Linda Jennings had trusted Jennifer Taylor since the two were little girls at Lake Point Elementary. Why wouldn't Jennifer believe her? "But ..." Linda stared at Jennifer's new brown hair framing an unfamiliar face. "You don't look like yourself. You don't even sound like yourself."
"I don't feel any different," said Jennifer.
Linda took her by the hand. "Come with me."
"Where?"
"I want you to see yourself."
Jennifer shook her head. "Let go of me. This is ridiculous."
Linda released her grip. "You'd have thought the wishing stone was ridiculous too, until you saw what it could do yesterday, right by this very tree. Remember the blue branch?" Linda pointed at it. "It's still on the ground." She knelt to pick it up. "And it's still blue!" She placed it in her bag. "Remember how you wished for a bigger bust ... and how you discovered your sister got one too when you got together at the bus stop after school, wearing a perfectly tailored girls' suit? Your wish altered her wardrobe as well as yours. And remember how you called me up last night to tell me that she and your parents thought both of you were always buxom - that even your mother had become buxom? If the stone could change the memories of Sarah and your parents, it could have changed your memory too."
"But why?" asked Jennifer. "I was right here when you made your wish. I heard it. I'm not supposed to be affected unless you mention me, and you didn't!"
"That's true but ... what if I caused a chain reaction? What if wishing my mother were back somehow led to a series of different events that changed you?"
"But I'd still remember!" protested Jennifer. "No matter what happened to me. And bringing your mother back to life wouldn't make my hair color change ... not that it did change. She ... passed away ten years ago, six years after I was born."
"I have to show you the full extent of what happened." Linda gulped. "Full"? she asked herself. This could just be the tip of an iceberg. "You might not believe me about your hair or your height, but maybe if you see your face ..."
Jennifer looked at the near-stranger standing beside her. Linda even sounded slightly different. The borders of possibility weren't the same anymore. Branches, busts, memories, faces, voices ... what next? Was Linda going mad? Was she going mad? "OK, I'll go with you. But if I say my face hasn't changed, you'll have to believe that's what I believe."
"I will."
They went inside the nearest school building and entered the girls' bathroom.
Linda had seen what the stone had done to Jennifer. What could it have done to her? It couldn't have made her hideous, or else Jennifer would have screamed. She was relieved to see that no one was else was by the sinks. She was afraid someone would say something about them. Lake Point High School had thousands of students, so it wasn't as if they'd stand out with different faces and, in Jennifer's case, darker hair. But Linda's rationality wasn't an all-time high. It plunged even further when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Linda gasped.
