The doorbell rang. Jon froze in the bathroom doorway, mortally embarrassed. Some stranger was at the door, and here she was, the wrong gender, naked, about to flop down the hallway with a fish tail.
His mother came running, then stopped when she saw Jon. "Oh, honey. You must feel trapped in that bathtub. That must be the medical team -- I'm sure they brought a wheelchair, at least. Now let's get you covered up so you at least look decent." She doubled back, pulled a towel out of the laundry, and tossed it to Jon. "Coming!"
Medical team? Jon wondered about that, and automatically started to wrap the towel around her waist, then stopped. Of course she had to cover her chest with it. Like a girl.
As Jon's mom opened the door, a pair of... space suits walked in? No, they were biohazard suits. Jon was just frozen now. What were those all about?
One of the suited figures started unfolding a wheelchair, and the other knelt in front of Jon. A woman's face was smiling through the visor. "Jon? I'm Nurse Loria. How are we feeling today?"
"What's going on? Who are you?" Jon blurted.
"Jon, I'm from the CDC quarantine. You know we like to check out recent transformees. I'll be taking you to get a complete physical, and we'll see what we can do to help you."
"You can help me?" Jon asked, her spirits rising.
"Well of course, we'll help you adapt." Jon's heart sank. That wasn't her plan. The other figure wheeled the chair over, and the two of them lifted Jon into the chair. "Now, let's get you mobile again. That's the first step, of course."
Work on your bedside manner, thought Jon. I'm not taking many steps here, am I?
And like that, they were off. Jon's mother and Nurse Loria rode with her in the back of the ambulance. Nurse Loria pressed a soaked towel into Jon's hands, then attempted to engage her in small talk. When Jon withdrew, Jon's mother took over the conversation. "So how many is this, now?"
"About three thousand. That's widely reported, I'm sure you know. We're not keeping anything from you."
"Sometimes it's hard to believe that. This quarantine's been running 18 months now. We're feeling a little isolated here. Heck, I can't even talk to you except through that visor."
Jon was actually glad for the chance to eavesdrop. That quarantine they're talking about. Was that the stone? Why would there be a quarantine if it changed the whole -- oh no.
The stone has great power, but is not unlimited. Changes made will be as if it has always been so, apart from for those within earshot of the wish or out of the range of influence of the stone. This range I estimate at several miles, but I fear I have not been able to determine an exact figure.
Somehow the stone inflicted this crazy disease on the whole town, then left the rest of the world the same. Except the rest of the world seemed to be aware of the change, and of course it reacted with a quarantine. Jon wondered if this was why his grandfather couldn't determine the exact range limit. Sure, if you go by its crazy, magical effects it only had a range of several miles. But it still had some effect on the rest of the world.
She noticed her tail was itching and burning as it appeared to dry, except where her hands and the soaked towel were resting. She gave the towel an experimental squeeze to release more water, which ran in rivulets across her scales. The relief was instantaneous, and soon she was twisting around, wiping her whole lower body to keep it wet. Yup, I'm a freak. But apparently in a world that's used to dealing with freaks.
In a way, that was comforting. At least the mystery was solved. Now if she could just endure this examination and get home, she could find the stone and start fixing things.
