Nodding, I looked over at my newly female cousin. "This should be simple since the spell is irreversible, I guess there's only one solution to the problem." I said with a grin. She cowered a little, and I could see in her eyes she wasn't looking forward to what was to come.
Pulling the rock out of my pocket and tossing it gently up once, I closed my eyes as I clenched my fist around it. With a slight grin on my lips, I made the wish.
"I wish that my cousin Mike had always been a girl, and no one knew about this reality but me " I said, with a slight laugh. As expected, I got that funny feeling that I got when Karyn and I had made our wishes. And then, I felt something was strangely out of place.
Opening my eyes, I saw that my room had completely changed. Mike was no longer there. All of the maps and paintings that I got from grandpa were gone, replaced by posters of rock bands and athletes. Blinking, I looked down at my now empty hands. The rock was gone! I did a quick search of the immediate vicinity before realizing that the rock was lost in the wish. I sighed desperately, only beginning to imagine where it could have gone, when my mom called me downstairs. Taking one last look-around, I sighed and headed down for dinner.
Reaching the bottom of the stairway, I was glad to see that the rest of my house hadn't changed. Putting on my best melancholy smile, I walked into my kitchen, where my mother was waiting. But, to my surprise, dinner wasn't.
"What's the deal, mom? I thought you were making dinner " I said, looking around the kitchen for any sign of cooking. There were none.
My mother picked her purse up off the table, giving me a funny look. "You're wearing that? Well, all right " she said with a slight sigh. "And of course I'm not making dinner, you know we're going over to Uncle Billy's house for dinner tonight. And you're coming, young man, because your cousin specifically asked for you to be there."
My cousin the spell had worked all right. Looking around a little, I noticed that there were quite a few pictures of me and Michelle, and we were both smiling. Apparently, in this new reality, I actually got along with my cousin. Nodding, I followed her out to the garage, almost forgetting that the rock was still nowhere to be found.
Stepping out of the car, I noticed slight differences about my uncle's house. Mainly, the giant map of the world on the wall of my cousin's room. Somehow, I thought, I had really messed things up with my careless wishing.
My uncle greeted us at the door. "Well, sister, good to see you, thank you for coming by." He said with a sad smile, hugging my mother tightly. "Please, why don't the two of you come inside? Dinner isn't quite finished yet, but we could use the time to just talk, sis. Oh, and John, Michelle is waiting in her room for you, she said she has something to show you I don't know what it is, though "
But I had an idea what it was, and I ran quickly up the stairs to Michelle's room, leaving my mother and uncle to their grieving.
Opening the door to Michelle's room was almost like opening the door to the room I used to live in. Old maps, paintings, even a tribal mask and a pith helmet hanging from the walls. I was impressed. It seemed that granddad had a new favorite grandchild. Michelle was sitting at the edge of her bed, wearing khaki shorts and a plain white blouse. Nothing spectacular, she was a totally modest girl. A modest girl who was smiling brightly at me with a very familiar box in her lap.
"Well, Jonny-boy didn't your mother ever teach you to knock?" she asked with a grin. I laughed nervously, and she giggled back at me. "Relax, I was decent. Come on over and sit down, you'll never believe what granddad left me "
Obediently, I sat beside her on the bed. I knew I had no chance of getting that rock back unless I kept up the relationship I assumed that we had. It was gonna be complicated, but I had to try my best.
Michelle gripped the box excitedly, grinning at me. "Okay, are you ready?" she asked. I nodded in affirmation, and she flipped the lid to reveal the stone. "Its "
"Granddad's wishing stone I saw him use this once when we were little, but he always told me I was imagining things." I lied. I could do without the lengthy explanation like the one I had to give Karyn. I knew how the stone worked, I just wanted the damn thing for myself.
Michelle took the rock out of the box, holding it tightly in her hand. "So, Jonny-boy you wanna try it out?"
