Jon was mid-awkward shuffle in his kitchen, in an attempt to remove his floral-stickered elbow pads and knee pads, when he noticed his sister there, waiting for him on a stool at the kitchen island counter. She cleared her throat.
"Hey Z-er-Jon," he said. "What's up?"
"I know something's up," Zoe said flatly, ignoring the fact that, from her perspective, her brother nearly called her his own name.
"You do?" Jon frowned. "I mean, what do you mean?"
"My friend Jerry saw you at the park today. You know Jerry, right? He's a punk-skater type, red hair."
"Oh shit," said Jon shamefaced. "I thought I used my index finger. Look, I can fix him."
Zoe stared quizzically at her brother for a long beat. "What the fuck do you mean, fix him? What did you do?"
Jon slaps his palm against the side of his face. "You didn't know."
"I knew enough, clearly. Now c'mon, spill it."
--
Karyn huffed and collapsed onto her bed. Why did her friend have to be such a pain in the ass sometimes? Leave it to him to be so aloof with something as serious as magic powers. She glanced up from her cushioned faceplant into her standing mirror. She saw a very normal girl in the glass, face scrunched against her quilted bedspread, gazing back at her. "I'm normal, at least." Karyn ruffled her own red hair. "I think I'm normal, at least," she corrected. After all, it's not like she'd notice. "If I'm not normal, I'll kill Zoe . . . just as soon as he finds time to tell me, of course." Karyn tossed away from the mirror, somewhat cocooning herself with her bedcover in the process. "He wouldn't do that to me. I'm his friend. He would only do that to strangers, surely." She mulled it over in her head before shooting up to a knelt position, again facing her now bed-headed reflection. She tugged both her shirt and bra up and over her head. They certainly looked normal. She brought a hand up to her chest. They felt normal too. She brought a second hand up to her chest.
Her door swung wide open. "Honey, dinner time!"
--
"So that's the story."
"My brother, all-powerful?" Zoe mused. "What kind of cosmic joke is this?"
"I mean, I wouldn't say all-powerful."
"But you have a wishing stone."
"Yes."
"And with this wishing stone, you can wish for anything,"
"Yes."
"As many times as you like?"
"Yes."
"That's all-powerful, dipshit," said Zoe sardonically.
"I mean, when you put it that way . . . anyway, do you want the safe swapping power or not?" Jon reluctantly asked, adding, "I can tell that's where this is going."
"Actually, I was going to ask for the wishing stone."
"Not happening," Jon said firmly, to which his sister laughed for some reason.
"Then I will happily accept the swapping power."
Jon again began his spiel.
"I wish that when, um, Jon says the phrase 'Give me,' she will receive anything following this phrase until the conclusion of the sentence from the person she is pointing her finger at, and the other person will receive the equitable thing of Jon's in return."
Flash!
"Okay, I wish that when Jon says the phrase 'you can have it back,' the last person she traded with will have what they had before the trade returned to them, and that Jon will have whatever she had before the trade returned to her."
Flash!
"Okay, I wish that for each of Jon's trades, everyone, excluding herself, will believe that she and the person she traded with have always had whatever it is they received."
Flash!
"I wish that if Jon were to point at someone with only her middle finger, only the person who she is pointing at and Jon herself would be aware of the trade, and, additionally, that if she points at someone with only her pinkie finger, absolutely everyone will be—" Jon sneezes violently and suddenly mid-wish, causing him to lose his place.
"Everyone will be," adds Zoe helpfully.
"Uh, um, aware of th' trade th't has taken place," he continues through a newly congested nose.
Flash!
Thanks to the sneeze and an unhelpfully clogged pair of nostrils, "um, aware" sounded a whole lot closer to "unaware" than it did to his intent.
"Gesundheit," mutters Zoe while handing her brother a napkin from the counter en lieu of a tissue.
Jon blows the rest of the phlegm from his nose with a half-apologetic expression. "Sorry about that," he said. "Lastly, I wish that if Jon points out exactly what has been traded to or from a person, and they are not already aware, they would become aware and immediately recognize that the trade has occurred."
Flash!
"Congratulations, you're a newfound recipient of magic swapping powers," Jon says flatly. "That should do it."
Zoe grins, cracking her knuckles and extending her index fingers. "Gimme that place in the family, along with its benefits," she said, since she knew the older children, especially brothers, had the most leeway. She wouldn't get so much flak for staying out late anymore. "Gimme that level of education," she said, even though she was only two years behind Jon, because she knew she was ahead of her class and it bored her beyond belief. "Gimme that musculature and bone structure," she said, because being bigger and stronger meant she could more easily protect herself and her friends from any bullies that might have a problem with her being goth. She knew her brother wasn't the biggest or strongest guy ever; he certainly wasn't a jock, but having the muscle of a young man at all would be enough to put her in a new weight class.
Just like that, Jon had dropped in height to barely five-foot and had gained the shape of a girl a year and a half his junior. Zoe, now a quarter-step closer to amazonian by comparison, stretched her newly defined arms with a satisfied smile.
"Well, do you want to try it out?" asked Jon, oblivious to his change in stature, among other things.
"Huh?" Zoe looked up from her new body to her brother. "Oh, yes, of course." With a mischievous glint in her eye, Zoe extended her middle fingers, a gesture that came second nature to her. "Gimme that wishing stone."
"Hey, wait," Jon nearly sprinted around to the other side of the island kitchen counter. It was a vain effort, though, as Zoe, after fishing the rock out of her purse, simply held it out of Jon's reach. "I wish you wouldn't use your swapping powers or wishing powers on me without permission."
Flash!
"I wish you would be open to letting me use your wishing stone from time to time."
Flash!
"You can have it back."
Suddenly, the wishing stone popped out of existence in Zoe's hand and reappeared in Jon's hand, as if the world around them skipped a track.
"I — Oh, you gave it back," Jon said, taken aback.
"Yeah, I mean, Gramps gave it to you," Zoe said simply. "I'm sure he did it for a reason. I still want access, though."
"That's . . . surprisingly very thoughtful." Maybe she could be trusted with the stone after all, he thought. She wasn't always the frustrating older brother he made her out to be in his head (It didn't occur to him that it should be odd to consider her his older brother at all). "Don't scare me like that, though. I thought you were immediately betraying my trust."
"Oh - um, yeah," Zoe sheepishly crossed her long arms. "I'll try not to."
Jon quickly slipped the stone into his pocket at the sound of his mother's footsteps approaching. "Kids, what's all the ruckus? You better not be picking on your sister again, Jon," Mother said, glancing at Zoe.
Zoe's ears perked at the sound of that, and her smiling eyes widened. If she had a sister, that meant she wasn't the sister. That means it worked.
"No, Mom. It was just a misunderstanding," said Jon, relieving their mother before it could become a spat. "Everything's fine. Sorry we bothered you."
