It was after dinner when a knock came at the front door. Jon's parents were in the kitchen cleaning up, so Jon went to answer it. Karyn was standing there, looking frantic.
"Jon, something's wrong." He tried to keep his eyes on her face, despite her recent enhancements. Her worried look definitely drew his attention.
"What is it?"
"I don't know... I, I was at home. My little brother was pestering me, like always. I made some crack about him liking dog food. He kept being a brat, but once he left me alone he went right into the kitchen and started eating out of the dog dish!"
"So? What's wrong with that? Your brother's been doing that as long as I've known him."
"Are you kidding me? He was eating dog food Jon. Would you do something like that?"
"God no, that's gross! Do I look like a dog?"
"Well neither does my brother! That's what I'm saying!!"
"Karyn, you're talking in circles. Just try to calm down and explain what's wrong." They had moved to the living room and sat on the couch. Jon looked around to make sure none of his family was hearing what Karyn was saying.
"That is what's wrong, Jon. It's like I put this idea into his head - and then he acted on it like it was his own natural thought. My parents didn't say a word, and they were right there! And you even think it's perfectly normal."
"Well, it is, as far as I can remember. But you seem pretty freaked out, it's not like I can ignore my best friend. Besides, I can't exactly be skeptical these days, you know? You said you just changed your brother by thinking about it. Can you change anything else?"
"I don't know... let's see," Karyn looked around the room, here eyes settled on the coffee table in front of them. It was a dark, solid wood with a few magazines on it. But then it was glass with metal legs, and the magazines were today's newspaper.
"Holy shit Karyn! You changed our coffee table! Wait... I noticed that change."
"Yeah. I wanted you to. That was... surprisingly easy. I barely had to think about it. It was almost like... like a feeling. And the feeling became the truth."
"Woah... gotta say that's a little heavy, Karyn. It's like you've got... superpowers or something."
"Yeah. I don't really feel all that powerful, though. I still feel pretty normal. How did this even happen?! Jon, were you wishing again?"
Jon looked down at the new coffee table, then sheepishly back up at Karyn. "Well... yeah. But I only wished for something interesting to happen!"
"Yeah, but what was the wish, exactly?"
"That was the wish. For 'something interesting' to happen. I had no idea it would do this!"
"Jesus, Jon! You're lucky your wish didn't make a black hole over the town or something."
"Yeah, sorry. I wasn't thinking. At least it seems like you can control it pretty well. What about... well, can you change it back?"
"Oh... wow, I don't know. I didn't try it with my brother, I was so freaked out I just came right over here. Hang on."
She looked at the coffee table. She thought about how the table used to be. It took some actual thought this time, but in less than a second the original table was sitting right where it had been.
"Hmm. That took a bit more work. Still pretty easy, though."
"Wow! Karyn, that's amazing! It's like - you can do anything!" Jon was clearly flummoxed. He hadn't intended to give his best friend unlimited cosmic power. "Looks like we might not even need the stone anymore!"
Karyn scowled at Jon. "Oh, so you think I'm just going to be your personal genie now?"
"Huh? No, Karyn, that's not what I meant, I just -"
"Hey, you wished this onto me, I didn't ask for it. In fact," her scowl became a sly grin, "I think you need to help me test these abilities even more."
"Uh... What did you have in mind?"
