Alex
I fell out of the portal and hit the deck, my face instantly mashed into carpet. I groaned at the impact and slowly picked myself up, brushing down my clothes.
That's funny, I thought, staring down at the cute purple top I was adorned in. I could have sworn I wore my orange singlet and grey cardigan this morning. Oh well.
"Everyone okay?" I asked, turning around.
But there was no sight of Justin or Max anywhere. "Justin? Max?"
I was sure they'd come through the portal too. But maybe they hadn't. Which made me even more nervous.
I looked around only to realise I had no idea where the hell I was. I was in a trendy looking apartment, with statues and paintings everywhere. It was pretty spacious and fancy and the kind of place I could see myself living in one day. But whose apartment was it?
I walked around, trying to find some clue as to what era I was in and just whose place this was. A large painting on the wall caught my eye. It was of a wolf, with fur as white as snow. He had dark eyes, eyes I would recognise anywhere. It was of Mason, it had to be. I leaned in closer to see if I could spot the artist's name. Then I found it; at the bottom of the painting were two cursive words: Alex Russo.
My eyes went wide as I stared at the painting. Either this was my painting or there was some other Alex Russo who was a really good artist and liked to draw pictures of wolves that looked remarkably like Mason but what was the chance of that?
My phone started ringing and I jumped at the sudden noise. I pulled it out to find it wasn't mine. It was a stylish flip phone that I'd never seen but I answered anyway, although hesitantly.
"Uh hello?"
"Please tell me that's you Alex. I can't work this stupid phone."
"Justin," I said, incredibly relieved. "How'd you get my number?"
"I took a shot in the dark and dialled your old one. I can't believe you kept it all these years."
I couldn't really believe that either. But then again, it was one of those personalized phone numbers that spell your name out and I was rather fond of it, even if it was kind of dumb.
"Where are you?" I asked, inspecting my brightly painted, polished nails.
"At my house. At least, I think it's my house."
"Your house? What are you talking about? You don't have a house."
"Apparently I do," he responded dryly. "In the year 2020."
2020? Did he just say 2020? That's (I'm almost ashamed to say I did a quick calculation on my fingers) ten years into the future.
"And that's not even the worst part. Look into the mirror," he continued.
I wandered over to the mirror hanging on the wall nearby. I almost dropped the phone when I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror.
Holy crap.
I pinched the skin of my cheeks; well at least I tried to. I no longer had any baby fat, just sleek cheekbones, clear tanned skin. My dark hair was at my shoulder, styled in wavy curls. I looked similar yet so different.
"How did I get old?"
"Alex, you're twenty seven. You're hardly 'over the hill'."
"Why do I look like this?"
"I'm guessing that when we came to the future, we took over the bodies of our future selves, except without their memories of the past ten years. It would probably arouse suspicion if there were two of us around New York. But that doesn't usually happen so whoever sent us here must have cast a specific spell. But I wonder what happened to our future selves? Did they go back or are their souls just surpressed...?"
He rambled on with theories and I pretended to listen. The phone still glued to my ear, I swung around and took in the apartment. My apartment. "Sweet, dude you should totally see my apartment."
"First we need to find Max. I'm guessing he's the family wizard since I don't have any powers."
"How do you know it's not me?" I asked, examining a expensive looking vase on my kitchen bench.
Silence on the other end. "I'll call you when I find him."
I chuckled and snapped the phone shut. Time for a tour.
Justin
After hanging up on Alex, I had every intention to start looking for Max. But I was curious as to what my life was like and who could blame me? How many people got a chance to get such a sneak preview like this?
"I'm just going to get the files I left behind and I'll be right there."
The front door swung open and a gorgeous woman with long blonde hair, carrying a briefcase entered, smiling when she saw me.
"I've got to go," she said to the person on the other end of her phone call.
She hung up and dumped all of her stuff on the kitchen bench before flying towards the bedroom.
"Hey honey," she said, kissing my cheek softly as she passed.
"Hey….sweetie." I had no idea who this woman was. Or what her name was.
I looked down at my hands and found what I was looking for. A single gold band.
This wasn't just any woman. She was my wife. My totally smoking hot wife.
"How are you doing? Are you alright?" she called from the other room.
"Um, I'm fine," I answered as she reappared, holding a load of papers.
She stopped and examined me. "You seem in a better mood."
"I do?"
She nodded. "It'll all work out, I promise. We just have to have faith."
I nodded, extremely confused by this whole situation. Apparently, I'd been in a bad mood.
"Where are you off to?" I asked her as she gathered up all her things.
"I've got a meeting with a client. I'll be home late so don't wait up."
"Client?" I asked carefully, trying to suss out just what she did.
She stopped near the doorway. "Yeah you know. I told you about the case with that kid."
Lawyer. She had to be. Awesome; not only was she amazingly beautiful, she was smart. Wow, I hit the jackpot. If only I had any clue now what her name was.
"See you later," she said, shuffling out the door.
I decided to take a few more minutes to get acquainted with my life. But first, I re-examined myself in the mirror.
I looked pretty similar but then again I was only 29; I wasn't exactly expecting wrinkles. My hair was a little thinner and shorter, pulled back off my forehead. My face was a little wearier but I more or less the same. I drifted into the bedroom where I found at least one answer: my wife's name.
There was a silver frame on my bedside table with a picture of the two of us. Along the metal were the inscribed words, 'Justin and Emily'.
Emily. I tested the word out on my tongue and it didn't sound weird. Almost familiar in fact; probably a perk of being in this body.
The frame on the table wasn't the only one. On the wall hung a certificate with my name on it. I inspected further and discovered it was a medical certificate, which made me…
A doctor. I was married to a hot blonde lawyer and I was a doctor. Could life get any better?
Max
Where is everybody?
I was in the loft as far as I could tell, lolled out on the couch but there was no one else in the vicinity. Where were Alex and Justin? They'd come through the portal, hadn't they?
"Mr Russo, are you done with those bills?"
A well proportioned man in a suit appeared from downstairs, studying me lounging around. "With all due respect Mr Russo, you don't really have time to waste watching television."
I scrambled to my feet immediately, feeling foolish. "Cool threads man," I said, admiring the grey ensemble he wore.
The guy just stared at me, pushing his thin rimmed glasses further up his nose. "Thanks. I need you to sign off on the new restaurant."
"Restaurant?" I said, signing the sheet thrust upon me hastily.
He took the paper carefully back. "Yes, you approved the building plans for the new substation didn't you?"
"Uh yes of course." I had no idea what the heck I was saying. Or what this dude was saying either for that matter. But hey, sometimes you just go with the flow.
He stood by the counter, flicking through his files while I wandered to the fridge. Man was I thirsty. As I went to pull it open, the pocket calendar stuck to the fridge caught my eye. 2020? Impossible.
I ran quickly to the mirror hanging over the marble top and examined myself. I was old.
Well not really but older than what I was supposed to be. I looked down at myself. I seemed bigger, taller, more muscled than I usually was. My hair was still short but no longer flopping down on to my forehead. It was pulled back and pushed up into a stylish wavy hairstyle that resembled that guy from Twilight.
"Whoa," I breathed, pulling at my cheeks and pinching the skin, just to make sure this was all real. "I'm in the future."
Without thinking, I turned back to the guy and blurted, "Am I the family wizard?"
"The family what sir?"
I slapped myself in the head. Don't expose magic; rule number one. I was supposed to be the family wizard and exposing magic wouldn't really be the way to go. "Never mind."
"Are you feeling well Mr Russo?"
"I'm fine Jeeves," I answered automatically, pulling out to my astonishment an iPhone, as I went downstairs. Perfect, I'll call Alex and Justin.
I could have sworn I heard the guy mutter as I left, "Did he just call me Jeeves?"