"It's a long story," explained Claire, "but... Karyn, you have watched Heroes, right?"
"A bit," she replied. "You're the one who really loves that show. You know, you being named Claire and all that."
"Okay," replied Claire. She held up the palm of her hand to Karyn and suddenly pulled a knife off of her desk. By the time it dawned on Karyn what Claire was trying to do, it was too late to stop her. Claire sliced open the palm of her hand, which began to drip blood."
"You've got to be kidding," said Karyn.
"I'm not kidding," replied Claire. She kept her palm facing Karyn as the blood stopped dripping and the cut healed before her eyes.
"All right," said Karyn. "How in the world did they manage to find out about that? It can't be just a coincidence."
"It's just a coincidence," replied Claire. "The people who put me in a show without knowing it also managed to figure out exactly what power I'd have..." Claire could barely suppress the grin, which ended up becoming a sort of smirk.
"Yeah it does seem a bit unlikely," replied Karyn.
Relaxing a bit, Claire let Karyn believe that she was just smirking over the unlikeliness of the coincidence, not over having made the "coincidence" herself using magic. She wasn't even sure if Karyn still knew about the stone, though she hadn't any idea how becoming Claire could have made that never happen.
"You wished for it, didn't you?"
Claire groaned. "You got me."
"I knew it! You kept watching that show, and you inherited a magic rock, and it occurred to you that instead of just looking like the Claire from the show you could use the magic rock to have her powers too. So you made a wish, and the impossible's possible. Claire Madison has turned into Claire Bennett."
"It's not just me, Karyn. Maybe you'll be getting powers too. It's rare, but it's always possible, and if you like I can wish that you beat the odds and got them."
"Really? It would be fun. Except... what about Sarah?"
"Sarah McMillan?"
"Yeah, your rival. Imagine if she got super-cheerleading."
Claire muttered "That's not a power," but it hadn't even occurred to her. She had just turned into a cheerleader. That would put her in direct competition with Sarah. This could be bad in several ways. Claire in the series had one rival, Jackie... she got killed by Sylar. At a new school Claire ran into Debbie, who she and her sort-of boyfriend who the audience hated managed to make look stupid. She might want to make Sarah look stupid; she definitely didn't want Sarah dead.
"What about your sister, Zoe? Claire in the show is adopted. You're not... uh, are you?"
"Not as far as I know."
"Well, from what I know of the show, blood relatives of people with powers often get them too. Does that mean your sister has powers now?"
Suddenly, Zoe materialized right in the middle of the room. "Hi guys," she said.
