Zoe slipped the stone into her bag, along with her grandfather's note, and quickly exited Jon's room. She knew that she couldn't just keep the discovery of the stone to herself, and of all of her friends, the one who she would want to tell most would be Athena DeVries.
"So, wish for anything interesting last night?" Karyn asked as she and Jon walked to their school.
"No. I only wanna make wishes if we know exactly what we're gonna wish for." Jon said. "Especially after yesterday."
"Well, did you at least bring the stone so that we can make any wishes if we think of them at school?" Karyn asked. "I'd really like to try and lessen the damage from that."
"Yeah, I..." Jon stopped walking and patted down his pocket. "Oh, no. I must have forgotten it when I left." he glanced at his watch. "We've got time to go grab it, and still make it to first period. We'll miss homeroom, though."
"We could get in trouble, Jon. Plus, what if Zoe sees you heading home as she's walking to school?" Karyn asked.
"She goes a different way than we do." Jon says. He reflected that for the first few months of her freshman year, Zoe had taken the same route that Jon and Karyn did, but had since adopted another route, one that took her past the homes of some of her friends. "Plus, we're seniors. We can get away with missing homeroom."
The school allowed the seniors certain extra rights, among them the ability to skip homeroom without any real consequences. This was something that Jon had not yet taken advantage of, but this seemed like a good time to.
"You really want to use the stone that badly?" Karyn asked.
"It's not that. I'd just rather have the stone with me. As stupid as it may seem, I'd just feel better having it than leaving it sitting on my dresser."
"Makes sense, I guess." Karyn said. "Alright, let's go. If we don't hurry, we will be in danger of missing first period."
Athena smiled as she held the stone in her hand. She had found it strange that Zoe had arrived at school so early, and seemed to have run to their meeting spot. Her explanation of the morning's events, however, made clear why she was in such a hurry.
"This is rather hard to believe." she said, looking over to Zoe.
"How else can you explain my new tattoo?" Zoe asked, pulling her shirt back on. She was glad, especially at this moment, that she and her friends had claimed this little alcove to the back of the school. No way would she want to be caught with her shirt off by any of the assholes who attended her school.
"Remember what the note says, reality changes for everyone who doesn't hear the wish." Athena said. "So far as I can remember, you blew off your mom's warning not to do it a couple months ago and got it anyway. And boy was she pissed."
"I...guess I had forgotten about that part." Zoe said sheepishly.
"Not that that matters, I believe you." Athena said. "How could I not after trying it myself?" she added, looking over at the small patch of black roses that she had wished up for their little spot. "Now, only one question remains..."
"What's that?" Zoe asked, smoothing out her shirt.
"Where do we start?" Athena asked, grinning at the stone.
