Epilogue
(Talisman, part XV)
 
by D. Monster
 
It’s silly for me to be sitting here when I could be at the beach.  Goodness knows, it’s not more than two hundred feet from where I’m sitting.  But then again.
 
Callie opened her eyes and surveyed the pool through her dark glasses.  Elderly couple at a table, group of children playing in the shallow end, couple of teenage boys on the other side of the pool trying to pretend they weren’t watching her.
 
She shifted in her chair and stretched to give them a show.  Her emerald green one-piece was cut low in the front and very high in the leg and showed off her figure very well.  If only they knew, she thought.
 
But she did not find what she was looking for.
 
Where is she?
 
“Whatcha lookin’ for?”
 
Callie jumped, startled by the question.  So much for impressing folks with my sophistication and elegance.  She looked up and smiled.
 
“Katie!”
 
The blonde woman looked fantastic, wearing nothing but a tiny white bikini and necklace with a large stone that seemed to glow a faint blue.  Callie stood up and embraced her.
 
“Callie?”
 
“Yes?”
 
“This isn’t actually a bathing suit, is it?”
 
“Well…no.”
 
“And since you arrived at the resort - what, four days ago? – have you worn any clothes at all?”
 
Callie shook her head and Kate giggled.  “You’re incorrigible.  May I join you?”
 
They both sat down.
 
Callie looked her up and down.
 
“Katie, you look awesome.  You’re so, so…”
 
“Big?”  Kate giggled some more.
 
“Well, the last time I saw you, after we left the warehouse, you couldn’t have been more than yea tall.”  Callie held her thumb and forefinger about a quarter inch apart.  “I didn’t care, though.  I was just so glad to see you.   I mean, I saw you….I saw you…”
 
“You saw me die.”
 
“Yeah.”
 
“It’s kind of weird, isn’t it?”
 
“What do you remember?”
 
“I remember Lloyd piping me through that odd liquefaction trick he’s been trying to get right for I don’t know how many years.  Then it was strange, because I kept waiting for a restoration that didn’t happen.  There was a lot of jostling and muffled voices.  I had no idea how much time passed – time perception always gets a little iffy when you’re in an altered state like that.”
 
“Yeah, I know about that.”
 
“My first coherent memory after that is your voice – or Anna’s voice, it was difficult to tell – saying ‘We end all these enchantments.’”
 
“All shall be as they truly are,” Callie murmured.
 
“Yup.  And then, there I was, naked in the dark in a room with very smooth walls, getting knocked around all over the place.”
 
“There was a lot of stuff going on.  I’m not surprised.”
 
“I got a little bruised bouncing around inside of that vial, but that’s about it – turns out you’re a little more resilient when you’re that tiny.  And I knew I was tiny, too.  Not quite sure how I knew, but I felt diminished, like the greater part of myself was somewhere else.  But then, all of a sudden, it wasn’t…and I knew that I was all there was.”
 
“That’s when Katie – the other Katie – died?”
 
Kate nodded.  “I suppose it could be argued that Katie…I…never died at all, because, well, here I am!”  She held her arms out in a “look-at-me” pose that Callie found unexpectedly alluring.
 
Get a grip, girl.  You need to get laid.  Soon!
 
“And then I see Lloyd’s face, tall as the Chrysler Building, with the biggest damn grin I’ve ever seen.  That was nice.”
 
She paused.
 
“It’s just odd,” Kate continued, “to know that there’s at least an hour of my life – a very important hour of my life – that I don’t get to remember properly.”
 
“Wow,” was all that Callie could say.  “So what did Lloyd do to make you big again?”
 
“Well, this little bauble does it,” she touched the faintly glowing blue gem on her necklace, “or rather, it stretches me out in a way that my essence can grow and fill in to its proper size.”
 
Callie cocked her head at Kate, puzzled.  Kate continued.
 
“Lloyd says that the offensive magic that the Grim was using was truly destructive.  It made stuff vanish, but not in the normal way that magicians do where everything can be recalled or reconstructed later on.  Anything this stuff touched was gone.  Really gone.  Lloyd’s arm, most of me, Geoff…gone.  Destroyed.  Now normally when someone gets shrunk, their essence either gets crammed down into the smaller body, or, if you want to avoid accidents later, vanished in a safe manner.  In my case, the essence of me that remained was only enough for an itty-bitty me.  And inflating that essence up into a body this size makes me something akin to a Katie-shaped eldritch soap bubble.  If I stay this size long enough, my essence will grow and fill in.  But if it’s not done right…POP!
 
Callie grimaced.  “That doesn’t sound good.”
 
“So that’s what this little necklace is for.  It effects the size change and facilitates my regeneration.  It’s got safety features so that if anything disrupts its function or it gets taken off, I just shrink down to whatever my real size happens to be.  Lloyd says it’s his most intricate enchantment yet.”
 
“And is it working?”
 
“Well, last time we checked, I was about six inches tall.  I’d say that’s an improvement.”  She paused.  “But the amazing thing is all the stuff I’m learning.  You know how a growing child is like a sponge, soaking up everything up everything they see, hear, experience?  It’s the same way for me.”  She held up a thick book.  “I read this this morning.  After a week here at the resort, I’ll probably speak Spanish like a native.  I ask Lloyd about it and he only shrugs, says this is new territory for him, that I’d have to ask Prita.  Then he remembers and looks really sad.”
 
“Still no sign of Prita?”
 
“No.  Or Hart.  They were gone when we got back from the warehouse and haven’t been seen since.  I think they went home.  And I think that home is someplace very far away.”
 
“What makes you think that?”
 
“I don’t know.  Just a feeling.  I get the impression that Prita showed me something about herself during my missing hour.  It’s a little maddening.”
 
“What about Nina?
 
Kate shook her head.  “There’s been no response.  Lloyd’s tried all manner of transformations, but no animate form does anything but stare blankly ahead.  And after every transformation, she just reverts back to an old-fashioned doll.”
 
“This is my fault.”
 
Kate shook her head.  “No, I think she always was a doll, probably originally given human form by some powerful magician years ago.  Lloyd agrees, guesses that she was drawn to magicians who could transform her into inanimate forms because she was trying to regain what she had lost.”
 
“So I gave her what she wanted, broke the enchantment?”
 
“Probably.  So we do what we can for her.  I dress her up in pretty vintage dresses and hope that she’s happy.  And Lloyd keeps experimenting.”
 
“Speaking of Lloyd, where is he right now?”
 
“Oh, right after we gated in, he rented a car and went off to the airport to pick up Walt and Anna.”
 
“Ugh.”
 
“Are you upset about Walt…being with Anna and not with you?”
 
“Huh?  Oh dear lord, no.  Anna and I are separate, different people now. I’ve still got enough power for gating and transformations, while Anna can barely keep a light bulb lit.  I love Walt in a hugs-and-casual-sex kind of way, but Anna’s the one with the real passion for him.  They’ve got that sort of heavily committed, can’t-keep-their-eyes-off-each-other love that still scares the bejeezus out of me.   I wholeheartedly approve of them getting together.  I think it’s great.
 
“So what was ‘ugh’ all about?”
 
“Oh that.  I was just thinking about commercial airliners.  Having gotten used to magically gating from place to place, I can’t see how Anna can stand it.  But I guess it’s gotta be done, considering Walt can’t be gated.”    
 
Kate shifted in her seat.  “I actually don’t know Walt very well.  I was wondering if you could fill me in on how he’s doing and what happened to him.”
 
“He seems okay to me.  He’s told Anna more than he’s told me.  I’ll tell you what I’ve been able to piece together.  The story begins with Walt leaving us to go talk to Geoff about using his power to do something positive for the world.  Something proactive.”
 
“I take it Geoff didn’t like the idea?”
 
“Well, Geoff had always seemed a little twitchy to me, but I’d never understood why.”
 
“Grims?”
 
“Yeah.  And then some.  And when Walt arrived, Geoff went berserk.”
 
“Really?  I thought they’d been friends.”
 
“Yeah, but picture this.  You’re a powerful magician and you’ve made yourself even more powerful by enslaving any number of magical critters to do your bidding.  And you make your living as a magician, albeit trying to maintain the appearance of your typical mundane stage illusionist.”
 
“Kind of like painting a big target on your forehead?”
 
“With a sign that says ‘Grims Eat Free.’  Well anyway, he goes out on a limb for an old friend by sending him a couple of fun magical toys.”
 
“The talisman.”
 
“Yup…and me.”  Callie smiled.  “Next thing he knows, that old friend is standing in his office, having just blithely walked through more protective wards than you can shake a stick at.”
 
“He thought Walt was a Grim?”
 
“I don’t think so.  I’m thinking he had Walt’s immunity to magic sussed long before Walt himself ever tumbled to it.  And he concluded that the talisman he’d sent had somehow rubbed off on Walt, made him magical.”
 
“Or rather, made him completely impervious to it.”
 
“Uh huh, and here’s Walt, standing in front of him, asking him to use his powers to improve the world.”
 
“And he had visions of magic-resistant Grims coming after him?”
 
“As best as we can surmise.  This is the part of the story that Walt won’t talk much about.  I imagine that it got pretty ugly.  Walt’s magic resistance is pretty complete – he doesn’t even see illusions.  I imagine by the time he was with Geoff, he could see all of Geoff’s little magical toys as the imprisoned creatures that they were.  I think he watched several of them die, drained of their life force as it was expended trying to transform, control, or do anything at all to him.”
 
“Why didn’t Geoff just shoot him?  Or stab him?  Why imprison him?”
 
“I don’t think he could bring himself to do it.  Either that, or he wanted to see if he could reverse what had happened to Walt.  The thing is, he was wrong – on any number of counts – about what had happened.”
 
“How do you know?”
 
“Because it happened to me at the same time.”
 
They were quiet for a moment.  Then Callie continued.
 
“Has Lloyd told you how his power manifested?”
 
“Yeah, he said that he figured it out after odd things started to happen to him, things that he couldn’t quite explain.”
 
“But he didn’t have much power to start?”
 
“No, it was all itty-bitty stuff.  And he didn’t have much control.  It nearly ruined his life.”
 
“But his power has increased steadily since then?”
 
“Oh yes, most certainly.”
 
“Walt once told me how Geoff’s power had manifested.  It’s pretty much the same story.”
 
“What does this have to do with how Geoff was wrong about Walt?”
 
“Here’s how.  There are two different modes of magical talent manifestation:  spontaneous and induced.  Geoff and Lloyd are both examples of spontaneous manifestation.  Their inherent abilities start leaking out, and their power and control grows once they find a way to channel it, a ‘gimmick,’ so to speak.”
 
“Ah, so Lloyd built his ‘magical toys’ and Geoff…”
 
“Geoff built himself a menagerie.  Yeah.”
 
“But Lloyd doesn’t need to build devices anymore.”
 
“No, his abilities have transcended that need.  But I think he’ll always be most comfortable if he can build something to channel his power though.”  Callie gestured to the necklace that Kate wore.  “When in doubt, go with your strengths.”
 
“And what about induced manifestation?”
 
“That’s a bit messier.  In that case, exposure to an immense source of magical power causes…”
 
Katie interrupted her.  “But that means that Geoff was right.  The talisman did trigger Walt’s ability.”
 
Callie shook her head.  “No.  Let me rephrase.  Intimate exposure to an immense source of magical power causes an individual’s inherent ability to manifest.  Had using the talisman been enough to trigger Walt’s ability…or my ability for that matter, just having spent time around Geoff, who was an immense source of magical power all by himself, would have been enough.”
 
Kate’s eyebrows went up.  “So…” Her voice trailed.
 
Callie smiled.  “I triggered Walt.  And Walt triggered me.  And let me tell you, it was one hell of an orgasm.”  
 
*          *          *
 
There was a stifled grunt behind them.
 
Katie, without looking back, chimed “Hi honey!”
 
Callie turned around to see Lloyd standing behind them, looking embarrassed.
 
“Lloyd!” Callie cried, jumping up and throwing her arms around him.
 
Lloyd’s eyes widened as he felt her bare breasts press into his chest.
 
“Hi there” he squeaked.
 
“How long have you been standing there?” asked Kate as he leaned down to kiss her.
 
“Long enough,” he replied.
 
“So did I get it right?  About me and Walt and Geoff and the rest?” asked Callie.
 
“What I heard sounded about right,” he said.  “By the way, the plane came in on time and everyone else will be down after they get changed.”
 
“Ah yes, clothes.  I remember them,” said Callie with a saucy grin.  “I think I like my way better.”  She made a show of readjusting her non-existent suit.
 
“You know,” Lloyd pointed out, “you’d be less conspicuous if you added a tactile component to your little illusion there.”
 
“What?  And miss the expressions on people’s faces when I hug them?”
 
Lloyd sighed.
 
“By the way,” continued Callie, “I like the arm.”
 
“Thank you,” he said, flexing the fingers of his left hand.  “I’m still debating whether or not to enchant it so it looks real.”
 
“No don’t,” said Kate, “I like the obsidian glass look.”
 
“Yeah,” said Callie, running her hand along the smooth surface of the magical prosthetic.  “so shiny.”
 
“I don’t get as much control out of it as I did with the real one,” he said, “but I still have a lot of work to do on it.  It’s strong, though.”
 
Kate interjected.  “Tell me more about induced manifestation.  Before he starts talking about all the things he can crush or bend with it.”  Callie shrugged and gestured to Lloyd.
 
“Why don’t you,” she said.  “You’ve been studying this a lot longer than I have.”
 
“Well,” he said, “like Callie said, close interaction…okay, really close interaction with a very strong magical field appears to induce magical abilities in those who possess magical potential.  Those abilities don’t manifest immediately, but they do arrive much faster than they do for those of us that had to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps -  days rather than years.  And for those with a high potential, the results can be quite calamitous.  I think that Walt may have known this on a deep subconscious level, and as a result, his power manifested as a strong resistance to magic.  Otherwise, it could have gotten messy, as we saw for Callie here and for Claudia.”
 
“So Claudia’s power manifested when she ate the…” Kate began, then faltered.  “…no wait, we were just talking about the talisman not being powerful enough.”
 
“No,” said Callie quietly, “it was our spell – the one that Anna and I did – the one that cancelled all enchantment.  It made her a monster.”
 
Lloyd shook his head.  “No, she was a monster already.  You just released the Grim that was already there but couldn’t show itself.  But you didn’t know.  And in the end, that spell did much more good than ill.”
 
“It woke me up,” said Kate.
 
Lloyd nodded.  “That spell was powerful mojo, the only spell you and Anna ever cast while at the top of your powers.  It broke some of the most powerful enchantments – I would know, as I was responsible for some of them.  And it restored Kate to human form.”  He put his hand on Callie’s shoulder.  “There was so little of her left.  I would never have been able to restore her.  You gave me a chance to bring her back.  Thank you.”
 
Callie smiled through tears and hugged him again.  This time he didn’t get embarrassed.
 
*          *          *
 
“What’s this?  Embracing a naked woman in a public place?  What would your wife think?”
 
“His wife’s fine with it.” Katie piped in, with a slight hitch in her voice – she’d been crying too.  “Hi Walt.  Hi Anna.”
 
Lloyd and Callie disengaged and turned.
 
Walt looked better than he had when they’d found him in the warehouse.  He was still thin, but he’d filled out a bit.  His hair was drawn back into a ponytail and he’d trimmed his beard short.  Anna, stunning in a relatively conservative black one-piece, held his arm tightly.  They were both smiling.
 
“We came down as soon as we could,” Walt began.  “Someone was being difficult until…”
 
“AUNT CALLLIEEEEE!!!” squealed a high voice as a tiny shape that seemed to be all blonde hair and pink frills shot past them and leapt onto Callie.
 
Anna finished Walt’s sentence.  “…until we told her she could show Aunt Callie her new princess dress.”
 
“Isn’t it lovely?” asked the little girl, pushing her tousled blonde locks out of her eyes and she turned a precarious pirouette on top of Callie’s deck chair.
 
“Yes Claudia, it’s beautiful.”
 
The four-year-old beamed.  She looked around.  “Hi Aunt Katie.  Hi Uncle Oid.  Wanna go to the beach?”
 
“We also had to promise a beach expedition,” added Walt.
 
“Sure,” said Kate to Claudia. “We’d love to go to the beach.”
 
“There’s lots of sand at the beach,” Claudia announced.  “And birds.”
 
“You’ll have to take your princess dress off first,” said Anna.
 
“Okay,” she said, hopping out of the chair and raising her arms over her head.  Anna pulled the dress off, leaving the child in her bathing suit, also pink.
 
“Mommy?” Claudia asked as Anna was equipping her with bright pink water wings.  “Do those kids want to go to the beach, too?” She pointed at the children playing in the shallow end of the pool.
 
“I don’t know.  Why don’t you ask them?”
 
“Okay!” She trotted off.
 
“Walk, don’t run!” shouted her mother after her.
 
“OKAY!” replied the slowly receding figure.
 
“Remarkable,” breathed Callie.
 
“Yes,” Anna said, leaning down to kiss her twin.  “She’s a real sweetheart.”
 
“Hey!” shouted Callie, grabbing Anna’s hand and staring at the large ring on it, then looking up at Walt, who was smiling more than before.  “What’s this?”
 
“What does it look like?” said Anna.  “And you WILL be the Maid of Honor.  I don’t care if you have to gate in from Epsilon Eridani to be there.”
 
“Well congratulations both of you!  And yes, I’d be honored.”
 
“And you will wear a dress for the wedding.  A real dress, thank you very much.  Now if you excuse me, I have to go talk to some other parents about a beach expedition.  We’ll talk more later.”
 
With that, Anna hurried off to tend to Claudia.
 
“There isn’t going to be any problem with the two of you adopting her?” Callie asked Walt.
 
“No,” said Walt, “Lloyd here forged us some very nice papers.”
 
“Actually I just updated Claudia’s original birth certificate,” said Lloyd.  “And there’s no one to hide her from – her real mother died in prison a few years ago.  AIDS.”
 
“But what about her father?” asked Kate.  “Didn’t he call you recently?”
 
“Yes,” Lloyd said. “And had a fatal heart attack a few days later.”
 
Walt nodded.  “As far as Claudia is concerned, we’re her Mommy and Daddy come to collect her.  We’re not yet sure what we’re going to tell her about her grandmother, but thankfully she hasn’t seemed inclined to ask so far.”
 
“And what about you?” asked Kate.
 
“Me?  Oh, I’ll be okay.”  Walt grinned again.  “Hell, I’ll be better than okay.  I have a wonderful daughter and an amazing soon-to-be wife.  And I think I’m ready to do some real writing now.  This will be the life that I never thought I’d have a chance to live.”
 
“But what about, er…” Callie didn’t know quite how to put it.
 
“The monsters?” Walt asked.  “Not a problem.  Anna’s got more than enough to keep Lloyd’s wards running.  Thank you, by the way.”
 
Lloyd nodded in acknowledgement.
 
“And if a Grim ever does get through…” Callie began.
 
Walt smiled some more.  “…I’ll conk it over the head with a baseball bat.  They don’t expect anyone to be able to get close enough to do that.”
 
“And Claudia?”
 
“Well, we have the luxury of knowing about her potential ahead of time.  She’s a really good kid and I think that with us around this time she’ll grow up to be a good person.  We’ll do what we can to teach her about her abilities and hope that when they do manifest, she’ll be ready for them.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a lovely new life spread out in front of me and I want to get started on it as soon as possible.  I’m off to the beach!”
 
He bowed theatrically and headed in the direction Anna had gone a few minutes before.
 
*          *          *
 
“So they’re going to go and live a regular, mundane life,” said Kate in wonder.
 
“Insofar as they can with folks like us popping in on them from time to time,” said Callie.  “Not to mention that Anna now has to go into the business of being Anna Calpurnia Mendoza.”
 
Kate’s eyes bugged out.  “You’re Anna Mendoza?  THE Anna Mendoza?”
 
Lloyd was puzzled.  “What’s the big deal?”
 
“Callie’s an heiress!”  She pointed at Callie.  “You’re an heiress!”
 
Callie smiled and shook her head.  “Nope.  Anna’s the heiress.  I spent years trying to avoid the responsibilities of the life that I was born into.  Now that we’re separated, Anna can be the person that I was supposed to be, and I can be just Callie, globe-trotting free spirit.  It’s bliss.”
 
“So you’re at loose ends right now?”  asked Lloyd.
 
“Not a care in the world,” Callie replied.
 
Well okay, so maybe I am hornier than I’d like.
 
Lloyd looked questioningly at Kate, who nodded assent.  He sat down and drew close to Callie.
 
“Callie,” he said quietly, “I wasn’t strong enough to help Claudia like I did.  I needed help.  And you and Anna gave me that help.”
 
“We did?”
 
“The two of you did something unprecedented when you shed your powers like you did.  It was selfless and, frankly, inspiring.  When I came forward to deal with Claudia, I had intended to do what I could to put her out of her misery, to kill her gently.  But when I approached, I felt the power that you had released.  It had been waiting for me.  I tapped into it and knew that with it I might actually be able to save her.
 
“I know the extent of your sacrifice so well because I channeled every last bit of that energy into Claudia, to turn back time, and save her.  We saved her:  you and me and Anna.  We saved her.”
 
“Thank you,” Callie said quietly.  “Thank you so much for telling me.”
 
“But here’s the really interesting part,” Lloyd continued, a strange smile on his face.  “Tapping into the fabric of space-time with that much power had a side effect that I hadn’t noticed at the time.  But since then, I’ve been having dreams, dreams that are visions, visions of bits and snatches of other worlds.  Sort of like the parallel worlds from scifi stories…maybe we can call them alternate realities.”
 
“What do you see in these dreams?”
 
“Mostly I see worlds just like ours, where magic is real.  Some are awful, torn apart by magical energies unleashed by unscrupulous magicians and things far worse than Grims.  But some are worlds where real magicians live peacefully, quietly, and there are no Grims to threaten them.  And these worlds have something in common.”
 
“What’s that?”
 
“An organization.  A loose affiliation of the magically gifted that seeks out and trains those with potential and, where necessary, hunts down those who have become a danger to themselves and others.  An organization that helps us celebrate and use our abilities in ways that don’t tempt us to abuse them.”
 
“And we don’t have one of those.”
 
“No.  Our world is on a cusp, suspended on a knife’s edge between the two extremes I’ve just described.  If there was such an organization, I would have had guidance when I was struggling with my spontaneous manifestation.  You would have been found and trained long before you ever manifested.  Walt’s abilities might have flowered properly rather than turning inward like they did.  And there would be no Grims roaming this world.”
 
“So how do we set this up?”
 
“I’m going to do what I can.  I know a few others whom I can contact.  But we’re going to need someone to go out and find others, an ambassador.”
 
“A target?”
 
“If need be, yes.  Will you do it?  You’re still pretty magically potent and you, unlike me, like to travel.”
 
“So what’s my cover?”  And as she asked it, she knew.  “Oooh!  Magic show!”
 
Lloyd smiled.  “I thought you’d like that.  You see, people with magical ability or potential tend to find each other eventually.  You found Geoff, Geoff found Walt, we found you, and on and on.  It’s the sense that Grims hone to find their victims.  You’ve already shown a talent for attracting the attentions of magical folks, good and bad.  I want to get you out there to start making connections.”
 
“And what about the attentions of regular folks….and Grims?”
 
“The Grims will actually be easier to deal with.  I can provide you with all sorts of wards and devices for the purposes of protection, detection, and elimination – Grims are easier to deal with when you know they’re coming.  As far as regular folks are concerned, I’ve found that you can go pretty far before they begin to suspect that anything odd is up.  In fact, I’d guess that most people that tumble to the fact that what they’re seeing is more than a trick are likely just the people that we’re looking for.  But we can work on a few memory charms, just in case.”  He smiled.
 
“So who do I get to help me?  Kate?”
 
Kate shook her head ruefully. “I might join you occasionally, but I think I’m going to stick close to home to be with Lloyd.  Someone has to make sure that he comes out of the lab to eat occasionally.  That, and I think that once I’m full-sized, we’ll start trying to make a family.  It’s about time we got started.”
 
Lloyd blushed.
 
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to leave selection of assistants to you.  All I can say is to go with your instinct…it will be your best guide.
 
*          *          *
 
Lloyd and Kate had left to walk over to the beach to join the other.  Callie lay next to the pool, sunning herself, eyes closed, thinking about the task ahead of her.

“Hi there,” said a woman’s voice.
 
Callie opened her eyes and gasped involuntarily.
 
It was her.
 
The woman was tall and tanned.  Her dark hair spilled over her shoulders in a breathtaking cascade.  Her eyes were arresting – Callie couldn’t figure out the color.  Callie had first seen her two days ago at the pool and found her instantly attractive.  The two had been trading sultry, significant glances ever since.  Callie had been hoping to spot her when she sat down here originally. This was the first time that they had spoken.
 
“Hi,” was all Callie could manage.
 
“Mind if I sit here?” the woman said, lowering herself to a sitting position.  She wore a blue sling one-piece that revealed her the smooth skin of her flank in an unbroken stretch from her toes to her neck.  Her breasts were large, perfectly formed, and seemed to defy gravity.  As she sat, they swayed and moved as though they had minds of their own.  Callie found them hypnotic.
 
“I’m Phoebe,” she said.  “What’s your name?”
 
“Callie.  Your suit is lovely.”
 
And so are you.
 
“So’s yours,” Phoebe said, reaching over and running a finger along Callie’s hip. 
 
Her touch, unexpected as it was, was almost like an electric shock to Callie.
 
Phoebe’s eyes widened as her finger crossed the expected transition from bare skin to fabric swimsuit and encountered only more bare skin.  She stared at Callie in amazement.
 
Callie smiled.
 
“Do you believe in magic?”
 
THE END
 
(for now)