by Maria Dean
"When I was younger," Astrid said, "did I ever disappear in the forest?"
"All the time, sweetie. You ran off to spend the day in the forest and came back with stories about your little imaginary friends." Nova's voice went up an octave.
When Astrid was younger, she thought it was her aunt just being cute. Now, she knew it was a tell the older woman was lying. "Auntie," she reproached, "you ain't lying to me. What really happened when I went into the woods?"
Nova went silent. "Baby," she whispered, "I don't know. I always thought you were hiding. I never found you until the day was fading into night. But you sure as hell weren't in the forest, if that's what you're asking."
Astrid put her fork down and set her plate on the side table. She was losing her appetite. "Now you will tell me you're an actual witch, too." Maybe Nya had been right about Christian being the man for her. They both turned to humor as a defense mechanism.
Unfortunately, it wasn't a joke to Nova. "I never thought you'd catch on."
"Shit," she muttered. "You can't be serious."
But Nova's voice was at her normal pitch. She sighed and said, "Maybe I should come visit you and we can work these things back."
Astrid's phone started to buzz. Thinking it was Sally or Winston, Astrid said, "Buy some tickets then. I need to take another call. Love you." She hung up before her aunt could say goodbye. Without looking, Astrid took the next call. "Astrid Pfeiffer, how may I help you?"
"I guess I'm the lucky one who gets to reach you." It was Giovanni Russo. She would recognize his deep, smooth voice anywhere. "Irene says they saw Matilde snatch you up outside the shelter. Now you're ignoring poor Christian's calls. Did you know I had to talk him out of running to find you at your office?"
Astrid fought the urge to hang up. "And I thank you for your service every day. How d' you get my number?"
Giovanni chuckled. She could practically see him smirking into the receiver. "My brother didn't go to your office because I made the trip for him. I spoke to your lovely receptionist."
"You know, you and your brothers really don't have boundaries." She paused her movie. "What do you want?"
"I would like to take you out for coffee tomorrow afternoon," Giovanni replied. "I know Irene apologized for Matilde's behavior, but clearly she said something to upset you. I don't take my sister's cruelty lightly."
She sniffed. "So what, you want to make it up to me?"
"Precisely."
Astrid considered it. Matilde's threat still hung in the air. If the woman was really some sort of dragon, then Astrid had no defenses against her attacks. Then again, according to Matilde, Giovanni was also a dragon. If everything was true, he could help give her the answers she needed. Irene said Giovanni was the smartest of the group. And by then, Lorenzo's phone number had washed off her hand.
"Are you still there?" Giovanni asked her.
She put on her lawyer face and a stern voice. "Yes. And yes, we can get coffee. But on my terms. There's a Starbucks across from my office. Meet me there at three o'clock." There was no negotiating. If he really wanted to pursue her, he'd agree to her restrictions.
"I'll see you then," Giovanni agreed. "I should warn you, Lorenzo recently stole your number too. I assume he's going to try to call you," he paused. "Oh, right about now." Astrid's phone vibrated with another incoming call. "See you tomorrow, Astrid."
The wicked twin hung up and left her at the mercy of his younger brother. Astrid groaned before picking up the call. "Is Christian going to call me after this?"
"He's moping in his townhouse," Lorenzo replied. "He thinks he scared you off."
"No, but your sister did," she sniped back. "Here's an idea. If you and your brothers are interested in the same person, don't have your angsty younger sister be the one to reveal a life altering secret to her."
Lorenzo went quiet. "We should talk," he said after a pause. "Face to face. Gio's getting you tomorrow afternoon, right?" She hummed an agreement. "Let me cook you dinner. I already heard from Irene that you eat the same three meals a week."
Bitch, you're eating rice and beans for the fourth night in a row. Take him up on it. Her inner monologue was right. She was tired of eating beans. "Fine," she groaned. "You better be ready to explain this shit."
"I swear I will," Lorenzo sighed. "If Giovanni doesn't get to it first," he added. "And Astrid?"
"Hmm?" She didn't know what he would bother with saying next.
"Next time you're going to brazenly flirt with my sister and her girlfriend, make sure they aren't threatening you first." Like Giovanni, he hung up before she could respond.
Astrid decided that not only was she going to chug a glass of wine, she would chug two.
***
The differences between Christian and Giovanni struck her as soon as Giovanni greeted her at the Starbucks. While Christian appraised everything in her world with a childlike wonder, Giovanni looked at it like he'd seen it before. He wasn't unimpressed, just mildly amused. And while Christian was the guy to joke about wearing Armani, Giovanni definitely wore Armani. He was a dirty lawyer with a boatload of cash. Even though she couldn't afford clothes like that, she admired he could pull it off causally in a Starbucks.
He opened the door for her, a gesture that wasn't completely empty. "And they say chivalry is dead," she said to him, stepping through the threshold. "Irene said your family is old-fashioned."
"Traditional," he corrected her. "We're traditional. Old fashioned would mean I refused to let you out in public, but I ravished you every night in bed."
Did he just say ravish? In public? Astrid looked away, collecting herself so he wouldn't see her cringe. "Please, don't say that again. You're losing points here."
"Points? I didn't realize this was a competition," he teased.
The two approached the counter, Giovanni ordering first and Astrid after her. When she reached for her wallet, he put his hand on it and stopped her. "Allow me," he said, handing the cashier his card.
Giovanni was really doing his best to be a perfect gentleman. Strange for someone his siblings referred to as a dirty lawyer or wickedly intelligent. He motioned for her to sit down at a small table nearby. He sat down with his back to the bar. "I can imagine you have a lot of questions," he said.
"I do." Astrid examined him, matching the intense stare he always wore when he was looking at her. She had to admit, his rough stubble and a small smirk gave back him the points he'd lost and then some.
"Order for Giovanni?" The barista called out their drinks. He rose to get them, returning quickly with her coffee. "A white mocha," he announced as he handed it to her. "Nicole's favorite order. Have you met her yet?"
Astrid shook her head. She took a sip, savoring the overly sweetened taste, and the much needed jolt of caffeine. "She's the one who got the lake houses," she noted. "What does she do for a living?"
"She's a realtor. I imagine Gran gave her those properties so she could make a profit out of it. Every one of her gifts, aside from Beatrice's, had a lesson to it. Take Lorenzo, he's a minimalist and is trying to reject our family's legacy. The paintings force him to look his family history in the eye. It wasn't recorded in the will, but Gran intended for him to keep them. He's trying to find some way to pawn them off, but I think he's worried she'll come back from the grave and haunt him."
Astrid wanted to laugh, but she was too worried about the cinnamon aftertaste in her coffee. It definitely tasted like white chocolate at first. Astrid looked over at the barista, squinting so she could see their nametag. She didn't want to harass them but wanted to check she had the right order.
Then the man turned, and her face fell. She'd seen his face before. That sweaty brow and nervous, pudgy face. The white gloves covering his hands from view. Astrid's heart started to pound, and her face flushed. Was it Ronald Hope, or was she hallucinating?
"Astrid?" Giovanni asked. His voice sounded washed out. "Are you still there?"
Everything started to crash down. Definitel
y hallucinating, she decided. Astrid felt the ground drop out beneath her and she fell. Down, down, until the darkness consumed her and she couldn't see anything else. She was totally alone.
Then, a man started to scream. She opened her eyes to find she landed in a field, far away from the Starbucks. The sky was a faded pink and orange like a hazy sunrise. Wind swept past her, and images of a young Astrid flashed in her mind. She knew this place. It was a realm she travelled to when she was a girl. Or one of them, at least.
"The land of cotton candy skies and eternal sunrises," she said to herself.
Someone groaned in distress. Giovanni was on the ground in front of her, rubbing his head in pain. "Astrid?" He asked again, his voice weak. "Did we fall through a portal? And who was screaming so loudly?"
The screaming got louder until something hit the ground with a loud crash.They both turned and looked at the barista, his fake Starbucks uniform covered in dirt and blood. He tried to stand but toppled over. Twice this happened, before he stabilized himself.
When he rose so Astrid could see him, her breath hitched. It was Ronald Hope. "I knew it was you," he said to Astrid. "I knew from the moment I saw you that you were one of them." He looked past her at Giovanni and tensed up. "And you. Your brother was enough, but now there are two of you? I can't even believe my luck." Ronald stalked toward them. "You're both coming with me."
"Over my dead body," Astrid said. Those were probably the worst words to use, but she really wanted to sound cool in that moment.
"I can make that happen if you force me to." Ronald ripped off his Starbucks uniform and threw it onto the ground. He began to chant under his breath, sending chills down Astrid's spine. The wind picked up and Ronald's eyes began to glow a bright blue. "And I think you've forced my hand." Sparks of blue light shot out of his hands.
Giovanni placed his hand on her shoulder. "Astrid, you might want to take a step back for a moment." His eyes glistened. "I think I need to teach this man a lesson."
Do I look like I can't protect myself? Despite her wishes, she was easily the least powerful person in the field. She stepped back and let Giovanni square off with the alchemist.
The alchemist's chanting got louder, and bright blue symbols began to appear in his skin. Alchemic symbols, Astrid deduced. There were tons of them, like little tattoos scattered across his body. He screamed and sent a blast of lightning at Giovanni.
Within seconds, Giovanni's body started to glow an orange-red color. He opened his mouth and straight up breathed fire. It collided with the lighting, exploding in the middle of the field and knocking them all back. Astrid skidded into the ground, rocks in the earth digging into her skin and causing her to cry out in pain.
"Astrid," Giovanni panted. He ran to her side, gingerly pulling up her sleeve to look at her wound. Her left arm spilled blood. "Oh, little one, you have to forgive me for this one."
Did he just...? No one called her 'little one' unless it was a kink scene. "Go fight the insane guy," she said, pulling her arm away from him. "I can take care of myself."
Lighting hit the ground next to them. Ronald had recovered faster than they had, charging up another blast. "I'm going to have to kill him first, aren't I?" He called out to Astrid. "It'll be quite easy and convenient for me. We've almost run dry of our last blood supply."
"That's sick," Astrid whispered.
"Sick, but the reality of what happens when our worlds collided," Giovanni stated. As he rose up, he shed his jacket and handed it to her. "Please hold on to this. It is Armani, after all." He started stalking toward Ronald, removing his shirt with a flourish and moving down to his belt. It took a minute to register in Astrid's head that he was doing taking all of his clothes off.
Holy shit, she thought, trying to find the decency to turn away from his body and admire his muscular torso. Astrid's thirsty self couldn't do it. He was well defined, with a stunning athletic build.
Ronald was, apparently, also unprepared for this. "W-what are you doing?" He shouted, raising his hands in defense. "Put your clothes back on and fight me already!"
"I don't want to tear any of these," Giovanni said. He stripped his pants off and kept walking toward the alchemist in only his boxers. His walk broke into a run and he roared, jumping into the air. The light around him shimmered and his skin began to shift, shining in the soft sunlight. Golden scales covered his body, and a tail sprouted from his ass. Talons ripped from his fingers and through his shoes as his body morphed and shifted.
Astrid stood up, gazing at Giovanni in awe. "Holy shit," she said out loud. "They're actually dragons."
Giovanni's full dracon form had two large horns and spikes decorating his neck. His scales were an orange-gold, glimmering like fire. He pulled his head back, a warm light shining from underneath his skin. The dragon let loose another powerful stream of fire, this time much more explosive than the first. Fireballs and smoke rained down on the alchemist.
When the smoke cleared, the alchemist was still standing, a blue shield fading from around his body. "Is that all you've got?" He taunted the dragon. "Come on, motherfucker, show me what you've got!"
Taunting a massive, fire breathing lizard might not have been the best move. Giovanni trampled the field underneath him as he ran at the alchemist, leaving smoldering piles of grass in his wake. As he ran, he lit up with another stream of fire. Ronald tried to protect himself again, this time throwing up a force field a second too late. The fire singed him and, though he got his shield up to save him from the rest of the blast, his body was still badly burnt.
"Astrid!" Giovanni's massive dracon shouted back at her. "I need you to take us back to our world!"
"I don't know how!" She shouted. "He put something in my drink!"
Ronald rose, blue wisps of energy surrounding him. "You're too powerful for you own good, Astrid Pfeiffer. There's a reason it took one of our potions to wake your powers back up. Someone didn't want you to know what you were." He raised his hand, the wisps evaporating into his body to heal him. "We can unlock your powers. Not them. Come with me and I won't hurt you any more than staying with the dragons can."
"Maybe you should've started with that before you tried to kill me!"
Pull home, Astrid. There was a voice in her head, quiet but definitely present. It wasn't her own thoughts, but something else. Someone else. Pull yourself and the boy home.
"How do I do that?" She whimpered to the voice.
Come find me. You know where to look.
Did she? Astrid didn't know.
"Look out!" Giovanni charged in front of her as the alchemist sent one last strike of lighting her way. It struck the dragon in the chest, startling him and knocking him into the floor.
"Gio?" She asked weakly. His damn Armani coat in her hand, she ran to his side. "God, you Russos will be the death of me," she said. "Hear that? Gio?" His dragon form moaned weakly. Astrid placed her hands on his body, trying to shake him into consciousness. "Come on. Please."
Pull home, Astrid.
"Home," she whispered. Home was where Nova was, in the hills of North Carolina. It was her crappy apartment, with reruns of Law and Order playing while she, Winston, and Sally ate pizza off the floor. It was her office on a rainy day with no clients, when Tom would blast It's Raining Men as loud as he could to cheer up the crowd.
Home was where Lorenzo provoked her on the subway. Where Christian couldn't tell the difference between her sarcasm and her seriousness? Where Irene poured her soul into taking care of animals. Where Matilde, broken from years of never being good enough for her family, had warned Astrid something like this would happen.
Home.
"Pull us home," she whispered.
***
A handsome part naked man appearing in the alley behind Starbucks wasn't normal. It was even stranger when he appeared with a woman covered in scratches. Luckily, the only person who saw them was a Greenpeace worker taking a smoke.
"Ahh, shit man." He dropped his cigarette in the ground. "I'm
not paid enough for this shit."
He left Astrid and Giovanni alone. The Russo man was wearing nothing but his boxers and his Armani suit jacket, which thankfully hadn't been damaged during their travels. The same could not be said for his shoes, which had holes torn through the toe from his talons. Giovanni asked for Astrid's phone the minute they landed back in their world. "Christian?" He said after dialing his twin's number. "Yeah, we need your assistance. Bring me a change of clothes and a bottle of Svedka. No fruity flavors, just straight."
"Hot chocolate," Astrid said.
"And a cup of hot chocolate for Astrid. We're in the alley behind the Starbucks near her workplace," he instructed Christian. Hanging up, he handed the phone back to her. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way," he said. "When my brothers and I discovered you were an Alice, we may have got carried away. Well, Christian mostly."
Astrid shook her head. "You almost died," she whispered. "I've only known you for like a week. And you almost died for me."
He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Yes, but you pulled us out. And the alchemist is stuck there now."
"I pulled us home," Astrid replied. The rest of her energy shattered in that moment. Astrid collapsed against his chest. She could already hear the shouts of Lorenzo and Christian in the distance, shouting for both her and their brother.
Someone was touching her. Three someones. A hand, calloused and dirty, grabbed her own and pressed a warm cup into it. "Drink up, sweetheart." Lorenzo's dry voice whispered in her ear.
A softer, warm presence came behind her. "We shouldn't have put you through this, Astrid. I'm so sorry."
Astrid wasn't paying attention. Slowly, she brought the cup to her lips and drank. "I need to go home," she choked out.
Home was where she would be warm and safe. Those were the last two things she thought of as she passed out.
Astrid woke up in her bed. She was astounded they'd got her home safely.
Really? That's the thing that you're amazed by? Her inner monologue was right. Astrid had teleported into another dimension, watched someone turn into a dragon, and saw him fight a man shooting electricity from his hands.