*As Natalie left, Zoe watched from behind a tree across the street. She waited patiently until her sister was out of sight before hurrying across the street and up to the front door of the trailer that her two sisters shared. What a dump, she thought as she set her book bag down on the ground. I can't believe people would actually live in a place like this. She shook her head in total lack of comprehension and glanced down at her wristwatch. She didn't have a lot of time, but class wouldn't start for a little bit yet. The young Witch had left home early today, making sure she had enough time to do what she needed to do.
Opening the metallic outer door, she kneeled down in front of the other doorknob. Digging in her pocket, she pulled out the tools she would need to pull this off. As much as she enjoyed using magic, she knew she wouldn't need it for this. Spending enough time around some of Jill's friends had taught her everything she needed to know about picking locks, and the magic was so draining.
Zoe was here this morning, however indirectly, because of her grandfather. She knew that he'd sent Natalie some kind of inheritance, and knew it was something a little more out of the ordinary than a check. She also knew what her grandfather did for a living, and she had to admit that she found it intriguing. Oh, not the digging around in the dirt, she thought as she manipulated her tools in the lock. She could only imagine some of the things he'd found though. Sometimes, when she was younger and just starting out in the craft, she'd imagined what it would have been like to accompany him on one of his digs, to have uncovered something that had real power behind it.
Probably she was just letting her imagination get the better of her. For all she knew, he'd simply sent her some ancient jewelry, or it might have been nothing like that at all, but Zoe had a feeling.
A moment later, the door swung open and she stepped inside. It reeks in here, she thought, holding a sleeve over her nose. It smelled like some bizarre mixture of sex and drugs. Not that she was surprised. The instant, she shut the door behind her. She heard the patter of feet running down the hall.
"Shit," she whispered. She'd been certain that everybody was gone.
She was a little relieved when the Siberian Husky came running down the hall and stopped just in front of her. "Pretty Doggie," Zoe said affectionately as she crouched down to pet her behind the ears. As she did, a wave of recognition came over her. "No " she said out of disbelief. She reached around the dog's neck and pulled the collar up. When she read the name on the collar, she nearly fell backward. "Holy shit," she whispered. She'd known it worked, she could feel it, but Well, it was still a shock. Maybe it was just a coincidence. Maybe the dog just happened to have the same name
Of course, I don't remember them having a dog
She stood up. This was a little weird. For Violet to have ended up here of all places. Zoe wasn't a big believer in coincidence. She happened to believe that everything was connected. If the dog was here then there had to be a reason. All the more reason to hurry up in her endeavors, she decided.
Putting the dog out of her mind for the moment, she made her way toward the hallway. She slid the door to Natalie's room open slowly. It was a sty, but she hadn't really been expecting anything else. She rummaged through Natalie's closet, aghast at some of the rather, in Zoe's opinion, trashy clothing Natalie owned. It was nothing compared to some of the things she found in her underwear drawer though. She held a couple of the items up for closer inspection.
"Never catch me in something like that," she muttered under her breath as she tossed it back into the drawer. She found it sitting on Natalie's desk. Truth be told, she was surprised she'd even noticed the small black case. It looked so damn inconspicuous. There were runes on the outside of it, and though she couldn't read them off hand, she knew they were old.
"Jackpot," she whispered as she picked it up. "This has to be from Grandpa."
Carefully, she opened it up. The inside was lined with red felt, but aside from a folded up piece of paper, there was nothing there. She sighed softly. It was the sigh of somebody who'd found their morning completely wasted. Just for kicks, she picked up the paper and unfolded it. Definitely Grandpa's handwriting, she thought.
When she finished reading it, she quickly pocketed the note, trying not to smile. She didn't want to ruin her image after all, even if Violet was the only one who would have seen it. She stopped briefly to pet the beautiful animal again. "Don't worry, "she said softly, "I'm on my way to school now, and when I see Athena, I'll let her know you're all right." Violet yelped. "Easy girl."
Careful to lock the door behind her, she made her way to school. She was going to have to do something about this note. She just had to figure out exactly what *
