To their shared surprise, the stone in her hand flashed a bright flash, then started pulsing with an internal glow, as if it was the light on a computer working on a complicated problem.
Things around Zoe began to disappear. The paint from the walls. The trashcan by the cafeteria door. The door itself. Everything was just disintegrating before her eyes. One by one, every item in her line of sight simply poped out of existence. Soon Zoe was standing with Melony on a dirt floor encased in drywall. And then the drywall disappeared. And then Melony disappeared.
Zoe blinked.
She was standing in a gravel parking lot. Before her was a building that was only slightly larger than a standard two-story house, with the words "Lake Point School" painted over the entryway. Where was she, Zoe wondered.
But not for too long, as she felt a hand on the back of her shoulder and heard a voice saying "What are you standing around for, Zoe? You don't want to be late."
Zoe turned to see a girl her age wearing a starched white blouse and a fleece coat over a denim skirt that fell just below her knees and a pair of black leggings that closed the gap between the skirt's hem and the tops of her snow boots. Her curly brown hair was pulled back in a fluffy ponytail, and there was a smile on her plain face.
"Athena?" Zoe had never seen her friend look this way.
"'Athena?'" the girl mimicked, then broke into giggles, "C'mon, Zoe, get it together. Mrs. Watson is probably going to notice if half the freshman class is missing."
"Half?" Zoe was still missing her bearings.
"And if I stay out here with you too much longer, she'll definitely notice that the whole class is missing. Let's go!"
Athena made her way into the building, and Zoe reluctantly began to follow, but stopped. Something didn't feel right.
Zoe looked down at herself: long-sleeve flannel shirt, heavy jeans, and work boots. Turning around, she saw a fenced-off pasture on the other side of a two-lane road. It spread so far, she couldn't see where the fence ended, but she could see the horses. A dozen of them, racing through the green grass, manes and tails blowing like black sating ribbons in the wind. Down the street she could see wooden storefronts, and she could barely make out the words "GENERAL STORE" on the closest building. The sky above her was a brilliant blue, marred only by precisely three white, fluffy clouds, and as the sun's heat softly radiated on her skin she could feel a gentle breeze precisely negating the effect. Everything was so pleasant.
Where was she?
Wherever she was, she didn't want to upset anyone, so she opened the schoolhouse door, and followed the sounds of voices.
