"Jon! There you are. Thank god," Karyn said. "For a moment there I didn't think making you wish yourself out of the story would work."
Jon looked down at his hand and then all around him.
"What are you looking for?" Karyn asked.
"The stone's gone!" Jon panicked.
"No, it isn't. It's still in the story."
They both looked closely at the computer screen and saw:
WITH THE SPEED OF LIGHTNING, JON TOOK THE STONE OUT OF HIS POCKET AND SAID "I WISH I WAS ON THE OUTSIDE LIKE KARYN."
Then, below that was:
SUDDENLY, ANOTHER FICTION BRANCHES WRITER WAS TRANSPORTED INTO THE STORY ...
"Hey, where am I? Who are you?"
"I'm Hikaru. You must be Anonymous51."
"Yeah. That's the name I go by on Fiction Branches," he said.
"I love your stories, but you've got to lay off of all those people-turn-into-goths stories. It's all kind of overkill at this point. And what's with all the personality swap stories?"
"Hey, I like that stuff."
Hikaru shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever."
"Hey, I don't complain about you always trying to 'fix' other people's stories. I mean, the wishing stone story is supposed to be about Jon making wishes and dealing with the consequences, not constantly being sent back to square one."
"But, I like that stuff."
"Hey, you two. Cut it out," Zach said, walking into the room. Then he looked around. "Wait a minute. Where am I? This place looks familiar."
"Isn't it obvious?" Hikaru asked. "We're in the You Are What You Wish story."
"How is that possible? I'm in my own story? Where's Jon?"
Karyn giggled. "Zach's the one that started the story and now he's part of the story."
Jon couldn't wait to mess around with these three writers. He had read some of the stuff they had created and wanted to do to them what they did to him and Karyn, and everyone else he knew.
Sitting at the computer, Jon began to type ...
