A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad people are enjoying this!

Chapter Three

When Harper left the Sub Station, she felt a little weird about going over to Zeke's, even in this emergency situation. He always wanted to hang out at the Russo's loft, so much that she'd only ever been to his place a couple of times. And that was only to briefly stop there for whatever reason.

Instead of going to the subway, she called Zeke on her cell phone. She didn't feel entirely welcome to barge in just yet, and If one of his family members was home, she wouldn't want to show up in her current frazzled state. "Hey..."

"Hello? Who's this?"

Harper rolled her eyes. "It's Harper. Your girlfriend. Don't you have me on your contact list?"

"I don't bother checking the caller ID. Only like five people ever call me."

"Still..." Harper then dropped the argument since there were more pressing issues. "Look, the Russos are in big Wizard World trouble, but Justin told me to stay out of it. We have to do something to help."

"But if Justin said..."

"We haveto!" Harper insisted. "Justin, Alex and Max are fighting this really evil angel of darkness. They need...they need back up! That's it! We'll contact the Wizard World!"

"An angel of darkness? Oh my gosh, angels exist too? Do they have wings? Are there..."

Harper sighed. "Yes, they have wings. But now's not the time for questions! We have to contact the Wizard World, somehow."

"How do we do that when we're not wizards?"

"I don't know. Maybe Alex brought some spell books or notes to our apartment...unlikely, but it's worth looking. Meet me there as soon as you can. Hopefully Gorog left the thirteenth floor intact."

Before Zeke could ask who Gorog was, she ended the call and ran for the subway.

For a second, Justin didn't know if he was breathing.

All else in his line of vision besides Juliet became a little fuzzy. His heart started pounding so fast he thought for sure a it would kill him before Gorog ever got the chance. And yeah, he was pretty sure he couldn't breathe if he tried.

"Hi Justin," she greeted, acting and sounding exactly like her old self. "I've missed you. You missed me, right?"

Forcing himself steady enough to speak, Justin nodded. "Of course! Juliet, you have no idea how…" He stopped, realizing that he needed to snap himself back to reality, quick. "But you're not Juliet. You're an illusion."

"Don't underestimate me, Justin," Gorog remarked. "I may be weakened, but I still have some impressive power. Finding Juliet and turning her young was no problem. Especially if it means you'll be in my army. A smart young wizard like yourself would be a valuable addition." He paused. "And of course you'll be able to keep your powers. You won't have to deal with any of that 'wizard competition' nonsense."

Be logical, Justin thought, struggling to resist. Remember what happened last time. "But before, you didn't want me in your army. And you lied. You didn't let me be with Rosie when you said we could be together. Why should I believe you now? Even if this is the real Juliet, you could take her away again."

"I could," Gorog admitted. "But things have changed. I'm willing to train you…and teach you to not be such a dork so I can stand you. Then you could help me rule the Wizard World, with Juliet by your side." He sighed at Justin's silenced. "Look, if the 'evil' part is still throwing you off…isn't that worth being reunited with your true love? You won't be able to otherwise, Justin. You say no, she's an old hag again. I'm not Cupid."

His parents had been standing off to the side throughout all this. Well, Theresa was still in her zombie state, seemingly not paying attention. But Jerry stepped forward to add, "And there's us. We'll still be Gorog's minions when he takes over the Wizard World. Join us, and we can be a family again."

"But what about Alex and Max?" Justin argued, almost hoping the mere mention of his siblings' names would return his father to normal. "Don't you care that they'll be left to fend for themselves? Especially when Gorog wants revenge?

Jerry shook his head. "Gorog promised he wouldn't hurt them as long as we did what he said. And they'll join when they find out we have too."

"See Justin?" Gorog interrupted impatiently, recognizing that his prey was caving and becoming eager for its downfall. There was intensity in his eyes while he attempted to portray calm."You'll have your family. You'll have Juliet. You'll have more influence than you ever had, ever will have. Why are you still bothering to resist?"

About to argue some more, he instantly lost his train of thought when Juliet wrapped her arms around his neck. "And what about us, Justin?" she whispered. "We deserve our happily ever after. This is it."

Then she kissed him. Just like she used to, like in the memories that haunted him for so long.

Minutes felt like hours for someone trapped in a cold, desolate alternate plane of existence. Both Alex and Max had reached the conclusion when they became silent after they were unable to plan a promising escape. So they'd resorted to their wands, checking out features that didn't require spells and shooting off small, useless fireworks into the purple sky. Basically it was the equivalent of playing games on a cell phone to keep busy during class.

"Ugh, I can't make a single call on this stupid thing," Alex complained, furiously dialing random Wizard World numbers. After she went through all of her contacts, she'd started making up numbers, hoping a wizard would pick up and agree to help them. "We must not get service in this dimension."

Distracted by the Light Saber setting on his wand, Max almost didn't hear her. Then she let out another loud, frustrated groan, so he finally replied, "Which dimension do you think this is, anyway?"

Alex shrugged. "One that traps wizards, obviously. What does it matter?"

"Well, I generally like to know where I am," Max answered. "And...maybe if we figure out where we are, we can figure out how to escape."

Surprised by the insight, Alex nodded. "All right then. How do we do that? Dad never really taught us about alternate dimensions, or what to do when you're stuck in one." She sighed. "Don't ever tell him I said this, but...I wish Justin was here. He's probably read a book on this for the competition."

"Yeah, he does read a lot of books."

"That he does."

There was an awkward silence, then Max lowered his eyes as he quietly asked, "Hey, Alex...do you think he's okay?"

Alex hesitated. Her instinct was to reply that of course their brother was fine, he's the smart one, isn't he? But leaving Justin alone to face Gorog, with their presumably evil father...she couldn't begin to imagine her older brother's condition at the moment. "Honestly? I have no idea."

At Max's upset expression, Alex went over and gave him a hug, which he returned. "If he's not, we'll save him," she added as they broke apart. "I promise."

"Thanks, sis. I needed that."