Jon decided to leave the stone home the next day.' He knew if he took it to school he wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to use it.' Besides, the fun was going to be sharing it with Karyn and seeing what they could come up with together.' He spent the whole day trying to think of something that they could do that would be fun and test the limits of the stone.' As the school day drew to a close, he finally came up with something interesting.' After the last bell he walked out to his and Karyn's spot.' He was staring at the blue branch, refining his idea, when she finally walked up.
"Hey, Jon-boy, where's the stone?" she said as she walked up.
"Home.' I thought we could use it there and keep away from prying eyes."
"You've got something planned, don't you?"
Jon smiled.' "Well, for something so simple it took me all day to think of it.' I was thinking we could use the stone to change each other but make the wishes so the other can't hear.' You know, see if they really believe that the new reality the stone creates is the way things have always been."
"I don't know, Jon," Karyn said.' "It seems like that could cause some permanent problems."
Jon knew that Karyn was worried about making any more changes like her recent hair and cleavage enhancements.' "I think I've got a way around it.' As long as we include an out in the wish it should be reversible.' We'll test it before we make any changes to ourselves, of course, but I'm pretty sure it will work."
Karyn agreed and the two of them headed off to Jon's place.' Once there, Jon made Karyn wait in the hall until he took the stone from its hiding place and then proceeded to use it to turn a nickel into a ten dollar bill and back again.
"See," he said.' "As long as we say something put a time limit or reverse word on the wish, or say something like 'until I wish otherwise' we should be ok."
Jon made a few temporary wishes to make sure that the bathroom he that connected his room with his sister Zoe's would be both free from said sister and completely soundproof to anyone outside its walls.' Then he and Karyn spent the day making changes to each other.' Jon ended up with three arms, wearing little girl's clothes, and believing that he was British among other things.' Karyn was made to talk like a valley girl, believe she liked wearing diapers, and had a third eye for a bit.' Neither one of them ever noticed the changes to themselves and Jon was amazed at how the stone made them rationalize even the most radical changes.' He decided it was time to push the envelope a bit and for his last wish changed Karyn into a boy.
This was the first time either if them had made such a radical change to the other.' Sure, they weren't quite the same person with the change but they hadn't really messed with the core of the other person's identity before.' Jon was shocked when the now male Karyn almost knocked the stone out of his hand in an attempt to prevent him from reversing the wish.' Her male self was actually a little bigger and stronger than Jon.' It was only pure luck that Jon had built a reverse word into the wish instead of making it so he had to wish her back to normal.
Once Jon said the secret word Karyn reverted back to her normal self, panting from the suddenly abated rush of adrenaline.' She could remember being a guy and believing she was supposed to be one.' It was scary but at the same time exhilarating.' She and Jon could be anyone they wanted, whenever they wanted.' She also decided that Jon deserved a little bit of his own medicine.
"I know what you're going to do now," Jon said as she walked into the bathroom.
"He's right," she said as she closed the door.' "Even if he believes he's always been a girl, he'll probably still get it just based off of his last wish.' I think I have an idea, though."
She thought out her next few wishes carefully.' "Before I do anything else, I wish that it will seem like I've only been in here about five seconds when I come out.' Next, I wish that any wish that follows this one will be kept from being granted until I snap my fingers at which point all the wishes I've made while holding the stone will be granted all at once and wishes will resume being granted in the normal fashion."
Once the stone made its usual flash Karyn went on.' "I wish that for the next week whenever I say the phrase 'prancer likes to fart' in Jon's presence reality will alter so that Jon becomes at random both mentally and physically either an extremely sexy, curvy 22 year old woman of Armenian descent who is extremely into fashion and loves to model, club, and flirt with attractive men shamelessly named Kandyse Merlin who works as a fasion design teacher at our school and who was adopted by Jon's family when she was sixteen after her family, who were very close friends of Jon's family, died in a car crash or a lithe, willowy beautiful fifteen year old girl named Katrin Merlin who is Jon's sister Zoe's identical twin but has long auburn hair and is very quiet, polite, and reserved compared to Zoe, shy even, but is also an accomplished ballerina who occasionally goes on national tours with very prominent national and international ballet troupes and loves indie rock, poetry, art, and wearing retro style clothing, particularly like that of the 1940s like her heroes Katherine Hepburn and Rita Hayworth or a 13 year old extremely perky freshman girl, extremely beautiful in a manufactured way like Paris Hilton, named Victoria Merlin, but everyone calls her Vixen, who is on the Varsity cheerleading squad despite her age and grade level due to some serious gymnastics chops and the fact that she has something held over every major member of the cheer squad and has become Sarah's protege and heir-apparent as the eventual queen of the school but is secretly just as sneaky and mean as Sarah and unbeknownst to her has actually positioned herself to take over as captain of the cheerleading team and get Sarah thrown off it in a matter of days and that no matter what girl form Jon is in the new cliques he runs with will only allow him general knowledge of who I am instead of the close friendship we've always shared and that each time he is changed it will last until I have said the word 'shazam' in Jon's presence or two hours have passed, whichever comes first, at which point Jon will be a guy again and reality will resume as if he had never been female and that Jon will believe everything is normal until the week is up when he remembers all of his female experiences."
Karyn paused, not even bothering to count the run on sentences in that last wish.' She was afraid to break it down into several smaller wishes on the off chance she accidentally made one permanent.' Now, though, she only had a few small wishes left.
"I wish that whenever Jon is transformed over the next week he will have to hang around with me for at least a portion of every transformation due to various school projects, regardless of his current persona's feelings towards me.' I also wish that once Jon is transformed into a girl, everone except me will believe that is who he has always been and that all of his clothing and belongings will change to match his new identity.' I wish that while Jon is in a girl form I will not be able to remember that I did this to him or what I would need to do to change him back into a guy.' I wish that after an hour of Jon being changed, if I am in his presence I will feel compelled to say the word 'shazam' though I can and generally do ignore this compulsion.' Finally, I wish that if Jon has possession of the stone when he is transformed into a girl it will be immediately transported to his secret hiding place and that he will have no memory of it or its powers until he is male again and that no one will be able to access it while he is female."
Karyn took a deep breath, held it in, and snapped her fingers.' She had gotten used to the flash of blinding light that emanated when she made a wish on the stone, but what came after she snapped her fingers was the brightest thing she'd ever seen.' When it finally passed and she could see again she stepped out of the bathroom.' Jon looked up at her quizically.
"You couldn't have made a wish.' You've barely been in there five seconds."
"You'd be surprised," she said.
"Really, what did you change about me then?' I was expecting to go girly in some way, but I'm pretty sure I'm still a guy."
Karyn smiled.' "Well, prancer likes to fart.
