Opening the box again that evening, Jon thought about his options. He really didn't want to change Karyn's memories, but there had to be a wish that was innocuous enough that it wouldn't change other people's memories of him.
He thought about giving himself some unique abilities, but realized most of those would definitely be normalized to everyone else. It had to be passive, something that he wouldn't show or know to show other people, but still useful enough that he could have it surprise Karyn.
His thoughts strayed to her miswish to look more like Sarah. He didn't want to physically change her while she wasn't around, but it got him thinking about how people look and are. Karyn heard her wish, so she still 'was' her original self, even if she looked like a girl who'd have had a slightly different life.
Jon decided to wish that he had the ability to immediately see people for who they actually are. He looked away as the stone lit up like a firecracker.
Hearing his mother calling them down for dinner, Jon quickly put the stone back in the box and put the box inside his school bag, something he was pretty sure wouldn't be cleaned or thrown out by his mom.
Coming out of his room he heard Zoe's music playing and figured she hadn't heard mom calling. He knocked on her door a few times, partly to get her out of trouble, mostly to see if his wish actually did anything significant.
When Zoe opened the door, she looked extremely irritated, but otherwise normal. Jon was disappointed, but unsurprised. It was a safe, possible dud wish and he probably knew his sister well enough for seeing her real self to not change anything at all.
At that point, Zoe's entire face flipped up to reveal a large, head-sized eyeball underneath. Her outfit and body dissolved together into one black surface with an apparent fabric texture, her body being wiry and near featureless. Her legs and hands both ended in three large, sharp prong-like fingers and she generally looked angry and inhuman.
Oh. Thought Jon. It hadn't occurred to him that maybe it wasn't even possible to make a minor wish with the stone.
After hearing some kind of ear piercing whining trill sound, the creature that had been Zoe scampered down the stairs, presumably for dinner. Jon looked at the carpet where she'd stepped and saw heavy imprints of her odd hands and legs.
If this is just me seeing this, why can the 'changes' impact random objects like this? Jon was thinking he might have accidentally made the single worst wish he possibly could have.
