Since Jon's stone was missing and it was never stolen to be replaced with the Charity Stone, there was only one stone that could help the denizens of Lake Point get back on track and resume some semblance of their old lives - the stone within Athena DeVries' anti-magic pendant. Athena sensed magical forces wreaking havoc this morning, though she could not determine any details. She used an artificial hand to pick up the pendant. Putting it on, she realized ...
... that the horrible reality Athena currently lived in was actually less than twenty four hours old. It had only been recently created through use of powerful, reality-altering magic.
None of what had happened during the past few months had happened in the reality that existed prior to this morning. Before the changes, all the students at Lake Point High School were getting ready for a normal day at school. The cheerleaders and the jocks were talking about cheerleading practice and sports. The band geeks and the drama club were listening to resident school critic Starla Stanfield's critique of their recent rehearsal, Jay Duncan was chatting with Kyla Leeson and Walter Smukmeyer about science fiction, and Athena and her Goth friends were speculating over what would and would not be brought up in today's History class, and if they were going to hang out at the popular Goth club The Spiked Pit that weekend.
And then some strong reality-altering magic occurred that made all of that impossible to have have happened today in the reality Athena now knew. Apparently, in order for some sort of spell to work, reality had to be altered so that a horrible disaster occurred when Richard McMillan insisted on testing some 'Reality Branches' machine prototype on the grounds of Lake Point High School. Up until now, Athena had assumed that the whole thing was caused by nothing more than some egotistical CEO insisting on a bad idea in defiance of common sense and the advice of so many people around him, including most of McMillan Tech Industries' Board of Directors and most of the Research and Development Department.
But now, she knew that Richard McMillan's poorly thought out idea was actually the product of reality altering. Whatever force had altered their reality needed some means of making the alteration make some kind of sense.
And now that Athena knew the truth, the whole scenario made a lot more sense.
Why had every student in the 2,125 student population of Lake Point High School been horrifically maimed, mutilated, disfigured, or otherwise scarred in the disaster while all the adults present survived without any physical damage whatsoever? Surely Richard McMillan himself, as well as McMillan Tech Chief Operating Officer (COO) Clay Dankworth (the only other member of the Board of Directors who was in favor of the demonstration), should have received some serious injuries seeing how close they were to the machine when it exploded and sent burning fragments flying everywhere. Ditto for Samantha Duncan (Jay's mother), Ryan Leeson (Kyla's cousin), Milt Smukmeyer (Walter's father) and the others from MTI's Research and Development who were trying to stop the demonstration. Not to mention the teachers and staff of Lake Point High School who were present.
If what the pendant had just revealed to her was correct (and it always was), then it explained a lot.
Athena's anti-magic pendant (which she named the Blackhawks pendant) protected her from curses and magical transformations caused by changes in reality. Her parents had told her that she was being overly paranoid by wearing it all the time, so these days she took it off more than she had previously, and didn't wear it each and every day. However, when she put it back on, the pendant would restore to her any memories she had of the past thirty days prior to any alterations in reality. She would also know just when those alterations actually took place, even if the memories associated with the new reality led her to believe the changes had happened earlier.
The memories associated with her current reality told her the explosion had happened months ago. But the restored memories from the pendant told her that the disaster was part of a new past created by an alteration in reality to explain the current situation.
As a result, Athena was now missing both hands and one leg, which had been replaced by artificial hands and an artificial leg provided by what was left of the McMillan fortune. Samantha Duncan and the others from the Research and Development department wanted to create cyborg parts for all those affected, but with McMillan Tech Industries shut down in the wake of the disaster, they were desperately looking for ways to fund the project, and so very little progress had been made.
Athena's face still bore much signs of burn scars, and what was left of her hair had reverted to its natural blonde. There seemed little point in trying to dye it black again, given her overall disfigurement.
Athena's friends in the Goth circle fared little better. Zoe Gibson (or Madison if using her mother's maiden name) had lost her right arm, leg, and ear. Zelda Whitefield had lost both legs and her face was so hideously disfigured she wore her cybergoth mask almost all the time except when she had to eat or drink.
But at least Zelda still could eat and drink. Sabrina Johnson was so badly damaged she had to have food and drink given to her intravenously. Meanwhile, Trevor Blake had lost one eye, his nose, and his left arm. Stephanie Wright was so horrifically burned she looked like a living burned corpse, and missing her left eye.
Her friends believed they had been in their terrible conditions for months. At the moment, Athena saw no reason to tell them otherwise.
Now that she knew that her current reality had only come into existence this morning, what was she to do with this information? She knew that there was not anything she could do to help her friends and everyone else in her current physical condition, at least not on her own. She needed to talk to someone she knew and trusted. Someone who wasn't a student at Lake Point High School.
Athena turned to her list of contacts. There was at least one person she knew who could possibly tell her more about the changes in reality, and what, if anything, could be done about it.
