So the days turned into weeks, and the weeks stretched into months. Over time, Fiona began to care for the strict Mrs. Heather, and hurried to work every day after school. She noticed that Jonas was changing, too.

One day, after work, Fiona and Asher agreed to meet up with Jonas at the park. While waiting, they played a game called "Kapow!" with some of their other friends. Basically, you hide and yell "Kapow!" if anyone is in sight. Then you have to play dead if you are hit. A simple game from their childhood, really. Then, Jonas stopped on his bike and came onto the field. Asher jumped out from behind a tree and yelled "Kapow!" pointing at Jonas. Jonas, instead of playing along and falling dead, stood there with a blank, hurt expression on his face.

Confused and alarmed by the sudden strange mood, the other children slipped away, leaving Jonas with his two friends. "Jonas, it's only a game!" said Fiona, worried.

"Please don't play it anymore," mumbled Jonas, with a strange look on his face.

"Who are you to say what we can play or not?" retorted Asher, angrily. Fiona took an involuntary step back. "Games aren't your area of expertness, anyways!"

"Expertise," Jonas corrected, softly.

"Whatever. I apologize for not paying you the respect you deserve." said Asher, sullenly.

"Asher, you don't know this – I didn't, either, until recently, but it is a cruel game-" Jonas tried to explain.

"I said I apologize, Jonas." insisted Asher. Fiona, however, felt like she was beginning to understand… something. She couldn't get anything out of it, though.

"Would you like to go for a ride by the river, Jonas?" asked Fiona. She bit her lip, hoping that he would accept. She needed to clear some things up. Jonas, however, considered, and then shook his head no. Silent, confused, she and Asher hopped onto their bikes and headed towards the river together. Jonas sat on a bench, head in his hands.

"Fiona," said Asher, "I think that Jonas is different, somehow. I'm worried about him. I think that he isn't even taking his Stirring pills, and he never talks to me anymore." Fiona smiled at how Asher's speech improved notably when he was worried. However, what Asher said struck her to the heart. Jonas wasn't taking pills for the strange, disturbing, longing dreams that came with a Stirring? Fiona had been taking those for at least three years, she would never think of stopping. Then the dreams would come back again, the pleasurable dreams in which she and Jonas were together, as more than friends, somehow… But that wasn't what she had been asked.

"I have noticed a change in Jonas, too. I think that his job as Receiver is slowly changing him. After that little scene back there – the old Jonas would have joined right in, but today he seemed almost – disturbed – by the game. Anyways, our friend is definitely not the same." She replied, glad that Asher was finally seeing the things that she was.

"I am worried about him, you know. He is breaking too many rules of late. He has infringed on my area of expertness-"

"Expertise," Fiona grinned.

"Whatever. He has taken over my area of expertise, and he is asking people to do things they do not want to. Do you think that he even lies, Fiona?" Asher asked, wide-eyed. Fiona had been wrong, then. Asher, apparently, had not been told to lie in his rules. Asher was too candid to disguise knowledge so subtly.

"I don't know, Asher. Perhaps, though, he is allowed to lie. Perhaps in his little folder, he was told that he can be as rude as he likes, lie, and break most of our rules. How will we ever know?" she mused.

"We should ask him," said Asher, decisively.

"But we will never know if his answer is truthful," Fiona pointed out. Asher sighed in resignation.

"I suppose that we will never find out, then. I wish we knew for certain that he was okay, though." he said, heading home. Fiona felt the same way. If only she knew what Jonas was going through to change him so much…