The sky was sable, with the exception of the waning moon, when Athena Stephanopoulos' coupe pulled up to the curb outside Jon's house. From the front passenger seat of the vehicle, Zoe Madison glanced warily at the dimly lit stream of asphalt leading up to the garage door. Her mother's sedan wasn't there, meaning that she was probably working a night shift at the hospital. That, or writhing around in a ditch somewhere having a schizophrenic episode. Zoe wasn't sure the former was the more likely.
Athena pushed her glasses to the bridge of her nose and assessed the house curiously. "It looks mostly intact to me," she said. "Do you want me to walk you to the door?"
Zoe shook her head in the negative. "She's not home. At least, she doesn't seem to be. Just wait in the car; Jon and Mikey should be home," she explained.
Jon hadn't been answering his cell phone lately, which was alarming, but if Mom wasn't home, who else could possibly be home with Mikey? It wasn't like her kid brother would be anywhere else this time of night. And her mother wasn't stupid enough to leave her youngest son alone in the house by himself for an entire night. On the other hand, her mother seemed to have legitimately gone crazy.
Zoe, Athena, and pretty much the entire Freshman and Sophomore orchestra had been on a class trip to San Diego for Spring Break and the following week; they played in a National competition, which they came in second place in, and spent the rest of the trip sightseeing. As a result, Zoe's usually pale skin was bronzed with a fine California tan, and her outfit was brand new, along with many others she had purchased (she brought an empty suitcase along with her for a reason.) She had enjoyed the trip, but her good mood had been soured when, about two days ago, her mother had revealed to her how batshit crazy she had become in Zoe's absence.
"I'm so glad you did so well, sweetie," her mother had congratulated her over the phone. "If you keep this up, you'll be able to get a musical scholarship."
"Yeah," Zoe replied, shrugging, though her mother couldn't see it.
"You're coming home soon, aren't you?"
"Yep," Zoe answered blandly. "Friday night."
"Oh, that's good," her mother had said. "Things have been a little crazy here over the past couple days. Unfortunately, Jon and Mikey both caught the transformative virus this week, so they've become permanently changed. I thought I should warn you."
Zoe blinked. She'd understood all her mother's words, but these didn't seem to make any sense. "Um. What?"
"Yes, I'm afraid," her mother said solemnly. "Jon caught the virus first, and became a female pixie. I had to dress her up in some of your old doll clothes so she could go to school yesterday. And then Mikey changed into a harpy, also female. Unfortunately, it's hard to get her in clothes. But I think we'll manage somehow."
Zoe almost dropped the phone. Pixies Harpies? Her mom was talking like a dungeon master, which a way of speaking completely uncharacteristic of her rigidly pragmatic, military mother. And the things she was saying It was like nonsense layered in nonsense!
"Is this a joke?" Zoe asked, thoroughly not amused if it was.
"Of course not. I wouldn't ever joke about your brothers."
Zoe's eyes narrowed. "Who the fuck is this?"
"Zoe!" her mother said sternly. "What has gotten into you?"
"What's gotten into you?" Zoe replied just as sternly. "You're spouting fucking bullshit. Nothing you're talking about could have possibly happened! Who is this? Are you doing drugs? Let me talk to Jon."
"Zoe! You do not talk to me that way! Jon can't use the phone right now, because the receiver is too big."
"Oh, Jesus fucking Christ. I cannot believe this shit! Either you're on drugs, or you've gone bugfuck crazy. If you're like this when I get home, I'm calling Aunt Wendy. I am not ready to deal with this." Zoe said angrily, ending the phone call.
Now Zoe was here, trembling in Athena's car seat. She had told her friend of her mother's delirium, but she hadn't had the courage to call her mother back. She'd tried to put that phone call out of mind, as if it had never happened, but she was concerned. The voice over the phone was her mother's, but she wasn't speaking in a way she had ever spoken in the past, and it was creepy. There was something uniquely disturbing about a person for whom fiction had come alive. She could imagine Jon or Mikey talking about that sort of thing, because they were into video games and Tolkien novels and that sort of thing But mom? That was profoundly disconcerting.
"I'm going to leave my harp and my bags in the trunk until I see that the coast is clear, alright?" Zoe told her friend.
"Do you think it's going to be dangerous?" Athena asked, the light from the dashboard revealing her expression of concern.
"Who knows? I haven't been able to get a hold of Jon. I might walk into the door and find all the walls spattered with his blood. Or I might find everything seemingly normal."
The olive-skinned girl gulped. "You're getting a little carried away, don't you think?"
"Nobody ever seems to expect it when a parent commits filicide," Zoe said morbidly.
"Dammit, Zoe! Just go check!" Athena said.
"I'm going," Zoe said gloomily, walking to the front door.
Producing her keys from her backpack, she slowly, methodically proceeded to put the key into the keyhole, turned the key to open the deadbolt, turned the key back to remove it, and put the keys back into her backpack, all without making a sound. Gingerly, she opened the door, the house's familiar smell and warmth pouring out of the opening. Zoe stepped inside.
Well, the walls weren't covered in blood, Zoe observed pedantically. The bottom floor of the house was dark and all the lights were off, but there was light coming from the upstairs hallway, and she could hear the sounds of one of her brothers playing video games. She thought that was a good sign.
"It's Zoe!!" she called upstairs to the room above. "I'm home!"
From Jon's room, he and Mikey reacted to the proclamation by glancing at the doorway. Both were a little surprised to hear their sister's voice, though neither of them had any reason to be "” but they were surprised all the same, because with the eventfulness of the past few days, the subject of their shifty sibling had completely slipped their minds. They, however, had not slipped hers.
Jon gave her youngest sister a look. "Zoe's home?" she said, blinking in confusion. She was a little bit hesitant to see her sister in her new form; he wasn't sure how Zoe would react, but he didn't think it would be in any normal way. Something nipped at the edges of his mind something important. Zoe was in San Diego when Jon changed What was it again that made that relevant? Jon couldn't remember It was something, but ?
The house rumbled as Zoe went up the stairs quickly, eager to see her two brothers.
"Um." Mikey murmured anxiously.
"Hey You guys are here, right?" Zoe said, sticking her head in the doorway of Jon's room.
Lamely sitting in the middle of the floor, Mikey sheepishly raised a wing to greet her sister. "Um. Hi."
Zoe paused for a moment, looking for a second as though she was in a trance. Her eyes raked over Mikey, then she blinked, then she looked again.
Then she shrieked so loudly that Jon was knocked on her butt.
"Holy shit!!!" Zoe screamed, backing away from the door in a gesture of ostensible terror. There was a bird monster in Jon's room! "Holy Fuck!!! Holy fucking shit!"
"Zoe!" Mikey exclaimed in surprise, trying to calm her sister down. She stood up; if the neighbors heard Zoe, they were going to call the police!
"Zoe?" Jon said, though her voice was drowned out by the screaming. Something didn't fit right, here. Zoe was reacting like she'd never seen a transformed person in her life!
Zoe dashed back down the stairs, opening the door and sprinting at top speed out to Athena's car. She collided with the door of the car so forcefully that she was surprised she didn't leave an impression. She swung the door open and jumped back in the seat, being sure to lock all the doors from the inside.
Athena looked horrified. "What happened?"
Mikey quickly followed her sister down the stairs, waving to her as she ran to the car. "Wait!"
Athena's gaze moved from Zoe to Mikey, and the sight of the harpy approaching in the night darkness was all she needed to see. "Aiiiiiieeeeeeeeee!!!" she shrieked.
"Drive!!! Drive, dammit, drive!!" Zoe screamed at her friend.
The car zoomed off, going sixty miles over the speed limit as it disappeared around the corner. Mikey stared out from the front porch, a look of utter bafflement on her face. Jon hovered in the air next to her, looking as distraught as she'd ever been.
"What just happened?" Mikey asked.
Jon just stared. Something his grandfather had written suddenly came back to him.
*The stone has great power, but is not unlimited. Changes made will be as if it has always been so, apart from for those within earshot of the wish or out of the range of influence of the stone. This range I estimate at several miles, but I fear I have not been able to determine an exact figure *
"Oh, shit!" Jon said, her jaw dropping.
"What? What is it?" Mikey asked insistently.
"Zoe was in San Diego when I made that wish. She was out of range! Along with everybody else outside the county!"
The harpy gasped. "Oh, no!"
