"Let's see," said Sarah L. "There's something strange around Jon and Karyn. We don't know what it is and any time we try it just gets stranger. Now who do we know who knows Jon and Karyn?"
"Nobody?" replied Sarah.
"No, Sarah, there's someone. Remember? Joey. She was upset about being a twisted clone and she came here. Joseph knows Jon. Joey knows everything Joseph does, but her attitude's.... off. Which might be a good thing.
"I don't know anything," said Joey, scratching her cat ears.
"Try, please," said Sarah L. "My sister and me think that something's strange is going on. We think that whatever you remember about Jon could help us."
"I... I really don't know!" She was nearly in tears. Being submissive didn't seem to be good for her and it certainly hadn't worn off yet, even if Jon did make Joseph worry that that might happen in the future.
"Well, how about this?" asked Sarah L. "What do you remember from a month and a half ago? Right after everyone came back from Spring Break? Anything having to do with Jon and his bitchy ex."
"Karyn?"
"Yes," said Sarah. "Karyn."
"Right after spring break they began acting strangely. I don't know what it was. Jon told me his grandfather had died but he wouldn't say anything more, and I don't know if he believed it. He was trying to hide something."
"The cloning machine?" asked Sarah L.
"That's what I thought.... He told me about it and asked me if I wanted to use it, he introduced me to Jonnie...." Then Joey rubbed her eyes and whimpered.
"Joey?" said Sarah L.
"He didn't really ask me! He didn't make me any offers, or say anything to me! He asked my brother! I just think it was me...."
"I don't care who it was," said Sarah L. "Besides, I say 'me' all the time when it happened to my sister. It's okay. Just tell us what happened after that with them. Anything strange at all?"
"There was something," replied Joey. "Karyn told Jon she never wanted her breasts or her hair, I overheard that. I didn't understand it. Why would she say all that now? Then a while after that Jon set up that booth at the festival. He had the cloning machine and I asked him to use it. I showed him the permission from Mom and Dad. He told me to come later and I did... then he did it. And all of a sudden I was inside the machine. You know the rest..."
"I wonder if it's the other way around," said Sarah. "It isn't Karyn's grandparents who are funny. It's us. They're right about her hair and we're wrong. It's an experiment with the cloning machine... They can make clones and change their memories. They could have changed yours, Sarah, at the time... some kind of experiment. They changed Joey. They missed some old guy living in the mountains, and they missed Facebook."
"But you're not a clone."
"We don't really know that it's only a cloning machine, Sarah. I can easily see Karyn getting Jon to lie about it, she does that kind of thing. Oh... and Joey?"
"Yes?"
"You've been a great help to us. I hope we can explain it to you someday. Thanks!" Sarah L. winked at Joey.
After Joey left, Sarah L. said, "I didn't want to say it in front of Joey because it's too close to the whole 'programmed to obey orders' thing, but I think you're right. I wouldn't put it past Karyn to start fiddling with people's heads. I think it's about time we went from Nancy Drew to Kim Possible. The world needs more cheerleader spies."
"Just a few more days," said Jonnie. "The stone will be back. And I think we need it."
"Why?"
"Come over here," said Jonnie.
Jon, sitting next to Jonnie, inched closer.
"It's embarrassing," said Jonnie. "It's my periods. Now that I'm a girl, I should have them, right? We've been having sex, we don't use protection, and every day this goes on the most obvious reason for me not to have them is to have gotten pregnant. It worries me. I should have asked the stone before we sent it out."
"It's okay, Jonnie," said Jon. "We'll have the stone back soon, and there are so many things we could do with a magic stone that nobody else could do. It doesn't mean what it means when anyone else gets pregnant. It just isn't the same kind of problem, if it's true at all."
