Katie sighed. "I'm sorry. It's not just about power. I admit that would be cool but . . . I think the ring sees me as a friend. And I don't want to abandon a friend. I think we'd be incomplete without each other now. I happy to know you think that I haven't been doing bad things with the ring and . . . did two people really get turned into imps, and another person into rubber at your shop?"
"Both in different worlds dear. I sometimes help in what are called 'singularities' . . . there was even one where a man used a magic ring I sold him to change the humanity of his reality into platypus people who established world peace through their universal love of polka music. Since he didn't crown himself emperor of the world in the process the power that be had no trouble with it. So you really don't want to give up the ring? Think carefully now, changing ages could be just the tip of the iceberge."
"I can't say I'm not really tempted but . . . " She touched the ring on her belly. "It's not about power. I'd feel like I was trading a FRIEND." And being able to legally work here . . . wouldn't that mean she'd have to be a teenager at least? . . . She had already thrown away so much of her childhood . . . she realized with shock that as much as she curious about adult feelings . . . she didn't want to throw that time away.