"Well," Stud Muffin said to Karyn. "You think you're a little punk troublemaker, do you?" He waved toward her chest. "Maybe more than a little, actually."
Jon was silently saying to himself "Just don't make it worse, please, Karyn. Remember that I've got the stone. I can try to fix all this later, with the stone."
"That's not a bad idea," Stud Muffin continued. "You didn't get the exotic treatment that most of your compadres here did, so I'll try a different tack. It's been a while since I've turned someone into a hot punk rocker." He started pressing buttons on his device. "I'll start you with a permanent mohawk ..."
The device glowed like it had before. But there was something wrong. Her hairstyle did change shape, but it remained blond instead of becoming dyed green.
For a second, Stud Muffin lost the smug expression on his face as he looked at the device's screen. He pressed the buttons in the same sequence, but got the same result - a spiky blond mohawk.
"That can't be right," he muttered. He pressed a few buttons, and then showed the device to Suki. "What does this look like to you?"
Suki looked at it and said "It won't let you change her hair color?"
Stud Muffin nodded. "Something's blocking the magical energy from this device. But the only way to block it would be ..." He stood still for a few seconds as if lost in thought, then looked around at the people in the diner. "Is someone here using magic? Tell me now, or regret the consequences."
Jon kept still, wondering if he should say anything. Who knew what kind of consequences Stud Muffin had in mind?
