"If you can just find the stone whenever you want, how come you didn't try to track it down before? I mean, who wouldn't want the chance to make their dreams come true?" Karyn asked.
"Well, first of all, the artifact has to be within range of our spell. You say someone took the stone, right? Well, they couldn't have taken it far. And I'm willing to bet that whoever took it is still in town, thus still in range to find," Scarlet said. "And second, some wishing stones can be perilous. And some are cursed. That's not something that I or the other members of my coven are eager to get their hands on. Zoe's grandfather was lucky that his was one of the ones that was safe."
"Well, safe-ish," Karyn said. "It did create all of this."
"True. But I'm figuring that Jon is the one to blame for that, not the wishing stone."
"Hey, my brother wouldn't cause something like this," Zoe said. Karyn was surprised by her outburst. She just never thought that Jon's sister would ever stand up for him. They hardly ever got along with each other.
"Well, actually he did," Karyn said. "But it wasn't on purpose. He just wished for something interesting to happen."
"That's a very vague wish. No wonder something like this happened. Vague wishes usually get granted in this way, according to folklore. The vaguer the wish, the more complex the outcome," Scarlet said. "He's lucky that he has a stone with a limited range."
"You mean there are others that have a larger range?" Karyn asked.
"There are others that have no range. Those are the most dangerous. I just hope, though, that someone had the good sense to destroy them. I shudder at the thought of someone using them." Scarlet paused. "But enough of that. Let's find the one you're looking for."
Mary sat at the far end of the room, watching everything and taking all of it in. The longer she sat there, the more familiar all this was to her. Oh, she didn't get any new memories, but she got new feelings, new desires. And one of those desires was to help the other members of the coven to track down the artifact they were searching for. She stopped herself suddenly and looked away. Did she just think about those witches as the other members of the coven? That would mean that she thought of herself as a member. She felt disgusted. But then when she turned back and watched them again, her disgust faded away. She felt an obligation to help them. It was important to find this stone thing. It could return her to normal. Isn't that what she wanted? To be normal again? But did she want to do it in this manner? Did she really want to be a witch - something she despised with all of her heart? She stood up from the chair and slowly approached the four witches, who were currently sitting on the floor in a circle. "Can I help?" She almost couldn't believe that she had said it. What was wrong with her? She couldn't honestly be thinking of going through with this, could she? But they might need her help. What if they couldn't find the artifact without her? She was part of the coven. It was her obligation to help. Or was it? She was so confused.
Rachel turned and looked up at Mary. "You don't have to. We can handle it."
The relief was overwhelming at Rachel's words. Deep down, she didn't want any part of this, so it was good that she didn't need to help them. But part of her still wanted to. And that kind of scared her.
"So, what exactly are you going to do?" Karyn asked. She looked down at them sitting on the floor in a circle. At the center of their circle was a map of the town, and on top of the map was what looked like a Ouija board pointer.
"We'll show you," Scarlet said. And with that, the four of them placed their right hands on the pointer, closed their eyes, and began to chant.
Mary looked on with both fascination and disgust. But fascination was winning out, as more time passed. She was becoming more and more like Rachel and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Of course, in just a little more time, she wouldn't want to stop it. She'll be perfectly content being a witch.
George watched on mainly with curiosity. He had doubts that this would work, but considering what he had seen so far, maybe it wasn't as far-fetched as he thought.
And Karyn looked on with anticipation. All day, she had been trying to track down the stone. And now finally, she was going to be able to get it back.
The four witches continued to chant. But the pointer they touched still didn't move. They were waiting for the stone to be used. Only then could they detect its magic. They had hoped that they could find the stone within minutes, but the truth was, they could be there chanting away like that for hours or maybe even days.
After the flash dissipated, Officer Chase saw that her partner had passed out. What had happened? She made a wish for him to know what she did. Her eyes went wide. That's how the stone worked. It was a wishing stone. And now Maybourn knew everything she did. She began to panic, not knowing what to do. Maybourn probably gained all of her knowledge, maybe even all of her memories. She could have given him major brain damage with what she did. To suddenly have someone else's memories drop into your head certainly couldn't be good.
Officer Maybourn squirmed a little and moaned.
"Are you alright?" she asked him, wondering if maybe she should help him up.
She heard the squeak of a footstep and spun around. Apparently, the guard was using the distraction of Maybourn collapsing to make his move on her.
"Lady, just put the gun down," the guard said.
"That's Officer."
"After something like this, you're not gonna be a cop anymore. They're gonna lock you up and throw away the ..."
Chase didn't hesitate. In one swift move, she knocked out the guard, causing him to fall to the floor with a dull thump.
"Help! This cop's crazy! She's gonna kill me!" yelled the girl, who was actually Vic Rudolph.
Officer Chase heard more footsteps - more guards. And this time, they were running.
Maybourn moaned again. At least he was still alive. But was he coherent?
"Put down the weapon!" a new guard yelled, drawing his weapon. He was soon joined by other guards, who also drew their weapons.
"I wish all of you would drop your weapons and couldn't move anywhere until I say you can!" Chase yelled out.
Suddenly, all the guards dropped their guns simultaneously and then began to panic when they couldn't move their feet. The girl (Vic Rudolph) also couldn't move her feet.
"You bitch!" the girl yelled out. "You're gonna fucking pay for this!"
The four witches continued to chant, but then something began to happen. The pointer began to move on the map. And within seconds, it pointed at a specific location.
George looked closer. "Hey, I know where that is. That's ... the prison. That's where the wishing stone is? What's the chance of that?"
"What do you mean?" Karyn asked, confused.
"That's the John Wilson Penitentiary. And I'm the warden."
