"But once we've taught her a lesson we can change her back, right?" Athena sounded a little bit worried.
"Absolutely," Zoe said. Honestly, it was probably a flat out lie. The curse she'd used had been pretty strong. Then there had been the rather lightweight charms that she'd done afterward. Mostly they'd just been added to allay anybody's suspicions and make sure that nobody noticed what was going on. The curse itself was supposedly irreversible, but Zoe had been so eager to try it that she hadn't let that stop her. "Once we're satisfied she's learned her lesson, we'll change her back."
"Good," Athena said. "See you tomorrow." And she hung up. Zoe set the phone on her bed and let her mind wander again. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a glimpse of black, and she heard a quiet jingle. She jumped, glaring at the newcomer.
"Don't do that," Zoe snarled, and a minute movement made another jingle come from the heavy ornaments at the edge of the newcomer's hood. "And don't laugh at me, or I'll do to you what I did to Violet."
An empty threat, she knew, as did the tall, slight figure clad in a heavy cloak which doubled its apparent bulk. Heavy metal trinkets pulled the hood down over its face, and the visible portion of it was wrapped in a black-and-white striped bandana. It held up a black gloved hand in simple greeting, accompanied by a voice Zoe felt rather than heard, speaking in raw emotion and thought, the stuff language was made to resemble. I'm sorry. A pause. Will you forgive me?
Zoe smiled, comforted by their old ritual. "You are forgiven." Another subtle motion set the trinkets moving again, approximating laughter. "Do you..." It was likely that yes, her mentor did already know, so she asked, "Do you think what I did was right?"
Silence filled the room, an almost physical feeling that made Zoe sweat, as she felt her mentor's eyes on her. It stretched on and on, and she struggled to keep her eyes on the ornaments, where the cloaked spectre's eyes would be. Her hands started shaking, her stomach filled with dread and doubt. Finally, a thin gloved hand reached up, pulling the hood back from a bone-white face and hair so black as to look blue. The bandana was removed next, with a simple tug that unraveled it, showing a strong, sharp face that couldn't be more than four years her senior. The girl in the black cloak looked at Zoe with sad bluish-black eyes, and echoed her own words back at her, slowly and softly. "Do you think what you did was right?"
