Bigger
by Prender

TF

For the tenth time that hour, Ellen walked past the shop, peering inside the front window as she went. She'd done the same thing yesterday morning, but had chickened out of going inside.

She saw the same thing as the previous nine times. A mess of books, statues, long shelves filled with bottles, a big counter where a cat
lay dozing on top. A bell above the doorway. Below the bell, a hanging sign: "The Cauldron."

As she walked past the shop towards the street corner, Ellen silently berated herself. What the hell, was she going to do this or not? According to the two women she'd overheard in a cafe discussing the shop, sometimes it wasn't even here. She didn't quite understand how a shop could just vanish, but it certainly lent an air of urgency to her mission.

OK, Ellen, this time for sure, she thought. And plucking up her courage, she walked up to the door and entered.

Inside all was quiet and still. There was a sweet smell in the air - incense, perhaps? A pile of home-made broomsticks in a corner. A jewellery stand with pentagram rings and others with gaelic symbols.

Ellen made for the bottles on the shelves. Each had a hand-written label. "Love spell"; "vanishing potion"; "divining fluid"; even
"shrinking serum". But nothing to ...

"Can I help you, dear?"

Ellen spun around, red-faced, as if she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't.

Her questioner was a woman with long flowing white hair, old John Lennon-style glasses perched on her nose, and the kind of face that is ageless. What stood out were her eyes, which behind the lens were lilac.

It took a second or two for Ellen's brain to begin working. "Um! Hi. I was just wondering ... well .... the thing is ... I'm looking for a spell."

"Well, then you're exactly where you should be," the woman chuckled. "I'm Arcana, the owner of the Cauldron, and I'm here to help. Only ..."

Only?

"Did you read the sign?"

She gestured to the counter. Sure enough, tacked to it, was a sign that read: "You must be 18 or over to purchase potions."

Ellen flushed. "I'm 25."

"Really?" Arcana raised an eyebrow. "My apologies."

"I know I look about 14 - I'm still getting carded - and I'm short, but I really am an adult. Would you look to see my ID?"

"No need."

"No?"

Arcana smiled. "If you were really 14, you would have told me you'd just turned 18. You certainly wouldn't have chosen 25. So you see, you must have been telling the truth." Another, more mysterious smile. "Besides, I just know."

"OK then ..." Ellen trailled off. How could she talk about this with someone else? It was something she'd been keeping bottled up inside her for far too long. Exposing herself to another person ...

The older woman seemed to pick up on her hesitance instinctively. "Why don't you come in the back garden and have a cup of tea with me while you gather your thoughts."

*

"More tea?"

"Thanks," said Ellen. The tea was some kind of herbal blend, obviously citrus, although she couldn't quite place the fruit. It was delicious and refreshing, though. And it was lovely in this little courtyard garden, in the comfortable chairs and table.

"Now, tell me what's on your mind."

"Shouldn't you be in the shop? What if someone comes in looking for something?"

"I'll hear the bell, dear. And Hecate will take care of anyone."

"Hecate?"

"The cat ... well, most of the time. But we were talking about you."

Ellen struggled for a second, then blurted: "Do you know how tall I am?"

"Please tell me."

"I'm four foot ten," Ellen scowled. "I've been short all my life. I was the youngest of three children, and I've always been treated as
the baby.

"Nothing I say or do is taken seriously. My siblings patronise me. I've been in my job for five years. I'm good - damned good - but
morons keep getting promoted above me. Because I'm little.

"As for my love life, well, that's a disaster. Every man I've ever met has wanted to baby me. And that's not getting into the sickos for whom looking like a teen is a turn-on."

Arcana smiled placidly. "And so ..."

"And so I want to be big."

There. It was out. The desire she'd had for so long. The fantasy she always turned to.

"And just how big?"

Ellen blinked.

"How big?" Arcana pressed. "Amazon? Giantess? Mountain? You must have thought about it. Quite a lot, I'm guessing. So ... how big?"

Ellen told her.

It was Arcana's turn to blink. "Well ... that's big."

"You can't do it?" Bitter disappointment swept through Ellen.

"Now, I didn't say that." Arcana leaned back in her chair. "But it's not a simple thing. It will take a great deal of work ... and it could
be quite expensive ..."

"I have money," Ellen said. "My grandmother left us a small fortune. My share will pay for it, I'm sure."

"Well ..." Arcana thought. "It might just be beyond me. But I do know someone ... someone very skilled in potions of this kind ... and I understand he knows a couple of scientists who are also very talented in potions ...

"I tell you what. Leave it with me. It will probably take some months - even years - but we'll work on it. Leave me your contact details. Now let's enjoy our tea."

*

Ellen didn't hear anything for several months. Funnily enough, she felt much happier. She'd shared her story with someone, and she was working on a solution. What more could she do?

Then one day she received a text message that read simply: "It's here."

*

A month later, she was on her way to the middle of nowhere. The plains stretched featureless around her. She had seen no one on the road for miles.

Abandoning her hire car, she made for the clearest place she could find. She'd wrapped up all her affairs. She'd left a note for her
family ... not that they would ever believe it.

For a moment she stared straight up at the sky, vast, above her. Then she reached into her bag and pulled it out.

A bottle full of liquid. A very special liquid.

Ellen drank it all. She could feel it warmly inside her. She said one word: "Goodbye."

And then she flew.

She rose straight up in the air, higher and higher, leaving the earth behind.

When the air grew thin and cold, she changed. Her body glistened as it transformed into shiny metal. She had no need to breathe. She felt no cold.

She left the earth behind her.

And she changed again, becoming sleek, rounded, looking nothing like a human. And on she flew.

Around her burned the stars. She could feel the cosmic winds sweep by her. She knew her destination.

How long was her journey? She couldn't say. It was a long, long way, she knew that. What did time mean any more? But she knew where she was going. It gave her purpose and strength.

And one day, she arrived.

Time for one more change.

And she grew.

She was changing more and more, transforming, growing ever larger. She was now no longer human at all.

She knew triumph and victory. She was big. She was bigger.

And when the change was over, she knew peace.

She was all she'd ever wanted to be.

It was all she ever would want to be.

*

"And in other news, astronomers were astonished to discover a previously unknown moon around Jupiter. They have provisionally called it ..."

Arcana turned off the television. Let those scientists call their discovery whatever they wanted. It would always be Ellen to her.