An image appeared on a screen above the digital keypad. Coming in clearly, Freddy and Michael could see Sofya, looking noticeably older, if not all that different than when they had last seen her decades ago.
“Glad you guys could make it” Sofya said, as she buzzed them into her apartment. “On time and invited this time.”
Michael nervously chuckled, as Freddy opened the door and let his husband into the building first. Following closely behind, Freddy navigated Michael to the elevators, where they took one up to the 20th floor.
“Quite a ways up” Michael commented, as they rode on the elevator together. “Most buildings like this only have 25 floors at most.”
“Maybe you get a better view from up there” Freddy suggested.
“Still, in an emergency, that’s a long walk down. I wouldn’t want to live that high up in a building like this.”
Freddy shrugged his shoulders, as the elevator stopped and opened up to the 20th floor. Making their way to the right, they only walked a few feet before finding the door to Sofya’s apartment.
“20E” Freddy said, as he went to knock on the door. “Looks like the right place.”
Before he could knock, the door opened to Sofya staring at them intensely. She was wearing a silky black piece of lingerie panties and a matching colored bra.
“Guys” Sofya said with a weak smile, as she eyed them up and down.
“Couldn’t put on some clothes for us?” Michael remarked sarcastically.
“What are you talking about, Michael? These are clothes.”
“If you say so.”
Sofya fully opened the door and went in for a hug. Michael, getting tense, lightly patted her shoulder.
“It’s good to see you again” she commented, before she let go and ushered him inside. “And it’s so good to see you, you handsome stud.”
Sofya embraced Freddy tightly and got on her tippy toes to kiss him on the lips.
“So handsome” she commented, as she put her feet back down on the floor.
Michael gave her a nasty glare, while Freddy blushed nervously.
“Don’t do that again, Sofya” Freddy said quietly. “I’m a married man now.”
“It’s no big deal” Sofya replied dismissively. “It’s just a friendly hello kiss, that’s all.”
“I’ve never seen a ‘hello kiss’ on the lips like that before” Michael remarked sarcastically.
“Relax, Michael. It’s no big deal. Besides, I’m married myself.”
“You are?” Freddy asked curiously.
“Of course. A woman like this doesn’t stay single for long. Anyways, come in, come in. Sit, sit, sit. We have so much to catch up on and so little time to do it.”
Sofya ushered Freddy into her apartment, as he reluctantly made his way next to Michael. As Sofya closed the door behind her, Freddy and Michael took her place in. It wasn’t the fanciest place they had ever seen, but it was well decorated, filled with European antiques and artwork. It had a formal feel to it, one that didn’t exactly scream welcoming or inviting.
“Have a seat” Sofya insisted, as she led Freddy and Michael to a pink, French styled sofa.
Michael nervously sat down, not wanting to break something that appeared to be so valuable and expensive. The vibe of the room did not conduce itself to comfortable conversation, not that he was expecting this be one. In fact, the more on alert he was, the less room he had to make a critical mistake. They were there on a mission. He hoped she wouldn’t distract them for too long with idle chit chat.
Freddy sat down next to Michael and held his hand. He could tell his husband was feeling nervous, seeing his shoulders tense up and a scowl form across his face. He wanted to lead the conversation and do most of the talking. Freddy hoped to let his charm and people skills distract Sofya from pressing Michael more than he felt comfortable with.
When Sofya sat down in a chair across from them, she let out a sigh and began to speak.
“So it’s been so long” she noted. “I haven’t seen you guys in over twenty one years now. A lot has obviously happened in that time, so we should catch up on the highlights. I’ll start.”
“Sofya” Michael interrupted “we would like to get to the reason we’re here first before we chit chat.”
“Don’t be rude, Michael. We haven’t seen each other in so long. I’d like to hear how you’ve been doing first.”
“But the ring…”
Sofya dismissively waved her hand.
“Later.”
“But what if Freddy turns into a dog?”
“Has he turned into a dog yet?”
“I have” Freddy admitted truthfully.
“Mom” Sofya’s son called to her from the hall leading into the bedrooms. “Who are these men sitting on our couch?”
“Not now, Nikolas” Sofya replied, as her eyes began to turn purple and she stared at him angrily. “Mommy has company right now. Go back to your room.”
“But mom. Dad—“
“Now Nikolas!” she snapped.
Whimpering in fear, Nikolas turned around and made his way back into his bedroom. When he had closed the door, Sofya’s eyes returned to normal. She looked back at Freddy and Michael with a mischievous smile on her face.
“I apologize for that” she said. “That was my son, Nikolas. He’s normally a very good boy, but sometimes he’s a bit too nosy for his own good.”
“Sofya” Michael said “that’s not how you’re supposed to raise your son.”
“Michael” Freddy hissed, as he grabbed his husband’s hand tightly.
“How dare you try to judge my parenting skills, Michael” Sofya snapped, insulted with his criticism. “You have no right to come into my home and tell me how to be a mother to my own child. What would you know about parenting, anyway?”
“Well” Michael replied indignantly “for starters, I am the loving dad to a beautiful young boy of my own.”
Sofya’s face softened, as she let out a surprised gasp.
“You two have a son?!” she exclaimed excitedly. “Congratulations! When were you going to mention this?”
“When we had the chance to catch you up on things” Freddy replied.
“Oh, that’s wonderful.”
Sofya paused, before she eyed the two of them carefully.
“Who is the mother?” she asked curiously.
“Not that it’s any of your business” Michael replied with an irritated tone in his voice “but a girl we went to high school with asked us to adopt her son.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful. Which one of you is the father?”
“None of us” Freddy grumbled in response.
“Oh? Then who is the father?”
“Daniel” Michael replied. “The bully from high school.”
“Daniel?” Sofya asked, unsure of who he was referring to.
“The one who came over to your house that one time and got bit by Freddy as a dog.”
“Oooohhhh.”
Sofya immediately remembered who they were referring to and let out a little chuckle.
“Of course I remember him. My father really hated that guy. He was a real piece of shit, if I remember correctly.”
“Still is” Michael remarked.
“How would you know that? Have you seen him lately?”
“We haven’t seen him since high school” Freddy replied.
“Then how did you come to adopt his kid?”
“It’s a long story.”
Freddy explained to Sofya the origins of how Melanie, their high school classmate, came to their apartment one day while she was pregnant and asked them to adopt her son.
“I was really opposed to the idea” Freddy said. “I was perfectly happy with it being just the two of us, but Michael kind of insisted that we adopt him.”
“I insisted” Michael replied with an angry tone in his voice “because of how I came into existence. My father insisted that my mother have me and if it hadn’t been for that, I wouldn’t be here today. I felt we had gotten enough money together by that point that we could afford to raise the child as our own. It was either us as his parents or who knows where else he might have gone to.”
“But didn’t Daniel want him?” Sofya asked.
“No” Freddy replied honestly. “He told her straight out, after he initially denied it even being his kid, that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with her or the child.”
“Wow, what an asshole. I guess you guys are right after all. To leave your kid out on a limb like that is one of the worst things you can possibly do. All children are precious. It was such a grueling experience to conceive my son, Nikolas, that any parent who would abandon their child like that can go to hell for all I care.”
“Children are precious” Michael agreed. “When I first laid eyes on our son, Evan, it was one of the happiest days of my life. I remember how my father used to tell me how he felt on the day I was born. He used to say how he cried and kissed me and never wanted to let me go. He said it was the happiest day of his entire life.”
“How is your father doing these days, Michael?”
Michael solemnly looked into his lap, as he tear fell from his eye. Sofya looked at him sympathetically. She tried to reach out a hand to pat his knee, but got a reprimanding look from Freddy.
“It’s best we don’t talk about this now” Freddy replied, as he rubbed Michael’s hand.
Sofya looked confused for a moment, before the reality of the situation had dwelled on her.
“Oh” she said quietly. “I’m sorry—“
“Don’t say anything!” Michael snapped.
Sofya sighed, as she sought to change the subject.
“So how old is your son?” she asked.
“Evan turned 12 this year” Freddy replied, as Michael continued to quietly sob.
“My son just turned 12 about a month ago” Sofya replied. “It was a miracle I could even give birth to him. The journey was so long and so hard. I spent a lot of my twenties, or rather, my biological twenties, just living it up and having fun. After being my father’s prisoner for hundreds of years, it was time for for me to live the life I always wanted to. I went out to clubs, had lots of fun times at parties and hooked up with lots of guys…and girls.
“At a certain point, though, it became kind of boring and I got over it. After a while, I just wanted to settle down, preferably with someone who could allow me not to have to work. I wasn’t a very good student. I got good grades, but that’s because I cheated my whole way to college.”
“Ugh” Michael snorted, as he looked back up from his lap.
“Michael was a Harvard graduate” Freddy noted. “He worked his ass off to get there.”
“If Michael was a Harvard graduate, then why is he a stay at home dad?” Sofya asked.
“Huh?” Michael asked. “How did you know that?”
“Oops. I must have accidentally read some of your thoughts just now.”
“Ugh!”
“Not a big deal, Michael. I didn’t pry in too far.”
“I didn’t even know you could even do that” Freddy said with a hint of disbelief in his voice.
“Something I learned from my training in the magical world. While I was never a really good student in my human studies, in my magic studies, I excelled. I took decades of training and my spell casting and psychic powers are through the roof.”
“How can you have decades of training, Sofya?” Freddy asked curiously.
“Time doesn’t operate in the same way it does here” Michael replied.
“Michael is right” Sofya agreed. “Time operates differently in the magical world. Hours or days here on Earth are weeks and months in the magical world. You can do a lot more in a shorter period of time and you can learn a lot more, too. That’s why just a few weeks of human time there has made me such a powerful witch. I’ve really developed my powers and can do a lot more things now.”
“Great segue” Michael commented. “About the ring.”
“Easy Michael” Sofya replied dismissively. “We have plenty of time.”
“He kind of has a point” Freddy added. “The longer we wait, the longer we give the mayor or someone else the opportunity to take it and try to change me back into a dog.”
“The mayor? What are you talking about?”
Freddy sighed, before he caught Sofya up to speed about his political campaign. He mentioned the dog transformations, the assassination attempts and their neighbor Tom, who, up until that day, had the ring in his possession. When he brought up Diya’s double dealing at iThink and her subsequent redemption, Sofya had a lot to say about that.
“Wow, Michael” Sofya replied. “That girl Deeja or whatever turned out to be a real snake in the grass. I knew all along that she was a good for nothing piece of shit. Hearing all of that totally vindicates my distrust of her.”
“She was a good friend” Michael replied meekly.
“Good friend? Please. She backstabbed you and threw you out before the going got good. She shut you out of millions, even billions of dollars of revenue, at a time you needed the money most. You were, as Freddy describes it, on a single income, with sky high student loan debt and she just cuts you off like that? Right before their stock explodes and they become the single biggest social media platform of all time? Wow. What a fucking bitch.
“You can say a lot about what I may have done and did to you and Freddy when our paths last crossed, but I never betrayed you in the way that she did. She was supposed to be your best friend and she royally fucked you out of the company’s massive earnings and revenue. She could have stuck up for you to the board, like a best friend should have, but she didn’t. That makes her a snake, in my opinion.”
“She did give me some money” Michael said, not liking that he was taking his former friend’s side. “It wasn’t like she totally cut me out of the loop.”
“A $10 million severance? Which is how much after taxes? Compared to…how much is the company worth today?”
“Almost a trillion dollars” Michael whispered quietly, feeling ashamed in that moment.
“Speak louder, Michael. I couldn’t hear that.”
“A fucking trillion dollars!” Michael yelled out.
Sofya smirked, as Freddy looked at her with an angry expression on his face.
“Was that really necessary, Sofya?” Freddy asked with a visibly angry tone.
“I’m just trying to make a point” she replied calmly. “As much as I may have done some bad things, I never backstabbed you in such a personal and professional way like that. Your hatred of me is irrational. It consumes you so much that you’re defending that girl Deeja, even though you hate her just as much as you hate me.”
“I don’t hate her!” Michael scolded. “We’re just never going to be friends ever again. I accepted that a long time ago. The bridge between us is too wide now. We could never put it back together, even though she still wants to.”
“Wow. She fucks you over and then still wants to be friends with you after that? She has an incredible amount of balls. No wonder that woman is worth the billions she has to her name. Unbelievably cold and icy. I mean, it makes sense why she’s successful now. I always thought she was kind of weak, but either she got tougher skin over the years or she always had this side of her and we just never knew about it.”
“Sofya, Diya never betrayed my trust by raping my husband or trying to break up my relationship with Freddy. If anything, she’s helped several times to keep our relationship growing strong.”
“How does ‘throwing you out when Freddy is still in law school and you’re on a single income’ count as ‘helping you out,’ exactly?”
“Her donation helped make my campaign possible” Freddy replied sincerely.
“And her quick thinking helped me rescue Freddy from you trying to rape him, Sofya” Michael added.
Sofya groaned, as she stared at them icily.
“I’m not the bad girl here” she said. “While I admit to doing some awful things, I at least helped you guys fight off my father.”
“If I remember correctly, we helped you fight off your father. He beat you subconscious and if it wasn’t for Freddy’s brave, nearly fatal heroism, you, nor I, would be here today. We freed you from your father’s control and allowed you to live a life of your own.”
“Some good you guys did. Leaving me without any money, which I know you guys got from the magical world as a reward for getting my father apprehended, without a support system and without even a call to say hello in the last two decades. All you care about is what you can get from me. You don’t even care about trying to like the person I am on the inside.”
“The person on the inside fucking sucks” Michael replied bitterly.
Freddy gasped and shook Michael aggressively.
“Michael” he reprimanded. “He—“
“He’s right.”
Freddy and Michael turned to look at Sofya, who had a defeated expression on her face.
“He’s right” she said again.
“Sofya” Freddy said calmly. “No.”
“He’s right, Freddy. I’m not a good person. I may not be an evil person, like my father was, but I’m not a good person. I’ve done some bad things and tried really hard to break you guys up. It seems your love was stronger than what my magic was capable of destroying.”
Sofya sighed, as she got up from the chair.
“I owe it to you guys to help you find the ring. Let me go grab my crystal ball and I’ll be right back.”
Sofya got up, with a defeated posture, and made her way into her bedroom. When she was out of their sight, Freddy smacked Michael on the shoulder.
“Hey” Michael said.
“You do this all the time when you think I’ve done something stupid” Freddy replied with a smirk. “This is just paying it forward.”
“How was I being stupid just now?”
“Do you really need me to answer such a dumb question like that?”
“Here it is!” Sofya could be heard yelling from her bedroom, before she ran out and made her way back into the living room. “I found it.”
Sofya placed a purple crystal ball with a black stand on the table in front of them.
“Seriously?” Michael asked sarcastically. “A fucking crystal ball?”
“Get out!” Sofya snapped. “I’ve had it with the commentary! Get out of my apartment right now!”
“Sofya” Freddy replied nervously.
“I’ve had it, Freddy! Get him out of here right now!”
“Sofya, please calm down. Let’s focus on the task at hand.”
“We don’t need to deal with this” Michael said angrily, as he tried to get up from the sofa. “We’ll try to find some other witch or wizard to help us.”
Freddy aggressively grabbed Michael’s arm and pulled him back down.
“Ouch!” Michael yelped, as he tenderly rubbed his arm. “Jesus Christ, Freddy!”
“Freddy—“ Sofya tried to say.
“The crystal ball” Freddy said, ignoring her comment. “Show us how the crystal ball works.”
“I don’t want—“
“Show us how the crystal ball works” Freddy said again, with a growl in his voice.
With a slight bit of fear enveloping her, Sofya began to prepare the crystal ball for use.
“This crystal ball is made of amethyst. As an aesthetic piece, it’s really quite beautiful. However, the real beauty lies is its power. I have the ability to find things anywhere with it. It can also find the living or dead that the person using it has had a connection to at some point. It’s really neat. I had the ring in my father’s possession, so I am familiar with its magic. Let’s see what I can conjure up here.”
Michael looked on in anger, as Sofya closed her eyes and began rubbing the crystal with her hands. After a minute of her seemingly looking goofy and dumb, a light began to shine inside of the ball. Freddy looked on in amazement, as it lit up in front of them. Feeling the heat radiating off of the crystal ball, Sofya moved her hands and swayed them up and down in its immediate vicinity.
“Let’s see what I can conjure up here” Sofya said, with her eyes tightly closed.
As the light in the crystal ball became brighter, an image began to form. Leaning in to get a closer look, Freddy and Michael began to stare in amazement.
When the image was fully formed, the ring was seen in the possession of….