"OK, OK, think Dana, think!"
Dana knew now that something was the matter. She wasn't aging as fast as Matt but she was definitely aging. As she watched herself cross from 29 to 30 there were small, nearly imperceptible changes -- little laugh lines deepening around her mouth, lines becoming slightly deeper in her forehead, and yes, her large breasts did feel a touch bigger, or softer... but she hadn't yet figured out the cause.
"This can't be good," she thought to herself ... "I'm going to end up old as Matt, and I don't want that ... why can I tell what's happening and he can't?
"OK..." She looked at her self in the mirror. "24...24... you're 24....you're 24.."
And just like that, she regressed back to 24 right in front of her eyes....the forming lines faded, her bra didn't feel as tight, and even her brunette hair looked shiner.
"Ohmigod! It worked!" Dana thought. But how? Nothing for her had changed all day except--
The ring! The ring she found at the beach!
Well, there's only one way to find out, Dana thought.
"30," she silently wished, taking a guess at about how old she had just been, and sure enough she saw the lines fade back in and her hair dull slightly.
"Oh wow! 32" Barely perceivable but she looked more mature.
"34." A full decade older.
"24." She returned to normal.
"Hmmm... 20," she said softly. She watched in awe as her face started to look fresher, her muscles tightened and thinned a bit thanks to her college workout regimen, and her larger breasts felt bouncier.
"Cool! 19! No, wait, 16!" she gushed, feeling more energetic as the power flowed through her. Her clothes started feeling looser but she was too awestruck to notice.
"14!" Legs thinned, hips narrowed zits appeared, bosom less rounded, muscle tone faded.
"12!" Height decreased, breasts started to shrink face became more childlike, teeth shifted, voice raised in pitch.
"9! Whoops!!" The pants of the shrinking girl fell to the ground. She looked in the bathroom mirror and saw a face she hadn't seen in almost 16 years.
"Oh geez, I better change back!" she piped in her childlike voice. "24!"
She shot back up to her full height and felt her newly regrown left tit pop out of her bra. She pulled up her pants and fixed herself.
"I wonder if this ring has anything to do with my mom's disappearance," she thought ... and a strange tingle at her finger seemed an encouraging answer.
She decided to head back to the beach.