To be honest, Zoe had no reason to help her boring big brother's equally boring friend, but like any good sister, she would not pass up an opportunity to push around her bratty younger sibling. Therefore, with only a bit of hesitation, she rushed forward and shoved Mikey over.
Then, standing over the boy, she put her hands on her hips and glared around her, demanding, "Alright, now I want some answers from you people."
Suddenly, Karyn shouted, "Zoe! Get away from Mikey before he-"
Too late. Zoe felt something touch her leg. Looking down, she saw that Mikey had crawled over and put his ring up against the skin of her calf.
"No!" Karyn cried out, scrambling back farther.
Meanwhile, the look of triumph on Mikey's face faded as he watched something odd happen. Strange tendrils of inky blackness flowed down Zoe's leg from somewhere underneath her clothing. Quicker than anyone could react, the marks converged on the point of contact between the ring and the girl's skin.
Instantly, Mikey felt his hand get pushed away by some invisible force. With contact broken, the blackness spread back outward and arranged into a tasteful spider web pattern, appearing for all the world like a normal tattoo on Zoe's skin.
"What was that!?" He gasped.
Zoe glared. "I think I should be the one asking that about that!" She jabbed a finger towards Mikey's ringed hand.
"I-It's my present from grandpa."
The Goth girl blinked. "Wait, he gave you something, too?"
"Yeah."
Zoe glanced at Jon expectantly. Not wanting to give away any definite information, he shrugged.
"So," Mikey said, staring at her leg. "Grandpa gave you a tattoo?"
"Kinda. He gave me this bottle of ink stuff, and when I opened it, the ink just jumped out at me and soaked right into my skin. Thankfully, it seems to be controllable even though it obviously has a life of its own. And good thing, too, because it blocked whatever you tried to do. What were you trying to do anyway?"
Finally, Karyn broke into the conversation. "He tried to take control of you. Everything, or almost everything, he touches with that ring becomes his property. So, basically, he tried to make you into his slave."
"What?!" Zoe yelled. As her anger flared up, her tattoo once more came alive, expanding to cover most of her body in a pattern of dark flames.
Mikey backed away, knowing he was in real trouble.
