Outside of the cabin, Fido had trotted up to the front door to get a closer look inside. As he made his way there, his ears began to pick up the sounds of water boiling and the uncomfortable shuffling of chairs on the wooden floors.
“This seems like the right place” Freddy thought to himself, as Fido moved to the window.
Fido hopped up and held his paws onto the sill to peer inside. He could see Michael struggling to remove the ropes, unsuccessfully, while Sofya had tears rolling down her face. He could see the wizard attending to a boiling cauldron, putting various herbs inside.
“That’s them alright” Freddy thought to himself, as Fido hopped down and went back to the front door.
Fido hopped up again and attempted to turn the doorknob. Before he could do, an electric shock jolted him, as he yelped while being flung onto the grass below. Rolling back into a standing position, Fido shook his canine body and pondered what had just happened to him.
“That really hurt” Freddy thought to himself. “The wizard must have locked that door with some sort of magic. I wonder if there’s some other way in.”
Fido quietly trotted over to the back of the cabin, hoping to avoid detection by the wizard. When he got there, he could see a back door that didn’t look as secure as the first one. Hopping up again, Fido attempted to turn the knob, before being flung back into the grass once more.
“Shit” Freddy thought to himself, as Fido got back up to trot over the front of the cabin. “That door is locked too. I don’t want to keep trying to pry them open like this. I can’t afford to get too badly injured right now.”
Despite this feeling, however, Freddy was quickly running out of options. He thought about digging a hole in the side of the cabin, but could sense with his snout that the foundation was heavily enforced. Fido attempted to paw at the wood siding, but found that it was too sturdy, even for him. Whining in desperation, Fido looked up at the cabin, not knowing what else to do to break himself in there. Before he gave up all hope, Freddy had an idea.
“I wonder.”
Fido moved himself back a few steps to align himself with the window. Knowing this may be his only other option, and knowing that he could get severely injured doing this, Fido bolted forward and quickly jumped up at the window. With a loud shattering sound, Fido managed to make his way into the house. Shards of glass poked at his fur, as he started to bleed. Landing on the floor with a thud, Michael and Sofya gasped, as the wizard turned angrily to look at him.
“You!” he scowled.
“Uh oh” Freddy thought to himself, as Fido began to bark at him, in increasing pain due to the shards of glass poking his skin.
“I knew I should have taken care of you earlier, but I was afraid that if I had, it could mess up the ring somehow. Now I know I made a huge mistake in not killing you when I had the chance, or even letting the pound do it for me.”
Sofya gasped, as Michael aggressively tried to shift in his chair.
“I don’t have time to deal with you right now, as I am in the middle of the ritual. I can’t afford for there to be any interruptions.”
Summoning a dart, Sofya’s father put it to his mouth. Fido came charging at him with a series of loud barks. Before the dog could make contact with his skin, the wizard blew into the dart and it landed on Fido’s neck. Whimpering loudly, Fido fell to the floor and began to doze off.
“Freddy!” Michael and Sofya yelled in a muffled tone, through the scarves around their mouths.
Sofya’s father made his way to Fido and dragged him to the wall. He summoned a series of ropes to tie him up and then a muzzle to cover his snout. After confirming that these were on securely, Freddy’s father sneered at him, as he got up and made his way back to the cauldron.
“That ought to take care of you for now” he said, as he continued preparing the potion. “When I’m done here, I’ll prepare a more permanent solution to the problem you have become.”
Michael and Sofya shouted at Fido through muffled tones, which the dog could not hear.
“Don’t waste your energy” Sofya’s father called to them, as he continued brewing the potion. “He can’t hear you, He’s out like a light.”
Michael and Sofya ignored him, as they continued to try, in vain, to urge Fido to wake up.
“On second thought, go ahead and do it. It’ll get it out of your system and make it easier to perform the ritual.”
While the wizard worked on the potion, Michael and Sofya spent several more minutes screaming through their scarves, before they gave up. Smiling when they were done, Sofya’s father proceeded to whistle, as he continued to work on the potion. Michael began to feel a sense of dread for his likely end. He thought this was it, his life was now over. He didn’t think it would end this way. He thought that he and Freddy were going to live happily ever after. Instead, because of the stupid ring that Freddy read from, they were now on the verge of death.
“Well” Michael thought to himself “that’s not entirely true. Freddy only read the ring because I made him take it and made him go into the magic shop a week ago. If we had never gone into that stupid place or met that stupid, condescending as fuck old man, then we never would have ended up here in the first place. Freddy never would have cheated on me. We never would have met stupid Sofya. Diya wouldn’t have nearly gotten suspended from school. It’s all my fault.”
Michael began to tear up, as Sofya looked at him sympathetically. She realized that, although he was a weird mother fucker, in her estimation, if it wasn’t for his OCD, she never would have learned the truth about her father or her background or why they kept moving from place to place.
“And Freddy” she thought to herself. “Freddy tried to rescue us. Even though I jacked him off against his consent, despite him being a dog and not Freddy, he still came to rescue us.”
Sofya looked at Michael, who continued to shed tears from his eyes.
“Well, he probably came to rescue his boyfriend and not so much me. Maybe Michael was right after all. Maybe Freddy really does love him and not me.”
Sofya turned to her father, before she continued to think to herself.
“Man, I always knew my father was an asshole, but this just takes it to another level. And to think, after all that's happened this week, I may not end up remembering any of it by the time he’s done with me. Michael is about to lose his life and my father is going to continue to keep me as his prisoner. I just wish this time could be different. I’d love to break that spell he has over me and age normally, if it’s even possible anymore. Start a life for myself and try to move on from all of this. Hopefully, if there is someone looking out for us, we’ll have a chance to defeat him, as horrible as it is to say about my own father.”
Just as Sofya finished her thoughts, a cell phone rang loudly. Picking up the ancient looking thing, Sofya’s father moaned aloud.
“Oh no” he thought to himself. “Not now. This is the worst time for him to be calling me.”
The wizard answered the phone, begrudgingly.
“This is a bad time. Can you call back later?”
“No” the voice on the other line said. “We need to talk. Now.”
“I’m in the middle of a ritual. Can’t this wait?”
“No. It’s urgent.”
The wizard sighed, as he looked at the tied up teenagers, the dog and the cauldron.
“Ten minutes max” he said to the person on the other end of the phone. “Not a second more. The science on this is exact.”
Sofya’s father used his magic to unlock the back door and proceeded to walk outside. He closed the door behind him and locked it, making sure no one else could enter.
During the urgent phone call…..