Karyn stared at the magic rock. She had only just recovered from an extended childhood and she was now being entrusted with something very powerful and dangerous. She couldn't help but imagine some of the things she could wish for, but she knew why she was given it. Ignoring those thoughts, she whispered a few wishes, out of necessity only.
Meanwhile "Jonni" and "Nora" were giving birth. There weren't any complications--as Jonni had wished, there couldn't possibly be, at least for her. For the doctors it was routine, but for Jon it was one of the strangest experiences. Karyn helped her move around and encouraged her when needed, but she wasn't the one giving birth! And even with the local anesthesia was still pain. Jonni couldn't see anything and had to be reassured by Karyn. A number of shoves later, the baby was out, and Jonni's contractions finally started to fade away.
"It's a boy!" exclaimed Karyn. "And your grandfather has a girl."
Nothing was quite as Jonni had expected--there was no baby slapping, for instance--but eventually the baby cried and she was given it to hold. It was red and looked all innocent, which it was--she was a boy and didn't want to have a child with anyone, much less a man as a woman, but none of this was the baby's fault.
"Nora" knew more, having seen the aftermath of births in the past, but never quite from this perspective. She didn't have any complications either, but the perspective was very strange.
"I know you're tired and don't want to talk much, Jon," said Karyn, "so let me. I had all sorts of worries there--I hoped you and your grandfather weren't too sad over this, especially under the circumstances."
Jonni nodded. Nora said "You can't blame a baby for how it came into the world."
"But what really worried me," said Karyn, "was your dad, and Nora. Nora may not be magically evil, but I can only imagine what it's like to have your mind forced by magic into one pattern for decades and suddenly gaining something of a conscience again. And your Dad..." To "Nora" she added, "Gary." "I made a wish. I had to."
"What did you do--?" said Jonni.
"Nothing. I made a wish for knowledge. I wanted to know if his powers were really gone for 48 hours. Because if he got them by wishing, taking them away might be reversing a wish. Unless he worded it badly. But it turned out he worded it badly. So you're the only person with superpowers, Jon. Maybe you too, Mr. Merlin, if Jon's mom changes you back. And something else was bothering me."
Jonni and "Nora" watched Karyn, waiting.
"I'm not saying it in front of all these hospital people. I have a wish... first of all, we're at your home. Second, your sisters know what really happened but the hospital people think you went home normally and don't know about a wish. Third, all the paperwork is okay. I wish for all that."
The hospital environment shimmered and disappeared around them. They were at Jonni's home in the living room, Jonni and "Nora" sitting down on the couch in hospital robes and holding their babies without ever having picked them up. The babies were less red, cleaner, had hospital tags that Karyn didn't remember ever being put on them, and generally looked as though they had been born a little longer ago than ten minutes.
"We're back!" yelled Linda.
Mindy and Wendy ran into the room, in a panic. "Mom! Dad! Everyone! Megan disappeared!" yelled Wendy. "She just vanished!"
"You got the wish wrong," said "Nora". "But it's not too bad. When you came here reality changed so it was as if you had come normally. So the babysitter would have gone home. And my grandchildren remembered reality, so they know she vanished."
Karyn ignored Jack and took out her cell phone. She hit the keys to call Megan, who answered within two rings. "Hi, Megan, just wanted to make sure you got home."
"What?" replied Megan. "Of course I did."
"Nothing," said Karyn. "Bye!" And hung up.
"Tell us about the babies" said Wendy. "Are they boys or girls or one each?"
"Yeah, I want to know too!" said Mindy.
"Well," said Jonni. "This is your new nephew Luke and the one that Grandpa is holding is your aunt Lucy. They're also brother and sister. I know it's confusing but we didn't choose to have babies this way. Oh, and Mom, the amulet, please?" Then Jonni did a double-take. "Wait, we didn't name them yet...."
Linda reluctantly walked over to Jonni and prepared to loop the amulet around her neck. Jonni was too distracted to notice her hesitation, but Karyn saw it. At least she was glad she didn't have to wish that Jon get the amulet back.
"No," said Jonni. "Karyn gets it, for now. I planned the amulet with her."
"What?" said Karyn, but reached out for it and Linda handed it to her.
"You want me to change you back," said Karyn, as she put the amulet on.
"Right," said Jonni. "Me to being Jon. What do you want, Grandpa? Ms. Volancort? Should Karyn change you back?"
"Yeah, please," said "Nora". "Your amulet doesn't change reality so the babies won't disappear."
"I agree," said the real Nora in Jack's body.
Both babies, though, chose this time to get hungry. The hospital gowns weren't even shut in the front and they had no problem reaching for their respective mothers' breasts. Jonni brought Luke closer, and "Nora" held up Lucy to her own chest.
Karyn grinned a bit. "I'll change you into your old bodies once dinner is over, but I have to say what I was going to say. First of all, DeMorrell made one more wish. It's the last one--I checked. He had a list of baby names and he wished for your babies to be named from it. Second, he's still around. They took him to the hospital and he lost his balls as well as his penis, but he's coming here when he can, which could be as soon as tomorrow evening. Though with less testosterone and doped on painkillers. Third, Mr. Merlin, Jon's mom says that she thought you killed a man. Is this something that could affect us now, that we need to know about?"
