"Your boyfriend. You know, Nora?"
Jack's body was technically out of reach of the stone, but Gary had had no trouble asking the stone to teleport itself to where it needed to go to bring "Jack" back to life. Nora, in Jack's body, yawned, looked around herself, and saw nothing, smelling only stale dirt. It was fortunate for Nora that she had swapped bodies with Jack; Jack had not only gained the powers of telekinesis, psychometry, and astral projection, but he had had the ability to put his body into a trance while it healed.
In fact, he didn't have that last power, but he did now, as that was the reality change that brought Nora back to life.
Using his telekinesis, "Jack" pushed aside the dirt. A two foot thick chunk of it covered with grass flew up into the air. As it smashed back down into the ground, it passed Jack, who had already levitated off the ground and was busy flying to the hospital where he somehow knew that the real Jack was having their baby.
"People will think it's strange if you call me Jack and call my boyfriend Nora," said the real Jack. "After all, I'm a woman now. Nora is your father now." Again, that was technically true, but not what he wanted to say. He wanted to warn them.
"It's okay," said Liam. "Jack is probably on his way over here already."
"I bet he'll get here before Nora's labor is over," said Gary. "Labor can take up to a day or longer, and he should be here by tomorrow morning."
You don't know the half of it, thought "Nora". Gary didn't know that he had wished himself to have powers, and that when he had swapped with Nora, the powers stayed with the body. It wouldn't take twelve hours for "Jack" to arrive, and who knows what she would do?
As Jonni arrived at the hospital, she heard a sharp whooshing sound and her peripheral vision caught something streaking through the air. A missile? Why would there be a missile here? She had visions of DeMorrell deciding that if he couldn't have Jonni, he'd blow up the hospital. Then the "missile" halted at a window of the hospital. It was not a missile, or any sort of machinery. It was her grandfather, which meant, of course, that it was not. Nora? But why would Nora be alive? Her family hadn't heard the whole story, but she had. Nora could be very dangerous.
"There you go," said Karyn. She wished she had taken the stone as Jonni had told her to, since would rather transform Peter now and change the papers and history immediately.
The doorbell suddenly rang and she checked the peephole, then opened the door. Karyn's sister Megan (age 21) was there. "I came as soon as I could," she said.
"Thanks!" replied Karyn, who didn't remember calling Megan, but knew that the wish had brought her. "I appreciate it!" If this ever blew over she was sure she could get Jon to wish for something good to thank Megan. Karyn ran out of the house only to see her mother's car in the driveway. "Hop in," said her mother. "Let's get you to the hospital to see your friend."
"Jack" gestured towards the window, which creaked open, and he flew through. "Hello, dear," he said. "Nora" was white in fright but couldn't say anything to indicate that the relations between her and "Jack" were not those of girlfriend and boyfriend.
"H--he flew!" said Liam.
"Of course he flew," said "Nora". "We swapped bodies. I had wished to have powers. Everything I wished for stayed with the body, not the soul." She wanted to add that Nora had become dangerous because of a wish, but couldn't.
"Jack" landed on the floor, looked at "Nora" with concern, and kissed her. Then "Jack" collapsed onto the ground. No sooner had Gary walked over to him than he got up again and said "I'm so sorry, Jack." With rage in his eyes, he turned and Gary was tossed by an unseen force up against the wall.
"Don't hurt me!" yelled Liam. "What's going on? Why are you flying around like Superman? Don't you love Nora?"
"I'll tell you what's going on," said Nora. "Your husband decided to completely screw over your father. I saw it all. Among the powers that went with your dad's body was psychometry. Object reading. As soon as I kissed Jack I saw and heard everything that had gone on around Jack in the past. I heard everything you said and did. He wished that Jack would have a long labor, that I would be his boyfriend, and that I'd think the child was mine. He also made sure you didn't know, and Jack couldn't tell you."
Finally, "Nora" could speak. "She's evil! She wished herself to be by mistake!" she exclaimed. Gary's wish had kept her from saying anything which would call into question them being boyfriend and girlfriend, but now that Nora had revealed it, she could speak again. Speak, when it was too late.
"I'm not evil," said "Jack".
"Yes, you are!" exclaimed "Nora".
"Think about it," said "Jack". When we swapped bodies, the effect of the wishes stayed with the bodies. Why would you think that a wish to have superpowers--even mental powers and intelligence--would stay with the body, but a wish to be evil would transfer? Wouldn't they all stay or all transfer?"
"You mean my dad is evil?" said Liam.
"He destroyed the mind transfer machine because it was unethical, so I'd say no. But he must have been evil before. Either he was selfish enough to count as evil already, or... Wait a minute." She glanced at Gary, who was trying to say something but couldn't open his mouth and had to breathe through his nose. "You seem pretty evil to me, Gary. But the stone's not going to just transfer evil and you weren't in range anyway. Tell me, Jack, was there any sign of magic at DeMorrell's lair other than the stone?"
"No..." said the expecting woman. "Wait a moment. There was one thing. DeMorrell told me Jonni was going to become mother to a god."
"What?!" replied "Jack".
