But before she could make the wish, there was a loud pop. Standing in front of the three teens appeared an old grey-haired man, who Jon immediately recognized.
"Grandpa?" he said.
"It's me, Jon."
"But you were dead! We were going to wish you back, but...."
"But you really believed I was dead. Grandson, I gave you a device that if used properly, could bring back the dead. If I had that, do you really think that when I die, it's going to be real?"
"Well, er, no, I mean, I was suspicious you were alive, but it's still a bit surprising when you appear in front of me, especially since Wendi was going to wish you back in another second."
"Yes, yes. Well, I'm alive, and don't you forget it. When the dig was attacked, I cast a spell. You never know exactly what you get when you try to fortell the future, because the future can change, but this time it told me that if I sent the stone to you, the stone would defeat DeMorrell. So I sent the stone, faked up a body, and travelled to now."
"Well, I did defeat him," said Wendi. She indicated the bed. "DeMorrell's over there having morning sickness, as soon as time returns to normal. Wait a minute. When you appeared, you appeared sped up...."
Jon's grandfather winked.
"Anyway," said Jon, "we can talk on the way to the dig. I need to do a ritual on Wendi."
"Fine, Jon, but you have to tell me the whole thing, starting with exactly who Wendi is."
"Turn the stone into a girl," said Jon's grandfather. "I can't see how anything could go wrong with that. And look what you stuck me with, Jon! I can't believe that you forced, ahem, 'Lucy' and a clump of office buildings on me. What would you have done if I refused to take them? Just because he's pregnant doesn't mean he can't hire assassins to kill you."
"That's what I said," interjected Karyn.
"Er... I'd have stopped time, turned him into a tree after all, and gone home, and we'd still be safe?"
"You're not supposed to answer that, Jon. You're missing the point."
At that moment, a breeze started blowing. A bird, who was standing on a pile of soil with its wings frozen in place, flew off.
"Looks like your little time warp is over," said Jon's grandfather.
Jon imagined he heard a woman screaming from over where he left Lucius.
"It's a good thing DeMorrell didn't understand magic. It's so easy to hurt someone with a time warp that any magician with the least regard for his safety has protections against it."
"Well, it worked," said Wendi. "Didn't we do pretty well?"
"Anyone could have done it, but... sure. You did have some great strokes of luck, but any fight has a couple of those."
They entered the dig area, which was deserted, though a few tents had been abandoned there. Jon got out his map and went over with the others to one corner of a roughly rectangular hole, where a dusty area of soil seemed flat. He climbed down and kneeled, to brush the dirt away from what was a slab of reddish rock.
"It's time," he said.
He moved aside to let Wendi stand on the slab, then took a bag of corn meal from his backpack and sprinkled a handful around. After that, he read off the words printed on the map. It was slow, because the foreign words were hard to pronounce. Suddenly Wendi glowed, just for a second. Jon wondered if only he could see it, just like when granting wishes.
"What's wrong?" asked Karyn. "You stopped reading, but nothing happened. Do you feel different, Wendi?"
"No," she replied, "but I'm not sure I'm supposed to."
"I think it did work," said Jon. "Let me try something." He put his hand on Wendi's neck and said "I wish we were eating dinner in a fancy restaurant right now."
Wendi glowed for a second. At least, she did to Jon. Suddenly, the four of them were at a table in a fancy restaurant. There was a glass of wine in front of Jon's grandfather and each of them had a plate of food in front of him or her.
Jon looked at his food. "What is this?" he asked. "It looks gross."
"I haven't a clue," said Wendi. "I know, I know..." She held out her hand.
Jon said, "I wasn't planning to do that, but sure." He touched Wendi's hand and said "I wish I knew what this food was... What? Fried guinea pig?! Wendi, I can't eat this... I thought you said you'd interpret wishes the way I want."
"I will as much as I can," said Wendi, "but it doesn't work the way you think."
"What do you mean?" asked Jon.
"Wishes are fast. I don't get a lot of time to think about them. In that split second, I just didn't think about making sure the food was right. After all, you didn't think about it, and you had more time than I had!"
"Well, can I just tell you 'think about the details for ten minutes before granting the wish'?"
"Sure I can, Jon. But I don't see why. You could do that yourself... just think about the details for ten minutes, then touch me and phrase a wish using the details. You're as likely to get them right as I am."
"Hmm. I wish this was some food that I'd want to eat, but which still belongs in a restaurant." The fried guinea pig changed into a plate of tamales.
"I see you're learning," said Jon's grandfather. "So tell me more about how you've been since I last saw you. And your mother. It's been ages...."
