I grabbed my purse and felt for the rock as I stepped out of the dressing room. It was thankfully still there. Jill was waiting for me outside of the booth. "Getting anything?" she asked, with a rather devious smile.
I shook my head. "I don't think so. Just wanted to try a few things on."
She nodded, still looking concerned, and we left the lingerie store. As we were making our way down the packed halls of the mall, she put a hand on my shoulder. "You been alright?" she asked. "You've been acting a little off today."
"I'm fine," I told her. I really didn't want her worrying about me. Reaching down into my purse, I touched the rock without really thinking about it and said "I wish Jill wouldn't worry about me so much."
After the flash of light, I looked over at my older sister. Jill seemed to be in a much better mood. It almost seemed as though she was walking with a spring in her step. I smiled. At least without her scrutinizing every little thing I did, I could get on with my worrying in peace. That whole experience had been kind of creepy, and not just because Malcolm had followed me into the dressing room, or rather appeared in there after I'd gone in. I was a little bit surprised to find that, after the initial shock, I hadn't really minded him being in there with me.
No, it was the things he'd told me. I'd known my grandfather really well and I'd never seen him do anything remotely immoral. So what exactly was Malcolm talking about? The more I thought about the strange man, the more I realized I didn't completely trust him. I had no doubt that he was telling me the truth, but only to a certain extent. I just wondered what version of the truth he'd decided to share with me. I also wondered what the hell he'd meant by unexpected side effects. This whole thing was starting to give me a chill. The best thing, of course, would be to just get rid of the stone. I could bury it, or throw it into the river. Yes, the best thing would be to just count my losses, deal with all of the changes whether I liked them or not, and just move on with my life.
Except I knew I couldn't bring myself to do it. When I'd made the wish a moment ago, for Jill to stop worrying, it had been almost subconscious. I hadn't even thought about it, and that scared the hell out of me. Maybe he was right. Maybe my inhibitions and caution were lowering every time I used it. He hadn't come out and said it when we were in the dressing room, but it was almost as though the rock wanted to be used - like it was doing everything it could to make sure that I used it.
"You should come back to my place tonight," Jill suddenly said. I actually jumped. I'd been so engrossed in my own thoughts that I had completely forgotten that Jill was still walking beside me. I looked back at her.
"Your place?" I asked, trying to hide my surprise. Jill didn't have a "her place". She was staying with us while she was on break from school. Obviously, this fell into the box checked "unexpected side effects".
