Zoe walked slowly home from school. As much as she hated her change, and as much as she hated the world, the sun and fresh air felt good. Really good. She felt her tendrils and vines stretch, soaking up the sun. The flower above her head bloomed, letting sweet smelling pollen drift down. Zoe inhaled deeply, then exhaled with a sigh of content.
Then she realized what she was doing. She was enjoying the change! This was the last straw. She puled out her cell. "Athena! Meet me at my house as soon as you can!" She hung up and sprinted for home.
--
"Mom! Me and Athena are going to the mall" Yelled Zoe from the door.
"Okay sweetie!" was the response. "Just make sure your back before sundown!"
Zoe grumbled as she walked down the path to Athena's car. Another stupid part of this stupid change. As soon as it got dark, she could feel her body start to shut down and start resting. She grumbled and swore to herself as she climbed in the passanger's seat. She turned to look at Athena and lost her train of thought."Athena! How can you drive? You don't have any feet!"
Athena laughed. "Yeah, I had the same shock. But there's this guy in town who has special rates to converet a car to footless control. I just use this lever here for the gas and breaking. And he took out the driver's seat for free. Nice guy. Has a turtle shell." Athena was standing, or sat upright at least, in the driver's seat. Her red and black tail was spread across the back, curling up where it fell. "Where to, flower-child?"
"The Mal" Zoe snapped. "I want to see if our old hair stylist can do anything with these things." She lifted a leaf vine and let it drop.
"Yes ma'am." Said Athena and she put the car in drive.
