Zoe stood at the bus stop, feeling tired and numb with dread. Last night had been the worst night of her life. Her family had attempted to comfort her as best as they could, but all she could think about was how she'd been on the home stretch when she'd finally lost her humanity. Now she was a freak, too. She felt a little bad for thinking of it that way; after all, it wasn't like the other transformees were all that happy about it, either. And she loved her new sisters, but...that didn't mean she wanted to be like them.
Of course, the odds were supposedly against her having to. But then, the odds had been against Karyn, Jon, Mikey, or Sarah being permanently transformed, too. Zoe knew that something being improbable didn't mean it was impossible, but she did wonder why so many of the recent transformees had been permanent. She had a gnawing fear in the pit of her stomach, a feeling that maybe something had changed, and now the chances were greater that she'd be stuck. Most likely it was an irrational delusion, but right now she wasn't feeling especially rational.
Thankfully, she was distracted from her nervous ponderings when the bus finally arrived. She climbed aboard, ignoring the looks she got from the other students; luckily, several years of being in a less popular subculture had given her plenty of practice at tuning out what other people thought.
The ride passed mostly without incident, and before long, Zoe was making her way into the school. Jon had briefed her on this part, and she headed straight for the nurse's office. Another girl was already there, a girl whose lower body had been replaced with an enormous snake's tail, like a reptilian mermaid. The brownish-red scales with black markings were just another part of the oddity, but the slightly olive skin and long black pigtails of her human half rung a bell. Zoe stepped around to the front of the girl; sure enough, it was Athena.
She was discussing her predicament with the school nurse, but turned to look as Zoe came around. She focused first on the green hair and leafy vines; it took a moment for her to realize that this was someone she knew. "Oh, Zoe!" she said, visibly surprised at her friend's condition. "It got you too, huh?"
Zoe nodded glumly. "I was this close to being safe," she said. "And now I'm some kind of plant-spirit thingy. I just better not turn into a friggin' hippie."
"I don't think you will," Athena replied. "It doesn't sound like there are any personality changes worth noting, just some changes in diet and such. I mean, the rest of it sucks, but that's not going to be a problem."
Zoe sighed, relieved. "Good. I just hope it's not permanent. Have you found out if yours is?"
"Actually," the nurse said, "I was just about to put her blood sample in the analyzer. If you want, I can draw you and run them at the same time."
Zoe nodded, and the nurse produced a swab and syringe. It was unnerving to watch her collect the greenish blood (sap?) but before Zoe could think about it the nurse had already whisked both samples off to the back of the room and placed them in a machine about the size of an espresso maker. Zoe and Athena compared notes for a while, then the nurse got them to fill out the necessary paperwork. Before too long, the machine beeped, and the nurse stood up.
"Well, girls," she said, "let's have a look at those results."
