The tension on the school grounds escalated as Jon and Karyn looked up at Athena, who was holding the stone victoriously.
Jon felt a chill run through his body as soon as he had seen her holding the all powerful object. He knew that there was a very good chance that the stone would have ended up in Athena's hands eventually if Zoe had taken the stone. Unfortunately, it seemed that Zoe had wasted no time in showing her friend the stone, and Athena wasted no time in taking it.
Athena had quite the effect on Zoe since she had moved to town just over two years ago, back when Jon was a sophomore and his sister was in the 8th grade. As Jon understood, Athena's parents had gone through a rather messy divorce, and in an attempt to put it all behind them, her mother moved the two of them to this town.
Athena wasted no time in gathering a group of friends. The goth population around here, back then, was marginally lower than it currently was, but Athena had a way of bringing them out of the woodwork. And, the fact that she lived just down the street from Jon's family and was in the same grade as Zoe meant that there were plenty of chances for the two of them to meet.
At that time, Zoe had next to no friends, having become very quiet and reclusive after their father died. Athena showed an interest in becoming friends with Zoe almost immediately after moving to town, and Zoe was more than happy to accept the other girls companionship.
Jon then watched as his sister turned from the quiet girl she had been into the hostile and argumentative girl she now was. It had happened slowly, at first. She began wearing darker clothes, listening to heavier music, and started dyeing her hair black. It quickly escalated, though, the more Zoe and Athena associated, and within a few months, she was like a completely different person.
She had also gone from having very few friends to being part of a rather large clique. A clique that had formed, it seemed, primarily to oppose the popular kids. So much so that it was a very common sight to see Sarah McMillan butting heads with one of the goths, most of the time Athena.
Overall, the group seemed to be more anti-authority than anything else. They would sneak out of their homes against parents wishes, disregard what teachers said, and things like that. Zoe, for instance, had snuck out late a few months back and gotten a rather large tattoo across her back. Their mother grounded her for a month for that stunt. But other than disregarding the advice and warnings of authority figures, the goths rarely got into trouble, and were really quite harmless.
But, despite knowing that, Jon had always been put on edge by Athena. There was something about the way she acted, and the effect she seemed to have on other people, that just bothered him. Karyn was inclined to agree with Jon's assessments of the younger girl. And so long as she had the stone, she not only gave off a feeling of unease, but she was also dangerous.
And so, Jon and Karyn were faced with a decision. They could try to confront and reason with Athena, or they could try and flee, and hopefully get out of the range of the stone's influence.
