In a large, cheerfully lit room with plentiful large red, green, and maroon pillows, Nadire stood in white underwear decorated with subtle lace. Behind her was a big, broad, white sheet bearing a photorealistic image of a pair of swan’s wings, 10 feet in span, stretched across a rectangular steel frame. She smiled glamorously and turned slightly to shift between poses for the benefit of the audience, a gathering of a half-dozen of her peers.

Doctor Mercurial was busy hanging up another white sheet in front of her, shirtless, showing off his fit, hairless chest and arms. It was much too hot on the island for the clothes that went with the English look.

Ella sat front and center in a fur-lined red bikini and knee-high red boot, and absently stroked the surface under her hip where her right leg used to be. After discovering what had happened to it, she insisted on going back to the rest of her original body, at least for a while. Mercurial was none too pleased, either. It meant he’d have to track down another perfect pair of long, white woman legs.

Nadire waved goodbye as she was hidden from view, then Merc began to turn the crank at the side of the apparatus. Slowly, the rear sheet crept forward, until the two pressed together. The front sheet lowered, then raised again in the back. The dyed image now included the gracefully poised Nadire, still smiling and framed by the wings.

Mercurial continued to crank, and the woman-decorated sheet moved forward again. The feathers of the wings vanished, then the limbs. It took a few seconds before there was any further visible change to the picture, then all at once, around the edges of her neck, torso, and every limb, Nadire began to vanish from view. She appeared to grow thinner and thinner in most places, until all that remained was her smiling face, prominently presented breast, and toes. Then these, too, shrank away to nothing, leaving a pure white sheet.

Merc turned toward the sheet and clapped, and it fell away to reveal Nadire again, still with that glamorous showgirl smile and waving again. She stretched her wings out wide, then curled them back behind herself to show off that they were now a part of her.

The trick complete, she stepped to the back of the room, and struck a reclining pose facing the prop.

Ella rocked her head back in consideration. “So, now until Christmas, it’s her job to just sit there lookin’ pretty?”

Mercurial’s mouth curled in amusement. “Yes, though that’s not much different from her job most of the time, just more specific.”

“Huh.” Ella nodded slowly, understanding.

Mercurial gestured invitingly to the stage. “Would you like to join her? This arrangement calls for two.”