While her father prepared dinner in the kitchen, Sofya took Fido upstairs to give him a bath. Before she did she so, she got in the shower and washed herself off. Fido stood by as she bathed and watched her movements closely. He had to use every bit of strength in him not to pop a boner on the spot in front of her, as the pheromones were still strongly wafting off of her. Somehow, he managed to keep himself calm, as he watched her take a bar of soap and rub herself clean. She took extra time to make sure she cleaned off all of the cum from her breasts, vagina and asshole. This cum, produced by her friends during their magically induced orgy, made Fido feel a sense of jealousy. It should be his cum flowing out of her, not theirs.
“Wait” Freddy thought to himself. “Why am I thinking this? Oh no, it’s the dog again. I hope I can restrain it enough before I pop a boner in front of Sofya.”
Before it was too late, Sofya shut off the water and went to dry herself off. When she was done, she turned to look at Fido staring at her from the bathroom floor.
“In the tub, boy” she called to him. “In you get. Time to give you a bath.”
Reluctantly, Fido whined as he eased himself carefully into the bathtub. He stood still as Sofya ran the water from the faucet and grabbed a cup from the sink. She began to splash water all over Fido, as she drenched him fully, covering his entire coat of fur. Feeling uncomfortably damp, Fido shook himself dry, as Sofya screeched at the water getting all over her.
“Ack!” she yelled. “Fido! Bad dog! Stop doing that!”
Fido whined, as Sofya grabbed some shampoo from a drawer, took it out and showed it to him.
“I know it’s not the kind of dog shampoo that I should be using on you” Sofya said “but I don’t have anything else at the moment, so this is the best I’ve got, at least until I can go shopping for you at a proper pet store.”
Fido whined loudly, as Sofya took the shampoo bottle and squirted some on her hands.
“I hope it doesn’t get to that point” Freddy nervously thought to himself. “I hope Michael knows what he’s doing.”
Sofya began to grab at Fido’s fur, as she rubbed the shampoo all throughout it. Fido began to pant at the sensation of her hands all over his canine body. Although Freddy didn’t want to admit it, it felt nice to have her rubbing him in all of the right spots; especially on his belly and behind his ears. The sensations were so pleasurable that he began to sprout an erection in his sheath. Looking down as Sofya continued to massage his paws, Fido whined loudly. Sofya looked to see what Fido was concerned with.
“Oh my” she said aloud, as she stopped rubbing his paws for a moment. “Aren’t we a little horn dog. Maybe we should get you neutered after all. Perhaps you’ll be less trouble that way.”
Fido whined, as Sofya chucked and made her way to his back side. She continued to rub at his hind legs and briefly pulled at his wagging tail. She got his back paws rubbed, before walking away from the tub to go wash her hands. When she returned, she got more water in her cup and began to pour it all over Fido. It took several minutes to get all of the shampoo out of his fur, but when it was done, Fido felt a sense of relief and began to shake himself furiously at her again.
“Ack!” she shrieked. “Fido, you need to stop doing that.”
Ignoring her, Fido got out of the tub and Sofya began to pat him dry. She did a thorough job, making sure that all of the moisture on him was gone. It didn’t help him that she got so close up to him when doing this, especially in her nude state. He could smell her scent strongly on his sensitive nose and continued to wave his red penis in the air that stuck out from his sheath. When she was done, Sofya got up, dried herself off and looked down at Fido.
“If I didn’t know any better” she said, commenting on his exposed penis “I’d say that was for me.”
Fido whined, as she led him out of the bathroom and into the hall. When she got to her room, she stopped him at her bedroom door.
“Wait here” she said as she got into her room to get dressed. Fido whined, as he laid down on the floor of the hall briefly, hoping she would leave her room soon. He could smell the scent of beef stroganoff wafting in from the kitchen. He licked his lips, as he began to pant.
“That smells good” Freddy thought to himself.
Before he could enjoy the pleasure for much longer, Sofya opened the door and exited out. She was wearing a pair of loose fitting sweat pants. Again, she had no bra on, which drove Fido wild.
“Come on boy” she called to him as Fido got up and followed her downstairs.
Sofya got to the kitchen and sat down at the table to watch her father cook dinner. Fido stood next to her, as she caressed the fur on his back.
“That dog’s not going to give me any more trouble, is he Sofya?” her father asked cooly, as he finished up making the meal.
“No daddy” she replied. “Right, Fido.”
Sofya looked to Fido who, before nodding, remembered that dogs don’t nod. Instead, he barked twice, to signal an affirmative.
“See daddy” she said with a smile. “He’s a good boy after all.”
Fido panted happily at the compliment, as Sofya continued to rub her hands through his back fur.
“That’s good at least” her father responded. “At least he’s nice to you. And so far, he hasn’t acted badly to me.”
Fido looked at Sofya’s father closely, as he finished cooking the meal. When he was done, he grabbed two plates from the cabinets, poured the food onto them and placed them on the kitchen table. Before he did so, he felt something in his senses.
“That’s odd” Sofya’s father thought to himself. “I can’t explain it, but I feel like someone is trying to listen in on my conversations. I don’t know who or how, but I should probably be careful what I say in here. Don’t want the wrong set of ears seeing this or hearing it either.”
Unfortunately for Sofya’s father, there were two sets of ears listening in to the important conversation that was to transpire between himself and his daughter. Fido, in the room with them, and Michael, with the hidden bug Sofya’s father could not spot.
When Sofya began to dig in to the beef stroganoff, Fido jumped onto her lap and tried to eat the food off her plate. She swatted him off of her and pushed him back onto the floor.
“Bad dog!” she scolded. “This is not for you.”
Fido whimpered, as he laid down in a corner. A moment later, he looked up to see Sofya’s father, the intimidating wizard, putting a dog bowl before his face. He left for a moment, before returning with the bag of dog food. He poured it into the bowl and then returned it to closet where it was kept.
“That’s for you, boy” Sofya’s father said, as he went to sit back down at the table. “The food I made is for my daughter and I. It is not intended for consumption by dogs.”
Fido whimpered, as he looked down at the dog food that was placed before him.
“Blech!” Freddy thought to himself. “I can’t eat that.”
Fido pushed the bowl away with his paws, as he watched Sofya and her father eating their meal quietly.
“Man” Freddy thought “I wished I was eating that instead. That sure looks tasty. It makes my mouth water.”
Enjoying her food, Sofya dug in contently, as her father slowly ate it and watched his daughter’s reaction. After a number of fork fulls eaten, he cleared his throat and began a conversation with her.
“So Sofya, how do you like my beef stroganoff?”
“It’s great as usual, daddy” she responded with a smile. “You may be one of the best cooks I know.”
Her father beamed at the compliment. Unlike many other things in his life, this was not one trick that he learned with magic. He spent centuries perfecting his cooking skills, to the extent that he had the lifetime experiences of ten or more chefs. How many, we’ll find out later.
“Thank you, Sofya” her father replied, gleeful in his tone.
“You’re welcome, daddy” she replied. “I don’t give out compliments like that unless I mean them. This food really is good.”
“It’s a shame that you didn’t even want to even eat my cooking tonight, at first.”
“Daddy…”
Sofya put down her fork, as she stared nervously at her father. He watched her closely, not letting her on to his emotions with his facial expression.
“Daddy” she continued “you know I love your cooking and love to eat it.”
“So then what’s the problem?” he asked.
“It’s just that, sometimes, I just need some time to hang out with friends and do things with them.”
“By ‘hanging out’, did you mean offering all of your crevices for teenage boy pleasure?”
“Daddy, please….”
“Sofya, you have the reputation in every town we’ve ever been to, and every city as well, as the sluttiest teenager around. I cannot even imagine how many times you’ve done it with guys and how many places you’ve had some guy’s dick stuck into you. Where next, Sofya? Your ears? Your belly button? Which hole have guys not bred yet that you want filled with their seed?”
“Daddy stop!” she replied sharply.
The room fell silent for a moment, as a chill passed between them. Sofya looked angrily at her father, while he stared at her intently, showing no expression on his face. After a pause, she continued.
“It’s not always like that, ok. I was just horny and needed to let some steam off, that’s all.”
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” her father asked sarcastically.
“Daddy!”
Her father grew silent, as he watched her closely. She paused again before continuing to speak.
“I was just trying to have a good time with some boys from school and it got a little out of hand, that’s all. And it’s ok if every once in a while we order in for food that, admittedly, maybe isn’t all that great, certainly not in comparison to your cooking. But I just want to live a little, you know? I just want to feel like a normal girl for once.”
“I don’t know why you bother, Sofya. It’s not like you’re going to be here for very long.”
“Which I’m glad you reminded me about, because speaking of which…”
Sofya paused to look at her father closely. He looked back at her stoically, but underneath his poker face, he was feeling a little nervous. She took a deep breath and continued speaking.
“I had some friends over on Thursday….”
“More boys to fuck you silly?” her father asked sarcastically.
“No, daddy” she responded sharply. “Girls, for your information.”
“That hasn’t stopped you before.”
“Daddy”
“Continue, Sofya.”
Sofya glared at him, as her father motioned her to continue.
“So, I had these girls over…who I didn’t bang, by the way, though I may have wanted to.”
“Wow” her father said, again with a sarcastic tone. “That’s a first.”
“Daddy”
“Sofya, get to your point, please?”
“Anyways, so I had these girls over and when we were eating what I cooked.”
“You cooked?” her father asked, looking slightly surprised.
“Yes, daddy. I cooked. Surprise! So anyways, I had them over for a slumber party and they were asking me all about what you do for a living. Honestly, I had a hard time answering that question because you’ve never really told me what exactly you do for work. I know you’ve said you’re some art auction dealer or whatever, but you don’t have a website or any sort of presence online. You won’t let me have one either, so it certainly led to some uncomfortable questions by these girls about all of that.”
“I don’t see what’s so unusual about not being online. I’ve told you what I do for a living. What more do you need than that?”
“Then why do you not have an online presence? And why are we here in this town? I couldn’t answer that question either.”
“Not everyone uses the internet to do business, Sofya. Some people still use, shockingly enough, person to person interaction to conduct business transactions. Not everyone has to use the computer to do their work.”
“Alright fine, but then why are we here and how long are we staying in this town before we have to pack up and leave again?”
Sofya’s father put down his fork, as he glared at his daughter intensely. She looked at him nervously, hoping she hadn’t pushed too far. Fido noticed this awkward exchange of glances as well. He looked up at her father with worry in his eyes. Finally, after a minute passed, Sofya's father seemed to calm down slightly and composed himself enough to address her question.
“I’m here” he answered “because I need to get an item that will be added to a collection I already own.”
“Does it happen to be those creepy rings you keep playing with?”
“Sofya!” he responded sharply. “What have I told you about playing with those rings?”
“Well” she replied nervously “I only ask you that because someone at school was talking about them.”
Fido whined, as he bolted himself upright. Sofya's father showed shock on his face, before he began to compose himself. Sofya looked at him curiously before he spoke up again.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well” she replied “I have to tell you some weird experiences have been happening around that school I enrolled in this week. Which I hate having to keep doing, by the way. I never get to stay at any one school for more than a year. It’s impossible to make friends that way.”
“People are overrated, anyways.”
“Daddy, for once, I’d just want for us to plant roots somewhere where I can finish up high school and try to live a normal life. I hate traveling around all the time and I hate that, just I’m making new friends at a school, I have to leave them all behind and start all over again.”
“You’ll get used to it eventually” her father replied dismissively.
“Daddy, why don’t you ever listen to me? I’m almost 18 years old and…”
“But that’s the thing, Sofya. You’re not 18 years old yet and until you are, it is my house and my rules. Understand me?”
Sofya looked down at her plate, as Fido looked up at her sympathetically.
“Yes daddy” she replied, as she continued eating.
After a minute of silence, her father spoke again.
“Sofya?” he asked.
“What daddy? she replied curtly.
“The ring, Sofya. What about the ring.”
“Can I tell you some other stuff first?”
“Tell me about the ring, Sofya. Who did you see with the ring?”
“Daddy….”
“Tell me about the ring!” her father yelled, as he banged on the table.
Fido whined in fear, as Sofya looked at her father with concern in her eyes. Knowing that he overreacted, Sofya’s father composed himself and then coughed, before he spoke up again.
“Sorry, Sofya. I got a little carried away. Tell me about what’s been happening at school.”
“Jesus you’re OCD” she mumbled to herself. “Kind of like another boy I know.”
Fido whined, as he stared at her closely. Her father ignored this snide remark, as Sofya coughed briefly before relaying her experiences at school.
“Well….” she began.
As Sofya began to drone on about her days at school, her father watched her closely, while thinking to herself.
“I need to get her to talk about that ring. I don’t want to have to keep listening to her drone on and on and on about her problems at school. I wonder if I can steer her conversation at some point back to talking about the ring she saw. It could be critical to getting what I came here for.”
“So then something weird happened….” Sofya said at some point in her rant.
“What was that dear?” her father asked, glad that she was potentially getting closer to talking about the ring he longed to know about it.
“So this boy Freddy….”
“I remember Freddy. The dumb one.”
Fido growled briefly, before stopping himself. He realized that he didn’t want to let the wizard on to his identity, but unfortunately, Sofya’s father turned down to look at him lying on the floor below.
“This might be important” Sofya’s father thought to himself, as he looked back at Sofya.
“Sorry” her father replied, composing himself, while faking sheepishness in his voice. “I guess the dog doesn’t like me talking badly about that boy Freddy, huh?”
“Well” Sofya replied, as she looked down at Fido “I can see why he might feel that way. Fido is such a good boy and so is Freddy.”
Fido wagged his tail and barked twice, looking at Sofya happily.
“But this good boy should be eating his food” she continued, pointing at the dog bowl.
Fido looked down at the bowl of dog food that remained uneaten.
“Aren’t you hungry, boy?” she called to him.
“Sofya” her father replied. “Leave the dog alone. Maybe he’s not hungry. He can eat later.”
Fido looked on with relief, though it worried him as to why Sofya’s father was so protective of him.
“Must not be a good reason” Freddy thought to himself.
“Ok daddy” Sofya replied, as she looked back at him. “So anyways, Freddy came over on Wednesday to see me and we were about to…”
She paused, as Fido looked at her warily.
“About to do what?” her father asked curiously.
Sofya blushed, as she looked down at her plate.
“Again, Sofya?” her father asked with a stern tone to his voice.
“I didn’t!” Sofya insisted, as she shot him a stern look. “He had to go before we could…..”
“Oh Sofya.”
“But anyways, his excuse for why he wasn’t in school at the time was because there was some fire alarm malfunction and the school floors were flooded.”
“That’s odd.”
Her father continued eating, as he listened to Sofya talk.
“But when I got to my first day of school on Thursday, everyone was saying that Freddy was absent from school. I mean, they confirmed that the flooding did happen when I talked to some kids at lunch time, but they also said that Freddy’s parents had called him in as being sick.”
“That’s weird” Sofya’s father thought to himself, as he kept eating the stroganoff on his plate.
“And then the weirdest thing happened” she continued. “So around the end of school, just as I’m leaving classes for the day, I go up to this kid in the hallway and ask him about the flooding that had happened on Wednesday. Shockingly enough, the kid said it never happened.”
“Hmmm” her father thought to himself.
“I went to some other kids and they all said the same thing. I thought I was going crazy, until I heard this other girl asking people in the hallway about it as well. Then I realized that I wasn’t the only one who remembered it happening.”
“That is odd” her father thought to himself, as he finished eating the food on his plate. “Still, she could be imagining things.”
“Sofya” he said to her. “Are you sure no one else remembered this flood happening?”
“Positive.”
“Not even that boy, Freddy?”
“Actually…..”
Sofya paused for a moment to think, as Fido looked up at her with concern.
“I didn’t get a chance to ask him when I saw him on Thursday night. I should do that next time I see him.”
“Note to self” Freddy thought to himself. “Lie and say I don’t remember the flooding ever happening.”
“Do that dear” her father insisted. “And ask a few more people as well, just to make sure you’re not hallucinating or something. Maybe you’re not getting enough sleep.”
“Ok” she replied quietly.
“So did anything else happen in school?”
“Well, there’s that ring I was telling you about.”
“Yes” her father thought to himself. “That’s what I’ve been waiting to hear her talk about this entire meal.”
“Oh no” Freddy thought to himself, as Fido whined quietly. “This isn’t going to be good.”
“Which” Sofya added before pushing herself out of her seat “hold on….”
Sofya got up from her chair to leave the kitchen. Her father stared at her curiously as she left, while Fido looked up at her as she ran off and hoped she wouldn’t use this opportunity to spill the beans on Michael possessing the ring.
“Uh oh” Michael thought to himself, as he listened in to the conversation on the other end of the bug line. “This is it. She’s going to spill the beans on me now and the jig is totally up.”
Michael sat with his computer at his desk in his room, nervously listening to the conversation between Sofya and her father. He was glad to get the confirmation that she had remembered the fire alarm malfunction and the flooding on Wednesday. Still, he grew increasingly worried that she had now put Diya, his best friend, in danger and at risk of being attacked by the wizard. He was going to need to try to reach her later, quietly enough so that his father couldn’t hear him talk to her.
“Maybe she already knows” he thought to himself “but now we need to devise a plan to protect her. At least I don’t have to go over all of the details as to how we got this point again. That saves time that might prove to be precious.”
Not wanting to stop listening to the conversation just yet, Michael continued to listen in, as he heard Sofya go back into the kitchen.
When Sofya returned, she held the two Ruggeri rings in her hand. Fido recognized these from when he and Michael were over on Thursday. Her father glared at her, as he snatched them out of her hand.
“Hey!” she yelped.
“What have I told you about taking these rings?” her father asked her sharply.
“I’m sorry daddy, I just….”
“Don’t take these again. Do you understand me?”
“Yes daddy.”
Sofya’s father held on to the rings tightly, before he slipped them over his fingers. When he was done, he looked at his daughter, who stared at him, flabbergasted at his overreaction. Wanting to lighten to the mood, and also to get more information on the ring she saw at school, her father smiled at her and continued to speak.
“So about that ring.”
“Oh ok…” Sofya replied, nervously sitting down in her seat. “So on my first day of school, I saw this boy take a ring out of his backpack and held it up to show someone else.”
Fido whined, as he got increasingly nervous as to where this conversation was going.
“And then, he put it away” she continued. “The ring looked kind of like those rings you have on your fingers there.”
Sofya’s father stared at his rings, before looking up at her stoically.
“Did you get a closer look at the ring in question?”
“No, daddy. I just saw it from a distance.”
“That’s too bad. Do you remember who you saw holding them?”
“Oh no” Michael thought to himself as he listened in from his, anxiously awaiting what his fate might be. “The jig is up. I’m in trouble now.”
“Oh no” Freddy thought to himself, as Fido laid on the floor whining loudly as he heard the conversation unfolding. “The jig is up. Michael is in danger. What can I do to protect him now?”
Fido whimpered some more, before a thought hit him at just the right time.
“Wait. Didn’t Diya say that maybe I can communicate with people telepathically?”
Fido looked up at Sofya, before she began to answer her father’s question.
“I wonder….” he thought to himself.
Fido looked at her closely, hoping his crazy idea would work.
“I know who it was, daddy” Sofya said. “It was…”
Before she could answer the question, Freddy began to project a thought in her direction.
“Sofya!”
“Huh?” she said out loud.
“What is it dear?” her father asked, nervously eyeing her.
“Sofya” Freddy called to her again with his thoughts.
“Who said that?” she asked aloud.
“Said what dear?” her father asked.
Her father became increasingly concerned, as his daughter began to look around the room in a panic.
“My suspicions were correct” he thought to himself. “Someone is listening in to this and trying to stop her from revealing the name of the person who is in possession of the ring.”
“Sofya, it’s me, Fido” Freddy called to her again with his thoughts.
Sofya nervously looked down to see Fido nodding his head.
“Fi…” she said.
“Shhh” Freddy communicated with his thoughts.
“What is it?” her father asked, with a mix of curiosity and worry in his voice.
“Shhhh!” Freddy called to her again with his thoughts.
Sofya paused for a moment, as she looked down at the dog laid before her.
“It can’t be” she thought to her herself.
“Sofya” Freddy called to her again. “Don’t say it.”
Sofya paused, before she got up from the table.
“I need to use the bathroom” she told her father, as she turned leave the room. “I’m not feeling so good.”
“Ok” her father replied hesitantly.
Her father watched as Sofya let the room, as Fido followed her out. He became increasingly concerned.
“That dog is talking to her somehow” her father thought to himself. “Maybe someone isn’t listening in from outside of this house. Maybe the spy has been here with us the whole time. I don’t want to raise any alarm bells with my daughter by following her and the dog out of the room, but I’d like to know what it’s saying to her. It could become a problem for me.”
When Sofya got into the living room, Fido whined and motioned for her to look at him. She squatted down before him and stared at his eyes closely.
“You can talk?” she asked aloud.
“Shhh!” Freddy communicated to her with his thoughts. “Not so loud!”
“But….”
“Shhh! Just project your thoughts to me in your head.”
“This is absolutely crazy” Sofya thought to herself. “I’m sitting in a creepy old house, talking to a dog from off the streets.”
“You’re not crazy” Freddy replied to her with his thoughts. “I’m really communicating to you with my thoughts.”
“Sofya!” her father called to her from the kitchen.
“I’ll be in in a minute!” she yelled back, as she continued to stare at Fido.
“Sofya” Freddy continued. “You are not crazy and you are not hallucinating. I am actually talking to you with my thoughts.”
“But how?” Sofya asked aloud.
“Shhhh!” Freddy communicated with his thoughts. “With your thoughts.”
“Sorry” Sofya replied back in thought speak. “I’m just not used to this kind of thing, that’s all. With creepy old houses, creepy rings and now a talking dog, I feel like I’m going a little nuts.”
“Sofya, concentrate. You have to listen to me. You cannot tell your father who you saw with the ring on Thursday.”
“But why?”
“Because your father is after it and he’ll kill Michael if he finds out that he has it.”
“Why does Michael have it anyway? And why shouldn’t I tell my father?”
“Please, Sofya. He’s a good bo…I mean, good master and I don’t want anything bad to happen to him. Please Sofya. Please don’t tell your father that Michael has the ring.”
“Sofya!” her father called to her again. “What’s taking you so long?!”
“One second!” she called back to him.
“Please Sofya” Freddy continued to plead at her with his thoughts. “Please don’t tell him that Michael has the ring.”
“So then what do I say to him?” she asked him with her thoughts.
“Say it’s that boy Daniel. He’s a real piece of shit and deserves your father going after him.”
“Well he doesn’t have it, so my father will just be wasting his time when he goes to confront him on it. Eventually, he’s going to find out that Michael has possession of the ring. Why delay the inevitable?”
“Please Sofya. I’m begging you. Please don’t tell your father that Michael has the ring.”
Fido shed a tear, which Sofya noted came out of his eyes. After a moment of silence passed, she spoke to him again with her thoughts.
“Fine, Fido, but this is not going to placate him for very long term. If Michael really has possession of the ring, as you say he does, then my father is going to find out about it eventually.”
“Thank you, Sofya.”
Fido barked twice and licked her face. In reaction, Sofya went to scratch his head lightly. When she was done petting Fido, she got up and went back into the kitchen to join her father at the table. Fido got up and trotted back into the kitchen to join them. When they arrived, her father looked up at her, with visible concern on his face.
“What was that all about?” he asked.
“Nothing” Sofya replied. “I just needed to lie down and Fido came to join me. My stomach is acting up a bit and Fido let me pet him. I feel a little better now, but still not great”
Fido panted and wagged his tail happily, hoping his little trick worked.
“So, who did you see having the ring at school?” her father pressed her again.
“I remember who it was now” Sofya replied, knowing she was about to tell her father a bald faced lie. “It was that boy Daniel. You know, the one who Fido bit today.”
Fido wagged his tail happily, as he barked twice in approval of her lying.
“Yeah” her father replied. “I remember him.”
Sofya smiled, as she saw her father get lost in his thoughts.
“She’s lying to me. That dog must have communicated with her while they were in the living room together. Somehow, that mutt must have told her not to reveal who really possessed the ring. That other boy is a decoy. However….”
Her father stared at Fido, who became visibly nervous when this occurred.
“That dog did bite that boy Daniel’s arm pretty badly this afternoon, to the point where he may have lost function of it permanently. There’s a reason for that. Even if he doesn’t actually have the ring and Sofya is lying to me about who really does possess it, that boy may have information that he’ll be more forthcoming in sharing than Sofya is tonight.”
“Daddy….” she called to him nervously, staring at his expressionless face. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah, Sofya” her father replied, as he snapped out of his train of thoughts. “I’m fine. I guess I’m just feeling the food hitting me as well.”
Her father got up and took the dishes from the table and placed them into the sink.
“I can get mine” Sofya said to her father.
“It’s fine” he replied. “I’ll clean up in here. You go lie down now.”
“Ok.”
Sofya went into the living room as Fido stood back, watching her father carefully.
“You too, mutt” Sofya’s father called to him.
Fido whined, as he made his way back into the living room.
“That dog is more powerful than I might have originally thought” her father began to think to himself, as he cleaned the dishes in the sink. “Telepathic communication, huh? We’re up for a challenge, I see. Well, no matter. I am one of the most powerful wizards in the universe. If anyone is up for getting that ring, it is I. As long as that dog is in my house, I have something that will attract whoever possesses the ring to come here to get him. And yet somehow…”
Sofya’s father looked around the room, hoping to scope out a pair of ears or eyes on him, to no avail.
“I don’t think that dog is the only spy amongst my midst. I still have the strangest feeling that someone else is listening in on us. Someone, I suspect it's who is really in possession of the ring.”
Sofya’s father looked to the door, before turning back to the sink to finish cleaning the dishes.
“And I have a feeling that it’s not that boy Daniel. Maybe it’s that boy Michael, the one who averted my gaze when he was over on Thursday. I’d like to go see him tomorrow, but I’ll humor my daughter and pay that other boy with the bloody arm a visit first before I do so. Good to check in on him anyway, just to see how he’s doing and to make sure he didn’t tell anyone that we have the dog that bit him.”
When he was done, her father left the kitchen, as Michael processed what he just heard from his bedroom.
“Holy shit” Michael thought to himself. “I don’t know how Freddy did it, but somehow, he got us out of a real pickle right there. Maybe when he and Sofya left the room, he somehow communicated with her to ask her not to tell her father that I had the ring.”
Feeling a sense of relief, Michael slouched in his chair. The feeling was short lived.
“However, her father may still suspect that I have it. In any case, he’s going to try to go after Daniel soon. When her father finds out that Daniel doesn’t have the ring, I could still be in big trouble.”
Michael looked to his safe and then back at his computer screen.
“This is good enough for now, but I still need an escape plan in case the wizard does eventually try to come after me. It won’t be easy, being grounded and all.”
Just as Michael finished his thought, he heard a knock on the door.
“Michael” his mother called to him. “Aren’t you hungry?”
“No thanks, mom” he replied.
“Well, would you like me to bring you up at plate of dinner to your room?”
Michael thought for a moment, before he answered her.
“Sure mom. That would be great.”
Michael stuffed his computer away to make sure his mother didn’t see it. A minute later, his door opened to her holding a tray with a plate of macaroni and cheese with broccoli.
“I didn’t make much tonight” his mother said, as she put the tray of food down on his desk. “But that’s because we weren’t expecting to be home so early today. Evidently, you didn’t either.”
“Sorry mom” he replied.
“Listen sweetie.”
Michael’s mother put a gentle hand on his shoulder, as he looked up at her.
“I know you didn’t mean any harm by trying to get the dog out of the house. But you know your father is allergic and he could have died.”
“I know, mom.”
“So although you’ll be grounded for a week, you shouldn’t be totally cooped up in your room the whole time. Get downstairs at some point, please.”
“We’ll see. Though I may go to bed early tonight.”
“Alright, well I’ll be down for a while in the living room if you want to talk this evening.”
Michael’s mother turned to leave his room. She looked back at him and spoke once more.
“Oh and don’t let your father poison your mind with the things he says about me when he thinks I’m not listening.”
Michael looked at her curiously.
“What we went through isn’t as black and white as he’d might like you to think” she continued.
Michael nodded, as his mother smiled and shut the door behind her when she left. He had a feeling that his father may have been exaggerating some things in his story, but somehow, Michael didn’t believe his father was outright lying about what had happened either. He’d broach this with topic his mother later on tonight, if he had the time. With an exasperated sigh, he opened his computer, put back on his headphones and dug into the food on the plate.
As he was eating, Michael…….