by Maria Dean
"The break-ins. They cased the outside of Nicole's place while she was away. They hit up a warehouse owned by Matilde. It was only a matter of time before they hit up one of you." She fiddled with her heavy blazer. Astrid broke it out on the occasion of a date, but felt stupid now she'd wasted it on the kombucha brewer. "Lorenzo was lucky I was there with him. I don't know how long he would've lasted without getting injured or exposing himself."
Christian stiffened. "Do you think they'd come for me or Giovanni?"
"Any of you if you're not careful. There's a chance they've made the connection through the last name," she replied. "I'm sorry, Christian. I don't want to scare you."
"No, no, no, it's fine. It's fine." He tightened his hold on her. "You saved him. You could save me if you needed to. And I can save you."
I can save myself, thank you very much. But the sentiment was there. Christian was a giant puppy dog of a man, but he had a good heart and a lot of passion for the people he cared about. Astrid found herself surprisingly comforted by the fact she'd become one of those people. It was strange how the dragon family had adopted her into their group so quickly. Well, all of them but Matilde. She was a strange case herself and Astrid wasn't too sure she understood what was going on with her.
"Hey Astrid," Christian whispered. "What's it like when you travel into other worlds? Gio and Znzo got to do it already. I've missed out on all the fun." She could sense his wide smile growing by the minute. "Can we go now?"
"I'm afraid we're both a little too drunk for traveling right now," she reminded him. "I'll take you some time, if you want. When I traveled with your brothers, it was under pressure from the alchemists or the slayers. Hopefully, I can take you and it will be more relaxed." Something told her Christian would enjoy meeting the spritlings or going to the world with cotton candy skies. "There are plenty of realms out there. We just have to be careful we don't cross into the wrong ones."
"There are wrong realms?" Christian rested his chin on top of her head.
"They're just unsafe," she replied. "I don't think you'd want to visit them. One of them is filled with alchemic symbols. And it's cold. Really cold. Not exactly a vacation destination. And then there's the one with the dragon gate." Astrid could feel Christian go rigid again. "What's wrong?"
Again, Christian's tone shifted from lighthearted to filled with worry. "What do you mean by dragon gate?"
Astrid thought it was self-explanatory. "It's a massive gate that stretches out for miles. The only entrance is covered with a jade dragon carving. Do you know what it is?"
"It's nothing you need to be worried about," he replied quickly. "Just stay away from it."
Those two statements were, in Astrid's opinion, contradictory. If she shouldn't be worried about it, then why was it something she needed to stay away from? Christian clearly wasn't going to tell her. Giovanni probably wouldn't either. Lorenzo might, if she could contact him.
"I'm tired," Christian mumbled. "Can I sleep over?"
"That is the idea," she rolled her eyes. "Come on and get up. You can take the bed. I just need to get some extra blankets for the couch. And don't even try to argue with me about this."
As she rose, she caught another puppy dog stare. "I don't want to make you sleep on the couch in your own home," Christian said. "I'm sure the bed is big enough for two people."
Astrid snorted. "Two normal sized people, maybe. Not a normal sized person and a giant, ripped dragon-man." She grabbed his hands and pulled him up off the couch. Christian fell into her and almost knocked her off her feet, forcing Astrid to latch onto him for support. "Don't be more trouble than you're worth," she mumbled as he looked down at her.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Christian replied. He let go when she was steady and allowed her to go about grabbing blankets and pillows. Once she made the couch comfortable, he laid down. "Oh no," he drawled, "I seem to have fallen on the couch! What ever shall I do?"
"You Russos are the most insufferable idiots I've ever met, you know that?" Astrid swatted at him. "Really, you're my guest. Go take the bed."
Instead of moving, Christian caught her arm and pulled her back onto the couch with him. "How will I ever survive the night on the uncomfortable couch without your warmth?"
Astrid gave up dealing with the ridiculous decisions made by the Russo family members. Christian had grown on her and the warmth he emitted was easily ten times more comfortable than her blankets. She decided to let the oldest Russo brother win this round, relaxing in his arms so she could fall asleep.
That night, she dreamt of another realm. It was a vague memory of a world filled with magical creatures. Dragons soared through the sky, surrounding her in a flurry of scales and wings. Astrid was presented with three of them at once: a playful red dragon, a stern golden dragon, and a collected blue one. They were each massive and adorned with stunning horns and shimmering scales.
She tried to touch each one. One of them was too cold, one scalding, and one just a little lukewarm. Though they all appeared magnificent, something felt wrong. Astrid didn't know enough about any of them to choose.
The world around her started to shift, the floor underneath her freezing over. It became a realm of snow and steel, surrounding her and the dragons in a terrible blizzard. The oppressive forced shoved them all back. Astrid tried to scream for help but found her throat closing up. The wind stole her voice, her words lost to the storm. Then, a shimmering, white dragon hit the ground in front of her. The creature screeched at the storm, shielding Astrid and the others from the force ahead of them. The world around her whited out, leaving Astrid tumbling alone through a shimmering light.
"Astrid?" The light echoed with the sound of Christian's voice. "Are you okay?"
Her eyes snapped open. She'd fallen onto the ground during the night. "The couch is also not big enough to fit two people," she muttered. "I should be fine. What time is it?"
Christian checked his phone. "Six thirty. Sorry you ended up on the floor." His smile was apologetic at the worst and adorable at best. "You can still go back to sleep if you want to."
Her stomach rumbled, distracting them both from sleeping. "I have eggs," she said bluntly. "I can go make some breakfast if you're interested."
His eyes lit up at the mention of food. "Please and thank you," Christian grinned. "Do you have some painkillers too?"
She got up and stretched, heading toward the kitchen when she tried to wake up. "In my bedroom, on the end table next to my bed." Astrid gravitated toward the coffeemaker, forgetting the pretense of eating when she caught a whiff of the coffee grounds. "Coffee?"
"Always," Christian responded, exiting her room with the bottle of ibuprofen. He rooted around in her kitchen, looking for the glasses while also just taking in her apartment. "I love the collection," he said, nodding at her stack of mismatched plates. "Where d'you get these?"
From anyone else, it would've sounded condescending. Astrid knew better, though, and caught the look of earnest interest on his face. "Here and there," she shrugged. "Some of them came with me from Nova's, others were from college. There's a blue and white china plate I stole from my boarding school."
Christian grabbed himself a cup and looked around for a water source. "You're going to be mad when I ask this," he said, "but do you have filtered water?"
"Check the fridge." His request didn't shock Astrid. Her building had lead pipes and investing in a water filter wasn't the most expensive thing in the world. "Do me a favor and grab two coffee mugs from the cabinet. Above the sink."
He filled his glass with water and put the pitcher back into the fridge. "I didn't know you went to boarding school," he said, reaching into the cabinet for the mugs. "Cream and sugar?"
"Milk's in the fridge, sugar in the pantry cabinet next to the fridge," she explained. "I have flavored creamer too." She squeezed in between him and grabbed the hazelnut creamer. "And yeah, I went to a boarding school when I was in about eighth grade. It was an interesting place. Kind o
f like a cross between Hogwarts and a bad charter school."
By then, Christian knocked back his drugs and doctored a cup of coffee. Her description made him snicker. "Did you guys practice magic too?"
"You know," Astrid paused, "it's entirely possible they did. I don't remember anyone doing magic, but we were definitely a weird pack of kids. Our families had to do a lot in order to see us. Nova..." Her breath caught, remembering the last time she'd seen her aunt. "Nova said the school was made to hide children from dangerous people. So maybe we were all in some sort of trouble."
"Astrid, who were you hiding from?"
There was a lump in her throat. The words wouldn't come out the way she wanted them to. Talking about her father and his alleged alchemical practices still felt wrong. She still didn't want to make any decisions without talking to him.
Thankfully, a knock at her door put a pin in the conversation. Astrid crossed the room with her coffee and carefully peaked through the peephole in the door. "Jesus," she muttered, trying to run a hand through her hair to make herself presentable.
"Who is it?" Christian said, concerned she was in trouble.
Astrid opened the door to the youngest Russo cousin, who glared at her through her black designer sunglasses. She held a plastic bag with takeout in one hand, her other hand popped at her hip. "I cannot believe my fucking luck," Matilde groaned. "Of course he's here." She pushed into the room past Astrid and dropped the bag on the counter. "You're lucky Nya skipped out on breakfast, Chris. I don't have the time or money for you."
"But you bought food for Astrid?" Christian sounded confused. He reached for the bag, only to have Matilde slap his hand away.
"Please. If there's one thing that old hag taught me, it's you don't show up at someone's house without a gift." She grabbed one of the boxes from the bag and handed it to Astrid. "Don't think I'm being nice because I like you. I have manners."
Astrid snorted. "Whatever you say," she said, accepting the Styrofoam container. A greasy breakfast burger lay inside. Part of Astrid wanted to ask how Matilde knew her favorite hangover food, but suspected the malicious cousin would snap at her for thinking she cared.
Sitting down at her counter, Astrid bit into the burger and sighed. Much better than whatever egg dish she was going to end up burning later. "So why are you here?"
Matilde looked at her brother, who was digging into a serving of huevos rancheros. "You can leave," she ordered him. "We need to have our girl time."
Christian pouted. "Astrid's my friend too, Matilde. Besides, I still didn't get to ask her out."
His sister, unsympathetic, gestured at Astrid. "Go for it, Christian. I can wait."
He glared at her, before turning his attention to the dimension-hopping lawyer. "Astrid, would you do me the honor of going on an actual date with me?"
Unfortunately for him, she was too in love with the breakfast burger. "Yeah," she got out as she licked the grease off her fingers. "Call me later when I'm done with work."
Matilde shooed her brother out of the apartment and shut the door when he left. "You've been busy lately," she said, returning to the stool. She opened her own container and cut into her pancakes. "You got your Alice powers unlocked, on accident. You were there when my hippie, idiot brother was attacked, and now I come to find my puppy dog, idiot brother is over here at your place." She pointed her plastic fork at Astrid. "Why can't I get rid of you?"
Astrid wiped another pool of grease from her mouth. "Magic," she said shrugging.
"I'm not fucking around," Matilde growled. "This isn't a peace offering. I need to know why my family is still dragging you around. You know absolutely nothing about our lives and you're still all messed up in my business."
Sighing, Astrid took another bite of her burger. "I can't give you a concrete reason. They're the ones who got me into this business in the first place. If it wasn't for your brothers, the alchemists would've never caught onto who I was. I only worried about the dragon slayers because I knew who you all were, too. I saw them casing Nicole's house and looked into the robberies after one of your warehouses got broken into."
Her back straightened. "How d'you know about that?" She narrowed her eyes, ready to jump down Astrid's throat if she said the wrong thing.
"One of my coworkers had a list of the locations that were attacked," Astrid explained. "I was worried Nicole was next after I saw the dragon slayers." That was how she ended up being there when Lorenzo's house was broken into.
Matilde frowned. "Astrid, do you have a death wish?"
"Not really," she shrugged. "I just keep getting thrown curve balls by the universe." Astrid got a bite of the fried egg on the burger and almost moaned. Maybe it was an exaggeration, but it was the best thing she'd eaten in a while. "I haven't been able to explore my Alice powers very much, and there's not exactly a guide on how to do this." Well, there was, but she wasn't going to tell Matilde her mother was an Alice too. One who'd disappeared and left no trace of her presence in that realm.
"I'm just amazed you haven't died yet," Matilde snorted taking pleasure in her the breakfast. She was dipping the fluffy pancakes in syrup and whipped cream. "Aren't those worlds dangerous?"
"Some of them," Astrid said. "Many of the realms I've been to are peaceful or uninhabited." There were still the other ones that worried her, though she doubted Matilde would care.
The Russo cousins hadn't given up on shocking her. "Was one of them locked?" Matilde asked, leaning forward. When Astrid nodded, Matilde groaned. "God. Damn. You just keep getting into other people's shit!"
"Are you going to explain to me what that was?" Astrid asked, watching Matilde's expression.
She waved it off, gesturing in the air with her fork. "All you need to know is the dragons locked in there aren't getting out anytime soon. If you ask me, they deserved it." Matilde grabbed Astrid's coffee cup and took a sip. "The key's missing anyhow."
"What about a frozen world with alchemical symbols?" Astrid pushed further. Matilde might have threatened to kill her, but she also didn't treat Astrid like a child. She told Astrid what was what to try to get her out of their lives. "I'm guessing that's where the alchemists come from or hide in." Matilde nodded. "So, it's safe to say that place will get us all killed."
"Not me," the youngest Russo shook her head. "I don't mess around with magic the way my siblings do. Gran alienated me so much I couldn't give two shits about our family legacy."
"Then why are you dating another dragon?" It was an honest question. The dragons seemed to value legacy and inter-dragon relationships more than anything else.
Matilde rolled her eyes. "Because I love her," she said. "It has nothing to do with the fact we're both Dragon shifters She just makes me feel complete."
"Fair enough." Astrid stole her coffee cup back and returned to the pot for a refill. "Anything else you want to threaten me with? I have to go to work soon."
The youngest Russo snatched Astrid's phone off the counter. "I'm giving you my number. Call me in case you want someone to help arrange your funeral." She held it out, letting Astrid take her phone back. "Do yourself a favor and don't mess around with Christian. Just because he's not as sharp as the others, doesn't mean he isn't a threat."
"Are you saying he'd hurt me?"
"They'd all hurt you, Astrid. They're men. It doesn't matter if they're my brothers or not. They're powerful men with dangerous abilities. If they have to, they'll hurt you to get what they want. They all think dragons are above humans, anyhow. If you're not careful with them, they will burn you."
Astrid knew she should hold her tongue, but she couldn't help herself. "What about you? How can I be sure I should trust you after you threatened me?"
Matilde smirked. "You can't trust me either. If you knew any better, you'd stay away from our family. Pack up and get out of Dodge. The alchemists are already onto you, aren't they? Go hop into another dimension and never come back."
Be like your mother. Run away.
There wasn't any
way Matilde knew what her mother did. It stung all the same. For the first time in their encounters, Astrid turned her back on Matilde. "You can leave now," she said, trying to pretend like she wasn't crying.
She had no way of knowing for a brief moment, Matilde's expression softened.
The dragon locked gate bugged her for another two days. Sometimes she could find multiple ways into the same realm through different entry points. The cotton candy realm, for example, was easily accessable from about everywhere. Astrid wondered in part if it was because she felt a certain connection to the world. It was hard to know these things without a solid guide to Alicing. The only thing she was sure of was the locked realm could only be accessed through the alchemic world.
Astrid wasn't going back there anytime soon.
Luckily, there were other mysteries she had to solve. The first and most pressing issue on her mind was the waiter who'd known what her mother's last name was. With the slow work week getting to Winston and Sally, Astrid recruited them to the cause.
"And you're positive your name is under Pfeiffer, right?" Winston probed the internet for any mention of an Astrid Gray. He believed it was because the waiter had recognized her from somewhere, though she was sure she used her father's name everywhere she went. "Did you have a MySpace account?"
"Never," Astrid replied. "Don't you remember how long it took you and Sally to convince me to get a Facebook account for a team Messenger chat?"
Winston sighed. "I remember too well."
Their receptionist made herself comfortable in a chair across from Winston. "Astrid what was the waiter's name?" Sally was using her immense resources to track down Astrid's potential stalker.
"Alex, I think. Or Alan. It started with an 'A'." Astrid bounced between answering questions for her friends and doing her own internet stalking. Though she never called him back, she was looking into James's internet presence to track his role in the Davidson case. The strange healing company had to be a cover for the alchemists. Matilde had said it herself. Astrid knew next to nothing about the world the Russos lived in. If she was going to get swept up in their business, she needed to be prepared.
