"There's something I've been wondering about," asked Jon. "Why are you giving me a chance to save Karyn at all, even with all those funny rules? If you want me to get in, you could just let me in. If you don't want me to get in, you should have taken the rock and killed me already, or frozen me or something. You have no reason to give me a small chance--either you want me in or you don't."
"Haven't you ever played a video game?" replied the man. "There's always some kind of near impossible place full of tricks you need to get through to get to your goal."
"I don't buy it," said Jon. "Let me see. Why would you be giving me a chance? One possibility might be that you have to. You can't use your power to just stop me, whoever gave you the power limited it in some way. I wonder then if there are more loopholes than you're telling me about. Anyway... Now that I have my stone back, do I get to make more wishes?"
"If your next trial allows it."
"Well, let me see. I wish that I have the power to speed myself up by a billion times, but I can safely do anything I can normally do even though I'm sped up a billion times.
Suddenly things stopped moving. The strange man instantly halted. The world was frozen around Jon.
Of course Jon couldn't use magic on him. He didn't really freeze the man. he just sped himself up so it looked like the man was frozen.
In this condition Jon looked around for side corridors and generally searched for useful items. And then, walking along, he bumped into something invisible.
Feeling around, he felt the shape of a man, wearing a jacket. And in the pocket of his jacket was a key. It felt like its top was diamond-shaped. Jon tried to take the key, but it wouldn't budge.
Then he realized what was wrong. Jon's wish had affected himself by speeding himself up. But if he's sped up a billion times, he couldn't pick things up--they wouldn't move in just a billionth of a second. In order for him to take the key, his magic would have to affect the key too. And this guy was immune to magic.
Which meant that he'd have to get it the old fashioned way. Jon changed to normal speed and tapped the invisible man on the shoulder. "Excuse me, you're with team Diamond, right? I'd like your key."
"Hey!" yelled the man. "I am, but how did you know where I was?"
"I want your key," said Jon.
"I won't give you my key unless you play by the rules."
"What are the rules?"
"You take the key from me. You get to make one wish, and you have five minutes from the time you make the wish. If you don't, the stone goes to me."
Disaster! Jon had already made the wish! The five minutes must almost be up. How much time did he have to get the key?
Quickly, Jon sped up his own time again, then took off his jacket and wrapped it around the man's head. He reached into his pocket and grasped the key, which wouldn't move. Then Jon returned time to normal.
The invisible man, feeling a jacket around his head and a hand in his pocket, tried to lash out at his attacker. But it only took Jon a second to grab the key, and speed up time again. Now that the key was his it was not immune to magic and he could move it.
Jon disentangled himself from the frozen man and then returned time to normal. "I win!"
"Drat," said the man.
Jon looked at his keys. The one from the first man had a heart on top, so these were the Heart and Diamond keys. He still needed spades and clubs, and headed off to find another of the strange men. The first one he ran into was Jack, of Spades, who he recognized from before. Unfortunately for Jon, Jack was on the other side of a clear wall and there was no way he could get through by speeding up time. The floor of the hall also had an odd glistening quality. Then Jon realized he couldn't move his feet any more, and he didn't seem to be able to pull them out of his sneakers.
Jon returned to normal. "So what do I need to do to get your key?"
"Well, for one thing," said Jack, "you need to watch out for that floor. Oops, too late!"
"What is this?"
"Oh, it's simple. First of all, you get one wish, and I get to erase any lingering effects from other wishes."
Which meant that Jon could no longer speed up time.
"Second, you're stuck here until you get the key, if you do. Third, every time you make a mistake, the field moves upwards, transforming you into a girl from the feet up. If the field goes all the way up and completely transforms you, well, you'll find out."
"Every time I make a mistake? What do I have to do that I'd be making mistakes in?"
"Oh, this is what you have to do..."
