After returning home, Zoe and Mikey looked around for their mom, but she was oddly not there. Usually by then, she would be just about ready to leave for work. She worked downtown as a paralegal at a law firm. She usually took Mikey with her, to drop him off at his school on the way. But she just didn't seem to be around. Regardless, Mikey had to get ready for school, so Zoe took him upstairs to his room, which annoyed him a bit. He felt that he was old enough that he didn't need an escort. So it was when they were on their way to Mikey's bedroom that the door to the master bedroom opened ... and there was their mom, wearing an oddly-flattering dress. Zoe would even call it "cute", something their mom occasionally did wear. But not to work. And ... she also looked younger. She wasn't, but she was more fit and more into her looks, which made her look younger than she was.
"Mom? What are you wearing?" Zoe asked.
"You like? I found it in the closet and just had to wear it," she said.
Zoe raised an eyebrow. Her mom was acting a bit ... strange. "Mom, don't you have to go to work? I don't think that dress is professional enough."
That seemed to snap Linda out of her casual good mood. "Oh! Oh, you're right. What was I thinking? Uh ... I'll change out of this." She then went back into the bedroom and closed the door.
Zoe turned around to say something to Mikey, but he wasn't there. His bedroom door was closed, so she assumed that he was in there, probably getting dressed and ready for school. Shrugging, she decided to finish getting ready herself. She was already late for school, unfortunately, and that really bothered her ... though, she had a feeling that it shouldn't have. But with a note from her mom, it should be okay.
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Mikey was in his bedroom. But he wasn't doing what Zoe thought. Mikey had uncovered the stone from its hidden place and used it to try to stop what was happening. That wish he made was only supposed to affect his brother Jon. But it was affecting a bunch of other people too, including himself! He remembered that he had put a way to put an end to the wish, in the wish itself. So without any hesitation, Mikey said "I wish that my previous wish would stop." The stone glowed, granting his wish. He sighed, with relief. He had stopped it.
Except ... he hadn't. Yes, he stopped what he had wished. The next time Jon got undressed and took a bath or shower, he wouldn't be compelled to put on someone else's clothing. But the rest of it, the unintended side-effects of his wish ... that part wasn't stopped. But he didn't know that. Not yet.
Mikey got ready for school, thinking that he had fixed everything, not realizing that he had actually gotten a little older, now 11 instead of 10. Or that his hair was now almost down to his shoulders and even lighter in color.
