"Seems like it's working fine to me," said Karyn. "Maybe your grandfather was wrong about the power."
"But reversing wishes didn't work before," Jon protested.
Karyn shrugged. "So maybe it's been gaining strength because you've been using it, or maybe because it's been exposed to light -- sheesh, if you're so worried, ask your mother."
"Huh?"
"Your mother the witch. I'd expect her to know a little something about magic artifacts. In fact, I'm surprised you didn't talk to her about that rock the moment you got it."
"Hmm." Jon thought about that for a second. Why hadn't he gone to his mother? He couldn't quite remember what his reasoning had been last week. Fear that she'd decide he wasn't mature enough to handle it, and take it away from him, maybe. But she let Zoe experiment with all that witch stuff, even trying to summon demons in the basement... "Okay, let's go," he said.
Jon and Karyn went downstairs to where his mother was flipping through one of her leather-bound spell books, with Athena and Zoe looking on.
"It'd be easier if this thing were in some kind of order," complained Jane.
Zoe and Athena shared a look -- this was basic witch knowledge. "Uh, it's in order of which elementals are invoked," Athena explained. "Air, earth, fire, water, air plus earth, air plus fire, air plus --"
"Okay, okay," Jane muttered. "This isn't exactly the Betty Crocker cookbook."
Jon whispered to Karyn, "She seems busy. Maybe we should talk to her later."
