"Are they stalking me?" she whispered to herself. Then she looked down at the stone in her hand and smiled. Maybe I can have a little fun with these guys, she thought.
Karyn had been coming out of the ladies' room when she noticed the boys and had hurried back to where her sister was still browsing through CD racks in the music store. With a wide grin she decided to let her sister in on the fun.
"Heya sis, we're going to have some fun today." Her sister's answering grin seemed to say it all.
"Whatcha got in mind?"
Holding up the stone to show Sarah, Karyn spoke the first wish that would make the boys' life miserable today. "I wish those boys following us, Jon and, uh, Alan, would keep trying to follow Sarah and me today until we get home, but never quite get the nerve to actually approach us or make a grab for this stone."
Sarah looked at her sister in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"This is a..." Karyn looked around suddenly. Spotting the boys out of the corner of her eye, she started whispering. "This is a wishing stone." She held her hand up to stop Sarah from asking the obvious question and continued. "I know it sounds really stupid, but it actually works."
"Yeah, right. I'm not buying it sis. So, what did you wish for? How do you know it's real?"
This caught Karyn off-guard as she realized that if Sarah found out the wish that proved the stone's magic, she'd be pissed and maybe do something really bad. She decided to show her something instead. "Ok, something small first, just to prove it, and then we'll have fun with Jon and his friend over there. Don't look!"
Sarah started to look in Jon and Alan's direction but stopped. "They're following us?"
"Yeah, they want this stone. Watch." Karyn scanned the music store and saw a girl with short brown hair. Karyn thought she would look better with long black hair, so justified her decision by thinking she was helping the girl out. "Over there, see the girl in the purple tank-top?"
Sarah looked in the direction her sister pointed. "Yeah? What about her?"
"Think she'd look better with black hair, maybe a little longer too?"
"Yeah, probably," Sarah agreed. "But... oh. Ok, go ahead, prove it. And if her hair doesn't turn black you have to buy me a CD."
"Sure thing. I wish the girl that Sarah and I are talking about, who is wearing the purple tank top, would have black hair in a long, attractive style."
After the whispered wish that only Karyn and Sarah heard, the two girls blinked as though something had hurt their eyes and had to look away from the girl. When they were able to look again Sarah almost screamed.
"Holy shit!"
A few people looked in the direction of the outburst, but except for Jon and Alan, no one stared for more than a second or two.
"Calm down!" Karyn urged quietly. "Don't make a scene, she doesn't even look like she noticed!"
"But her hair." Sarah was having a fit, but at the same time ideas were forming in her head. "It turned black!"
"Yeah, it did. Because of this stone. We can do anything. Anything!"
"Where did you get that?" Sarah had regained control of her emotions and was whispering as she began to thumb through the CD rack again, not really paying attention to the CDs she was touching.
"Jon's grandfather left it to him. Can you believe it? A loser like him getting this awesome power. Well it's ours now."
"Ok, so what are we going to do with it?"
