In ran Jon's friend Karyn... now Jonni's much younger friend. She had long blonde hair--not in pigtails, though Jonni had imagined it might be--but her breasts were only big in potential. She was carrying some notebooks from school, one with a sticker from the latest Disney channel kids' show. "Jon?" She cried. "You're back. But what happened to you? You're all pregnant and everything."
"I... yes, it's me," said Jonni. "The wish made you think like an 8 year old. I'm so sorry."
"Nine!" replied Karyn. "I turned 9 last week! I may get as old as I used to be some day! You didn't do anything. Look at you, you're worse. Are you going to be a Mom?" She poked Jonni in the stomach. "I can't believe it, you used to be my best friend and you're going to be a Mom."
"I am," said Jonni, "but it's not the best way to be a mom. Nobody should have to be one like this."
"But are you glad to see me? Can you help fix me? Did you get the magic stone to do it? I want to be old again, I don't know any of the friends I'm supposed to know now."
Jonni tried to interpose herself between Karyn and the stone. It was awkward considering she could barely walk, but she wasn't about to let Karyn get it and make wishes with a 9 year old's mind. Picking the stone up, she said "I fixed my Dad...."
"You found the machine? Wow." It seemed that since the machine was created out of Karyn's hearing, she remembered it as reality.
"I just wish I could fix you." Jonni had a moment of panic when she realized what she had done, but nothing happened. The stone reacted to "I wish"--not variations, at least not in English. Besides, even if she had made an accidental wish, it probably wouldn't have done anything bad unless the stone tried to be really perverse. And so far, it hadn't. Perversity was limited to its users.
"You can," said Jack/Nora.
"Who are you?" said Karyn. "You're going to be a Mom too."
"I'm..." she said.
"She's my grandfather," said Jonni. Jack/Nora glared at him, obviously not wanting Jon to come right out and say it. "Look, Grandpa, I tell Karyn lots of things. I told her about the stone itself; your identity is nothing compared to that. Now what's this about fixing Karyn?"
"It's easy. Just repeat after me. I wish that Karyn is 17 years old, both in mind and body."
"What?"
"Oh, don't pretend you didn't understand that. 'I wish that Karyn is 17 years old, both in mind and body.'"
"I'm sorry, Grandpa," said Jonni, "do you really expect me to believe that that would work?"
"I know more about this stone than you do. I studied it since before it was a convenient pocket size. Just do it."
"Fine. I wish that Karyn is 17 years old, both in mind and body."
In an instant, Karyn looked much like her old self. The big breasts had returned; her clothes were that of a teenager. Her notebook had changed and the sticker on it was now a photo sticker of herself and Liam together. "It worked?" she said. "I feel like I've been in a daze for the past few months. But it's not a daze, it's being a kid. How did you do it?"
"Dad," said Liam, "you know something."
"Yes, I do," said Jack/Nora. "Think about what happens if you wish for blonde hair, then dye it black. Can you wish it to be brown? Yes, you can. The wish that the hair is blonde is already reversed as soon as you dye it. When you wish that it's brown, you're not reversing a wish--you're just changing it from not true one way to not true another way. As soon as Karyn turned 9, she was no longer 8. Wishing that she's some other age won't reverse the wish that she's 8, because she's already not 8.
"I'm glad you're back, Karyn," said Jonni. "We were going to try a way to fix wishes. Wish that we have a transformation amulet. It might work--we just have to fix reality separately. It should help Mom and Wendy, at least, if it works at all." Jonni prepared to make the wish.
