Zoe had the house to herself. It had seemed like a good idea to wish up some afterschool and weekend activities for Mikey to keep both her mother and her little brother out of the way. Tonight it was baseball. Tomorrow it would be karate.
Raiding the fridge, Zoe cobbled together a dinner for herself. Noodles and some quick stir fried chicken. She was about to head to the living room and watch some TV for inspiration for her next round of wishes. The phone rang. Zoe debated about answering it. It was probably Athena calling to whine about her walk home doggy-style, which might be either annoying or amusing. Zoe decided to answer it, "Hello?"
"Hi, Zoe?" Zoe didn't recognize the voice, "It's me, um, it's Jillian Farber. We go to school together?"
"We do? Wait, yeah, I remember," Zoe lied even as she strained her memory. A well built girl with gorgeous black hair? God, she so used to envy that hair! That was it. Yeah, kind of a party girl. She wore cool clothes sometimes when she was going for that whole punk chic look. Zoe didn't recall much more than that, "What's up?"
"I - - I've been wanting to talk to you for a while now," the girl on the other end of the line sounded unsure of herself, almost scared.
"And?" Once Zoe would have been blown away to get called by an upperclassman. Now, since the stone had come into her life, she was almost bored already.
"I had a dream with you in it!" Jillian said quickly. Zoe's eyebrows shot up. Holy shit, Zoe wondered, is Miss Jersey Shore gay?"
"What kind of a dream?" Zoe said in a neutral voice, half eager, half dreading to hear the answer.
"You - - you showed me a book. It was a big compilation of Edgar Allen Poe. When you opened it, it was all hollowed out on the inside and there was a rock inside it."
"What?!" Zoe nearly shot out of her chair. How could this girl she didn't even know have some dream like that? That's exactly where she kept the stone until yesterday.
"It was so real - - the realest dream I have ever had," Jillian went on, "Do you ever have dreams like that?"
"You mean like seeing the future and stuff?"
"Yeah, I used to be really interested in stuff like that," Jillian rattled off a small list of topics Zoe had read about over the years, "Witchcraft. Tarot cards. Dreamwalking, reincarnation, stuff like that."
"Whoa, really? You were into that stuff?" Zoe was intrigued. This was nothing like what she imagined Jillian Farber to be, "What happened? I mean, you look..."
"I know, right? A can change," Jillian laughed, "I hardly recognize myself when I look in the mirror."
"So you really had a dream like that? That's - - amazing," Zoe almost said unbelievable, but the stone had made her believe anything was possible.
"Was it real? I mean, did it happen?" Jillian said a little too eagerly. Zoe didn't realize it at the time, but it weirded her out, put her on guard just a little.
"Uh, wow, I dunno," Zoe fumbled for a response, "Yeah, kinda."
"Really?! Hah! That is great," Jillian actually giggled, "Hey, do you want to hang out? I'm just chilling at my place - - we could, um, try some spells or something."
Zoe thought there was definitely something weird about the phone call and this girl having a dream about a red stone so soon after her getting the stone itself. Maybe there really was other magic in the world other than just the stone. Besides just because Jillian had a dream about the stone didn't mean she knew what it did.
Plus, if this Jillian girl already had some kind of aptitude for visions or premonitions or whatever she might even make a good member of her new coven.
