The first man raised a fist, which everyone could see had a faint blue glow surrounding it, the glow rapidly getting more obvious. "Turn away and cover your eyes until I tell you otherwise," he said as he continued to raise his arm above his head.
Everyone else did so. There was no noise, just a flash they could see even with their eyes covered.
"All right, that's it," said the man.
Nothing appeared to have changed, but the man said, "I have just changed reality to account for your presence, within about a 5-mile radius, which should be enough for this entire town. It creates a permanent zone within which you'll seem perfectly normal. Based on what we've seen when I've done this type of thing before -- the dress code and other things at your daughter's school will now be much different, as will the normal dress in your realty office -- and people will at worst ignore your swearing."
"What if we fucking go out of town?" asked Jon's father.
"Or fucking Skype with the kids' grandparents?" asked Jon's mother.
The man shrugged. "Things might be different, but that's where my colleague comes in. You won't see anything out of the ordinary."
The family looked confused, but the second man said, "That's where I come in." He quickly circled the small family group, using a fingertip, he tapped Jon's father, Jon's mother, and Mikey on the forehead; his back turned to everyone else, he only pretended to tap Zoe's forehead, winking at her instead.
"Your own memories are about to alter," said the man. "You'll think this is the way things have always been, and you'll remember that Jon is at a special boarding school, but nothing else specific about him." Your personalities might be different, too, to match your new foul-mouthed porn-star selves."
"What the fuck?!" said Jon's mother.
Zoe was grinning, realizing that she'd been given the gift of enjoying this new reality with her memories intact. Still, she thought she should pretend. "Yeah, I like my new fucking body and everything," she said, "but I don't know about losing my fucking mind."
"Within a minute after we leave, you won't notice anything," said the first man. "You probably aren't noticing even now, but your brains are already changing."
Jon's father was already looking forward to fucking his secretary on his lunch hour.
"Come along, Jon," said the second man. "I assure you, this is the best thing for your family, and we will help you to restore things good as new once you're in full control of your powers."
Jon looked down at his demonic-looking self. On one hand, this Institute for Gifted Youth sounded fascinating, and he was definitely looking forward to exploring the powers he'd acquired. On the other hand...
The Gothic slutty vision that his sister had become sidled up to him and whispered in his now-pointed ear. "Just fucking go. Trust me."
He let the two men guide him out of the kitchen, through the hallway past the living room that was now filled with leather lounge furniture, out the front door, and to a limousine that was waiting at the curb.
It took him a few minutes to figure out how to sit comfortably with his tail, but once he got it, he sat back and enjoyed the ride. It didn't occur to him until a few minutes after they'd gotten on the Interstate highway that, right by the entrance ramp, there had been a couple of brothels competing for business.
