Zoe felt as if she were made of lead, trudging her way to Honors Chemistry after lunch. And not just because of her habitual teenage I-do-what-I-want-so-piss-off attitude; it was starting to really sink in by then that the Stone might well and truly be gone. The last memento of old Grandpa Jack, an artifact more powerful than she could have believed if she hadn't seen it herself, one she had been just SO excited to show her magic-loving BFF, and my dumb ass just HAD to fucking DROP it! She was scowling, walking up to the classroom door. Stupid, stupid, fucking stupid!
Zoe hesitated at the doorstep; part of her still thought, irrationally, that maybe she could still find the Stone out there somewhere, somehow, if she looked harder, skipped class maybe, left no stone unturned magical or otherwise, and just said to hell with Vice Principal Sanders if she caught her again... but she knew it was pointless by now. After so much time, the Stone would almost certainly have been picked up by some janitor or teacher if not another student, and after that, who knows? If she was lucky, they'd give it to the Lost and Found by the end of the day (they hadn't yet, she checked), or maybe toss it out into the courtyard with the rest of the gravel, where she'd find it later; but she was not at all optimistic, especially not after talking to Athena.
At lunch, Athena had been deadset certain that someone had made a Wish after finding the Stone. Or rather, was still making Wishes, plural. She could feel it, Athena said; the energy of some spell, cast with an aura she didn't recognize, surging again and again at lunch and before that. Apparently the last one felt like a great rush of water? Not too cold nor boiling, but like hot bubbly bathwater, just dumped into the lunchroom for everyone to swim in. There were shapes of frogs, floating up in the air above them, kicking with their frog legs and darting away, trying to hop out of the water and leave forever, but one of them, with its huge bulging eyes, stayed behind to hatch her little tadpoles.
Zoe hadn't the slightest clue what any of that meant, though. Honestly, she doubted Athena could've explained it to her even if she knew what it meant. Zoe sighed; she looked up to Athena like an older sister, trusted what she knew about magic and witchcraft like it was Gospel fact, but then sometimes, bless her heart, it could feel like the poor girl was living on a different planet from Zoe and her classmates. It had taken a worryingly long time to even get her to remember the Stone at lunch, she was so distracted then; talking about the branch that morning, bitching about how she'd lost her inheritance, at first all it got from Athena was a very blank look, that swiftly became puzzled about some mystery Zoe probably couldn't sense like she did. She caught on after a little backtracking, but nonetheless, she was still more distracted and absent than Zoe had seen her in a long time. They cast a minor spell together, one to clear their heads and keep their eyes open for now, and that finally brought Athena back down to Earth and Zoe.
Nice as that was, the triumph didn't last long; it became clear very quickly that they were at a roadblock when it came to finding the Stone. They didn't have magic potent enough for anything really helpful there and then, nor any solid leads to investigate besides some vague ideas Athena had about the Wisher's aura. Worse still, if Athena was right and the Wisher knew what the Stone was, all it would take it was just a few choice words to ward the Stone out of their reach, FOREVER. Hopefully, that wasn't the case yet -- that Zoe could still remember the Stone existing was a good sign, for example -- but if the Wisher, whoever they were, somehow managed to find out Athena and Zoe were onto them, trying and plotting to get their Stone back, all their hopes could be dashed in an instant. Zoe and Athena would have to play their cards very close to the chest. There would be no asking around, no enlisting the help of any but their most trusted friends, no grandiose confrontations, and no drawing attention to themselves; they would have to do what they could do quietly, or risk being found out and punished for their meddling. Zoe shuddered to think what that might entail, in the wrong hands...
RING RING RING
Zoe started violently, and then had to physically bite her tongue to keep herself from cussing out the fucking tardy bell, as if a machine could somehow feel remorse for having the audacity to announce the start of Honors Chemistry. Not like "Honors" Chemistry even really counts for much, Zoe seethed to herself. She liked to think of herself as bright despite appearances, but she hated this class; it was an "Honors" class of the worst variety, in that it was quite good at teaching students how to despise Honors classes and terrible at teaching anything else. The teacher, Coach Bradford, (Yes, "Coach," not "Mister,") seemed to be quite firmly under the delusion that an "Honors" class was first, one in which students were made to work themselves to exhaustion on even the most mundane and arbitrary assignments, like so many prisoners on an intellectual treadmill; and second, one in which "order" and "discipline" were expected to be kept on a par with the U.S. Marines at Boot Camp. What it did not mean to Coach Bradford was anything pertaining to a more intellectually stimulating or challenging study of Chemistry. Of course it didn't, why even expect that of a Volleyball Coach? The ugly truth was that, no matter how many titles nor how much fake prestige the school attached to a class, there was no getting around that it was just a small town's public high school, that would be underfunded if it weren't for ticket sales at the McMillan triplets' extracurriculars of choice. It was Karyn McMillan's Volleyball Games that paid Coach Bradford's bills, and everyone knew it; Honors Chemistry, which sold nothing to anyone, was destined to be just the side hustle.
There was some Good News, though: this class was one of the few that Zoe shared with Athena. The Bad News was that Coach Bradford knew better than to ever let the two sit together, and in his quest to minimize fun and engagement and will to live amongst his students, had devised a zealously-enforced seating chart in direct opposition to the witchcraft of friendship. Zoe would be sitting by Jamie Duncan and one of the bitchlets, Jenni McMillan, and together they could stare longingly at the other side of the room, where Athena, Kyla Leeson, and Lily Vanderfield could all be found so close, and yet so far, and god forbid they dare attempt any kind of communication.
Today was a lab day. Well, a "lab" day; the students themselves weren't actually going to get any hands-on experience with chemicals or lab equipment, nor with taking data to do their math with, nor with coming up with and testing hypotheses themselves. It was more a glorified lecture than anything, with copious amounts of homework attached: Coach Bradford was up in front of the class with his beakers and burners and all the rest, droning on about the Stoichiometry of what he was doing and watching out for students that weren't taking notes like they were supposed to. Of course it was all going to be necessary for some "lab report" they were going be harshly graded on. At the moment, Zoe could hardly bring herself to care.
FLASH
At least Chemistry Lab is pretty fun today, Zoe thought to herself, eager to distract from her more magical woes of the day. Mrs. Stefan was a pretty good teacher, knew her chemistry well and had a contagious passion for it, and to get the students back in the groove after Spring Break had lined up a genuinely enjoyable Lab for all the students to work on that day. The subject du jour was Solubility and factors that affect it, and so, Zoe and her Lab Group were tasked with brewing their own Soda Pop to drink once the Lab was done and all the data was taken. Having to work with Jenni wasn't thrilling, but Jamie was the kind of student to already know everything there was to know about the Lab before so much as setting foot in class today, and she made things even easier on the trio. Still, it would have been nice if she had her choice of Lab Partners to work with; then she could spend a little extra time today putting her head together with-
"Athena!?"
It was Jenni of all people that said it, with a level of alarm that almost immediately snapped Zoe to attention, looking over to where Athena shared her Lab Group with Kyla and Lily. At the moment, Athena was looking at Kyla with a face that made Zoe's stomach drop.
She was pale, wide-eyed and shaking, constantly mumbling something that Kyla very clearly didn't understand. She was looking in Kyla's direction, but not quite at her, gaze unfocused into space. Zoe had never seen this before, at least not like this, but she knew right away what was happening: Athena was having a vision.
"Athena, are you okay!?" Jenni pressed, and got no response. At all. It was like Athena wasn't even aware she was there.
"What's going on here?" Mrs. Stefan asked at the commotion, more in Kyla's direction than Athena's.
"I don't know!" Kyla replied in rising panic. "We were just talking and then she got like this!"
Oh, this is bad, Zoe thought frantically. She can't be doing this now! Not here, the Wisher might see it, and then we're FUCKED! "She'll be okay!" Zoe called out, trying to keep as much of a poker face and a steady voice as she could. "She just does this sometimes. I've seen it before, she'll snap out out of it in just a bit with no harm done, okay?"
"Are you sure? She's kinda freakin' me out!" Kyla called back. "She thinks I'm a frog or something right now, from what I can tell!?"
"NO, no, not, not inside, not s'posed to be a frog, four eyes..." Athena said with a sudden spasm. She inhaled sharply, and at nobody in particular mumbled "Frogs don't have four eyes, no, frogs don't need spectacles, they aren't shy, they don't get flustered when the Jay bird comes around, no, no, you weren't a frog this morning..."
"WHAT!?" Kyla asked in shock.
"Seriously, don't mind it!" Zoe insisted, making her way over to that side of the room with Jenni and Jamie close behind. Pushing through a crowd that was starting to form, she continued "I can help her through this, or maybe I could just take her to the nurse, depending on how Mrs. Stefan feels? But she's not hurt or anything, she's alright!" She reached for the necklace around Athena's neck. Athena jumped as if burned by the touch, but Zoe didn't flinch, and once she had the pendant out and offered to Athena, they clasped it tightly together. She was starting to breathe easier, and when Zoe mouthed the words of the spell they'd cast together earlier, Athena seemed to understand. I might regret not letting her finish this Vision later, but such is life, Zoe thought. She'll be back on her feet and hopefully this won't be anything but a funny rumor for the Wisher to hear later.
FLASH
Zoe's hopes that Athena would snap out of it there and then were dashed when Athena suddenly squeezed her hand and the pendant, hard enough that it hurt. "What's your blood-aura doing here!?" she barked half-intelligibly, looking back and forth between Jenni and Zoe like they were two heads of the same dragon. "He's not a sister!"
Professor Artyom sighed. "Just escort her to the nurse," he said, writing out hall passes for the two of them. They'd be back; his science program was an extremely prestigious one by high school standards, and certainly not one he expected the students would ever voluntarily skip out on for any longer than they had to. Better to just let them handle the interruption and hurry back.
"Wait, but what's she saying!?" Kyla interjected, still looking at Athena in amazement. "How could she possibly know-... Can I go with you!?"
"Better not," Zoe waved off quickly. "She's pretty, ehm, distractable right now, and could do without extra stimulation, y'know?" was the excuse she made up. Really, Zoe was eager first and foremost to get Athena out of the situation and alone.
"It's all wrong," Athena mumbled, looking around at the expensive, fancy lab equipment as Zoe gently led her out of the Chem lab. "It's all different, it's all ivory, and it can't be ivory, because it wasn't ivory, because it's just home, and..."
The door closed, and Athena was gone. Most of the class exchanged looks, shrugged, and went back to their work. The only one who still seemed really disturbed by the episode afterwards was Kyla.
