"What I don't get," Kat questioned. "Is why my grandmothers name is Marilyn but Katie's mom is named Lynne. Why would the names change? I mean if the this is just another timeline then things should be pretty similar."
"Well that's what we thought but look," Kellie answered. "Only you and Katie are related. Kel and I don't have any relation to you at all."
"Guess it works that were not related Kat," Kel sighed. "Although it would have its advantages. I mean if I was your mom that means I could ground you or force you to clean the bathroom."
Kat laughed, playfully pushing her fiance. "Yeah even if when were married I don't see myself cleaning the bathroom."
As Kellie watched her daughter and fiance she now wondered why things had been so radically altered. "Did that wish really change things so drastically," she thought. "I know Merlin said I wasn't related to this Katie and Lisa but did it affect my relationship to Kat?"
"Kellie what are you thinking about," Katie asked. Kellie blinked her eyes as she shook her head. "Sorry got lost in thought." Stretching she now looked everyone over as an idea began to form. "Well," she stated. "We should go talk with Merlin. I want to know who I'm related too and we should probably find out about this problem with the timeline." The others nodded in agreement as they now went to fetch Merlin.
Merlin sat in his study reviewing several of the timelines that had recently been affected. As he gazed at the study door he smiled, Kellie was going to be in for quite the surprise. As the girls entered the elderly wizard slowly rose to his feet. "Was wondering when you would come find me," he smirked.
"Merlin," Kellie said. "Some really weird things are going on. Only Katie and Kat are related to each other yet I'm not, what gives?" Merlin rubbed his chin thoughtfully, he had heard Kellies story about erasing her husband. Kellie was able to reveal a secret without damaging her relationships. He, Kat, and Kellie were the only ones that knew the complete truth and they were the only ones that needed to know. That secret would remain between only those three but the others knowing the consequences of reality alteration (even if it was a carefully crafted story) would be a lesson well learned.
"Well," he started. "The reason that only the two Katies are related is because the two Kellies are two completely different people."
"Then how come I'm not related to Katie?"
"Was wondering when you would ask that question," he smirked. "And the reason is this. When you were reborn in this reality you changed who your family was. So while you were Kellie O'Toole and have her memories you are also a completely different person. That's why you are physically a 16 year old girl."
"So who are my parents then?"
Merlin smiled as he now waved his hand. The girls watched as the card with Kellies blood appeared on Merlin's desk. As they now watched the elderly wizard they could see him prick his finger. A single drop of blood fell onto a card where the wizard now muttered a spell. The girls watched in stun silence the two drops of blood now raced to their edges, touching one another. Kellie gawked at the elderly wizard as he made a grand gesture.
"You," Kellie gasped. "Your my dad?!?!"
"Well yes," he smiled. "But not in the conventional sense. You see Kellie after your wish I had to pull you from the reality you mistakenly destroyed. When you returned to infancy I placed you in a new reality, but because of my interference I became bound to you. I was responsible for your rebirth, meaning that magically I became your father."
Kellie leaned against the wall of the study, shocked that the man who had taken care of her for the past 10 years was in fact her father. "So if I'm your daughter does that mean I'm no longer Kat's mom?"
"This is the part of reality alteration that's confusing," Merlin sighed. "You see when you came into possession of the Ring of Age the memories of the previous reality came flooding back. You gained the essence of that lost timeline. That means that while by blood you may no longer be Kat's mom in essence you are and always will be her mother."
Kellie rubbed her eyes as she tried to wrap her mind around this. "So yes and no," she groaned. "You know you were right Reality Alteration really does cause brain tumors."
"Um Merlin sir," Kat asked quietly. "We want to know about the timeline you were talking about that involved my grandmother. After looking at Katie's parents we noticed they looked like my grandparents Martin and Marilyn."
"And were named David and Lynne," Katie added.
Merlin leaned back in his chair as he studied the four girls in front of him. "Yes that one gets a bit tricky," he said thoughtfully. "Marilyn, Ann and Lisa need to work things out with one another or another branch will form. One separate from the two realities we already know."
"Great a third timeline," Kel groaned. "Because two timelines aren't confusing enough."
"I'm afraid so," Merlin laughed. "So the question is now do you help sort things out to prevent the timeline from branching or do you let things proceed?'
Kat, Kellie, Katie and Kel now looked anxiously at one another. They needed to decide exactly how they would deal with the emergence of a third timeline and they needed to do it together.