Shrinking powder

“...the perfect ingredient for that kind of potion is not a Marigold…“ Taggie smugly told her classmates as she walked back to her room. “…but a Larksp-ouch! Jasmine, what the hell?! What was that kick for?!”

“Sorry dear,” replied a nerdy elf. “Just obeying the sign on your back, see? Good students follow instructions.” Taggie reached for her back and grabbed a paper. It told their readers to kick Taggie in the rear. The elegant handwriting unmistakeably belonging to Margery.

“Grr… Just because that pompous Margery put a sign on my back, it doesn’t give you the right to-ouch! Why you stuck up-!“

“Thanks for showing us that paper, Jasmine. If you’ll excuse us, we have to study. Goodbye.” Delphi grabbed Taggie’s arm and dragged her inside her room before things could escalate.

“Delphi, what you did that for? I was about to give Jasmine a piece of my mind.”

“Exactly! And then we would have gotten into a fight that would have ended in another spectacular embarrassment for us!”

“You don’t know that! Besides, you can’t just let them win! Then they’ll mess with us all the time!”

“Will they? Really? Just look at Orchid and Violet! No one ever messes with them … or at least not as much as they do to us! Why? Cause they don’t try to go after everyone who looks at them funny! That’s why we are the butt of the joke, Taggie!”

Delphi’s breathing was jagged, strands of her dark hair hanging from her forehead. Yikes, it’s been a while since Taggie saw her this mad. “O-ok, but trust me! With my latest delivery, no one will dare to mess with us!”

“Oh really?! And just what item is capable of that miracle?”

“Yes really! I’ve been thinking… our problem is that we are too weak! Like, physically. We couldn’t beat a house cat between the two of us, but with this, even Viela will be powerless to stop us.”

“What, did you order steroids?”

“There you are!” Kim entered the hut, not even bothering to knock. Her bikini was gone, now she had a dusty old towel around her chest. “You know how much trouble did your invisible ink cause me?!”

“Oh great, here it is!” Without acknowledging the human, Taggie grabbed the package from her hands. It was a small crystal flask, containing grape-sized spores. “Look!” Taggie opened the vial and carefully poured a spore over a piece of paper. In an instant, it shrunk to half its size.

“Don’t ignore me!” Kim huffed, getting in front of Taggie. The spores were incredibly light, floating with the slightest of movement. Before the elf could close the container, two had taken flight and found home in Kim’s arm. In but an instant, Kim’s world went white. She was buried in a mountain of fluffiness. With some effort, the confused human climbed up to the surface. Her jaw dropped. The elves! They turned into giants! No, wait! Kim was the size of a doll! Damnit!

“See?” Taggie said, unaware of Kim’s plight. “Just a little touch of this, and then even Viela will be defenseless against us.”

Delphi rubbed her arm. “Or we will get into more trouble. Please, Taggie. Can we like, keep our heads down for a month and see how we do?”

Damn, Taggie could not resist those big, green puppy eyes. “F-fine, but if someone tries anything funn-“

“No! Even if someone messes with us first, promise me you won’t do anything!”

“...Ok, let’s give it a try. But don’t come crying back to me when everyone and their mother decides to prank us!”

Delphi smiled. “Thanks, I won’t… hey, where did that human go?”

“Dunno, probably back home.”

The elves didn’t hear her, and if she stayed there, Kim was liable to get trampled! All she could do was head back. Hopefully, someone in the Palace knew how to get her back to normal. So, with slumped shoulders and a promise of vague payback, Kim went back into the portal she came from… blades of grass stretched tall around her like mighty trees.

It was going to be a long, long walk back, but at least she wasn’t likely to find more people, right? “Hey, isn’t that Morpheus delivery girl?” a fairy asked.

“Eeck! Please don’t look!”

“Yes, but why is she so small?”

“I bet she is trying to mock our size! All the other giants always do that!”

“Let’s teach her a lesson! Bring me the rope, the feathers, and the honey!”

“Ecck! Please no! This is a misunderstanding!”