When Melissa arrived at school the next morning, she got quite a shock.
"Amber, what are you wearing? Is that ..." she began.
"Black lipstick, yeah," Amber finished.
"Are you crazy? You can't wear that."
"Why not? Black lipstick is cool," Amber said. She lifted up her hands and wiggled her fingers. "See? I've got black nail polish too. Isn't that, like, so awesome?" she asked, smiling.
"No, it's not awesome."
Amber frowned.
"Come on," Melissa said, grabbing her friend's arm. "We can go replace that lipstick before anyone ..."
Amber shrugged her off. "I'm not replacing anything," she said, taking on a more defiant tone, something not typical of the bimbo cheerleader. "And I don't care what everyone else thinks. I'll do what I want." Then she stomped off, taking only a second down the hall to turn and glare at Melissa, who was dumbfounded by her friend's attitude.
"I don't think asking questions will work," Karyn said, as she met Jon outside the school. "Maybe you should try using the stone again."
"Believe me, I tried doing that ... all last night. Every time I tried to wish to know something about Sarah's plans, the wishing stone wouldn't work. It's like she's protected or something. All the stone will tell me is that she's a witch and that she's making everyone in town think that she's something else."
"Well, maybe you're going at this the wrong way," Karyn suggested.
"What do you mean?"
"Your sister has a friend who's into the occult, right?"
"You mean Athena? Yeah, she's into that stuff. But what does that have to do ..."
"Maybe she knows what's happening. Or if she doesn't, she could at least know how to find out."
"I suppose. But I always thought that her interest was just, well, you know, a hobby. I mean, it's not real, right? She's just goofing off."
"Is she? Jon, you have a wishing stone," Karyn pointed out.
Jon thought about that, then came to the conclusion that Karyn might be right. Maybe there really was something to Athena and her favorite hobby.
"So, how do we go about this?" Jon asked. "I don't think I've ever gone out of my way to speak to Athena. Also, I don't want her knowing about the stone. Not unless it's absolutely necessary. The less people who know about it, the better."
"Well, maybe we should just try the direct approach."
"You mean just walk up to her and ask her about Sarah?" he asked.
"That's what the 'direct approach' means. Come on, I know where her locker is. We can wait for her."
"I'll be so fucking glad when this is all over," Sabrina said, pushing her pink-dyed hair over her overly-pierced pale ear. "If I have to see Sarah dressing as a fucking cheerleader one more time ..."
"Keep your voice down," Stephanie said, shushing her friend. "Now, have you seen anything ... unusual? Concerning Sarah and her plan, I mean."
"No."
Stephanie sighed. "Keep looking. She showed me her crystal. Someone really was trying to pry into her business."
"But who? Who the fuck has enough ..." She paused. "Athena?"
"Nah, Sarah already dismissed that idea. That girl's a novice at best compared to Sarah. No, this is someone else. And we need to find out who it is. Sarah's plans could be in jeopardy."
"If all this was for nothing ... I mean, two years ..."
"Yeah, I know," Stephanie said, nodding.
Sarah stood in the hall, wearing her designer pastel-colored outfit and heels, feeling thoroughly disgusted, but maintaining a smile regardless. The previous night, she tested the waters with Amber, and although it didn't go as smoothly as she hoped, Amber eventually succumbed to her influence. And now, the bimbo cheerleader was already changing. She saw her earlier and was pleased to see her wearing the new black make-up she bought at the mall the previous night. Already, people were talking and Sarah couldn't have been happier. Disruption, that's what she wanted. A sudden break in the norm.
"Hey, babe," Biff Meadows said, walking up to Sarah from behind and putting his muscular arm around her more slender body. Biff was Sarah's boyfriend. If he only knew what Sarah was really like, however, he probably wouldn't want anything to do with her. The jocks had a special disliking for the Goth crowd.
Sarah turned and kissed Biff. It wasn't a completely revolting action. Biff really was a great kisser, as well as a great lover. She just wished he was more her kind of guy. Maybe more like Trevor Blake, the only Goth boy in school. But that could come later. With her influence, she could make Biff become the most gothic boy in town, but right now she had to be subtle and careful. There was still the problem with finding whoever tried to use magic on her. She tasked Stephanie and Sabrina with finding out who it was, but she couldn't completely rely on her friends. She needed to try to find out herself as well. She couldn't move ahead with anything big until the person was found and dealt with. But who could it be?
