Jon ran downstairs and got the book, then went up to his room to study it more carefully. What was going on?
His first idea was that the book was just recording what had happened to him. After all, it started by describing him getting the stone and reading the note, which certainly had happened to him.
The trouble with that idea was that it didn't continue. It didn't show him wishing for something interesting, going to bed, waking up, and losing the stone and getting the book. Of course, if it went into a lot of detail, it would show him reading the book, then seeing the story of him reading the book, then seeing that story, and so on until the book was full. The book was obviously smarter than that. Still, shouldn't the book be describing more things than what it did?
Or did it? Maybe the book just added more stuff to itself. He opened the book and checked. Nope-- the rest was still blank.
Okay, he thought. Let's try something else. Maybe he could write in the book and make things happen. Then Jon realized the book was a graphic novel. He might be able to write, but he couldn't draw. The best he could do would be to trace or paste some pictures in.
Jon decided to try anyway. He wrote a caption saying "After Jon lost and searched for the stone, he found a strange book and eventually decided to see what the book would do, He wrote in the book that he found the stone by writing in the book, and he really did find the stone by writing in the book." It was pretty long for a caption, but he needed to make sure. Then he drew a picture of a hand reaching under a pillow and a word balloon from off panel saying "I found the stone under my pillow!"
Jon then reached under his pillow. He found himself forced to say the words "I found the stone under my pillow!" but his hand came back empty.
He groaned. Exactly what he drew in the book happened. But the picture he drew didn't show a stone, it just showed him reaching and saying some words.
But wait. The caption did say he found the stone. But it didn't say when. He copied the hand-under-pillow picture and wrote another caption saying "Jon found the stone within one minute". Soon after, he reached under his pillow and found the familiar shaped and colored stone.
"I wish this was over." Nothing happened.
"I wish I knew what's going on." Nothing happened.
"I wish for a ham sandwich." Nothing happened.
It was certainly his rock, but it seemed nonmagical. Had all the magic been drained into the book?
Finally he saw another picture appear in the book. But he hadn't done anything that could appear! The book must be describing what was going to happen, not just what did happen. He read the words. "Among the interesting things that happened to Jon was a transformation. He suddenly transformed into...." Lines were starting to appear below the caption.
Quickly Jon touched his pencil to the paper, and started to draw a line. Instantly, the book's automatic drawing stopped. He hesitated and the automatic drawing started appearing again--just background, but he didn't want it to continue and draw more than just background. It seemed the only way to not have the book draw what he was transforming into would be for himself to do it first.
There was no time to think. He began to sketch himself. He wasn't very good at it, but he was able to alter the sketch a bit. Longer hair, a figure copied from the model on his poster... he finished the sketch, the book didn't start automatically drawing again, and of course, Jon had turned into a girl....
