"Okay," said Liz. "Let's go over the problem. You're living each day twice as Jon and Jennifer and you don't want to change the past. Karyn was acting strangely--she forgot she had heard you over the phone. You were acting strangely--you said you hated Jon, even though you are Jon, and you tried to get revenge on Jon by telling me to steal the stone, which would have changed the past."
"That's pretty much it," said Jennifer.
"Jen," said Liz. "You know what to do, don't you?"
"Go on an adventure hoping to track down and defeat the villains out to destroy the neighborhood?"
"No, ask the stone."
"Oh, duh!" replied Jennifer. "Tell me, Liz, was Jennifer always this absent-minded?"
Liz sadly said "I don't really know. There never really was a Jennifer or a me..."
"Sorry, Liz, I didn't mean it like that!" She hugged Liz. "Don't worry, I'm your friend now!"
Jennifer picked up the stone and said, "I wish you'd tell me and Liz why Karyn and myself were like that. What affected us?"
A voice boomed out, "It is the Order of Cuzco."
Jennifer said, "I wish you'd tell us who that is, but a little less loudly."
A sheet of paper appeared in front of them and fluttered to the floor. On it was the explanation--in Jon's/Jennifer's own handwriting (both were identical). Basically, the group was a religious cult that considered themselves the heirs to the ancient Incas, though they had no real connection with them. The Order had learned of the presence of an Incan artifact--the stone--in the city, and had used a magical ritual to make the people near the artifact's possessor turn on him or her. The stone couldn't find or destroy the Order because it was both outside the stone's area of effect and protected by another ritual.
"Well, now you know," said Liz. "But what do we do?"
"I wish I knew."
A voice rang out, "There are several possibilities but this stone can find none with a 100 percent chance of success."
"Gee, thanks a lot, I wasn't asking you" she said, and put the stone down again. Then she thought a bit and picked it up. "I wish that everyone in this city would be immune to any magic from the Order of Cuzco. There we go. We're safe!"
"Maybe tomorrow when you're Jon you should discuss it with Karyn," said Liz.
"Sure," replied Jennifer. "You can come, but be careful. You can talk to me as Jon if you do it before you talk to me as Jennifer. You can't possibly change the future that way. So anyway, should I wish you back to what you were doing when I asked you to steal the stone?"
"Naah, I was just studying for the trig test tomorrow. We can study together. It'll be the first time we've studied together for real!"
Jon, Karyn, and Liz had gotten together in the morning. They talked it over a bit but couldn't think of anything. They were just high school students and didn't have any resources except the stone. What could they do, after all, aside from magically protect themselves?
Then Jennifer came by. She suddenly ran up to Jon and, blushing redly, gave him a big kiss.
"Whoa," said Jon. "Hello, Jen. What's that all about? If Karyn was my girlfriend she'd be jealous now."
"I had to do that," replied Jennifer. "I remembered it happening, so I had to do it to avoid changing the past. Bye now!" She ran off.
Jon didn't think he did that badly on the test. But he knew that as Jennifer he could do even better. It was simple to look the answers up or talk about them with his friends. Then, when he repeated the day as Jennifer, he'd already know the answers. It would be easy for Jennifer to get good test grades. On the other hand, the down side was that he had to do each day of homework twice, once as each person....
Jon went to bed, knowing he'd be repeating the day as Jennifer. He slept for a little while, only to be rudely awakened by someone putting a hand over his mouth.
"Get up!" said the person. "I'll let go of your mouth, but we have guns. You'll be dead if you shout out."
Jon opened his eyes to see two men and a woman whose clothing bore some strange symbols, which he guessed was Incan. They seemed to be white people, and not Hispanic or Indian, but from what he knew of the Order, he expected that. All three had pistols aimed at him, with what he guessed were silencers on the end. He was still in his room, but the window had been jimmied open in some way.
Jon slowly sat up.
"Now, tell me where the stone is!" said the first man.
Jon looked at the clock. 11:54. Six more minutes. If he could stall for six minutes without them taking the stone, the stone would still be owned by him at midnight, so it would come back with Jennifer.
"A stone? Why do you want a stone? I'm not sure what you're talking about."
"You know very well what I'm talking about! It's a sacred Incan artifact. Only we have the right to bear such a treasure."
"Who are you? I didn't know there were any Incans around."
"There are modern day successors to all spiritual traditions...."
"That's nonsense! The Incas had a religion but they weren't a spiritual group. Who are you to call yourself their successors?"
The man seemed personally insulted, and began a speech about the long traditions of his order. Finally he stopped and he ordered his female companion to search the room for the stone. She eventually looked under the bed, where Jon had hidden it--
--but midnight had come. Jon woke up to long hair and breasts. She was Jennifer again, it was the morning before Jon was being threatened, and she had the stone on her dresser.
Which gave her a chance. First, she'd have to go to school, kiss Jon, and take the test. After school she could talk to Liz and try to save herself/himself using the stone. But it would be tricky. She didn't want to change time, so she couldn't just warn Jon or barge into the room at 11:56. Yet she'd have to save Jon before midnight, or else she'd become Jon, a second later the cult would take the stone, and then a day later she'd be Jennifer without the stone. What could she do?
