Jon opened the front door and let Karyn in.
Karyn saw the state that Jon was in, then tried to calm him down. "Just take a breath, Jon. Tell me what's going on. Did you find the stone?"
"No, it's gone. I ... I think someone might have taken it. And whoever it was that took it left something in its place. This," he said, raising the wand up.
She reached towards it to touch it, but Jon pulled it away in time.
"Don't touch it," he said. "I accidentally touched my mom with it and she ... she became Goth, kind of like my sister."
"Really? So, what? It's like a magic wand or something?" Karyn asked.
"I think so. But I don't know how to use it. Unlike the stone, this didn't come with instructions."
The sound of someone walking down the stairs grabbed their attention. It was Zoe. As she passed them to walk into the kitchen, she said "Hello. Good morning," in a monotone voice.
Karyn turned to Jon. "What the hell was that? Did you use the wand on her too?"
"No. She became like that after I used it on my mom. I think that my sister's personality and sense of identity has been sucked out of her and inserted into my mom." Suddenly, Jon became panicked again. "Karyn, my mom. I have no idea where she is. She just left and didn't say where she was going. She could be anywhere by now. How am I supposed to return her to normal if I can't find her?"
"Maybe you don't need to use the wand on her," Karyn suggested.
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe all you need to do is use the wand on Zoe. Maybe it'll reverse whatever happened."
"That's ... a good idea. But I don't know if that would actually work. What if I do it, but something else, something worse, happened? This isn't like using the stone."
"Come on, Jon. You have to do something. You can't have your mom be a Goth and your sister be a ... zombie ... for the rest of their lives."
Realizing that Karyn was right, Jon headed into the kitchen and found his sister sitting at the table eating cereal with a bland look on her face. He took a deep breath and then touched the wand to Zoe's arm, hoping that it would work.
