Alice had helped Nick, all the way through this morning even, to look for the wishing stone, but it just wasn't there. And they were beginning to think that the only thing that could have happened was that it was taken. Maybe intentionally or maybe not. But it was definitely in the hands of someone else.
But who could have taken it?
Nick thought about it and then suddenly had an idea. "Clark!"
"Your little brother?" Alice asked.
"He was acting all funny the last couple of days. I even caught him looking for something. He must have been looking for the stone." Nick stood up from his bed and walked out into the hallway and knocked on Clark's door. "Clark, I know what you did. Open up!"
There was some ruffling inside, then the door opened slowly. "Uh, what do you mean?" he asked, feigning ignorance.
"You know what I mean," Nick said. "Where's the wishing stone?"
Clark gasped, then said "I ... uh ... I don't know."
Nick grabbed the front of Clark's shirt. "You better tell me or I'll ..."
"Nick, stop it. Maybe he doesn't know. You said he was looking for something. Maybe he lost it too," Alice said.
Nick saw the logic of her statement and let his little brother go. But his anger wasn't gone. Clark had taken the stone from him and had probably used it. Since Nick hadn't heard any of the wishes, he wouldn't know if anything was different. "What did you wish for, you little pipsqueak? Did you use the stone on me?"
Clark was hesitant to say, but that was all the proof Nick needed.
"What did you do to me? Tell me!"
"Well, uh, I made a wish for Jon to ..."
"Who's Jon?" Nick asked.
"It's who you took the place of. You're actually supposed to be a girl named Nicole."
"You're not making any sense," Nick said. "I was a girl and you turned me into a boy?"
"No, I ..."
"Just tell me what's going on!" Nick yelled, getting frustrated. Apparently Clark had made a wish that had a huge effect on his life, but his little brother just wouldn't spell it out for him.
