Once they got Karyn's house, Jon rang the doorbell.
A moment after he pulled back his hood, the door opened and Karyn's mother came into view. She looked exactly the way he remembered her.
"Yes? What do you want?" she asked.
"I need to talk to Karyn," Jon said.
"How do you know my daughter?" she asked, clearly getting worried.
"It's really important."
"She's not here. I think you should leave now."
Jon instinctively lifted his right hand. "Tell me where she is," he said calmly.
Suddenly, her eyes seemed to glaze over a bit. "She's at the mall with her friend," Karyn's mother said slowly, like she was drugged. Then she blinked and the glazing of her eyes disappeared. She looked confused, then closed the door.
Jon stared at his hand, noticing for the first time that his nails were a little longer than usual. Oh, they weren't really long. But they were about a quarter inch longer than they should have been. He wondered why he hadn't noticed it earlier.
"How did I do that? It's like I was controlling her mind," Jon said, putting down his hand.
"Jon, seriously. What's wrong with you? You've always had the power of persuasion, if only at its simplest level."
"Persuasion?"
"Tell me what's going on," Zoe said. "I'm your friend. Tell me. Did one of your spells go wrong and erase your memory?"
"No. Nothing like that," he answered. Did she say spells? He guessed that meant it was true. Jon did practice witchcraft in this reality. But because he heard his own wish to swap with Athena, he didn't have any memories from this new reality. He was clueless. It seemed that the only person who could help him understand was Zoe. But was it wise to tell her about the wishing stone and how he swapped places with her former best friend? How would she react to that kind of news?
Jon put his hood back up and walked away from Karyn's house, in the direction of the mall. Zoe ran up alongside him.
"Tell me what's happening, Jon," she said.
