Thursday passed pretty much without incident. Jon and Karyn had a quiet school day, and neither of them heard much from Sarah, who seemed to still be trying to figure out how to fit back into the school social scene; the other students were beginning to wonder where she'd gotten to and why, and Jon had overheard her mumbling something about becoming irrelevant. Jon was handling things about as well as could be expected; being a girl and half-snake was still a bizarre, disquieting experience, though there was no real physical discomfort, at least not as long as she remembered where her breasts were in relation to her surroundings. Still, the knowledge that there were ways of returning to normal, even if she had access to none at present, was comforting. She'd be herself again, eventually, she knew that much.
Mikey, despite having no such comforts, was doing nearly as well as of Friday morning. For all her craziness, Erica really did cheer her up. Just having a friend, when most of the boys she knew were still trying to figure out what to think about Mikey having become a demon-girl, was a major help. Even Chris and Kevin seemed to feel that way, or at least, that seemed to be the only explanation for why they were sitting at the lunch table with Mikey and Erica. It certainly wasn't for the conversation, as both had been entirely silent; Kevin timidly so, and Chris...well, if it was possible to be aggressively withdrawn, Chris was doing it. Nevertheless, they were here.
Mikey looked around the lunchroom, noticing that most of the stares now were directed towards Chris and Kevin, though nobody had come over to pick on them, yet. Maybe that was another part of the reason; maybe they were hoping that hanging around Erica would ward off bullies, after Tuesday's milk incident. The irony was not lost on young miss Madison, and she stifled a giggle as she thought about it.
She wondered whether the other kids even knew what the effects of that had been for Chris and Kevin, then wondered whether the other kids even knew that the angel-girl and the slug-girl were Chris and Kevin. It didn't seem like it, since nobody was pointing it out, but then again, it wasn't all that difficult to tell. Mikey had gotten by unnoticed at first because of her drastic change in appearance, but aside from somewhat softer faces and longer hair, none of Chris and Kevin's changes did much to change the appearance of their human parts. At any rate, if they kept hanging around Erica, it wouldn't be long before the entire county knew.
They finished lunch quietly while Erica rambled on about trying to figure out how her spinnerets worked, then headed back to class. Most of the rest of the school day was unremarkable, though Mikey did finally get around to trying out the exercises Ms. Leskova had arranged for her. It was an odd feeling to be consciously controlling the muscles in her new appendages, but it did feel good to be giving them some exercise, and she could definitely use the practice in moving around on her altered legs; walking wasn't much of a problem, but she'd been unable to manage anything else up until now.
Jon sighed, tired, and slung her backpack onto the bed. It had been a bit of a long day, and the havoc her transformation was playing with her sleep schedule wasn't helping, either. She'd woken up no less than five times last night because either her girl half or her snake half was arranged uncomfortably, and she wasn't the sort of person that got back to sleep quickly, not to mention spending a good fifteen minutes trying to retrieve the steps for using the bathroom as a naga-girl from her exhaustion-addled brain at 3:30 A.M.
But it was over for now, and she could lie back and rest a bit, since she didn't have anything planned for, uh...
Oh, it was Friday, wasn't it? Her grandfather was coming over, and she could ask him about the stone! She knew that there was no guarantee he'd know how to find it, but it still cheered her up to think about. Grandpa Mort had never been willing to tell all the details of what his career in what he'd diplomatically termed "pragmatic archeology," but the fact that he'd found the stone, along with some muttered comments Jon had once heard her mother make about being "Indiana Jones's daughter" in high school, painted a tantalizing picture. Even if he didn't know how to retrieve the stone from wherever it had gotten to, maybe he would know about something that could help her and Mikey get back to normal.
Jon yawned, stretched, and laid down on the bed, trying to arrange her tail so that it would be comfortable while she tried to catch up on her sleep. She shut her eyes and drifted off for a bit, aided by the pleasant warmth of the afternoon sun. She was woken by the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. Sliding off the bed, she straightened her shirt and hair a bit and slithered downstairs to greet her grandpa.
Everybody was gathered around the front door as he came up the steps, and they all greeted him warmly as he stepped inside. Jon was even happier to see him than the rest; for her, he had died not even a month ago, while for the rest of the family he'd just been sick. She felt tears forming at the corners of her eyes, but it was okay; they were the good kind.
Her grandpa looked both her and Mikey up and down for a minute, like he was filing away their new appearances. Jon worried briefly that he was going to treat them differently now that they had changed, but her fears were dissuaded when he gave her the same gruff-but-warm half-hug she knew so well. Mikey was similarly relieved when he ruffled her hair just like always, though his wrist did tend to knock against her horns. Jon's last surprise came when he took off his hat; he had two pointed and definitely canine ears poking out of the top of his head, covered in gray fur not too much darker than the silver thatch on top of his head. Her mom hadn't been kidding about the "werewolf" thing.
The visit went well and everybody had a good time; even the usually taciturn Zoe opened up a bit around Grandpa Mort. Still, Jon could barely restrain herself from asking him about the stone right then and there, and when things had quieted down a little and her parents had headed off to the kitchen to clean up the supper stuff, she made her move. "Grandpa?" she asked. "Could I...could I talk to you for a bit?"
Her grandfather regarded her curiously for a moment, but smiled and nodded. She led him up to her room and coiled up on the bed, while her grandpa sat down in the chair at her desk. Jon paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to ease into the discussion, but there didn't seem to be any good way to do it. Well, the direct approach, then.
"I..." she began. "I have to ask you about a stone. From Peru."
Grandpa Mort was not usually an easy man to read, but Jon could tell she had surprised him with that, even if he was trying not to show it. "Any one in particular?" he asked, grinning slightly. Jon was a little unnerved by his more pronounced canines, but it was still a friendly grin. She nodded. "A magic stone," she said. "A stone that grants wishes."
That completely broke the facade, and her grandpa's surprise was fully evident. "How...how do you know about that?" he said.
Jon sighed. "Well, um, you left it to me."
His eyes went wide. "Me!? I searched that jungle for a whole damn year and I never found it!"
She nodded. "I don't really know how to say this, but...oh hell, I guess I'll just have to explain the whole story. The thing is, you died this summer of a heart attack; the doctors said it was due to complications from your bout with pneumonia this spring. You left the stone to me with a note explaining what it was and how to use it. My friend Karyn and I...we accidentally created the change virus by trying to wish up a harmless alternative to the common cold, but it changed things retroactively, so that it had been around a lot longer, and suddenly you were a werewolf and able to overcome the pneumonia."
He let out a low whistle. "And you were changed by the very thing you created. Why didn't you use the stone to fix it?"
Jon shook her head. "Well, for one thing, the stone can't be used to reverse the effects of prior wishes, but more importantly, I can't find it; it seems to have disappeared after I made the wish. You said you never found it?"
He nodded. "Spent a whole year in the Peruvian jungle trying to track down the tomb that thing was supposed to be hidden in. But what with my being a full-fledged wolf for three days out of the month and covered with a very temperate-climate fur coat for another week, I never made that much progress. Still, I guess in the grand scheme of things I got the silver lining from that cloud."
Jon thought for a minute. "Then maybe if you never found it, I never got it, and it's back where it was? Where was that, exactly?"
Her grandfather's face suddenly turned serious. "Oh, no. Take it from someone who's been in that business; it's a lot of time and trouble for very little chance of seeing a reward. I don't want you spending years of your life tromping through some jungle, pinning all your hopes on the thing you think you might find there."
"But we already know it exists!" Jon protested.
"Correction: we already know it existed. Maybe if I didn't find it, it's still there, or maybe if I didn't find it, it was never there to begin with. You suggested yourself that the stone could have changed things retroactively."
The naga-girl sighed. "But I...I can't just stay like this. I have to try something."
The grizzled old werewolf sat down on the bed next to her and put his arm around her shoulder. "You sound like me when I first changed," he said. "And I can understand why, but still, you can't go throwing your life away chasing after something you may never obtain. Do you know why I got out of the treasure-hunting business? It's because I nearly bailed on my engagement to your grandma Edie to go to eastern Europe and try to find a cure for lycanthropy. Nearly missed forty wonderful years because I couldn't stand the idea of having fur and fangs for a few days a month, because it interfered with my work. I don't want my grandchildren making that kind of mistake."
"But I can't stay like this!" Jon protested. "I'm not supposed to be a girl! And anyway, I'm not trying to make a career of it, I just want to find the stone so I can get back to normal!"
Grandpa Mort nodded. "I can understand," he said. "I could tell you about how I wasn't supposed to be a werewolf, either, and how getting wrapped up in the way you think things should go can cause you to miss the wonderful ways things can go, but it wouldn't make this any less difficult for you. But I'll tell you what. You try to make a go of this, try playing the hand that life's dealt you. In, say, six months, if you still can't deal with it, you come to me. One thing I did find in my travels is a spell that can give you a form that fits your spirit. I never used it because I wasn't sure what that might entail, but if you really can't stand life in your new form, it might be worth a shot. If you spend six more months in whatever form the spell gives you and still can't live with your changes, I'll help you try to find the stone. Deal?"
Jon didn't know what to think. Six months!? She knew he was trying to keep her from making a hasty decision, but that was practically forever! Still, maybe he did have a point; who knew what a spell like that might make her? Maybe it really was a good idea to wait and make sure. She knew she could trust him to keep his word when she did decide to try the spell. "Deal," she said. Her grandpa smiled and gave her another half-hug. She smiled back and returned it.
