A minute later, the Sarah doll vanished. Karyn suspected that Anna had changed her back to human, but she didn't know. She could still hardly believe that Anna was going to get this violent.
A minute after that, Karyn was human again. She was sitting with Jon, in a room. Anna, she guessed, must have had the same idea as Jon and created a room that didn't exist. The room had four walls, a ceiling, and a door... and no exits whatsoever.
Then Anna materialized and said "Jon, tell Karyn what you did."
There was a feeling of helplessness on Jon's face as he explained. "Karyn, I felt sorry for you. Your Dad had broken up with your Mom and I wanted to get them back together...."
"No!" yelled Karyn. "I don't care what you did, Jon."
"I can't stop," said Jon. "I have to tell you. Anna won't let me go away without doing it. I wished that your Dad would leave his girlfriend and get back with your mother. I used the stone to control a human mind, Karyn. Your Dad didn't dump Anna because his feelings naturally changed, or because he decided he had to do something else. He dumped Anna because I forced him to dump Anna. I forced him using the magic stone. It was inexcusable."
"You don't really think that!" exclaimed Karyn.
"I don't!" yelled Jon. "But I had to confess. Anna made me confess what I did."
"You still don't realize what you did," said Anna. "Even if I made you say it yourself. Tell me, Jon, what did I make you say that wasn't true?"
"It wasn't what you made me say!" replied Jon. "It was the way you made me say it! I made Karyn's Mom and Dad get together because Karyn deserved to have her real Mom and Dad! If her Dad had to leave someone else in order to do that, then isn't that a small price to pay?"
"Not to the someone else," said Anna. "And really, not to anyone. He didn't leave me by his own will. You didn't walk up to him, have a nice chat, and say 'don't you love Cheryl more than Anna'. You forced him to leave me, with a magic stone. It's the same as if you put a gun to his head and made him do it, except he even thinks it's his own idea."
"It would have been his own idea if he just considered it. I was only giving him a bit of a nudge."
"Controlling Carl's mind to make him dump me isn't 'a bit of a nudge'."
"What are you going to do to us?" asked Karyn.
"You never liked me, Karyn," said Anna. "You resented that your Dad saw anything in me. You thought of me as a monster, come to steal your Dad now that he's single. And you managed to convince Jon that that makes me the most evil person in the universe and that he can do anything at all to get rid of me, even mess with people's heads. I'm not evil, Karyn. I'm not planning to do anything except keep the stone and straighten this mess."
"You shot Jon."
"I had to shoot him to get the stone. I knew that I could wish him back to health once I got it from him, so I knew he wasn't going to die."
"Where did you put the stone anyway?" said Karyn. "I don't see you holding it."
"I wished that I could use it at any distance just by thinking of a wish on purpose. Then I wished it into a pocket dimension. I'm not playing around, Karyn. I put some effort into keeping it secure; don't think you can jump me and pick my pocket or break into my room and take it off the dresser."
Anna paused for a second and then said "It's done. I've reversed Jon's wish, and no, I'm not going to tell you what wording I used. Not only is Carl's mind back, but he now knows exactly what Jon did to him, and that you approve of it, Karyn. Go home and argue with him."
The room disappeared and Karyn and Jon found themselves at Karyn's home with her father. How were they going to deal with this?
