There was a crumbling retention wall on the high school property that Zoe usually sat on, when she waited for her friend Athena to show up.
But this morning, it was Jon who sat on top of it. He watched as Athena approached the wall, as she did every morning, dressed in a black tattered dress with a red underbust corset, black lace-up boots, and fishnet gloves. When she arrived, Jon hopped off the wall and greeted her.
"Hi, Athena," he said.
Athena looked oddly at him. "Jon?"
"Yeah? What?"
"Why are you wearing those clothes?"
Jon looked down at himself. "I always wear these clothes. Athena, are you okay?"
"Where's Zoe?" she asked him.
"Who's Zoe?"
Athena was definitely confused. For some reason Zoe's brother was dressed as Zoe and was feigning ignorance when asked about his sister. At first, Athena thought it was a joke, but she knew Zoe's brother well enough to know that while he may dress up as Zoe as part of a joke, he would never go as far as putting on her make-up and ... piercing his nose? No, there was something else going on here.
"Zoe is your sister."
"Athena, I don't have a sister. Just a brother. You know that."
While the two of them were talking, Athena spotted Zoe in the distance. At first, she didn't even recognize her, as she wasn't wearing black, as usual. But it was definitely her.
Athena abruptly left Jon and approached Zoe.
"Zoe, what are you wearing?" she asked her.
Zoe stopped and looked at her. "What I usually wear? I'm sorry, do I know you? You look kind of familiar."
"Yes, Zoe. You do know me. It's me. Athena."
"Oh yeah. You're that witchy girl."
"Huh? Zoe, we're friends. Don't you remember?"
"Friends? With you? I don't think so."
"Listen, I just talked with your brother. Something seems to be happening ..."
"Brother? I don't have a brother, or a sister. I'm an only child." Zoe turned and looked towards the school, then looked back at Athena. "Listen, maybe you're getting me mixed up with someone else." Then she walked away, towards a group of girls standing just outside the school entrance. As Athena watched, Zoe walked up to them and acted as if she was their friend. And the girls acted the same way towards her.
"Why were you talking with her?" Jon asked, from behind her. She turned around and saw him standing just five feet away.
Whatever was going on seemed to have been caused by some heavy magic. Being an expert on the occult, Athena knew about these things. She even wore an "anti-magic" pendant around her neck, just in case a spell was used on her. And it looked as though it came in handy. If she hadn't put it on that morning, she'd be just as ignorant about what was going on as everyone else.
