It only took Jon a few minutes to trek down the street to Karyn's house, but it was definitely the most tense walk he had ever taken. Even though the changes to his body were slight, now that he was aware of them, he couldn't help but to notice the subtle ways his body felt different.
He walked up the path to Karyn's front door and knocked a few times. He pulled his cell phone out quickly and checked the time. They had about 45 minutes to get to school, and it would only take them about 20 to actually get there. They had plenty of time to get this situation figured out.
He shoved his cell phone into his pocket and turned his attention back to the door as he heard it opening. On the other side of the door frame was Karyn's mother. She was obviously where Karyn had gotten most of her appearance from, having the same build and red hair that her daughter had before her accidental wish. She was wearing a pair of purple scrubs, and holding a mug of coffee. "Good morning Jon. You're here awfully early today." she said, taking a sip after speaking.
"Good morning, Mrs. Black. Just had some...homework to go over with Karyn before school today. Nothing to major." Jon lied. He could tell that the older woman was analyzing his words. She shared his own mothers ability of being able to spot one of his lies a mile away, an unfortunate side effect of her knowing him since he was a child. "Um, working the early shift this morning?" he asked.
Mrs. Black nodded, taking another sip of her coffee. "Yeah, I'm covering for one of the other nurses while she out on maternity leave. It's really tiring, and doesn't leave me much time to see the family, but we can use the money..." she sighed, looking down at her watch. "Oh, shoot. I need to get going. Karyn's in her room. You can go on up. Bye Karyn!" she yelled, grabbing her bag off of the floor by the door and rushing out past Jon.
He entered the house and closed the door behind him. He heard Mrs. Black's car pull away. He headed up the stairs and toward Karyn's room, glad that they would have her house to themselves while they worked with the stone.
When he reached Karyn's bedroom door, he knocked on it a couple of times and waited for a response.
"Just come in Jon, I heard you talking to my mom." Karyn said.
"Well, I didn't want to just barge in. Who knows what you could have been doing in here." Jon said, smirking, as he entered.
"Yeah, you know me Jon. I do all sorts of inappropriate stuff before school with my mother just down the stairs." Karyn shot back from her spot on her bed. She was wearing a dark green top and a pair of blue jeans, and was pulling on her socks as Jon entered.
"So, you're mom's stuck working another early shift today?" Jon asked, taking a seat in a chair that was located in the corner of Karyn's room.
"Yeah, not only that, but a double shift. She's been stuck with them a lot recently. It's mainly just been me and dad for dinner. That's why our vacation was so perfectly timed." Karyn said, beginning to put her shoes on as she spoke.
"But now it's back to the old grind, eh?" Jon asked.
"Yeah, at least my parents got that week to rest." Karyn said. "Anyway, enough about my family life. What's so freaking important that you felt the need to pop over here so much earlier than usual?"
Jon sighed. "Ah, right. I almost forgot." He pulled the stone out of his pocket and tossed it onto Karyn's bed. "I think something weird happened last night while I was sleeping."
Karyn picked up the stone and rolled it around in her hand a bit. "Weird how?"
"Well, I woke up wearing this weird ring..." Jon said, showing Karyn the ring stuck on his finger. "And now the stone doesn't seem to be working for me."
"So the ring is stopping you from using the stone?" Karyn asked, looking at the odd piece of jewelry.
"Well, I wish that were the only thing it did." Jon said, looking a bit sheepish. "It also...changed me."
"Changed you? How did it change you? You look the same."
"Mostly the same. But...let's just say that I've either gotta skip gym today, or join you in your locker room."
Karyn gave Jon an odd look, then her eyes widened in surprise. "Bull shit!" she said. "There's no way."
"Do you really think I would joke about something like this?" Jon asked. "Just use the stone to get me back to normal, please? Or at least find out how it happened."
"Fine, fine. Don't get your panties in a bunch, Jonny." Karyn said, snickering slightly. She gripped the stone tighter. "I wish Jon would change back to his fully, anatomically correct male self." she said. They both waited for a moment, but nothing happened.
"Um, anything happen, Jon?" Karyn asked.
"No..." he said, quickly patting himself down. "Why isn't it working?" he asked, getting a bit panicked.
Karyn stood from her bed and handed the stone back to Jon. "Was there anything else from your grandpa in the box? Maybe something else that explains why this could be happening."
"No, just the one letter and the stone." Jon said, looking down as she handed him the stone. He paused as he took it. "Hmm, we may not need to figure out why it's not working for you."
"What do you mean?" Karyn asked.
"You know how I said I think the ring was stopping me from using the stone?"
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with..."
Jon cut her off, pointing at her left hand. She looked down, and saw a ring with a forest green gem in it.
"What? Where did that come from?" Karyn asked. "I didn't even notice it was there." she added, trying to pull the ring off. After a few attempts without it budging, she gave up.
"Something really weird is going on here." Jon said.
