She seemed to herself to be awkward that day. She needed to feel better. She went for her best bra and panties, securing them under her usual clothes, put in her contacts, and headed downstairs.
Mikey sat at the kitchen table, waiting for Jon to come down, so he could enjoy the inside joke of him wearing someone else's things. Jon hadn't yet come down. Zoe never ate breakfast with them. And he hadn't seen his mother that day either.
He heard the characteristic clip-clop of his mother's heels coming down the stairs. "Good morning, sweetie," an unfamiliar female voice said, ruffling his hair affectionately in one of the annoying ways mothers, but not his, did. "Ready to go to school?"
He stared at the teenage girl wearing his mother's clothing. She looked vaguely familiar. Like this girl he'd seen with his brother's friend Karyn, only prettied up.
Where was his mother? Where was Jon?
"Have you seen Jon this morning?" Mikey asked in a choked voice.
"He's already left for school. And if you don't come now, you'll be late too."
"Umm," he had to think quickly. "My throat hurts, and my head feels all clammy. I think I'm sick." It wasn't hard to fake clamminess. This situation was giving it to him.
"Well," the new mother said. "If you are so sick, maybe instead of school I should take you to see the doctor."
Mikey hated the doctor, but he was afraid of leaving this girl alone until he found his mom and his brother. "I guess," he said.
"Well, if you are willing to see a doctor," she said. "Then either there is something really bad going on at school, or you really are sick." She looked genuinely concerned. He wondered if this would work on his real mom.
"I'm calling your bluff then." She pulled him out, and despite his objections, got him into the car.
On the way, she dialed her cell phone. "This is Kyla Madison. My son is sick. So I'm going to take him to the Doctor and then home to bed. I may be able to come in in the afternoon."
Mikey got it. That was her name. Kyla Leeson. How did she end up acting like Mikey's mother? Had someone stolen the stone from him?
