After what seemed like an eternity, Freddy and Michael managed to make their way to the front door. They stopped briefly before Freddy tried to ring the bell. Michael swatted his hand away and asked him to look at him.
“Freddy?”
“What, Michael?”
“Don’t you think we should have a plan for how we are going to handle Sofya?”
“Let’s just wing it” Freddy replied as he tried again to ring the bell, unsuccessful due to Michael grabbing his hand away.
“Freddy, Sofya’s magic may be very powerful. We didn’t get a chance to go over a strategy last night and I think we ought have a game plan before…”
Before Michael could finish that thought, the door opened to Sofya staring at them. She was wearing a comfortable jogging suit that accentuated his breasts. The two boys noticed that she wasn’t wearing a bra. Freddy began to feel a tingling in his stomach as he openly stared at her bosom, while Michael ignored it as he looked at her face.
“You boys are late” Sofya said, with a slightly disapproving look.
“Sorry about that” Michael replied, irritated that Freddy kept staring at her bosom.
Michael nudged Freddy, who snapped out of his daze and looked at her face.
“We were just going over some homework and we lost track of time” Michael continued.
“Yeah” Freddy added quietly.
“Hmmm” Sofya replied curiously, eyeing Freddy up and down, but not in a sexual manner. “Didn’t you wear that outfit on Wednesday, Freddy?”
“Uh…” Freddy replied, looking himself over and not knowing how respond.
“And why do you give off the odor of a…dog?” Sofya asked with an inquisitive look on her face.
“Uh.”
“Can we come in?” Michael asked, hoping to get her to stop talking about this.
“Sure, right” Sofya responded, motioning the boys to come in.
The three teenagers entered the house as they quietly made their way over to the living room. Michael began to take more specific mental notes as he curiously eyed the antiques on the wall.
“I swear” Michael thought, as he slowly walked in “that some of these pieces of art seem very familiar. It’s like…they were stolen.”
As Michael was beginning to slowly piece things together, Freddy couldn’t help but stare at Sofya. Her pants were riding a little too low, so he could see part of her perky butt. Losing himself to his senses, Freddy began to ogle as it bounced up and down. He could have done this forever before he briefly tripped on the rug, saved from falling by Michael’s hands grabbing at his shoulders.
“Are you ok?” Michael asked.
“Yeah” Freddy responded.
“Be careful” Sofya said as she turned to look at Freddy coldly. “These antiques are very valuable. You don’t want to break them.”
“Sorry” Freddy responded, feeling scolded and looking down at his feet.
Sensing the sadness, Michael shook him out of his funk before they were ushered to the couch by Sofya.
“So” Sofya began as they went to sit. “I figured although it was getting late, you guys might want to order in dinner. I didn’t really have enough time to go grocery shopping today and there isn’t really enough time to cook now anyway. Do you guys know anyplace that delivers around here?”
“I do, actually” Michael responded as he took out his phone.
He went through a dining app and found a local Italian restaurant that he showed to Sofya.
“This is my father’s favorite joint” Michael said as he showed her the menu on his phone. “We used to go there when I was a kid and…”
Sofya could see Michael’s eyes getting wet as he hesitated in his thoughts.
“Never mind” Michael said, as he went to take back the phone.
“No, what?” Sofya asked as she placed her hand in Michael’s.
An overwhelming sense of jealousy flowed through Freddy.
“Why is she putting her hands on Michael?” Freddy thought to himself. “Why aren’t her hands on me? Wait…why am I having these thoughts? What’s causing them? Uh oh.”
Freddy wasn’t sure what was causing such irrational thoughts. Michael was as gay as he is. Or was he is? Up until the curse started, Freddy thought of himself as exclusively gay. Now, he wasn’t so sure. Was Michael?
“It’s nothing” Michael responded, hoping to change the subject. “So, what do you like to eat?”
“I’m flexible really” Sofya responded. “You’ve obviously gone there a lot. I’ll trust your judgement. And in fact…”
Sofya got up for a moment to head into the dining room before she returned with two $20 bills in her hand.
“…it’s on me” she continued as she handed Michael the money.
“You don’t have to do that” Freddy responded.
“Thanks Sofya” Michael interjected as he took the money from her hand and began to pick out what to order on the phone.
“Hey Michael” Freddy said. “Be a gentleman and give her back the money. Or at the very least, let’s offer to split it.”
“It’s fine Freddy” Sofya responded as Freddy turned to her. “Really.”
An alluring look in her eyes lowered his inhibitions.
“Ok” Freddy responded.
Freddy knew something was up. Something in her eyes was making him act up and change his behavior. He wanted to tell Michael about this…in fact, he realized now that he forgot to write about it on the piece of paper.
“Wait…” Freddy thought. “That eye thing happened Tuesday. Wait, I’m getting confused.”
Freddy was having a hard time remembering things and gave off a strange look. Sofya noticed this and went to try to run her fingers through his hair. Michael spotted this and swatted her away.
“Don’t do that!” Michael hissed at Sofya.
“Jesus Christ, Michael” she responded. “I was just trying to see if he was ok. Calm down.”
Freddy continued to be lost in his thoughts, unaware of what was going on around him.
“Are you ok, Freddy?” Sofya asked.
As Michael finished ordering and looked up from his phone, he noticed what Sofya was focusing on. Freddy looked like he was having a seizure.
“Freddy’s not prone to seizures” Michael thought to himself. “What’s going on?”
Michael began to shake Freddy as he called to him.
“Maybe we should call a doctor?” Sofya asked.
Before Michael could respond, Freddy snapped out of it.
“Huh?” Freddy asked as he looked about the room, confused.
“Freddy, you were totally out of it” Michael responded.
“Are you ok, Freddy?” Sofya asked.
“I think so” Freddy answered.
“Do you need some water?”
“Uh sure. I’m feeling a little thirsty. Thanks.”
Sofya got up to go to the kitchen as Michael leaned in to Freddy.
“What happened to you?” Michael asked quietly.
“I don’t know” Freddy responded. “It’s like I lost myself in…myself. It’s like one minute I’m in the room with you guys and then the next I’m not here. It was like, total darkness. I only got out of it when you shook me out of it.”
“It’s got to be some sort of magic from the wizard.”
“Michael, I have to tell you something. It’s about her eyes.”
“What about her eyes?”
Before Freddy could answer, Sofya came back into the room with two glasses of water.
“Here you go, guys” Sofya said as she handed them the glasses.
“Thanks” the two boys responded in unison, taking a quick sip from their glasses before putting them down on the table.
“Let me get one for myself, too” she replied. “I’ll be right back.”
Sofya got up again to go get herself a drink. Michael leaned back into Freddy.
“What about her eyes?” Michael asked.
“They seem to…twinkle” Freddy responded.
Michael smacked Freddy’s shoulder as a look of disapproval crept upon his face.
“Hey” Freddy said as he rubbed his shoulder. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Stop lusting over her, Freddy” Michael responded. “I told you get to get your impulses under control.”
“I didn’t mean it like that, Michael. I meant it was like…”
Before Freddy could respond, Sofya came back with her drink of water and set the glass on the table before she sat down.
“So boys” Sofya began as the two of them looked up at her. “Let’s talk.”
“I’m not really sure what there is to talk about, Sofya” Michael responded.
“Is that a joke?” Sofya asked incredulously.
“Uh” Freddy responded, thinking of a way to try to ease the situation, but Michael wouldn’t let him.
“I’m not sure why we’re even here, to be honest. Freddy told me that you wanted us, emphasis on us, to come over to talk and I’m not sure why. Freddy really didn’t tell me much other than to be here.”
“At 7” Sofya responded with an annoyed tone. “At 7, Michael, and you guys were almost an hour late.”
“Sorry Sofya” Freddy responded, trying again to calm things down. “We got held up on our homework and we lost track of the time.”
“At least he kept my story straight” Michael thought to himself. “He didn’t go off script.”
“And we also had things that we needed to discuss with each other before we came here, tonight” Freddy continued.
“And he blew it” Michael thought as he smacked his forehead.
“I don’t know what there is to prepare for” Sofya said as she looked at them with a slight bit of disgust. “It’s not like this is some important job interview or an audition for a role on TV. It’s just the three of us, talking. What is there to be prepared for?”
“Well, it’s not like we got off on the right foot the last time we saw each other, Sofya” Michael replied.
“You’re telling me.”
Sofya gave Michael a glare that seemed to paralyze him. He noticed something as she forced him to look at her eyes.
“There it is” Michael thought as he looked into her eyes. “There’s that twinkle Freddy was talking about. He wasn’t just talking with his penis after all.”
“Uh Sofya?” Freddy interjected, trying to lighten the mood. “Maybe we should try to talk about what happened on Wednesday amicably, like adults.”
“Nice SAT words there, Freddy” Michael thought to himself sarcastically, filled with rage as he felt paralyzed by Sofya’s glare.
“You’re right” she responded.
As if by magic, her grip hold on Michael’s mind ended and he felt released from her spell. He started to pant as nerves overtook him.
“Let’s start” Sofya said with a curl in her voice “with the fact that Michael just barged into my house unannounced on Wednesday.”
“Actually” Michael replied with a harshness in his voice. “You invited us to come over and…”
“I invited the both of you to come in the afternoon. Freddy came here at 10 and you came here a little before 12. That’s not the ‘afternoon,’ even by generous standards.”
“And even if that’s so, I had every reason to do so…”
“Every reason to do what, Michael? Barge into my house unannounced? Trespass onto my property? That’s a crime, you know.”
“Then why wasn’t the door locked?”
Sofya sank into her spot on the couch as she looked at Michael’s serious face.
“I…don’t know” she responded, unsure of how to answer such a good question.
“And what I saw when I got here” Michael continued “was you pawing at and making out with my boyfriend.”
Sofya could hear the snarl in his tone and she did not like it at all.
“Your boyfriend came onto me, Michael.”
“That’s a lie!” Freddy yelled as he got up off the couch.
Michael and Sofya looked up at him with differing expressions on their faces. Michael felt proud while Sofya felt disgust.
“You came onto me, Sofya” Freddy continued while pointing at her. “You tried to have your way with me. That’s rape. You forcibly kissed me when you knew I was gay.”
“Your erection told me otherwise” she responded.
Michael looked down at his lap. This was a question he wanted to broach with Freddy yesterday, but they got so caught up in their arguing that he forgot to ask about that. Freddy had mentioned the sheath emerged, but was it caused by the dog’s attraction to her…or his own?
“People can get involuntary erections” Freddy responded. “That doesn’t mean that they want it.”
“Was it involuntary when you played with my nipple?” Sofya sharply asked.
This was also something Michael had wanted to broach with him. Freddy had written that Sofya forcibly placed his hand onto her bosom, but that he felt an urge to put his hand under her shirt and play with her nipple. Why? That, he didn’t have answer for.
“I got lost in my head for a moment” Freddy responded meekly.
“That’s the most ridiculous answer I’ve ever heard” Sofya responded coldly. “You got lost in your head and that caused you to put your hand under my shirt and feel my nipple? Or did you let go of your inhibitions for once and did you wanted to do?”
“Sofya, I’m in love with Michael!” Freddy yelled. “Don’t make excuses for you trying to have your way with me. Stop going around telling him lies about what I think and feel. We have a great relationship and…”
“Michael doesn’t think so” she responded.
“I said we were having a rough patch” Michael interjected coldly. “But I also said we were going to work through it. And we will, no thanks to you.”
An awkward silence filled the air. Freddy sat back down next to Michael as the three of them tried to avoid eye contact with each other. Freddy patted Michael on the back, which Michael didn't particularly like. Finally, Michael spoke up.
“Why don’t we do something else while we’re waiting for the food to get here?” Michael asked. “Sofya, you never took me on a tour of your house on Wednesday and…”
“Why would I have done that when you stormed out of my house in a huff?” she responded.
“Sofya” Freddy pleaded. “Please. I got to see the house and I think it’s only fair that you do the same for Michael. If you won’t do it for him…”
Michael gave Freddy an disapproving look, which he ignored.
“….then do it for me.”
Sofya paused for a moment before she noticed the sincerity in Freddy’s face.
“Fine” Sofya responded as she got up and motioned the boys to follow her.
Sofya took the two of them on a tour of the old house. Freddy didn’t pay much attention to this tour either. The only thing he noticed was that there were improvements in the house. The wallpaper seemed to be as good as new and sinks and door knobs that seemed rusted the last time he saw them were polished so brightly that they shined. That was the extent of it, except for one notable exception.
As the two boys were ushered into the dining room, Freddy spotted a mirror hanging above a cabinet. He looked into it and noticed a shocking sight. Like in the mirror ball in the magic shop, Freddy didn’t see his own reflection. Instead, he saw an anthropomorphic German Shepherd walk past him and stop when he did. When Freddy turned, the dog did as well.
Freddy gave a quiet gasp. The dog wasn’t fully a dog, but he wasn’t really human either. He had the fur coverings of the German Shepherd that Freddy changed into, but he stood on two feet and seemed to have a visible six pack. The dog man’s tongue rapidly wagged out of his mouth, causing Freddy to feel his face, hoping to keep his own tongue in his mouth. Freddy lifted his hands and could see paws in the mirror. A tail wagged rapidly behind the dog man when he turned around. He was freaking out. He wanted to move on.
As Freddy stared at the mirror, Michael did as well, but for entirely different reasons. Michael noticed the mirror around the same time Freddy did, but his first impression was that it seemed entirely familiar. The marking on the top of the frame almost looked like….the stolen Ruggeri mirror.
“This must be a clue” Michael noted to himself.
As Michael stared into the mirror, he also noticed something that caused him to quietly gasp as well. It was if he was….invisible. Michael turned around, looked up and down and raised his hands. Nothing appeared in the mirror. Michael moved his head…still nothing.
“This is freaking me out” Michael thought as he quietly pushed a panicking Freddy to keep moving. “I have a feeling that this is what we’re looking for.”
Sofya continued to give her tour of the rest of the house. Michael noted that Freddy looked like he wasn’t paying attention again.
“It’s a good thing that she’s giving it again” Michael thought. “At least I’m paying attention this time.”
Despite that being true, there wasn’t really anything notable that Michael thought was really necessary to remember. He knew most of the old house’s troubled history by researching it online. He thought that the details checked out, except for one notable exception.
As Sofya took them upstairs, she showed them her pink and purple bedroom. As she turned to take them back downstairs, Michael looked down the hall to see a strange door shrouded in darkness. Michael began to feel a sense of dread rush over him as he began to stare at it.
“Michael” a voice called to him.
Michael turned around to see Freddy and Sofya chatting away as they walked down the stairs.
“Michael” the voice called again.
Michael turned back to see nothing but the door shrouded in darkness.
“Michael” the voice called out once more before he felt a hand touch his shoulder.
Michael jumped as he shrieked and turned to find Sofya awkwardly staring at him.
“You shouldn’t go in there” she said. “That’s my fathers bedroom. He doesn’t allow any visitors to look in there.”
“Sofya?” Michael asked as he began to compose himself. “What month this year did you say that the plumbing was redone?”
“In March. Why do you ask?”
“Just curious”
“Let’s go downstairs and set the dining room table. Dinner should be coming soon.”
Sofya motioned Michael to follow her as he made her way down the stairs.
“Odd” Michael thought to himself as he followed her. “She said that it was done a week before they moved in just a few minutes ago.”
Michael wasn’t sure what compelled him to ask that question, but now that Sofya gave a different answer than before, he knew there had to be a reason for it. Before he left tonight, he wanted to try it again. If her answer changed a third time, then he suspected it had something to do with….whatever lurked behind the mysterious door to her father’s bedroom.
When Michael arrived downstairs, Freddy and Sofya were making small talk while setting the table. Michael cautiously approached them.
“Oh” Michael said hesitantly. “I thought you said you mostly eat in the kitchen, Sofya.”
“I do” she replied. “But I figured I have important company over so we might as well eat in here. Besides, I haven’t been able to have a meal in here yet since I moved in so I figured, why not tonight?”
“Yeah, don’t sweat it too much” Freddy added.
“Ok” Michael replied, not sure how he’d feel looking at a mirror that didn’t show his own reflection throughout the meal.
Getting himself out of his head, Michael heard the door bell ring and went to go to answer it.
“Don’t worry” Sofya replied as she stopped him with her hand. “I’ll get it.”
Sofya left the dining room to answer the door. Michael walked over to where Freddy stood on the other side of the table and leaned into his ear.
“Freddy, can you sit next to me on the other side of the table, please?”
“Don’t you think Sofya will think it’s weird if we don’t sit across from each other?”
“She might, but that mirror is giving me the creeps.”
“You’re telling me. All I can see looking into is…a dog. A dog who is standing up.”
“I don’t see anything. It’s like I have no reflection at all.”
Sofya came back into the room with the food in a bag as she plopped it down on the table.
“That’s quite an expensive order” Sofya said as she started removing the food from the bag that the cute delivery guy gave her.
Sofya gave him a nice tip…along with a quick squeeze on his hardening dick.
“I thought that for your first nice meal in town” Michael said “that you’d want to eat the best.”
“I hope it’s worth what they’re charging for it” she replied.
“It is” Freddy concurred. “Michael and I have ordered from there before. It’s really good.”
Sofya placed the various dishes onto different spots of the dining room table. There was Chicken and Eggplant Parmesan dinners with Spaghetti, an order of jumbo meatballs and a large salad. After they sat down, Sofya started serving out the food to Freddy and Michael. When she was done, she served herself and then she called to the boys to attention.
“Mangiamo. Let’s eat.”
Awkwardly, Freddy pushed Michael into to the left as he sat at Sofya’s left. This left Michael staring at the reflection less mirror throughout the entire dinner. Trying to ignore it, Michael focused on his food as he, along with Freddy and Sofya, dug in to what was, in his opinion, some of the best Italian food he’s ever had.
“You’re right, Michael” Sofya agreed after she swallowed a few bites of her food. “This is really good Italian food. I should know. I spent a summer there with my dad.”
“Thanks” Michael responded as he continued to eat. “I’d say it’s definitely comparable to anything you’d order over there.”
“I knew you’d like it too” Freddy added.
Sofya nodded as they continued to eat. After a minute of the three of them chowing down on their food, Sofya felt compelled to talk.
“It’s a bit too quiet in here” she said. “Someone needs to speak up.”
“Uh” Freddy replied nervously, unsure of what to say.
Freddy didn’t want to say anything that could offend Michael. He could tell that Michael was still on edge and Freddy preferred that he took the lead in any conversation.
“So” Michael started quietly.
“Phew!” Freddy thought to himself as he ate a big forkful of meatball.
“What’s with that mirror up on the wall?” Michael asked.
“Oh, that” Sofya responded. “I don’t really know all that much about it. All I know is that my father got it when we were in Italy.”
“That’s not good” Michael thought to himself.
“Hey, isn’t that where…” Freddy tried to say before Michael glared at him. “Never mind.”
“No, tell me” Sofya replied.
“How did you father get that mirror, exactly?” Michael interrupted. “You never really told us much about him. What does he do for a living? What brings him to town?”
“You know, I’m not actually quite sure what he does for a living. I was having a hard time answering that question when some girls from school came over for a slumber party yesterday. He describes himself as an art auction dealer. He collects old timey things and then sells them at auction. We tend to have a big todo whenever we have to move, which, surprisingly, is quite often, because we’re always carrying around so much stuff. I wish he’d just settle in one place, but his clients always insist that he has keep moving.”
Freddy absentmindedly nodded as he ate, while Michael gave her a more quizzical look.
“We’ve never stayed in one place for more than a year” she continued. “This is my fifth high school so far and probably like my twentieth…maybe more, school that I’ve ever enrolled in. It’s hard to make friends when you never stay in one place for more than a short period of time. Just as I get to know people and make new friends, we’re already on the move again. My father always says to never get too attached to people. Use them while you need them and then be ready to throw them away because you won’t be seeing them again in the future, anyways.”
“That’s not a very nice way to treat people” Freddy replied with a mouthful of food.
Noticing the food in his mouth, Freddy swallowed and apologized before he kept eating.
“That’s just the way we have to do things” Sofya continued. “He doesn’t let me have Instagram or Facebook or whatever so I have no way of keeping in touch with people once we move on. It really sucks, you know.”
Sofya’s confessions may have fallen on Freddy’s deaf ears, but it was starting to touch Michael deeply. It had to suck to be dragged all over the country…or maybe even the world, for your father’s job. And where was her mother? Maybe her parents got divorced? Maybe her mother was terminally ill? Or maybe she’s….Michael didn’t want to consider that last thought. He didn’t think it was appropriate to ask her about it either.
"Wait a second" Michael thought to himself. "Why am I developing sympathy for her? She's probably selling a bullshit narrative to cover up what her father is actually doing. He is the wizard, after all, and if she's not in on it, then I'd be incredibly surprised."
Not wanting to listen to anymore of her sob story, Michael worked to redirect the conversation to what kept being an obsession in his mind.
“Can you tell me about how your father managed to get that mirror?” Michael asked.
“I already answered that” Sofya responded, seemingly annoyed with the question. “I just know that he got it in Italy. I don’t have any other details than that.”
“Did your father get anything else from his travels there?”
“Actually” Sofya responded quietly. “He did. Let me go upstairs to grab them and show you. They always give me the creeps, but maybe you guys will know something about them.”
Sofya got up from her chair and ran out of the dining room to head upstairs. Freddy looked up from his plate at Michael with a confused look on his face.
“Why are you so obsessed with knowing about that mirror?” Freddy asked.
“Because” Michael responded. “It might be the key to figuring out whether or not her father is the wizard.”
As Michael finished his sentence, the two of them could hear her run down the stairs and enter the room again with two shiny rings in her hand.
“Wow!” Freddy said with a bit of a jump.
Michael kept his composure, but his suspicions had been confirmed. Those were the Ruggeri rings. Sofya’s father was the wizard.
“My father got a few things from that trip to Italy” Sofya said as she played with the rings in her hand. “I don’t really recall him bringing back anything else to our home in the Italian countryside at the time except for that mirror on the wall and these two rings. I don’t know what compelled him to buy these things because they sure are ugly. They have these creepy looking bugs on them and, sometimes, they glow. It’s so odd.”
“May I take a look at them?” Michael asked.
“Sure…” Sofya responded with a bit of hesitation. “Just be careful, ok? My father gets a bit sensitive about these. It’s like they are attached to him.”
Making mental notes to store for later, Michael nodded as he took the rings from Sofya’s hands. He started to analyze them closely. They almost looked like exact copies of the ring he possessed at home. He left it there, despite the danger of leaving it unattended, because he feared bringing it here if the wizard came back. The wizard would have free reign to take it from him with his magical powers if he brought it tonight. He tried to keep the ring in a safe, but he didn’t know if that was secure enough to protect it from a magical robber. It’d have to do for now, however, as the alternative was much worse.
Michael thought that these rings were almost exact clones of the one in his possession until he looked at the bottoms of them. Instead of being inscriptions that said al cane, one said il gato and the other said il cavallo.
“That’s cat and horse in Italian” Michael thought. “The rings must change people into different animals. Interesting.”
As Michael was analyzing the rings, Freddy stared nervously and Sofya had a thought in her head.
“Hey, wait a second.” Sofya said, which snapped Michael out of his trance. “I thought I saw you guys playing with a ring similar to those at school yesterday.”
Freddy gulped nervously as Michael attempted to show a poker face.
“What do you mean?” Michael asked, not giving away his nerves in his facial expression.
“Yeah” Sofya responded. “I saw you two talking to each other in the hallway at school.”
“God, you’re a stalker” Freddy said absentmindedly.
Sofya gave him a nasty look before he blushed and looked down at his lap.
“Yeah” Sofya continued. “I saw you two talking and then I noticed, Michael, that you pulled out some ring from your backpack.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about” Michael replied, giving a convincingly straight answer with a strong poker face.
“You did. You were playing with some ring, you showed it to Freddy and then you put it in your backpack.”
Sofya snatched the rings back from Michael as she looked at the two of them.
“You guys….”
Before she could respond……