Page 118 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 1

I giggled, even as he smacked me again, leaving a trail of searing pain across my bottom. He was fine.

"Well, yeah," I sassed. "I couldn't take any chances that you would say no. I needed you here with me. At home, in Venus, where we both belong."

"I'm still eight feet tall and green," he muttered, letting me up and pulling me into his lap to face him. "Did you forget about that?"

Nope, I hadn’t. And to be honest, I wasn’t even that concerned.

Chapter Six

The romantic in me wanted to wrap Maren in my arms, storm off into the distance, and live happily ever after without a care in the world, and the realist in me could not see my way past the big and green part of the equation.

"I didn't forget anything. You're big and green, up in the sky, but down here in Venus, the spell that turned you into a giant has already been broken. And if it hasn't, and I'm wrong, I know someone who can break it. I think. I hope. Maybe." She scrunched her nose as she babbled a bunch of stuff that made barely any sense at all, but that was okay. I was getting used to that.

"Okay, little dreamer," I whispered, humoring her. I looked around the village I knew and loved and tried not to get misty eyed. "Where to? What's the plan?"

Maren thrust her fist into the air with gusto. "Onward!" she shouted. "To the castle!"

"To the castle it is!" I mimicked her battle cry with one of my own, minus the fist thrusting so I wouldn't drop her.

Even with my long legs and strides, it was a long walk to the castle. We walked and walked and as we walked, it seemed to get farther away. It seemed like my strides got smaller, and the town seemed to be growing larger in front of my eyes.

Trepidation knotted in my stomach. Was Venus turning giant? Had I somehow brought the curse with me? Maren grew heavy in my arms, and I stopped dead in my tracks as I stared at the road in front of me. When we had started our journey, both of my feet had covered the width of the thin dirt path with no room to spare. Now there were several inches on each side of my feet.

"What. Is. Happening?" I whispered.

"What's wrong?" Maren shifted to look at me, and I almost dropped her. She was getting bigger. Carrying her no longer felt like carrying a baby and was now more like carrying a grown child. She was getting bigger, and so was everything else around us.

In my selfish quest to find love with my little dreamer, I had cursed an entire town to the same fate as myself. "This won't work," I whispered frantically. "I love you, Maren, but this was a bad plan. A really bad plan. We have to go back, or at least I do. I have to go back now before the spell gets stronger and Venus becomes a giant town. Maybe if I run, I can save you and the rest of the villagers from this fate."

Maren looked at me like I had grown a second head. She cocked her head to one side, and then the other, staring at me with confusion and amusement etched into her features. She looked at me, and then the road beneath us and the town around us. And then, she threw her head back and laughed. Big, hearty, joyous guffaws of laughter.

"Todd!" she shouted. "You silly oaf! The town isn't getting bigger, and neither am I. You're shrinking! It's happening just like I thought! Down here, the spell has already been broken. We don't even need to find Arianna, really, but I still want to. Let's still go to the castle. I want to tell her everything. She will never believe this. Or maybe she will. Trust me when I say, stranger things have happened."

She rambled on and on and I listened in stunned awe, trying to process the magnitude of her claims. I blinked slowly as the truth settled. "I'm shrinking?" I repeated slowly, phrasing it like a question. "Am I still green?"

"For now," Maren confirmed. "But your skin might be getting lighter, I can't really tell. Anyway, you're getting smaller by the minute. Put me down before you throw out your back."

Still in shock, I obliged, and when her feet hit the ground, the top of her head came to just below my pecs. Before it had been waist level.

"So cool!" Maren squealed beside me, grabbing my hand. She took off running toward the castle, and I followed suit, taking in every detail of the scenery on the way. It had been too long since I had seen something other than clouds.

Despite my still somewhat long legs, Maren was faster than me, sprinting all the way to the castle, with me behind her, shrinking with every step.

We reached the castle entrance in record time, and Maren pounded on the thick wooden door with a closed fist.

Within seconds, a breathless young lady appeared with flushed cheeks, messy hair, and tears in her eyes. She reached behind her and gingerly rubbed her bottom before looking up at us. When she saw Maren, she gasped.

"Maren?" she cried, throwing her arms around her and squeezing her tight, while I lagged behind, awkward and green, but happy. "I thought I was never going to see you again!"

The hug ended abruptly, and Arianna gripped Maren by the shoulders, holding her at arm's length. "You're about thirty minutes too late," she said with a good-natured scowl. "You were nowhere to be found, and your house was gone, and I had to tell Grayson about the seed. Oh hello, who's this?" Arianna shifted gears as soon as she noticed me standing behind them.

Maren squealed, ripping herself away from Arianna and hugging me tightly as she smiled at her friend. "I'm sorry you got in trouble, even if you did deserve it. Would it make it up to you if I told you I found a giant green daddy of my very own?"

Arianna looked at me and then back at Maren. "Are you okay? Why are you in your nightgown? Did you hit your head? ‘Cause whoever this is, he is very handsome, but he is neither giant, nor green."

I held out my arm for inspection and was pleased to find that Arianna was right. I was no longer green, and Maren's head now came up to my chin.

"It's a new development," Maren explained with a shrug, pushing past Arianna to enter the castle. "Is that banana bread I smell? Oh Lord. I hope there's plenty. I am literally starving right now. And I will eat anything, literally anything, as long as it isn't green beans. I'm never eating green beans again in my life. Never ever."

---