"...Zoe. You know how you told me that she had some kind of special meeting with her friends last night?"
"Yeah. I caught her sneaking out at 11. Some kind of special meeting at midnight...she said they were going to read each other poetry and stuff. She promised to do my chores for a month if I didn't tell our 'rents. She didn't get back until after 2. But what does that have to do with...this? She's been going out to these occasional weird midnight meetings for a while...I only just managed to get proof this time."
By this point Karyn had made it out the front door. Given that this was a midafternoon on a not particularly major suburban street, there were only a couple of people wandering around. A jogger. A mother pushing a stroller on her way back from a nearby park. One of the neighborhood middle school kids out out taking a dog for a walk.
"Well, how did she react when she saw you this morning?" Karyn was whispering now in order to avoid attracting attention.
Jon was about to answer when he realized that the middle school kid was distractedly staring straight at him. Jon quickly tucked himself in tighter, hiding his head below the lip of Karyn's neckline. "Red alert! Unidentified observer at 2 o'clock."
Karyn stopped, confused for a moment, then giggled as she realized what Jon was talking about. "You better keep your head down until we get there."
"There where? Where are we going, Karyn?"
"All in good time. But first, did Zoe seem disappointed when she saw you this morning?"
"Uh...I don't know. She seemed tired, mostly. Maybe a little more on edge than usual? You know I don't really understand her moods."
"You really should make more of an effort to be supportive of her--she is your sister after all. Just because neither of us understands her Goth fixation, doesn't mean you can't be nice to her anyway."
"You're just saying that because you don't have to live with her. I've tried everything. She just doesn't want to be understood right now--it would clash with her Goth image. But what does this have to do with you shrinking me?"
"Well, the biggest difference between my memories of the world from before my first shrinking wish, and this world, is that--in the original world--you didn't tell me about Zoe going to any midnight meeting last night."
"So you think Zoe has something to do with my shrinking? How is that possible?"
"We're about to find out."
