Athena DeVries and her Goth friends knelt in a circle around the grave of her Dutch grandmother. It was 8:42 AM. They felt odd standing outside under the morning sun dressed from head to toe in black, but this was their only chance to perform the ritual this year. The forces of magic wouldn't align themselves at a time that just so happened to be convenient for a handful of high school freshman girls. They would be late for their 9 AM class. A small price to pay for the miracle they were about to witness. Besides, the timing was actually pretty good considering what had happened yesterday.
"Grote Moedergodin!" Athena bowed before her grandmother's gravestone, laying her pale hands on moist grass. The others followed her example. They all mispronounced the Dutch words, but the Godin would forgive their Amerikaanse accents. She was beyond human language. Athena only used a few Nederlandse woorden because she wanted to honor her oma ... and because they sounded exotic. Not like Spanish or French, the only languages taught at Lake Point High.
Athena stood up, spreading her arms and facing the sun. "Onze Godin! Moeder van alle leven! We beseech thee to open the gates of thy astral realm and let the spirit of de moeder van mijn moeder descend upon thy lands once more!"
The girls thought they felt the presence of the Godin, even though no instruments of sterile science would record anything unusual. The sunlight became a bit more tolerable.
Athena fell on her back. Her vriendinnen, her fellow believers, did nothing to help her as she writhed. They kept their heads down as her jerky movements gradually smoothened ... as her grootmoeder took control of her kleindochter ... "little daughter." Athena slowly rose again.
"Vriendinnen van mijn kleindochter!" Athena's Amerikaanse accent was gone. "I have been watching you all from the beyond, and I thank you for your service to the Godin during this past year. It is difficult to be vriendinnen in a world that has turned its back on the spiritual - that has forgotten the old ways.
"I realized that when I came to America from Nederlands-Indie nearly sixty years ago. I was shocked when my own dochter refused to carry on our traditions. I feared that I would be the end of my line. Fortunately, my kleindochter has picked up where I have left off ... and you have joined her in the fight against the Steendieven.
"One of them was here in Lake Point last night. The Dief sneaked into a house and stole a steen. I sense shock. You may speak, my vriendinnen."
Stephanie Wright raised her head. "But your kleindochter still has your anti-magic pendant. It wasn't replaced, was it?"
"Nee," answered Athena's oma, who somehow lowered Athena's teenage voice, making her sound more mature. "Its steen is still intact. There was another."
Zelda Whitefield looked up. "That explains the energy readings on my magic detector yesterday afternoon and this morning. I thought it might have been broken. Your kleindochter felt something too. Several bursts somewhere at school, but she couldn't pinpoint where they were. We were hoping you could tell us more."
"Nee, remember, Zelda, it is not the way of the Godin to reveal all to her followers. She rewards those who overcome adversity, who strive for victory. She believes that you can triumph almost entirely on your own. That is why she only releases me from her realm once a year."
"And for that, we are grateful, o grootmoeder." Zelda was sincere, but she was also a bit frustrated. No device that she put together could remotely compare to the omniscience of the Godin. How could she and a bunch of teenage girls possibly defeat a Steendief by themselves? She had sometimes wondered if they would have been better off if they hadn't become vriendinnen, if they knew nothing of the magic that constantly threatened their very existence. How much easier it would be if they could be oblivious like their airhead classmate Zoe Jennings. No, Zelda was committed to knowledge - both mystical and scientific. She would get it, one way or another. Asking was the easiest way. "How did this other steen end up at Lake Point?"
"It was an inheritance."
"Whose inheritance?"
"Jon Madison's."
The name meant nothing to the vriendinnen. They'd have to Google it later.
"Is the Steendief still in town?"
"I do not know," answered Athena's grandmother. "As you know, your earthly plane is hazy to me now, and I can only perceive fragments of it. But I am sure of this: the Dief has replaced the stolen steen with a defective steen from the Quarry."
"Do you know how it's defective?"
"Nee, you will have to determine its nature yourselves. This is the moment you have all trained for. The great test. I hope you shall pass. Godin be with you, my vriendinnen." Athena's body collapsed.
The other girls got up to check on her. They still weren't accustomed to the ceremony. They knew the Godin wouldn't let any harm come to Athena once her grandmother's spirit departed, yet the sound of Athena's fall triggered their protective instincts.
"Are you all right?" asked Stephanie.
Athena opened her eyes. "Yes ..." Her grandmother would have said "ja." Athena was back in control. "So I wasn't imagining things yesterday." Her vriendinnen helped her get up. "It's hard to tell. Nothing but false alarms until yesterday. I didn't want to believe that the two bursts on campus were real. Yet last year Oma did warn that the Steendieven would strike Lake Point sooner or later. Turned out the Dief showed up last night. He might be gone, but the defective steen he left is out there somewhere. We've got to find it before it does any serious damage." Athena pulled her anti-magic pendant out of her black purse. "I wish we could all have one of these. And if I had a steen, we would ..." Athena turned toward one of her vriendinnen. "Who are you!?"
