Jon sighed as he followed Karyn down the stairs. It was nice to have her back to her normal proportions and hair colour, but this was just plain weird, watching her nose twitch as she tracked his sister by scent. It would just have to figure that she'd get weirder even though she was herself again. Still, he liked her better without the big boobs and blonde hair. If that meant she'd occasionally get hairy, then so be it.
They made it down the stairs and had turned the corner, heading towards the girls' bathroom. As Jon stared at the eclectic throng before him, he saw Stacy Turner, one of the girls' volleyball team talking with what appeared to be her second head. Beside her, two catpeople made out while a minotaur snorted in disgust. An odd thought crossed Jon's mind, and he asked Karyn about it.
"Uh, Karyn? Small problem."
"What's that, Jon?" Karyn said, staring at her hand idly as she made it grow claws and hair, then changed it back for her own amusement.
"Well, if Zoe's different, how do we recognize her?"
"It's still her, Jon. Smells a little less like sweat and a little more like morning dew and flowers, damned if I know why, but there's still some Zoe-ness to her. I can track her."
"Jesus that's weird, Karyn. This will sure take some getting used to."
"Oh, calm down, Jon. I like it, and you'll grow to like it too. Maybe after school I'll convince you a little," she said with a wink.
Blushing bright scarlet, Jon clammed up and resumed following Karyn. She followed his sister's scent from the door of the bathroom down the hall, and out into the courtyard.
There, dancing in the sunlight was a lithe, short girl with long pointed ears and silver hair.
"There you go, there's your sister."
"That's not my sister."
"Sure it is, take a look!"
Sure enough, Karyn was right. The elf was pierced in the same places as Zoe, and some of the features, while exaggerated, were definitely from Zoe's face.
"Okay, brat, party's over. Give the stone back. Before you say 'no,' I should tell you that I've got a little trump card called 'my best friend turns into a snarling hellbeast at will'"
"Oh, the stone? Take it. I don't need it anymore. With magick, why would I?"
Jon stood flabbergasted as his elfin sister tossed the stone right into his hands with a giggle.
Well, that was anticlimactic, he though, but what was he to do now?
