Zoe took a sip of the juice her new mother had given her. Her thin lips were becoming fuller.
"What were you doing out there?" asked Tyler. His voice was higher. "I was looking for you." He remembered a search that never occurred. Frantic checking of each room in the house. Surveying his back yard. Pondering over whether to call the police. Zoe had been such a good girl. Always polite. The last person who'd just run away. Tyler wondered for a moment if he had done something to drive her away. No, they had gotten along fine when he had last seen her, just as fine as they were getting along now.
"I -- I don't know." Zoe looked down at the floor with green eyes that had been blue a moment ago. The tiles below her feet were so familiar, so comforting. It was good to be home. "I was scared. I was in a house with ... strangers." Jon and Mikey were already blurs in her mind. "I had to get out of there. Come back here."
Tyler put his hand on Zoe's shoulder. His nails were lengthening. "I was so worried. I don't want to lose you."
"I was just two blocks away." Zoe's now hazel eyes were tracing patterns on the floor tile. "But I felt like I was in another world. One moment I was in this house and the next ..."
"That's not possible, dear."
"I know. And yet ..." If Zoe could see herself in the mirror, she would have declared her transformation to be impossible. Her deathly pale skin had begun to tan. Her nose was flattening and broadening. Her hair was still black, but was no longer dyed. Tight curls were spreading from her roots. "... I somehow found my way home ... by myself."
Danielle Chase was sprinting to school, oblivious to the stubble growing on her face. She had no time to shave this morning. Embarrassing, but the coach would kill her if she were late. Why did she let herself get sidetracked by that lost girl? What was she, some kind of Boy Scout? Memories of Zoe faded with each step. In this new reality, she had never been a policewoman, so she couldn't have taken Zoe to Tyler's house.
She hadn't even graduated from Lake Point High yet. Her diploma had dematerialized inside an apartment that no longer belonged to her. She would have to earn it again. However, classes were the last thing on her mind now. Today was a big day for the team whose name she wore on her new T-shirt. She was the star of her school's ...
