"Kellie.....I mean Katie won't be home from school for awhile. We have the whole day to ourselves." Grace gave Katie a curious look. "Your not telling me something," she said suspiciously. Katie cursed herself silently, she had accidentally used her mothers name instead of her own. "I don't know what you mean Grace," she lied.
Grace continued to give Katie a suspicious look as she sat down in a chair. The young girl giggled as she realized her bare feet no longer touched the ground. Swaying her feet Grace now stared directly into Katie's eyes. "I know your not telling me something," she said. "I may look like a kid but I have the 85 years of experience in dealing with people. I can tell when someone is holding something back, just like you are now. So do you want to tell me or should I guess."
Katie looked at the young girl in shock. Although she was only a child she found herself intimidated by the maturity Grace still carried. She had after all only physically regressed her, Grace still maintained all the experience, wisdom and experience of a woman of 85. "Okay," Katie sighed. "I'll tell you the truth."
Grace smiled warmly as placed her arms on the table and propped her head on her hands, even though the sleeves still covered her hands. "Okay," Grace said. "Let me guess first then you can tell me the rest. Your not Carol, Kellie's sister are you?" Katie shook her head no. "And that little girl that went to school this morning...that wasn't Katie either. Was it?" Once again Katie shook her head no. "No," she sighed. "I'm Katie. The girl you saw this morning was my mom Kellie."
Katie now told her tale as Grace listened intently. Katie told her everything. How she had found the ring, her initial experiments in changing their ages and how Kellie had accidentally become aware of the changes. Katie told Grace how she had continued to change their ages and that her mom had deduced their was magic involved but didn't know Katie was involved. Finally she told Grace about meeting Merlin and how the ring compelled her to make people younger and older. For her part Grace listened intently as she continued to sway her bare feet. The story was incredible to her and as Katie completed her tale Grace smiled. "Sounds like you've had quite the adventure," she stated. "I can understand not wanting to tell your mother, she may not be as understanding as I am. Then again I don't think she really wanted to be a child again either." "What about you," Katie asked. "Do you want to be a child again." Grace smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess maybe a little," Katie and Grace now looked at each other in silence. "So what do we do now?" Katie asked.
"Well, I want to head to that shop, augment the ring," Katie said. "We can do a lot more with it after."
"Ok! Sounds like a plan!"