In a year or so, I moved to the city thinking "What have I got to lose?"

Silence fell over the Garden Suite as Dawn stared vacantly off into the distance.

Marley cleared her throat. “So, uh… the thing is…”

She looked pointedly over at the spot where they’d planted the cactus, and gestured over to it.

Dawn turned and took a look. The cactus was right where she remembered it, but it had grown a little bigger since yesterday. The needles looked pointier and more threatening than last time, at least with the benefit of hindsight of what it had done to her.

But that wasn’t where Dawn’s eyes were drawn to first. What she noticed first about the cactus was the tiny little flower growing between the two stalks of the cactus- located right where a woman’s vagina would be, in respect to the humanoid design of the cactus. Rather fitting given that the flower was about the same color as a pussy as well.

The flower.

As in, only one.

“…Only one.” Dawn verbalized her immediate concern. She turned and looked at Marley, her mouth flopping open. “There’s… only one.”

Marley nodded grimly. “That’s right,” she confirmed. “Apparently, the cactus only sprouts one flower at a time.”

“Or maybe even one flower period!” Sylvia unhelpfully chimed in. “Who knows, maybe that’s the only one!”

She sounded a little too eager about that. Meanwhile, Marley was glaring daggers of **** at the woman she cared deeply for.

At the same time, Dawn’s genius brain was racing, thinking through the situation and possible solutions ahead for her.

“…So, uh… we can agree that I get the flower, yes?” She asked, looking enviously at the flower sprouting on the cactus.

“Hah?!” Marley let out a little squeak, her eyes widening. “What? Why?”

“Because there’s only one!” Dawn pointed out. “And I didn’t want this to happen to me!” She waved her hand at her massive breasts, which were bouncing with every word. “I can barely keep my back straight with this!”

“Well…” Marley didn’t have an adequate argument for that. She looked down sheepishly. “I mean… I didn’t want this to happen to me, either,” she weakly pointed out, looking down at her own chest. Even as the words left her mouth, though, she knew that her own issues couldn’t really compare to what Dawn was going through right now.

Dawn just stared at her.

“But… my date with Nick is tonight!” She pleaded. “Going to him looking like this…”

Marley winced. Another compelling argument.

“Maybe he’ll like you better this way!” Sylvia chirped. “I mean, think about it! You’ve got those massive tits, and you just know he got his fill of them with Carly last night! And from what I hear, his night with Kim also had some play with big boobs, and then there’s Mary… sounds like Daddy might enjoy some big breasts like those!”

“Oh? Really, now?” Dawn crossed her arms awkwardly over her chest and narrowed her eyes into a leering glare at the punky redhead. “Why don’t you try it out yourself, then? You know, if your ‘Daddy’ will like it so much?”

“Maybe I will!” Sylvia stubbornly replied like the bratty daughter she was.

“Whoa, hold on there!” Marley hopped up and jumped between Sylvia and the cactus, holding up her hands. “Let’s not do anything rash. There are already three of us who got affected by that thing, and only one flower.”

Sylvia rolled her eyes. “Come on, I know-”

“Sylvia, you’re not a host anymore,” Marley pointed out. “If your breasts get too big, you’re not going to be able to magically carry them around. We’re talking some serious back pain here.”

She rubbed her shoulder. “And as someone who’s had to get used to a human body with humongous boobs, I know a little thing or two about that. So let’s not do anything rash until after we sort out this mess with the cactus, alright?”

“Oh, fine,” Sylvia pouted, puffing up her cheeks. “But if you ask me, this isn’t necessary at all!” She shook her head. “Marley, you look just great like that, you know. You should keep the look! You’ll be way ahead of your sister like that!”

“Unless Carly keeps her boobs, too,” Dawn pointed out. “Which, knowing her, she just might. And you wouldn’t want her to get the edge over you permanently, right? So maybe you both should keep the cactus’s effects. …In the meantime, I’ll be happy to take that flower off of your hands.”

She clumsily tried to sneak closer to the cactus. Not exactly easy when her breasts were clapping together with every step, even if she was naturally light on her feet.

Marley rolled her eyes at Dawn’s obvious play and grunted something in response. It was enough to shut the cat girl down, anyway.

“Let’s just wait for Carly and talk this out with her, okay?” Marley led Dawn over to the bed, where she could lie down to finally rest her back. “No need to rush ahead. She’ll be back soon. She has to- before Sylvia’s transformation wears off and I melt into a puddle.”

“And we should wait for Daddy!” Sylvia chirped. “Ask him if he’d like a titty kitty for a date tonight!” she snorted out a long string of giggles while Dawn just glared at her.

Dawn wasn’t the only one getting a bit of a rude wakeup call. At least she wasn’t getting a bucket of ice water thrown over her head.

And thanks to Kim waking up in time to stop Dakota, neither was Gina.

“Again, ma’am?” Kim glared daggers at the host. “Really, again?”

“Carly wouldn’t let me have fun, you won’t let me have fun… and here I thought you were the girls who appreciate a good time,” Dakota scoffed, banishing the bucket to parts unknown.

Kim just glared at her.

“I’m not taking another Sick Day, ma’am,” Kim said, cutting Dakota off before she could bring up the idea. “I didn’t even get my benefit for it last time.”

“All the more reason why you should do it again!” Dakota said eagerly. “I’ll give you a light transformation, just like last time, and meanwhile you’ll be able to relax nice and peacefully, lounging around getting some pleasant benefits from the transformations! Just an easy day off! Doesn’t that sound like a great-”

“Not happening.” Kim raised her hand and conjured a ball of water, threatening to douse Dakota with it. “Speaking of transformations, yours is still active, right? What was it called again? Get Horny When Wet, or something?”

Dakota narrowed her eyes menacingly. “Are you threatening the host, Kim?” She asked. “That isn’t the sort of behavior I would expect from you.”

“No, I’m not trying to,” Kim replied. “Some water isn’t a threat.”

Dakota took a step closer, and her eyes took on a dangerous gleam to them.

“I am… the last person you want to be saying that to,” she hissed, and the room began to shake.

Kim’s eyes widened and she realized the depth of her error.

“Oh, I-I didn’t… I didn’t think about it like…” Kim gulped and looked down sheepishly, her cheeks flushing. “I just meant…”

“SPLASH!”

When her concentration broke, the orb of water in her hand burst open, splashing all over her and Gina and soaking the bed.

“Waaagh!” Gina sprung up into the air like a soaked cat, looking frantically around. “What happened!? Dakota?! Was that you again!?”

Dakota blinked, her menacing expression evaporating into a look of surprise as she took a second to process the 2 Soaked Girls on the bed in front of her.

“…Bwahahahaha!” She doubled over in laughter, slapping her hip. “Oh, that’s just perfect!”

“It- Sorry, Gina,” Kim apologized. “It was an accident.”

Gina glared at her roommate and then rolled her eyes. “At least you didn’t ruin the bed,” she mumbled, looking down at the candy blankets.

“That was too good… forget about the Sick Day, that was more than enough,” Dakota cackled, sauntering off with her head held high.

Kim grumbled under her breath and drew the water out of their clothes, dispelling it. She really needed to work with this transformation a little more. “It keeps going off in my hands way too damn fast,” she muttered.

“Ha!” Gina laughed. “That’s what she said!”

Morgana woke up nice and refreshed, and with far less guilt than she’d felt the night before. She was bubbling with excitement as she hopped out of the bed, hugging the tome she’d picked up from the library to her chest.

She’d gone to sleep curled up with it, so? This was far from the first time she’d ever gone to bed with a book in her arms.

Thankfully, she’d managed to find someone to accept a dream from her last night. I really should have just asked Rose in the first place, Morgana thought as she climbed out of bed and scuttled over to the bathroom with her prize clutched to her breasts. If it involves Nick, she’s usually down for anything, it seems.

It was one of the benefits of the actress being so head over heels in love with him. Morgana certainly wasn’t complaining.

Of course… it was Rose. As much as Morgana may have been giving her what she wanted, the actress was mercenary enough to not do it for free.

“You can do magic now, right?” Rose had asked her as compensation for being the subject of the diary last night. “Well, I want you to try your hand at a few spells with me tomorrow. You know, in exchange. That’s fair, don’t you think?”

Morgana wasn’t an idiot. She knew what Rose was aiming for. The actress wanted a front row seat to what Morgana’s magic was capable of, so she could eventually copy it with her transformation. That much was obvious.

Morgana was fine with that, frankly. As long as she could practice her magic in peace, it didn’t matter what Rose was after.

Only one problem, though.

Morgana still couldn’t use any spells.

Amelia had made it very clear that Morgana not practice anything in the library. Vivian and Ella had supported that, for obvious reasons. And even after coming back to the dorm room, Amelia had been hesitant for Morgana to try. Out of consideration for what she’d put the older woman through last night, Morgana had obliged her.

But her patience was running out! She was definitely going to practice today, with Rose! For the first time!

And honestly, the idea of Rose getting a little comeuppance for her regular bouts of haughtiness by being an inadvertent recipient of something like a butt-maximizing spell, or a wave of aphrodisiacs kind of appealed to the little gremlin in Morgana. This book was risky, after all- you needed to be careful with it!

Hence the reason Morgana had brought it to the bathroom. That way, when she practiced, if something went wrong it would only affect her, not Amelia.

She sat down on the toilet and flipped the book open, and began to read.

…

“…Huh?” Morgana wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be looking at.

When she’d got the book from the library, it was because the dark blue faerie had directed her to a specific shelf, and picked it out for her. At the time, Morgana had been thrilled, because there were so many choices she wouldn’t have known where to start otherwise.

But now, looking at the book in a new light, it didn’t seem at all like the tome of spells she’d first checked out.

Where were the strange words written in a vaguely foreign language? The rituals? The list of potions!? Nothing was the same at all, it was as if acquiring the book had completely changed the contents of it somehow.

Now, the only thing Morgana could see were some vague pictures that were so poorly-drawn she could hardly make out what they were supposed to be. And there weren’t any words, either. So how was she supposed to cast any spells!?

There’s gotta be something wrong here! Morgana wailed internally. Dakota wouldn’t have given me a transformation that I couldn’t even use… right?!

Or maybe she would.

It was entirely possible that Dakota still held a grudge over Morgana replacing her in the harem.

That was a scary thought…

A shiver ran down Morgana’s spin, and she took a look at the first picture. It was hard to make out what it was supposed to be. It looked like a woman in a fancy dress, only very crudely drawn. Not sure what that meant, she looked at the neighboring page, and saw what appeared to be an orchard of trees. That one made even less sense.

She flipped the page, and the next one featured something that Morgana could only describe as a house on fire.

I thought these were supposed to be sexy spells?! Morgana questioned, looking at the strange symbols covering the borders of the pictures, completely indecipherable to her amateur eye. She looked to the next page, only to see… nothing.

The page was completely blank.

Morgana blinked, confused. She was certain that there had been writing on the page before, but now that she was staring at it, the only thing looking back at her was blank, worn parchment.

She glanced back to the previous page again, and then she saw it. Out of the corner of her eye, strange symbols filled the page of the book again. But as soon as she looked directly at the page, they all scurried away like rats fleeing a sinking ship.

Speaking of sinking, Morgana felt a sinking feeling in her chest and gulped.

“Oh come on… so that’s all?” She flipped through the rest of the pages in the book, but they were all just like the last one. Covered in magical symbols right up until she looked directly at them, and then they were blank.

Whatever kind of magic was contained within the pages of this book, it was limited to the pages Morgana was currently looking at. All three of them.

Assuming each page corresponded to a spell, that wasn’t the worst thing in the world. But Morgana had no idea what any of them even meant!

The first two were weird. The last one at least looked like some kind of a spell, though, even if it wasn’t a sexy spell like the ones she was supposed to be learning.

What was she supposed to do about it, though? It wasn’t like she could actually read any of the symbols here.

“Um…” Morgana croaked out. “Houseitus Onfireum?”

…

Nope, that did nothing. So much for stupid fakish words.

Morgana sighed and slumped down on the toilet, dejected. Her transformation was supposed to turn her into some cool and sexy witch, but she couldn’t even get a single lousy spell to work! What the heck!?

She looked enviously at the burning house. It wasn’t like she actually wanted to set anybody’s house on fire or anything, but the idea of using magic…

Actually, wait, what am I thinking!? Did I really just attempt to use a “Set the house on fire” spell in the bathroom!? Am I going crazy here!?

Maybe Morgana had been a little too eager. The idea of using magic had been such an intoxicating one that she’d almost forgotten that some things were meant to have limits

Shivering, she decided that maybe practicing magic could wait until she got somewhere less cramped. And maybe bought some body armor from Kim’s boutique.

Before she closed the book, though, she took one last longing look at the picture, imagining how cool it would be if she could launch fireballs from her fingertips like how Kim could now generate those water orbs.

“It would be pretty nice,” she murmured, reaching down and rubbing her fingers across the page in a gentle caress, imagining she could actually feel the heat of the flames, see their orange glow-

…Wait, that wasn’t her imagination running away with itself. The book actually was glowing!

“Ah!” Morgana gasped, opening the book wide as the bright light began to spread across the page, filling the entire picture with a shimmering light. And then, to her amazement, a tiny ball of fire rose up from the pages of the book, dancing in the air in front of her.

So that was it! By touching the picture, she could make use of the spell! She didn’t have to read anything at all!

…Now that she’d figured that part out, that just left one question. What to do about the throbbing fireball floating in front of her?

Morgana gulped as she eyed the crackling orb warily. Thankfully it wasn’t throwing off any sparks or anything, because she didn’t want to get singed. Or, god forbid, lose her precious spellbook!

All the fireball seemed to be doing was floating in the air like a will-o-wisp, not harming anything.

Which was good! Morgana didn’t want to hurt anybody! This book was supposed to be filled with sexy, hot spells! …Okay, well, fire sure was hot, but sexy!? Maybe to an arsonist! But Morgana would never do something like that!

“Um… hello there?” Morgana greeted the fireball, intrigued. “I don’t really know what to do with you, um… I just… hi?”

Obviously, the fireball didn’t reply back. It just floated there, bobbing up and down like an obedient pet.

Then it shot up, spinning through the air. Morgana gasped, watching the flames in a trance as they spun and leapt through the sky, running circles above her head. Then they turned towards the door.

Which was closed.

Morgana opened her mouth to cry out as the fireball flung itself out the door, but the exclamation died in her throat as it passed right through, not damaging the bathroom door in the slightest!

In a flash, it was gone.

Morgana stared in mute shock, her mind struggling to process what she’d just seen. Then she jumped and slammed the book shut, fearing what had just transpired and what her spell was about to go do.

“I… I’m sorry!” She called after the fled fireball, already feeling a sinking sensation in her gut.

This didn’t seem liable to go well.