The stage was dark, which was completely normal for the opening of the After School Magic Club. The hundred or so seats were filled to capacity at small tables and as seats and couches. The audience knew that the first night of the year was always very special and many people wondered what the mysterious and aloof Head would offer her guests and audience to begin another year.

Some unseen and unrecognized signal caused the audience to quiet down in unison and from the back stage, two lovely ladies emerged. The head wore her traditional face covering mask and a black evening dress over her pale skin. Beside and slightly behind her was her regular second, Vella. The dark-skinned beauty wore a pale green dress that also fell from her shoulders to her knees. "Hello, and welcome everyone!" the Head called out to the audience. "We have a wonderful program for you all tonight, though as you will see we will have a bit more audience participation this year to start with."

Vella stepped forward. "Every year, we get applicants. Many, many, many applicants. And we go through an interview and testing process to winnow down the people who want to join into those who will join."

"Our criteria are many," the Head spoke. "A certain mental aptitude and fortitude for weekly performances is required. The ability to commit to the time required. And yes, a few other things as well," she mysteriously clarified. "Some years, the selections are easy, and some times, they are quite hard."

"Which brings us to this year," Vella picked up. "We had a long list of candidates and try as we might, we could not reasonably narrow them down to our final group for the year. And we were not going to be ... unreasonable about it either." Her voice was a little more soft and wispy than the commanding tone of the Head. "So we thought long and hard about how to do this. And simply drawing lots seemed ... unfair."

"So, I proposed that we let you, our audience, choose," the Head announced. "Vella." The woman in question turned and strolled back stage at the Head's command. "Every one of you will find at your table or within reach, paper and a pen." Vella reached the curtains at the back and pulled out a rotating multi-layered table. One of those display pieces you could put something onto and show it off from all sides.

On this were heads. Over a dozen heads with eyes open and living, their mouths gagged. They were artfully arranged in circles, 8 on the bottom layer, 6 on the middle and four at the top, with various colours and styles of hair. Beside each was a number of 1 through 18. She set this in a place of honor on the stage, and sent back to the curtains. "The final choice will be one of yours," the Head spoke. "It is you who will determine which of these fine ladies will be joining the Club this year, and which will not."

Vella quickly returned with another display table, this time with a dozen and a half torsos, bare to the world and with arms tied gently behind their backs. "Once I allow, you are all invited up here to examine each head, each body and each set of legs within reason." Vella returned with two long tables which had hips and legs sitting on their spread knees. She set these up on the stage as well, and each and every piece was also given a number. "Now, you will have half an hour to cast your votes. This is ranked choice, so for each head, body and hips, write down your preference in order. The most wanted at the front, the least wanted at the end. Once that time is up, Vella and I will collect your voted and tally them up to see who the most overall popular women are. They will be restored and will be joining Vella and myself for the second half of the show, while the other wonderful volunteers will be restored and join the audience." There was something in her voice that promised more than that, but she said nothing.

"However, feel free to ask the Head any myself any questions that cross your mind," Vella said as she took her own spot beside the Head. "Within reason, of course."

"And with that, time begins ... now."

* * *

The time ran down and Vella gently pushed the last of the people away from the multitude of available options. The Head collected the sheets and looked them over, pointing out small errors like duplicated numbers in a few cases, or where not all the options had been chosen. The questions were the usual sort - romantic, sexual and magical. She answered them all professionally and once the Head nodded at her slightly, she moved all the volunteers back behind the curtains to restore them.

That was easy enough to do, although getting eighteen women back together did take time. Time the Head was spending counting ballots. Once she was done, the head called out three numbers, and Vella gestured for the other unchosen 15 to head out onto the stage and out into the audience. They strode boldly and with confidence out there, just as nude as they were when they had been divided and on display. They had no shame, she and the Head made sure of that before hand, and quite a few lucky members of the audience would find themselves directly benefiting from that confidence.

"And finally, our winners!" The Head announced. "Would the three newest members of the Club please come out!" Vella held the curtain for them, and followed the three women out onto the stage at a discrete distance. "Please introduce yourselves in numerical order."

The three glanced at each other to sort out the order. "Hi! I'm Erica. 20 years old." She flipped her brown ponytail over her shoulder to pay with it. "I wanted to join this club to experience new and amazing things!" She smiled at the audience. "I hope to have lots of fun this year, up here and with all of you in the audience. So please lets have lots of fun!" She waved and stepped aside for the next person.

"Hey Boys and Girls!" the next woman hopped up, allowing her breasts to jiggle freely. "I'm Farrah, 18 years old. I'm a huge fan of this sort of performance magic, and I've been waiting to be legal to give it a go! So thanks for voting for me, and I won't let this opportunity go to waste!" She blew a kiss out into the audience, allowing her blonde braids to hold her hair in place before she too stepped aside.

The last of the winners presented herself with a bow. "I'm Jazz," she rose up and let her dyed-green hair fall around her face. "19, and hot!" She licked her lips. "And I promise to show you all a very good time!"

The Head bowed her head at that. "Thank you, you three. Now, if you will join me back stage, the second half will begin in ten minutes."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Jazz stood at the front of the stage. "Sorry for the wait!" she called out, drawing all sorts of attention to her. During the interlude, she had changed back stage to a light-yellow sundress that hung from her shoulders and went down to a flared out bottom. "So, for the first bit of the back half of the show, Vella and the Head have both agreed to let us three do whatever we want. After all, we were the ones cut up and put on display for all of you, so it's only fair that they have something done as well, right?"

The Audience seemed to accept that and Jazz clapped her hands for emphasis. "Now naturally, we asked some questions and the results were quite.... Well, we were told we could do what we wanted with the two of them, no holds, no limits. Saw in half? Done! But they did encourage us to be creative! It's our final test, really, I think. Can we take charge? And hoo-boy, can we!" She waited for the audience to quiet down a little. "Now, you would not believe what sorts of things they have back there, I can't even describe them all. So honestly, me being up here is buying time for the others to read the instructions or lack of them." She spun around, her dress flaring up dangerously. "You done back there?" she yelled.

There was a faint reply, and those closer to the stage could hear a "no" with some more words.

"Hold on," Jazz returned to the curtain and she stuck her head through. "Look," people heard her say clearly, "What's the hold up?" A silent response. "We have people waiting!" Another response. "You're making us look bad!" "Fine!"

"Sorry about that!" Jazz turned with a strained smile. "But there's just sooooooooooo many options! They can't decide. So we're going to get Vella in something simple first, then something for the Head after we've had a chance to find it!"

The audience clapped and cheered this, their patience rewarded as from behind the curtains, Farrah emerged, wearing a sexy and slinky French Maid outfit. She had Vella in front of her, striding boldly and without shame as she pushed a tall open frame out with her. Those people familiar with the props used for the Club recognized the open slicer, where the victim/assistant would stand inside the four corner pillars and the magician on the outside would be able to slide dividers in at any level and as many as they wanted. And it was obvious that the dark-skinned Vella was going to be the first person to enjoy its embrace this year.

"Look what I found!" Farrah called out as she stopped at the center of the stage, the audience on three sides of her and the others on stage. "Who wants to see this in action!?" she yelled out.

Surprising no one, everyone raised their hands, including Vella and Jazz. "Well, I'm glad we're all on the same page then, because I have no idea how this is going to end up!"

"With me in pieces, I hope." Vella maintained her professional composure to allow the new hires to take up most of the attention.

"Right! So step into the box!" Farrah directed Vella to do just that, pointing at the sideless container. Vella obligingly took her position in the middle of the four posts. "Don't worry everyone, Vella is a trained professional, while I am an amateur! I have no idea what I'm doing!" She opened her skirt and with a loud clattering of metal, a whole lot of blades fell down, piling up around her feet and lower legs. "See what I mean!"

She bent down and picked up the first blade, carefully clearing her feet of the dangerously sharp objects in the process while Jazz started to pick and stack the rest up. "So, I just slide it in, right?" she asked, holding it up for all to see. The shimmering metal square would fit perfectly into the gaps between the poles.

"That would be correct," Vella said.

Without hesitation, Farrah slid the blade and divider through Vella's waist, cutting her in half. "Yay! I did it!" She grabbed the next blade from Jazz and slid it through Vella's neck, her smile unbroken as her head was separated from her body. Then another blade through her jaw, another her nose, then above her eyes, then through her crown. In six pieces, Farrah took apart Vella's head and stacked them haphazardly in a an unorganized manner off to one side. She returned her attention to the headless body and quickly swiped blade after blade from Jazz, whose stack never seemed to grow shorter.

The shoulders were next, then another cut just above the breasts. These were unstacked and set into the growing pile. Without any excess drama, she sliced three blades through Vella's chest and they joined the mixed-up stack. Farrah worked her way down every few centimeters, going through her ribs, stomach and hips with speed and a certainty she may have found natural or not. All these slices were distributed randomly around.

Vella's private slot was spared indignity, but not privacy as it was sliced above and below, her legs finally no longer connected as that section was sent aside. Then down her legs until her feet were the last section.

"Phew!" Farrah stood up and wiped her brow. "That's a lot of work!"

"I'll say," Jazz said, looking around at the scattered and divided woman. "That took a while. I can't imagine putting her back together."

Farrah looked confused. "Who said anything about that? That's boring! We can do magic to get her back together, right?"

Jazz and the audience agreed with that statement. "But we should put her to one side though, so she's out of the way. You do that, I'll check on Erica."

"Oh sure, give me the hard job," Farrah grumbled, but moved to restack Vella with no care for orientation or what went where. By the time she was done, there was a single stack, but no rhyme or reason to it. When she was done, Erica and Jazz returned with the Head in tow.

Erica wore a two-piece cheerleader outfit, the tight top covered her chest, but left little to the imagination while her loose skirt flipped back and forth as she walked, threatening to reveal what was underneath, but did not. Everyone had already seen, but there was a difference between a living, breathing woman walking and a stationary prop. Behind her, the Head was unchained and unrestrained as she pushed a mid-sized clear cube out onto the stage. "Soooo... sorry!" Erica chimed out. "I just couldn't decide."

"She was distracted," the Head said as she rolled the table holding the cube to the middle of the stage. She gave Vella a single look, then dismissed her from her mind as she waited.

"I was not!" Erica complained. "There was just so..."

"Sex." Jazz said. "They were...."

"Well just come out and say it!" Erica threw her hands up in the air before she turned to the Head. "You! In the box now!"

The Head smirked under her mask as she stepped up onto the table, not needing any help at all as she bent her leg high and then with a combination of a jump with her lower foot and a thrust with her raised leg - she stood on the table! Then, with a no-less confident step, she took her feet and legs from outside the box to inside. "Like this?"

"And now, crouch!" Erica commanded her, and the Head obliged, squeezing herself into the transparent cube. Erica flipped down the lid and closed the latch, locking the Head inside it. "Ladies and Gentlemen and people between and outside those narrow descriptions!" her voice was a touch too loud, and Jazz made a motion with her hands that Erica should take it a notch down.

She did. "And now, I'm going to squish the Head!" She slapped the top of the box and it slid down a little, causing the Head to compact as she adjusted to the lack of space. She scrunched up her head pressed between her knees and her arms folding awkwardly around as Erica pressed down on the rapidly reducing space available.

"Can I get some help here?" she asked and Jazz and Farrah each took a side to keep the front facing most of the audience. On the count of three, they pushed down some more, reaching into the box as the Head was compressed, no longer with any space to move or adjust. And they pressed more, the Head started to deform under the pressure.

Her legs started to bend, then shrink, becoming less without seeming to lose anything in the process. She smiled as Erica was helped up by her new co-workers to stand on top of the lid to bring her whole weight down on the Head. Within moments, the space inside the clear compressor had been halved, and the Head's face-mask was pressed against the front pane, her eyes glistening with enjoyment as her body was pressed into an ever smaller space.

Then, with a sudden drop, Erica compressed the Head into a space that was just being enough for her face to appear sideways, fingers and a couple toes seen around the edges of her head. "Whoa!" she said as she realized what she had done, the reality of it - more than her own previous display had been, just as Farrah had as well. She was helped out of the walls of the container so she could see for herself the results of squishing the Head down to a bare six inches tall, and two feet on each side. "Whoa!" she repeated herself.

The audience, at some unseen signal, applauded. The three remaining women all turned and took a bow. Not in unison or anything practiced.

"So, uh," Jazz raised a hand. "You two got to have some fun being on the giving end, but what about me?"

Farrah and Erica looked at each other. "Flip a coin?"