Karyn broke the stunned silence that followed Zoe's revelation. "Sarah is a bitch but I can't imagine her kidnapping someone." She told Zoe.
"I know what I saw." Zoe said defending her statement.
"Remember Karyn," Jon reminded her, "this universe is not identical to ours. It's possible that the Sarah here could be a lot more ruthless. " Zoe smiled at Jon's tacit agreement. "I do know one thing for certain, I don't exist here."
"That's why I called you guys and not the cops." Zoe told them. "Look at all the trouble it led to the last time. He'd start claiming I was his sister and this was his house. It was upsetting enough for mom the last time. I'm not having her go through that again even though I wiped her memory."
"Okay, assuming you are correct, how do you know about the kidnapping?" Jon asked her. Zoe spent the next few minutes explaining what she seen that night she waited for Athena outside Sarah's house.
Karyn turned to Jon. "Why would Sarah want to kidnap you?" She asked him.
"No idea." He said. "The more important question is why am I in this universe? It's not possible."
"Eh?" Asked Zoe. "A few weeks ago there was like five of you here. Maybe a stone from another universe brought him here or something."
"I suppose. We don't know the how though." Jon admitted.
"To be perfectly honest I don't really care. We need to get you into Sarah's house and you can take him back to his own universe with the DTH." Zoe folded her arms to emphasise the point.
"We don't know where he came from."
"I don't care. Just take him out of my universe." She told him somewhat angrily.
"That's a bit heartless." Karyn told her. Zoe sighed.
"My Karyn said the same thing. I'm not being heartless!" She turned her back to them both. "I'm being selfish." She admitted quietly.
"What ?" Jon asked her. She turned back round to face them.
"I wouldn't be the oldest any more. What if he has a DNA test, biologically he's my older brother. Mom is so kind-hearted, even without an explanation she'd probably take him in. Where would that leave me?" Jon and Karyn looked at her silently. "Exactly, on the path to becoming some depressed, attention seeking, Goth chick." She practically shouted.
"You might not turn out like my Zoe. There is no such thing as fate." Jon said in attempt to make her better.
"Oh get real Jon. I'm only so successful in life because I'm occupying your niche in this family. I have had weeks to think about that now. The idea of losing that, scares the shit out of me." She told him. Jon actually felt bad for her. If he and his counterparts hadn't blundered into her universe, she would still be blissfully unaware.
Until he had got the stone and the DTH Jon had considered himself a bit of a loser. He knew it was down to Zoe herself, not just her place in the family, that had pushed her forward in life. He had no intention of bursting that particular bubble of confidence she had in herself.
"I'm sorry." He told her. "I will do my utmost to help."
"And so will I." Karyn told her.
"Cool." Zoe said as she grinned at them.
"How exactly do you plan on getting us into Sarah's basement?" Jon asked.
"Sarah is having a slumber party. Athena got me and a couple of friends an invite. Athena and I can distract Sarah. You two sneak into the basement and rescue Jon." She told them.
"Hold on a minute." Jon said as he held up his hand slightly. "Is this a girl's slumber party?"
"Yeah, obviously." Zoe told him.
"I'm not female, how am I going to get in?" Jon asked.
"I've thought of that." Zoe told him as she walked into the room. She opened the top drawer of her bedside cabinet and pulled something out. "You'll be wearing this." She told him as she showed him a gold ring. "It will make you a girl."
