As Jessica led Zoe’s left half into the bedroom, Phian helped her right out the door, one hand holding hers, the other on her flat middle surface to help support the hopping half-woman as she took her for a quick walk on the beach. “We’ll be back in a minute!” the magician laughingly called to Frankie, who watched the proceedings from the couch with a cat-like grin.

“No hurry!” Frankie called back with a wave.

Once the doors closed, Frankie sprang to beside the prop, a steel track which fed into a large circular saw. A prop inspired by sawmills, and the old villains who tied their victims to them. Now that she was alone with it, she wanted a closer look.

Curiously, she slid the surface Zoe had laid upon up and down the track. It slid easily, rattling the chain that pulled it. She nudged the side of the saw, and when it turned with little resistance, brushed the saw teeth with her thumb, then gave it a spin. It seemed only mildly sharp, probably only capable of cutting once it got up to speed.

It was a magic prop, but it looked like just a normal machine. At least, it did from the outside. If there were any secrets to its operation, they would be found in the little box on the underside. That clearly contained the motor, and must have any gear assemblies vital to its function.

Squatting down, she inspected the box closely. The only visible screws were the ones fixing it to the rest of the device. With a hinge along the bottom, the outward-facing side looked like a door. With no other obvious means of opening it, she pressed on it. As hoped, there was a click, and it fell open, revealing the gears and motor. She grinned to herself. Jackpot!

Inside, there was the expected motor, as well as a complex mesh of gears. Some obviously led to the blade. The sprocket which turned the chain to feed an assistant into it was hidden in the back. She reached around the box and experimentally pressed the far side, and it fell open as well. The chain went slack, the door apparently playing some role in supporting it.

The energy of victory burned inside Frankie, and she bounced excitedly on her toes and clapped. With the assemblies that powered the obvious parts of the trick identified, there were still clearly too many parts. The gears all linked together, but it didn’t seem as if they all did anything!

Experimentally, she flicked the switch to turn it on, not giving the saw time to fully spin up before flicking it off again, just to watch the gears spin. Most of the gears were definitely moving, and the still stand-outs all seemed to be connected to the chain.

She stood up, flicking the saw on again, and tested the sliding surface one more time, finger still ready on the switch.

There was a heart-stopping PING!

Time seemed to slow down as the saw jumped into the air. Every part of Frankie’s body went tense in panic, screaming to jump, to duck away. The blade seemed almost to hang there, gracefully for a moment. She could even still see the individual saw teeth as it turned. Then, its inevitable arc of travel brought it to her chest.

In reality, it was over in a small fraction of a second. The blade hit the floor and bounced, embedding itself in the far wall.

Frankie fell as well. The floor knocked the wind out of her. Her right arm caught itself, preventing a rough landing for her head.

For a moment, she lied there, stunned. Then, as overwhelming relief washed over her, she burst out laughing. With the spinning blade flying at her, she had been so certain she was about to die!

She pulled herself up by her right arm, and took stock of herself. As she’d suspected, she’d been split diagonally along the torso, from the left side of her neck to her right hip. How it had felt had barely registered as it was going through, but looking back on it now, she shuddered slightly at how easy it had been, like Darth Maul’s apparent demise. Her bikini top lay on the floor in front of her, split cleanly in two as well.

She ran her fingers over the split, smooth and flat like Zoe’s had been, though curved inward by the bend of her torso from how she was sitting. It felt so weird, feeling fingertips in a place that would normally be deep inside her. In a way, it also made it more real, the feeling reinforcing to her brain that this was a place she had skin.

“Frankie?!” came Jessica’s worried call from the hall. “Is everything okay?” Upon entering the room, she gasped, clapping her hands over her mouth.

“What?” Frankie called back. “I’m fine! I just… got a little curious.” She checked her other half. Aside from her back and butt stinging slightly from striking the floor, it seemed fine, as well. Her torso wiggled oddly as she repositioned herself, having most of her spine in that half. Fortunately, the saw had narrowly missed the knot in her sarong.

“No one’s hurt!” Jessica called back over her shoulder. Though Frankie couldn’t hear Zoe clearly, it sounded like she repeated the message. Probably relaying information to Phian.

"No damage,” Frankie reassured them, “aside from the wall. And my ego..." Sheepishly, she looked back at the wall behind her, two foot circular saw still embedded in it deep enough that it might be visible from outside, and grimaced. "Aww, shit. I'll um... I'll take care of that! Promise!"

“And the saw,” Jessica added. She eyed the track warily. “Can we even put you two back together without it?”

“I dunno, uh… got any duct tape?”