There was a brief confusion as the two older McMillan daughters entered a large, lavish bedroom. Both of them remembered it as belonging to the younger of the two, back when she had been Sarah. But now the older sister was Sarah, and so this room belonged to her.
They sat on the bed heavily, Sarah's arm draped over Zoe's shoulder. "It even took my name," the younger sibling sobbed. "I'm not me anymore. I have that... that gremlin's name now."
"Hey," the older one gave a gentle nudge, "that 'gremlin' is your little sister now. Be nice."
"What are we going to do?" Zoe looked up at Sarah with pleading eyes.
The older girl sighed, acknowledging a feeling she'd had since leaving her new mother's bedroom. "I don't think there's anything that we can do anymore. I think the curse is gone."
"What do you mean?"
Sarah looked down at Zoe, and despite herself, an upswelling of love rose in her chest. She was going to be a good big sister, and she wasn't going to hide anything from Zoe anymore.
So Sarah told Zoe about the magic wishing stone she'd inherited, and about the careless wish that Karyn had made, and the even more careless wish that she had made when she was Jon. And she explained patiently how she'd tried to avoid being changed, and how each one had made her own day just that much more miserable. And Zoe listened patiently, and she understood. And for the first time in a long time, she began to see things from someone else's perspective.
And as Sarah's explanation caught up to the present moment, she concluded: "But you're not Sarah McMillan anymore. Now I am. So a wish to be better than Sarah McMillan just doesn't make sense, and I think I'm just stuck as I am now."
"But what about the wishing stone? Can't you make a wish to fix things? We'll have to find the right way to word it, sure, but if we take our time..."
"I don't have the wishing stone anymore," Sarah drew a deep breath. "It was given to Jon Gibson, because he was the grandson of Malachi Gibson. That's not my grandfather anymore. And since Zoe Gibson is Michelle McMillan now, he doesn't have any grandchildren left at all. I don't know where the stone even is."
"Can we ask your mom? I mean, your old mom."
"Ask her what?" Sarah gave a low chuckle, "Hey, I used to be your son, and your father-in-law left me an important artifact in his will, do you have it?"
Zoe made a sound that was halfway between a growl and a groan, and then she collapsed fully into her older sister's lap. It felt right. It felt familiar. As though this place, this lap, was where she went to whenever she was troubled, her place of comfort, rather than an invention of a magical rock that hadn't existed just an hour before.
Sarah simply stroked Zoe's hair and her back like she was a lapcat, like she had been doing this for her younger sister her whole life, until Zoe drifted off to sleep.
Without waking her, Sarah removed Zoe's outer clothing and put her in a nightgown, then tucked her sister into her own bed. It was big enough for the two of them, and artificial memories of all three McMillan girls sharing a bed on occasion flashed through Sarah's mind. Then the events of the day caught up to Sarah, and her energy drained from her body, so she got herself ready for bed, as well, and tucked herself in next to Zoe.
And as she drifted off to sleep, her vision filled with her sleeping sister's face, one last thought escaped her lips: "I love you, Zoe."
And she did. She truly did.
