"Look I keep telling you, I'm fine." Zoe told this dimension's Athena after the cab dropped them off at the Madison house.
"Yeah, that's why you were wandering around the mall in your nightie." Athena said as they started walking up the drive. "Do you have your key?"
"Why would the door be locked?" Zoe asked.
"I thought your mom took Mikey to soccer today. I assume she locked the door." Zoe shook her head.
"That's on Saturday." She told Athena.
"Yeah, today." Athena said as they reached the door.
"Today is Saturday?" A confused Zoe asked. It had been Sunday when she left her own dimension.
"Wow, you really are out of it, if you don't know what day it is."
"I guess so." Zoe thought she could use the locked door to her advantage. "Actually...," she pretended to check her pockets, "I think I came out without my key. We should go back to the mall and get Jon. He'll have his key."
"No need." Athena said as she leaned over and moved the plant pot near the door. Under it was a key which she picked up. "We have the spare." She used the spare key to unlock the door. They both stepped inside and Athena closed the door behind them. She locked the door again from the inside and put the key on the hall table. "You should keep it locked all the time anyway. There are all sorts of strange people going around."
"I know about strangers." Zoe almost laughed at the irony. "I would imagine most of them are normal people though." She was still trying to think of a way out of the current situation and decided to focus on that instead.
"Maybe they've been possessed by demonic beings." Athena suggested. Zoe mentally noted this Athena had even stranger notions than her own former friend.
"We'd be in big trouble then."
"It's okay I know several incantations..." Athena froze when she heard the sound of footsteps from upstairs. She looked around quickly. She grabbed Jon's old baseball bat from under the stairs.
"Funny looking incantation." Zoe whispered. Athena ignored her and started going up the stairs quietly and cautiously.
Zoe wasn't sure what to do. Now Athena was distracted, she thought it might be an excellent time to run away. She dismissed this though. If she stayed DTH Jon had a better chance of finding her. She certainly didn't want to get stuck here. She found that prospect quite terrifying.
Athena stopped about half way up the stairs. She gestured for Zoe to join her. Reluctantly she followed her quietly. Athena leaned over. "I think it's coming from your room." She whispered. She continued going up the stairs.
Zoe had a fairly good idea who was in the bedroom. She wanted to explain to Athena but knew she wouldn't believe her. Athena reached the top of the stairs and slowly walked towards the bedroom door. She raised the bat just as Zoe reached the top of the stairs. Zoe thought Athena was either incredibly brave or foolish too confront what to her, was an unknown person in her friend's house.
Athena pressed slowly down on the door handle until it clicked. She pushed forward and the door opened. She ran in screaming "Begone demon!" This was followed by a feminine scream of panic and a loud thud. Zoe ran to the door. Standing in the hall she saw herself lying on the floor. This version of her had black hair and was wearing a black satin nightie. She seemed to be unconscious.
"Zoe?" A confused looking Athena said. She was holding the bat mid swing.
"Did you hit her?" A shocked Zoe asked. Athena looked towards the bat for a few seconds then dropped it.
"No. She screamed and fell down. I swear by the Goddess, Zoe I never touched her." Athena said. Zoe leaned down to check on the other Zoe.
Zoe noticed how pale the other Zoe's complexion was. It didn't look like make up. "Hopefully she just fainted from the shock. You said she'd been sick."
After the initial adrenalin rush Athena started to calm down. Her brain started processing what was happening and she took a step back. There were two Zoes.
The unconscious Zoe suddenly opened her eyes. "What the fuck Athena?" She turned her head to look at Zoe. "Who the fuck are you?"
At the same time DTH Jon and the native version of Karyn were travelling in a cab towards his house. Jon grew increasingly frustrated at they seemed to be getting held up at every set of traffic lights.
"This is taking forever." Jon told Karyn as he sat in the back of the cab.
"Traffic is always bad this time of day. The lights don't help." The driver told him while smiling. It was the latest in a string of overly friendly unsolicited comments from the man. Jon was pretty sure the driver had been secretly looking at him in the rear-view mirror. It was making him feel a bit self conscious. The driver hadn't been doing anything overt so he couldn't confront him about it. He wondered if this was a normal experience for a young woman. Being female was giving Jon a better understanding of the things women had to go through on a daily basis. It was also another reason why he wanted this journey to end.
"She looks like you. I thought she was you." Athena said to the Goth Zoe now sitting on her bed.
"She looks nothing fucking like me." Goth Zoe said as she glanced at Zoe.
"I thought she looked a bit weird but I knew you were sick, so I thought that explained it."
"I was feeling better till you tried to kill me with a fucking baseball bat." Goth Zoe said to her friend.
Zoe wasn't impressed with Goth Zoe's language. "I don't have a potty mouth either."
"Oh listen to little Miss fucking la-de-da." Goth Zoe said in a sarcastic tone. "Potty mouth is it? I speak my mind. I say it how it fucking is."
"Well you don't seem to be able to complete a sentence without using at least one swear word." Zoe said rebuking her. Goth Zoe started to stand up when Athena interrupted.
"So were you two separated at birth or something?" She asked. Neither Zoe responded. "You never said you had a secret twin. It's like a plot from a movie." Athena alternated looking at them as she wasn't entirely sure which one was the real Zoe.
"I don't have a secret twin. I am Zoe." Goth Zoe said a little upset her friend was uncertain about it.
DTH Jon and Karyn were at the front door. They had discovered that it was locked. They also had a fruitless search for the spare key. DTH Jon reached into his backpack.
"I could try my key." He said as he pulled his key out. "This dimension might be close enough to my own." He put the key in the lock and it turned, unlocking the door. He briefly found this a little concerning. There could be countless versions of him with keys that could access his own home.
When they got inside they could hear voices coming from upstairs. They quickly ascended the stairs. The door to Zoe's room was open.
"Hi guys." Jon said as nonchalantly as possible as they walked in.
"Who the hell are you?" Goth Zoe asked.
"That's your cousin Jane. She was with Karyn and Jon at the mall, with her." Athena told her as she pointed at Zoe.
"I don't have a cousin Jane." Goth Zoe said as she picked up her phone. "I've had enough of this weird shit. I'm calling the cops."
"No don't!" Jon shouted. "I can explain. Just give me five minutes, ten tops." Making a quick decision he pulled the magic ring off his finger. He returned to his larger male form. There was a loud ripping sound from his clothing. He turned to Zoe. "See I told you this would happen."
