming herself. “Can you give me kids? And if so, would they be monsters or something because there's no genetic variation?”

He tilted his head. “I'd think they'd all be copies of you, then, right? Let's remember that Genetics 101 class from junior year...”

“Let's not,” Lexi relaxed into his arms. “You know, you're lucky you didn't have to take any classes.”

Placing a gentle kiss on her head, he uttered, “That's where you're wrong. I did take them, as you. I remember every minute, pushing through those horrible lectures from eighty-five year old Professor Stevien... I always thought she'd die in class one day.”

“And she did.”

“I know! The year after we graduated, huh?” They broke up in laughter, then immediately stopped.

“That's kinda sad, actually,” Lexi pointed out.

“It is.”

A small silence followed, and then they were on each other, fondling and kissing quite heatedly.

Suddenly Lexi pulled away again. “Hey, what do I call you?” she queried.

He blinked his eyes. “Hm... What guy names do you like? Your favorite guy name is Julian, huh?”

She nodded. “I love you, Julian.”

After an hour or so, they lay cuddled together on the bed, both with matching silly smiles on their faces.

“Jordan never could do that to you,” Julian pointed out.

“Nope.”

“Only you know how to make yourself happy.” He smiled, rubbing her back. “And I am you.”

“Yup.”

“Now, let's turn into things.”

“Let's.”

They melted down into a puddle of mercury.

Relaxed and calm, Lexi pulled herself from the puddle. “Oh, that was nice.”

The rest of the mercury flowed into a male form and became Julian. “Let's do more. We'll only do the stuff you – we – like, of course.”

A list of preferred transformations ran through Lexi's head, but being with someone new yet familiar made her want to be more adventurous. And then, of course, she was still on the 'come out of your shell' potion...

“You know, I love the way evaporating feels,” Julian commented.

“You've...oh, you remember it from me doing it.”
“Yes. But what I'd love is to watch you do it.”

Lexi did not need to be asked twice. She was dissolving away as Julian stroked at her, making him laugh. “Hey, you're escaping! Oh, look how pretty! Why are you turning pink?”

“So you can see me better!” exclaimed the pink cloud that floated near the ceiling.

A bemused expression on his face, Julian merely lay on the bed, gazing at his lover above him. “I could watch you like this forever. Are you enjoying your form?”

The cloud merely made a delighted shiver, then disappeared.

“Lexi?”

“Who's Lexi?” emanated from somewhere near the ceiling, followed by a silly laugh.

Grinning from ear to ear, Julian stood up on the bed and reached into where he imagined the cloud to be, and stirred it around his hand.

“Ooh, I like that. Why don't you come on in?”

Julian grew invisible, then merged with the cloud.

“This is nice,” he said.

“Yup,” answered Lexi.

The cloud bounced around a bit and then spat out Julian, who fell back onto the bed.

“Why'd you leave so fast?”

Julian gazed at the disembodied grin above him, then reached towards it. “I want to hold you. In solid, human form.”

The cloud, slightly pink again, funneled to the floor and took on a female figure. As Lexi solidified, she realized that something was coiling up her legs. For a moment, she thought Julian had become an enormous snake, but when she glanced down, she saw he was merely a soft rope of sparkling light. His touch was warm and stimulating, and she drew in her breath at the sensations. “What...oh, that's...good...”

“I just want to wrap myself all over you, to cover you with myself, to make you feel nice...”

Lexi felt her body grow desperate to change, and now she allowed it. She got to the ground just as her limbs merged into her softening body, and Julian drew into human form to watch her transform.

She was becoming square and velvety...oh, how nice it felt to be filled with stuffing...

“You're a pillow!” Julian exclaimed in delight.

“Please use me,” the pillow begged. “Rest your head on me. I want to make you feel nice too.”

“Of course!” Julian gathered her up, placed her on the bed, and positioned his head right in Lexi's middle, eliciting a purr-like moan from her. He began to stroke her fabric, which only made the pillow emit more interesting sounds. “You're so soft, Lexi,” he whispered, running his tongue up her side. “So, so, pretty and soft,” he drew her corner into his mouth and made the pillow shriek like no pillow had ever before.

Julian had turned himself into a matching pillow for the night, and they lay beside each other, adorning the bed quite nicely. “This is a great form,” he commented.

“I like soft forms,” Lexi said.

“I know.”

“I know you know.” Humming contentedly, Lexi cuddled up closer to his velvety surface.

“You have a pretty voice.”

“Yes, we do,” she answered with a wink.

“Listen, the potion is going to run out eventually, so let's plan to do something special tomorrow.”

These words brought a chill to Lexi's spine. She had not even thought that there might be an end to her sudden happiness. Why had she gotten so attached to this product of magic? And his words were said so matter-of-factly, as if spoken by a robot. How real was Julian?

“It'll be okay without me. I was just here to get you out of your shell.”

She glanced at the pillow beside her. “Let's sleep as humans,” she ordered.

She held him tightly through the night.

When dawn broke, they both awoke and became a dizzying array of objects and animals. They breakfasted in a nearby meadow as deer, and Lexi was surprised how filling crabgrass could be. But sadness lined her soul as she gazed at the perfect buck grazing beside her. She wanted him forever.

“So what should our next adventure be?” asked the deer beside her.

They were relaxing in a grassy area under a tree, and Julian had just sipped at the cool water from the brook a few feet away.

“Let's do something amazing. Caroline has all kinds of adventures with Ryan. That's usually the only time she calls me, to brag about them.”

His eyes sparkled as an idea obviously came to him. “Well, this time you can brag to her.”

The pottery shop was still closed as it was a Sunday morning. The sign on the door announced that it would be “Open for business 12 sharp on Sunday for a special sale”.

“Oh, this might be fun!” Lexi piped up with hope in her voice.

“Be something small so you can get under the door.”

As expected, both became the same type of moth, and they fluttered inside. “The studio's in the back,” Lexi called, back in human form. She was full of excitement at the fact that they were doing something dangerous, which was so against her usual, careful, law-abiding self. Well, I'm definitely coming out of my shell! she thought to herself proudly.

The studio boasted floor-to-ceiling storage shelves surrounding a work area. A potter's wheel sat at the center, and several boxes marked “clay” were beside it.

“Well, you know what we need to do,” smiled Julian.

“Yup!”

They pried open the top box, removed the plastic bag of clay, and placed it behind some bottles on a top shelf. Julian picked a discarded empty plastic bag from the garbage and lined the box with it. “Come on in!” he called, shrinking back to moth form and entering the box.

With a squeal, Lexi followed.

When she landed next to her twin, he became human, but kept his tiny height. She did the same. “Are you ready to merge?” he asked.

“Sure am!”

He embraced her roughly, and even as they changed and became one, he was rubbing her everywhere he could, and she was kissing at him wherever there was Julian left to kiss. Soon they were a moaning, writhing mass only held back by the plastic bag and box they inhabited. “Let's stay like this,” groaned Lexi.

“We can, but we just have to be clay.”

Lexi could feel her substance alter slightly, but she was still amorphous, and she felt so good being one with her love...

Or maybe it was because she was whole again, and she was at peace with herself?

She shook this off as being silly.

There was a key in the lock, and they could hear voices. We're open for business! cried Julian in their shared mind.

She couldn't wait to be used.

They could hear the potter's wheel click on, and Lexi's anticipation was overwhelming. How wonderful would it feel to be sculpted into something beautiful, and to share the experience with someone you loved?

She pushed all the thoughts of losing Julian from her mind and allowed herself to get wrapped in the bliss of being touched. Hands wrenched them from the plastic and began to knead them. Here we go! Julian exclaimed excitedly.

Oh, God, that feels good! It's like they're purposely trying to make us feel amazing, Lexi gasped. Oh, he's squeezing us so tightly over there! Nice!

Don't make any sounds, though. You'll spook him out. Then we don't get to be pottery – oh, GOD!

The fingers were pulling them and yanking them back and forth, and then they were roughly tossed onto the spinning surface...

Normally the turning would have made Lexi vomit from motion sickness. Instead, she was in a world shared only by Julian, as their very being was twisted and formed into what felt like a large pot. They were thinning and stretching, their walls growing higher as their middle hollowed out.

This is heaven, moaned Lexi.

I love you, Lexi.

The wheel slowed down, and Lexi felt the disappointment of a child whose merry-go-round ride was drawing to a close.

Don't be sad. We're a beautiful pot, and the fun's just begun.

Fun?

We get to dry.

They were set in a bright corner, and the warmth of the sun felt wonderful on their surface. Lexi relished in the familiar delight of hardening into stone, and the fact that she and Julian were one.

I love to harden, he commented.

She tittered. I know that's me talking, but when a man says that, you can take it in other ways.

You know what I mean, although I like the other way too.

As they continued to dry, they watched the goings-on around them. They could see into the front of the store, and each would comment on the customers that came in and out. There were no misunderstandings or not-laughed-at jokes, because Lexi was Julian, and Julian was Lexi. And she would have it no other way.

Hands suddenly gripped them, making Julian groan softly. We're all dry. Guess we're quick-drying clay or something.

Hey, we're going on sale!

They were set onto a shelf with other pottery. I wonder if any of these other pots are people, wondered Lexi.

Doubt it. Unless they know Mr. Wintergreen. Then I guess it's possible.

It is, isn't it?

Yup.

As this interesting thought percolated, a woman picked them up and examined them. You think she's going to buy us, Julian?

I don't know, but this whole...situation is strangely arousing to me.

I know. I feel it too.

The woman ran her finger down their side. “This would be nice in my living room,” she said to her husband.

Oh, lady, do that again! Did you feel that, Lexi?
Lexi made them shudder. Oh, God yes.

The lady made an odd face, and placed them down abruptly. “I think that piece is haunted,” she uttered, and walked off frowning.

Oops! Lexi and Julian giggled.

A tall man in a suit purchased them and brought them home, placing them on a pedestal in his foyer. He checked to make sure they were centered, and then he walked off.

That's it? That's actually a let down, Julian complained. I was hoping for some more, I don't know, drama?

Oh, I like being on display.

You're right. It's kind of relaxing. I bet we're really nice-looking. He paid eight hundred dollars for us, after all.

The idea that someone paid eight hundred dollars for her was mind-blowing to Lexi. But she felt so good, she did not dwell on the realization for long. Mm, I feel good like this, she moaned, rattling them.

Stop, Lexi, you'll break us! It's a tile floor down there!

Sunrays fell on them, making them feel warm and comfortable. I could spend forever like this with you, Lexi, Julian murmured.

Lexi smiled sadly to herself. Me too, she uttered. But she felt strangely lightheaded. Yes, she was merely a pot, but an odd feeling was coming over her. A cold shiver ran through the pot, and then, there was loss.

“Julian?” she said out loud.

Her voice echoed through the empty foyer, but no one answered.

Traumatized, Lexi remained on her pedestal all night and well into the morning. Who cared about her job? They'd find another poor soul to fill her spot and no one would notice the difference. A maid came by and dusted her, which admittedly felt nice. Her buyer was nowhere to be seen, and she surmised that, lovely as she was, she would rarely be viewed or admired. Then again, she'd change back soon anyway, so that didn't matter either.

But the change-back was not coming soon enough, and she couldn't bring herself to leave this form voluntarily, it being the last form Julian had been in before he had been ripped from existence...

At nine o'clock that night, she pushed herself off her pedestal and shattered across the floor.

The buyer came in, cursing, and the maid swept her up and tossed her in the trash.

“You missed a piece of me,” part of Lexi whispered from the corner.

“This is where I belong. In the trash.”

But it smelled bad here, and it was dark. Her body was trying to force itself into human form, which meant the potion was almost finished. With the last bits of the potion's power, she forced herself into moth form once more. She barely escaped from the buyer's house before she changed back to herself mid-air.

She tumbled below to the grass and cried.

Lexi called into work sick for the next few days, and she sulked around her house for long periods of time. She needed to talk, but she couldn't bear to go back to Dr. Burns. She called Gena at one point, but no one picked up.

Finally, she was so desperate that she called Caroline. As expected, there was no answer, so she left a message. Then, in the silence, she took a swig of Ultimate Potion and turned herself into a popsicle stick.

The phone rang an hour or so later, and grudgingly, the popsicle stick turned back into Lexi. She placed the phone to the ear, now not really wanting to converse with anyone. Being a thin wood stick was much more calming.

“Lexi? It's Caroline! Sorry I didn't pick up, but I'm on display!”

Display? What crazy situation had her friend gotten into now? “What are you talking about?”

“Ryan and I...we're on display in an art gallery! We're an erotic statue!” she giggled.

“And you're talking on the phone?”

“Well, I occasionally turn back into myself to check messages.”

“How do you have a phone if you're an erotic statue?”

“Oh, I don't. Ryan's my phone right now. Ryan, say hi.”

A tinny voice came through. “Hi Lexi. Hey, Caroline, press my pound key. The buttons on the bottom part of me are especially arousing when you touch them...”

A series of beeps followed by groans met her ears, and Lexi nearly hung up.

But, in a surprisingly un-Caroline way, her friend expressed concern. Maybe she did care about other people occasionally. “Why the call, Lexi? You never call me.”

Lexi thought back to how Julian said she could call Caroline and brag this time, and she swallowed. “I fell in love with my twin.”

There was a snort, and then silence, and then another snort. “You can't fall in love with your twin, Lexi! That's ridiculous! You are your twin! It's like me loving myself!”

“You do love yourself,” said the tinny phone voice.

“Get off there, Ryan.”

“I can't. You're using me.”

Caroline made a frustrated sigh. “Listen, Lexi, if you're bored, come check us out. We're at the gallery on eighth and thirty-second in the city. Give us a rub-down if you can. Talk to ya soon!”

Using regular Ultimate Potion, Lexi continued to become increasingly more meaningless objects. A tin can, a bottle cap, a sponge, a tissue... She lay around as these, her depression even deeper than before. And then, after five hours as a can opener, she shifted back to human. “I need Mr. Wintergreen,” she announced to the empty room.

“Well, Lexi, how did it go?”

She ran into the surprised man's arms. “Mr. Wintergreen, you have to get him back! You got me out of my shell, you made me happy, and then you took him away from me!”

“Who?”

“Julian!”

He began to laugh. “Oh, Lexi, you had me there for a moment. I thought one of my potions killed someone or something. You're talking about your twin! Did you have fun with it?”

It? Julian was a him! A person, a...oh, who knew what he was?

Mr. Wintergreen's face looked stern. “Oh, Lexi, did you...you fell for him?” The expression on her face was all the answer he needed. He put his arm around her shoulder in sympathy. “Lexi, Lexi, he's a product of magic. He's not...” He shook his head. “He's you. He's...”

“No! He's real!” She wrenched herself away. “He might have come from me, but he thought for himself, and he was in control of his body. He was a person separate from me!”

“Well, that's my potion working there. It's a doozy.”

“I don't care! I want him back.”

“Well, I could make another one up, and maybe you can get a new Julian that's pretty close to the old one...”

“Close? I want him exactly!”

“Well, I..”

Lexi broke down. “I love him more than I ever loved anyone else. I felt his loss like my heart was ripped from me. WE were one, and then I was alone! Please, you have to do something! I want him back! For good!”

Mr. Wintergreen watched her cry for a moment. He clicked his tongue. “I should never have made that potion. I so wanted to help you and just...lift your spirits...”

“Please, I'll never ask you for anything again...”

“Come back tomorrow. I'll need my wife to try this.”

“Where is she?”
“Barbara? She does volunteer work.”

“For?”
“Right now she's a bounce house for the carnival. The kids love her, and it raises tons of funds for some children's charities – especially because she doesn't charge a rental fee for herself.” He winked.

Becoming a bounce house – Caroline's dream come true, was all Lexi's mind could think.

“Barbara's a powerful sorceress. What we're doing here is more than potion material. It's...deep, and...dark, and...” Mr. Wintergreen obviously didn't know how to continue.

“How are you, Lexi?” asked the woman sitting beside Mr. Wintergreen. She rose, and Lexi was taken aback. She rarely saw Mr. Wintergreen's wife in human form, and it took a moment to recognize the woman. She was attractive but ordinary, and Lexi made a nervous titter.

“I'm fine,” Lexi answered, shaking her hand. “Just not used to seeing you as your own person. Usually you're part of Mr. Wintergreen's stomach or something.”

The woman chuckled. “Yes, I am a big merging fan,” she smiled at her husband. Then she took Lexi's hand. “Now, Lexi, you truly love your twin, huh?”

Lexi nodded.

Barbara flipped to face her husband, an angry glare on her face. “I told you not to do that, Lance!” she chided him. “That's asking for trouble, throwing the perfect man at a lonely woman...”

“Fay suggested–”

“Fay didn't tell you to give her the man of her dreams! Listen, Lexi, this is not just potions we're playing with here. This is...”

Choking, Lexi stepped back. “Is this like, dark magic or something?”

Mr. Wintergreen shook his head back and forth vehemently. “No, no, no. There's no dark magic. Magic is magic. Being evil doesn't make it more powerful. That's all a myth. It's how you use the magic – how you harbor it and control it – that's where the power is. And between Barbara and me, we might be able to help you. So,” he handed her a vial, “Drink this.”

“I thought it's not a potion.”

“It all starts with a potion.”

The familiar stir began in Lexi's body, only it was so powerful, she could not control herself. She contorted to the ground, quickly transforming into a tissue box cover.

“Ah, that's better,” she murmured.

“Well, that's not what I expected,” Barbara laughed. “Usually people become nice things like rainbows or puppies when the Ultimate Potion first drives you to change.”

“I've taken to becoming pointless things,” the box uttered morosely.

“Tissues are helpful,” piped up Mr. Wintergreen.

“She's a decorative plastic cover for a box of tissues, Lance,” Barbara noted with a tinge of annoyance in her voice.

“Ah,” he said, examining her for a moment. “Okay, well, Lexi, did that change help release the urge a bit, at least?”

“Sure did.”
“Now get human again, and let's get your twin back.”

Lexi became herself. She stood there trembling, praying that whatever the couple was about to do would work. If it did not, she was not sure she could go on. Her body began to crave a change again, but it was more manageable. “Should I twin yet?”

“Barbara?”
The woman came over to Lexi and placed her hand on the girl's head, while Mr. Wintergreen downed a bottle that looked as if it contained only light. As he did, his whole body grew fuzzy, and he let out a contented breath as he became a simple shining orb.

“Oh, you're beautiful like that, Lance!” Barbara cried.

“Thanks, dear,” echoed the orb. “Lexi, twin now.”

As Barbara clasped Lexi's head, she murmured, “Search inside of you, Lexi. Find him, and pull him out. I'll help. Picture him in your mind – yes, there he is! Pull him out! Make him your twin!”

Beside them, a definite male form was solidifying. It began to fade for a moment, and Lexi made a horrified cry.

Barbara yelled, “Lexi, hold onto him! Now, Lance!”

Mr. Wintergreen's light surrounded the forming twin, making it more solid again. Barbara reached out to it and held her hand over its head until she was able to touch it. She closed her eyes in deep concentration, murmuring, “You are whole. You are your own person. Stay.”

The silence was tense, and Lexi had to force herself to breathe.

“Don't lose him, Lexi,” the orb of light beckoned to her. “Hold him in your mind until we say.”

“You are man,” Barbara's powerful voice echoed through the room. She removed her hand from Lexi, then, relaxing, removed it from the twin. The orb of light drifted away and became Mr. Wintergreen, and Julian was back.

Lexi cried out in happiness, gathering him up in her arms and hugging him for dear life. Then she embraced the Wintergreens, thanking them over and over. Returning to a grinning Julian, she yelped, “You're back! You're back!”, unsuccessfully trying to fight the tears of joy that were welling in her eyes.

“I'm so sorry I left,” he said sorrowfully.

“You remember?” Lexi gasped. “How much?”
“Well, I remember everything, because I'm you. It's all in your mind, so it's mine too.”

“Not anymore,” said Mr. Wintergreen with a victorious smile. “Now you're a real flesh-and-blood man; a separate entity. Anything after this is you alone. You don't share minds anymore.”

“And he'll last forever?” Lexi asked hopefully.

Barbara laughed. “You make him sound like a cleaning product or something.”

“He'll last as long as any man can last. He's a human being.”

Now Lexi could only stare at him, the enormity of what the Wintergreens had accomplished hitting her full force. “You made a man,” she uttered. “You created life.”

“Sure did. Nothing we should be fooling with, mind you,” Mr. Wintergreen looked at his wife from the corner of his eye. “Plenty of people will be on me if they hear I was playing around with life forces.”

“I won't tell!” Lexi ran into Julian's waiting arms. “I want to stay in your arms forever, don't ever leave me again.”

“I won't. I promise. I even know a way to start forever off.”

Lexi giggled as she felt herself hardening into stone.

Mr. Wintergreen held up his arms in dismay. “Hey, none of that here! We can't have life-sized statues in here tonight! They're coming to do the floor!”

With a ghostly laugh, the statue grew still.

“Oh, Lance, check out where his hands are on her!” Barbara chuckled. “They are enjoying this immensely.”

Mr. Wintergreen shook his head in mock annoyance. “Oh, these young ones today. Listen, Mr. and Mrs. Statue, you can stay the night if you just make yourselves smaller. This way we can get you out of the way.”

In answer, the twisted sculpture shrank into foot-tall statue and Mr. Wintergreen placed it on his desk. “Have a fun night, guys.”

He and Barbara left.

Well, we really showed Caroline, huh? commented the Julian part of the sculpture.

Showed her what? asked the Lexi part.

We can be an erotic statue too. Can't you feel my finger in there?

The statue giggled, making it shake on its pedestal. Uh, Julian?
Yes?
I can absolutely guarantee that we are a tame work of art compared to whatever pose Caroline and Ryan managed to twist their changing bodies into. My guess is they're so X-rated that they can only be displayed in an adult shop.

You're probably right. We'll have to work on that. Some other time, though.

The stone arms gripped each other a little tighter.