"Time shifts?" Melissa said.
"Just one of the sorts of changes we'll be facing. It's one of the bigger ones, but it's usually not permanent, like the others. The entire world gets shifted through time in one direction or the other. You just found out what's going to happen to you in twenty years... if we're able to beat this thing, and if you happen to remain as Melissa."
Melissa shuddered. She didn't want that future. "What happens if we get pushed back farther than our natural lifespans?"
"Well, in most people's cases they simply disappear for the duration of the shift. In our cases it gets more complicated... because we know how things are supposed to be, the universe won't be able to alter any of our memories through all of the coming changes... it can't even erase them by destroying us. If our bodies disappear in any of the changes, our minds will survive... they'll be bumped into a different existing body. In the case of the time shifts we'll be put into the bodies of people who live in the times we go to... sort of like that old show 'Quantum Leap.'"
"Where did you go?"
"I was in a hospital. I wasn't in good health... I was over eighty years old!" Robbie smiled. "I'm just glad to know I'll be alive in twenty years."
Melissa considered all of this. "It sounds like you've experienced all of this before."
"This isn't the first time reality has 'snapped,' Melissa. That rock has been around for a long time, and it's been used by many, many people. Remember, all members of the BMR retain their memories through any changes that might come. You want to know how we found the rock? There was a businessman in Seattle who was misusing the rock, and he made things go haywire. Over the next few days the changes started to pick up, and we started noticing them. I personally found out when I was no longer talking to my grandson Jon but my granddaugther Joan. You looked much like you do now, actually. You didn't notice anything different, but I certainly did."
Melissa looked at herself and blushed. "I see. But I thought you said you found the rock in South America."
"We did. By the time we found the businessman he was a blind eight-year-old girl in the New Incan Empire. He'd gone quite mad."
"New Incan E... huh?"
"I reiterate, Melissa: things will change. Small things and big things. We were barely able to wish things back into place when we found the rock."
"You mean you could just wish things back as they were?"
"Of course. The rock is powerful. It may not be able to reverse its own changes, but it can reverse changes set off by other magics... in this case, the changes of a crumbling universe. Unfortunately, that's the big difference between the last changes and the changes this time... last time we had a functioning rock to work with. This is the first time in known history that the rock has been drained of its power. That piece of sandstone you're holding in your hand is useless to us now."
"What we can do, then?"
"The rock you have isn't the only magical artifact in this universe, Melissa. It's just the most powerful. There are other magics in this universe at our disposal. The rock had to write itself out of existence to create this universe, but it didn't have to do anything to the rest of the world's artifacts. There are other magical resources available to us... another wishing artifact might be just what we need to reverse these changes. Finding them will be a problem... but I think we can do it. If you''re willing to help us, Melissa, I believe we will prevail."
