Judith stood absolutely still as the giant woman adjusted her glasses and moved her head in closer to Judith. "What, what are you? A pixie or something? In this part of America?" she asked. She set her books down next to Judith with a loud thump, and then reached an empty palm out to Judith, setting it at ground level so that Judith could climb aboard. Judith was reluctant to do so, but, feeling that she had no choice (as she saw earlier, her small size limited her speed, and she would be unlikely to escape from this giant), took a step into the giant woman's palm. She stood there, trying to find stable footing, as the giant woman slowly stood up. She moved her other hand around Judith, cupping her without touching her so that if she fell, she would simply collide with the woman's hand. The woman looked down at her books with a look of hesitation on her face, as if she were considering whether Judith or the books were more important for the moment, and then made the decision to ignore her books. For now.
The woman cradled Judith below her head as she carried her towards a table at the end of the hallway. A big, blazing brazier full of candles shined overhead. Judith looked up at it past the giant woman's head. It was certainly well lit. It must have been for reading in the dark. She then looked at the giant woman's face. It was the closest she had been to one of these Abners since she had shrunk. She had an almost curious emotion come over her as she studied the giant woman's face. The woman wore makeup that looked like it was fashionable back in the 80s. It looked terribly tacky to Judith, and, at her size, it looked like it was caked on. Such a perception would be impossible to note at normal size for Judith. The giant woman's lipstick was beginning to smudge. It looked like she had a habit of either chewing on pencils or rubbing her lips with the way it was smeared and removed in certain places. Despite this, she still looked like quite the beautiful woman from Judith's perspective. Judith quietly admired her look. She wished she were brave enough to pull something off like that while studying at Yale.
The giant woman set Judith down on the desk. She didn't pick Judith up and set her down. Rather, she gently laid her palm flat against the table, allowing Judith to walk off of it. It was a far cry from the treatment she saw her friends getting.
"I'll be right back" she said to Judith. "I'm going to go get those books off of the floor so they don't get dirty. A librarian's work is never done, but I'll come right back, ok?". She turned around and walked off. Judith was a bit starstruck. Unlike the other Abners, this woman was like a character out of a book. She had a look that, while tacky, was the sort of thing Judith used to dream about pulling off. It was like something out of one of the Tim Burton movies she had grown up watching. And she was a librarian. That was what Judith wanted to be when she grew up, though her parents, upon sending her to Yale, expected her to go in to accounting or finance.
The giant woman came back and piled the books in a little cart that was next to the table. She wiped her brow, and then pulled out a giant chair and sat down in front of Judith.
"Ok, let's get a better look at you" the woman said. She snapped her fingers, and the lamp above lowered itself towards the desk. "That's so I can get a better look at you..." she said. She pushed her glasses up on her face and squinted at Judith. "Turn around for me, would you?"
Judith did as she asked. There was something comforting about her. The giant woman's voice had a trace of an accent to it. Half of it sounded vaguely European, like somewhere near Transylvania. But she spoke with almost a Bostonian accent, like she had learned to speak English there. It was most curious indeed.
Judith nearly squealed as the woman's finger - both warm and cold at the same time - suddenly slipped underneath Judith's shirt, feeling up her back. "No wing stumps" she said. She removed her finger and Judith turned back around to face her.
"Hmm. You're not a pixie after all, are you?" she asked. She removed a pen that was tucked back behind her ear, and then put her elbow on the table, resting her chin in her palm. She drummed her fingers on her cheek.
"Are you a human?" she asked, with a little smile on her face. Judith nodded. She was a little nervous to, but she felt like she was in no position to distrust this giantess.
"M-my name is Judith" she said.
"Judith. My name is Elena. Elena Cristea Abner." She lifted her other hand towards Judith and extended a finger, expecting the tiny Judith to shake it. She did, once she realized she wasn't about to be grabbed by the giant woman.
"Humans aren't supposed to be your size, right? I mean, I haven't left this room in about 35 years, but I remember other humans being about my size. How did you get in here, anyways?"
Judith gulped. "My friends and I wanted to come see the house. You know, since nobody from Salem really knows what goes on in here. And when we got here everything seemed abandoned. And then there was a woman, and she, she" Judith paused. She felt like she was about to break out into tears, because she was afraid that Elena would turn her over to the other Abner woman.
Elena reached out her finger and stoked Judith's tiny head. "Oh, I see. Ok, so not all humans are as small as you are. Right."
Judith calmed herself and stared up at Elena. "I saw this door was open, so I ran in. I was looking for things that might help me, because my friends were kidnapped by someone else in the house."
"Oh?" Elena said. "What did she look like? What was she wearing?"
Judith described the other giantess. "Hmm, that doesn't really narrow things down. That could be any one of my sisters or nieces. Couldn't be my aunts, though. They're too old." Judith then turned to the hall and looked at the door. "Good thing somebody left that cracked open a few years ago. If it had been shut like I asked, you'd be stuck."
"Is there anything you can do to help me? Can you make me bigger or help my friends?" Judith asked, hopeful.
Elena's face faltered. "Hm. Well, not exactly. I'm not really a spellcaster. I can do little parlor tricks, but I spent most of my time away from home when I was younger. I went to school, got a degree, became a librarian. If it weren't for all the work I need to do here, I'd probably go back to the library I used to work at, and get away from this place. Not that I don't like it here. I like being around here. But I need to get out for a few years and stretch my legs."
Judith felt her lip quiver. Was she going to be stuck like this.
"Well, hold on now. I can probably find some things around here. Some loose supplies. They could probably help you get around or hide. But I don't have anything magic to spare. But" she said. "I think you should consider staying here. To be frank, the rest of my family really enjoys scaring and tormenting people. Or, they did last time I saw them 35 years ago, before I got set up in here. And I can't go with you. For a few reasons, but you don't need to worry about them. If I gave you stuff, you'd be on your own. And you might get caught by someone, and you probably wouldn't like that very much."
"Well, what if I stay here?" Judith asked.
"Don't get me wrong, you'd be stuck with me for a while. I still have years of work to do here. But, after I get finished and go back out into the great big world, I could take you with me. You might never get back to your normal size, but I could take you back to your family or other friends, whoever would take care of you. Or... I could keep you. I'd take good care of you, I promise. I just, you know, get lonely in here. Having someone to keep me company would be nice."
Judith couldn't believe what she was hearing. She could go out with some gear and hope she didn't get caught, or she could stay here and hope that Elena wouldn't end up keeping her as a glorified pet? Neither option seemed particularly appealing. Elena was nice... but that didn't mean Judith wanted to say goodbye to her old life.
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