Jon began his research looking for the wishing stone. Granted, it wasn't an easy thing to find information on. "Wishing stone", "magic stone", "real wishing stone", and the like were all duds. Countless sham websites touted bags of magic rocks to fix your karma or whatever, burying any possible leads. He hadn't expected any different, but was still disappointed.
Before he could look into it further, his phone buzzed. Wheeling over to it on the charger, he found a text from Karyn.
"Teacher said you were sick. The... thing happen to you too?"
Jon replied. "Yeah. It's been weird."
"I'm really sorry."
She added another message. "You try fixing it with the stone?"
"I don't have the stone"
"WTF"
"I don't know. I'm trying to figure out what happened"
"Cant message you too much more. We can talk after school maybe"
"Ok"
Jon put down his phone and redoubled his effort. He tried a more specific "Incan wishing stone", not expecting much. How could the stone be gone? It made no sense. Unwilling to accept his fate, Jon began scrolling through pages on Google. Something. There had to be some closure.
Then, he found something. Some conspiracy site. Clicking the link, Jon was met with eye-melting yellow text on a green background, and a page design no newer than the early 2000s. Highlighting the text so he could read, the site explained that a government task force in 1961 had recovered an Incan superweapon and were holding it in Area 51, which the site claimed was a "reality alteration device". Crosschecking the expedition, Jon found the mission was real in this timeline, although the purpose and whether or not it was successful was merely a conspiracy.
So... that's where the stone went? But it still made no sense. How did it disappear from Jon's nightstand? It felt like Google, or anyone on Earth for that matter, wouldn't have an answer for that.
Just then, his phone buzzed again. Walking over it, Jon saw another text from Karyn.
"Can you send me a pic of what happened?"
Jon sauntered to his mirror and took a picture of the increasingly-familiar monster girl.
Karyn sent three texts in quick succession. "Wow" "Jeez" "I'm so sorry"
Jon replied with "Its ok" then let out a long sigh. He looked back at his reflection, and glowing blue eyes looked back. What the hell was he going to do?
