"Exposure to the rays of the green sun mutates people into human plants," explained the reporter, who was safe inside a studio. "Our reporters have confirmed this through ... firsthand experience."
A blonde reporter with a microphone appeared on the screen beneath the words "Earlier This Morning." She pointed up at the green sun with her free hand. Her skin appeared to be green, but that was because of the unusual light. Her fingers lengthened and twisted into the tips of branches. She dropped her microphone and stared at her hands. Leaves grew over her fingernails. Her skin became flexible bark. Her golden hair morphed into a mane of energy-absorbing leaves. Roots burst out of her shoes and tore into the sidewalk in search of water.
Her crew had undergone similar transformations. They had dropped their equipment on the ground. A fallen camera continued to film what had once been her feet. Her legs had thickened into twin trunks.
Jon couldn't see her face, but he guessed that she had lost her beauty. He wondered what her upper body was like now. And her organs. Plants didn't need them. Did she? Had her blood turned into sap?
"What are we going to do?" asked Jon's father Mark Madison. "We can't hide in here forever. Those plant people outside can live off sunlight and water, but we need food. There's enough in the refrigerator to last us ..." Mark looked at his wife.
"One day," stated Linda Madison. "I was supposed to go shopping today! But if I leave, I'll ... change ..."
Jon ran up the stairs back to his bedroom. If the stone somehow changed the world, he thought, maybe it can change it back!
