Zelda blinked, then looked around the pink room in confusion. Where was she? The last thing she could remember clearly was running on the school track ...
Then, suddenly, as if a dam broke in her mind, a rush of memories overtook her. It was so much an overwhelming experience that she nearly collapsed to the floor. And after only ten or fifteen seconds, she remembered everything.
She felt so disgusted, knowing how she had been acting for the last two days. She actually helped a bunch of preps (one of which used to be her friend Zoe) to incriminate three Goths. But how could something like this happen? What was making people change? And how did she suddenly know that things were different? She looked down and saw the pendant necklace hanging from her neck. Oh, that's right, she thought, recalling one of Zelda Corinth's last memories (she couldn't bring herself to call them her memories). I put on Athena's anti-magic pendant. It must be protecting me from whatever is happening.
But the pendant wasn't just affecting Zelda. Elsewhere, the person who took Zelda's place (Jay, or rather Jayne, now) suddenly felt different.
"Jayne, are you okay?" Linda asked.
One moment, the cybergoth girl was talking, then suddenly, she stopped and looked dizzy, nearly falling off the edge of the jail cell bunk.
When her dizzy spell was over, she looked up at Joni and Linda.
And at the same time, the person that Zelda replaced (Lucy) suddenly felt different as well.
Lucy paced her mostly-vacant club, trying to think of a way to help Joni, Jayne, and Linda. "What about their parents?" she asked the twins, who were standing nearby.
"We checked all three of the houses. The only one we managed to locate is Tiffany Madison, who appears to be most distressed at her daughter's predicament," Beth reported.
"Agatha DeVries' mother wasn't home, and there was no answer at the Whitefield residence," Christine added. "Their phones appeared to be disconnected as well."
"Any news from the police?"
"The girls are still in temporary confinement, and they might face dire charges," the twins said in unison.
Lucy cursed. So basically nothing new at all. "Any idea who might be behind this?"
The twins nodded. "When we arrived at the DeVries residence, we found two girls breaking in," Beth said in her deadpan tone. "Using the key Linda left in her purse, we entered after they had left. While we were unfamiliar with the house, we noticed Linda's personal computer was still warm."
"Alright, sounds pretty suspicious. Who were the girls?"
"They were both blond, with forced tans and skimpy clothing," Christine said. "One was small, and seemed to be unnecessarily cheery, while the other had straight hair down to her rear and a particularly deep tan."
Lucy nodded, recognizing the descriptions from Joni's frequent complaints. "Sounds like Zelda and Burt. They're friends of Zoe, a shallow little thing that has made an enemy of Joni. Joni may have mentioned she hit Joni's car and then tried to get her blamed for it on Friday. And I think I remember Joni mentioning Zoe's father as chief of police. My god, if they're behind this ..." She stopped suddenly, as she became extremely dizzy.
"Are you alright?" the twins asked in unison.
After the dizziness subsided, Lucy regained her balance and looked at Beth and Christine.
