"You're joking. Zoe's brother has a wishing stone?" Rachel asked, completely stunned.
"Yes, he does. Or, at least, he did. Someone took it and we don't know where it is," Karyn said. "I was hoping that maybe Zoe or one of you could help me track it down. It's magic and you know stuff about magic. I thought that maybe ..."
"Yes, yes. I get it," Scarlet said. "Can you describe it for us? There's more than one wishing stone."
"There is?" Karyn asked. Just having one wishing stone was fantastic enough. Now she learned that there were more? How many more?
"Yes," Scarlet answered. "But we need to know which one it is before we can track it down. Describe it."
"Uh ... kind of metallic, sort of a reddish hue, small, rounded, kind of flattish."
Scarlet nodded, then grabbed a book off of a nearby shelf. She searched the pages, then stopped and turned around. "Like this?"
Karyn looked at the page. "Exactly like that." She was stunned. "How do you have a picture of it?" It was a drawing, not a photo, but it was very accurate.
"This book contains a record of almost all the magical artifacts in the world. The one that you're interested in finding, though, is one of the most powerful. How did Jon get his hands on it?" Scarlet asked.
"He inherited it, from his grandfather," Karyn said.
"That was his inheritance?" Zoe asked. "All I got was a chessboard. It was Grandpa's favorite chessboard, but still ..."
"Zoe has talked about him before," Scarlet said. "He was an archeologist. Correct?"
"Yeah," Zoe said.
"Then he must have found the artifact during one of his digs. It wasn't by any chance in South America, was it?"
"It was," Karyn said, stunned again. "How did you know that?"
Scarlet held up the book, so that Karyn could see. Both of the pages she saw were devoted to the stone. But it wasn't called "the wishing stone".
"The Jewel of Cusco," Karyn read. "Is that what it's called?"
"Yes."
"But it's not a jewel," Karyn said.
"A jewel doesn't have to be a gem. It can just be something that is treasured. And I'm sure you can agree that the stone is something that can be treasured above all else."
"Yeah, I guess so." Karyn paused, then asked "So, can you find it?"
Scarlet smiled. "Definitely."
