Siena's legs almost gave way when her phone rang, James' name illuminating the screen. 

She put the tuna can she was just about to open on the black and white tiles of the kitchen floor, under Dante's pink, impatient, long-whiskered nose, and walked into the sitting room, letting herself collapse into her reading armchair, folding her legs under her body, into the cushions, as she always did when reading. The armchair was set in her favourite spot of the flat, by the tall window offering the most perfect view of the river and the ancient bridge, unspoiled by the hectic presence of the tourists from this distance and vantage point, making it look as some different, parallel world altogether. 

Finally, taking a deep breath, she replied, "Hi." How could her voice falter at saying a simple hi?! She was impossible; how could she blush when he was thousands of miles away from her?

She smiled at hearing the huskiness in his voice reaching her from the remote place she could only imagine-- at least she wasn't the only one affected by this long-distance interaction.

The faintest sound of water, of waves sweeping against the shore, or rather ripples caused by his hand in the placid waters of his beloved, mysterious loch, flooded her ear for a short moment, bringing with it the image of deep blue water lapping at his hand as he fiddled with gadgets she couldn't picture monitoring the lake for him, the image of his long, deft fingers caressing the surfaces sleek with the layer of cool water. Her breath hitched and she shivered as she couldn't stop the next image from entering her mind, a fantasy of those fingers playing with her hair, caressing the side of her neck, nudging her clothes off her shoulder, leaving trails of gooseflesh on her bare skin even before his lips followed their trail...

"I'm going to reread the book too. The world is too dangerous for us to simply jump in without knowing the plot by heart." She heard him say, her heart beating faster as she realised how much she missed him, how much she wished to wrap her arms around his waist and bury her face into his chest, breathing him in... She could almost perceive his alluring scent in the air around her when she closed her eyes...

The pendant lying on her own chest emitted a wishful flicker of light and heat as if her longing for him woke it up from its slumber.

"Wait," she mouthed, startled from her musings by Dante who jumped on her lap suddenly, pushing his many claws into her thighs in his attempt to remind her that she had meant to feed him.

"Great," she told James, caressing Dante's ginger head appeasingly when she saw the indignation in his blue irises. He seemed to be frowning at her. "Then we can text each other whenever we read or think of something."

"Of course," James agreed while she bit her lips. Those claws were sharp enough to pierce painfully through the fabric of her skirt into her skin. "Just wait a second, will you?! Aspetta un attimo, non ci riesco ad aprirlo adesso!" She whispered at the tomcat who miaowed loudly when the attack of his claws didn't produce the expected results, then pushed her free hand under his fluffy belly and deposited him quite unceremoniously on the floor, from where he continued to watch her like a tiny, hairy dragon, ready to breathe fire should she not return into the kitchen and open his can of tuna soon enough. 

"Is that Dante?" James asked, his words laced with laughter, and she was surprised that he remembered her cat's name.

"Yes," she replied, smiling at the cat who was shifting on the floor in preparations to jump on her lap again. "He loves tuna, but he'll never understand that I can't open the can with one hand." She giggled when Dante, changing tactics this time, turned in circles on her lap, brushing the top of his head under her chin, purring loudly.

"I'll let you go then," James said, and she could hear the reluctance in his voice. "I wouldn't want Dante to become angry with me even before we first meet in person."

Her heart skipped a beat when she imagined James in her flat... Would it be really possible for them to become... more within their normal lives?

"I'll text you later when I get to think about our quest," she said quickly, banishing those thoughts. Siena didn't want to get her hopes high, not yet. She hardly knew James; they had only just met.

"You can call too, whenever..." his half-whisperered words reached her ear, and she could almost perceive the warm breath that carried them landing on her earlobe. She shivered, closing her eyes briefly, wishing that her imagination wasn't quite as creative.

"Okay..." she breathed after a long while and suddenly reluctant to put the phone down despite Dante continuing to remind her of her duties towards him, she added, "What are you up to now?"

"I must put some dinner together. Otherwise, I'll have to eat the leftovers of my lunch, cooked by Grandma Eilidh. She's wonderful, I hope you'll meet her soon."

Siena clutched the phone tighter in her hand, heart soaring. So he was serious about this, about them... At least he sounded so. Now. Would this feeling last?

"I hope so, too," she admitted truthfully. She couldn't be entirely sure of his feelings, but she was certain of hers. "We should... find time to meet beyond the Society, and our London flat..." she added, surprising herself, the words followed by a blush he luckily could not see. It was too early to even think about this, let alone talk and plan. They had only just met, and there was a Claire in his life. They needed to take this slowly if they wanted it to work.

"Have a nice evening, Siena," he said after a long moment filled with silence at his end, and Dante's purring at hers, and she was thankful that he understood that she wasn't ready to continue the conversation she had initiated.

"You too, James."

She continued to stare out of the window, her eyes unfocused, fingers buried deeply in the cat's fur, for ages before she remembered that she needed to put the phone down and resolve Dante's hunger. 

It took Dante less than a minute to make disappear the chunks of tuna contained in the can, followed by a bowl full of cat crackers. Siena giggled as she carried her own food-- a piece of fish she had bought in the market on her way home and a large bowl of salad-- to her tiny dining table. Unlike her, Dante could eat as much as he wished and always looked the same. If she indulged as much as he did, she wouldn't fit in her clothes in a week, she was certain that she had gained weight even in the last two weeks when she ate anything and everything with James, not wanting to draw his attention to one of her greatest insecurities, her body. 

Despite the long walks she took whenever she could, she was just too round for her height in her opinion, she had always been. She had always admired her classmates as a teen, those tall, lanky, self-confident, almost boyish-looking girls popular with boys. Now, aged twenty-three, she finally understood that she would never look like them, but it didn't make her love herself more, especially when she knew that not only boys, but most men too preferred those gorgeous girls to someone like her. The only thing that changed as she grew up was that Siena didn't care about it as much as she had before, and instead of trying to change, she learned to know and accept herself as she was. She was she, and she would never be different.

Alessandro's text reached her as she carried her dishes to the sink, offering to accompany her on her evening walk, which he needed as much as she did.

'Meet you at the usual spot,' Siena texted back before she hurried to get changed into her workout clothes. After caressing Dante, already napping in her reading armchair, she walked out of the flat.

Alessandro was already waiting for her in the place by the river where one of the numerous bridges spanned the languid, murky waters, a bridge which they needed to cross to get to their favourite park-- a large treasure trove of greenery in the heart of the ancient stone city walled by its uncountable buildings, almost always empty despite all the tourists crowding the streets encompassing it on all sides.

"How is our James doing tonight?" he teased, beaming at her as he watched her approaching him, his eyes flickering from her twinkling eyes to the smile she could never quite suppress these days.

"Aah," she sighed, blushing, happy that her cheeks were already glowing from the almost two kilometres long fast walk. "I knew I shouldn't have told you his name!" Siena complained, her words coming muffled from beneath his t-shirt as he pulled her in for a hug. "I thought you meant to spend this evening with Luca," she added in an attempt to change the subject, raising her eyebrows questioningly. 

"He needs to work for another hour, at least, so I left him alone. And I'm happy that he is busy actually, we didn't get any time to talk today at school, and you are simply brimming with mystery, Signorina De Angelis. I need to know what happened to you in London!"

Siena giggled, lengthening her steps to match those of her taller companion as they walked over the bridge.

"And you like mysteries very much," she commented.

"Indeed."

"Then I'm not telling you anything, of course. Whatever I tell you won't be a mystery anymore and I'll be just as boring as before," she said, feeling a little out of breath from the pace Alessandro had set, giggling at his disappointed expression. 

"You are never boring, silly," he said as they finally reached the park, the noise of the restless city diminishing gradually as they stepped under the cover of the age-old, thickly grown trees.

She reached out to take hold of his hand and squeezed thankfully. Alessandro was a treasure; she loved him like an older brother she never had.

"You can be as sweet as you want, but I'm not telling you," she insisted, miming zipping her lips before she broke into a jog to escape from his curious presence.

"But I'm soo curious about him, you have no heart!" he called, laughing, catching up with her without trouble.

It was perfectly dark outside when Alessandro, not being able to obtain the tiniest piece of information, gave up and walked with her home. Siena showered and laid out her clothes for the following day, then finally dragged herself to bed.

Her eyes fell at the two souvenirs from the book worlds gathered in the wooden box sitting on her bedside table as she set the alarm and took the copy of Frankenstein lying next to it.

She hoped that both the little boy and the Mermaid were happy now, in the new parallel existence she and James had created for them. If only there was a way to find out how they were doing... She shook her head to clear her rambling thoughts; she needed to focus on reading now to prepare for the next quest.

The moment she adjusted her pillows into the reading position she preferred and lay down, Dante joined her, curling into a fluffy ball of heat and comfort at her feet.

Her eyes started to close as she read through the first couple of chapters of Mary Shelley's timeless story, her imagination following Victor across the frozen seas in pursuit of his Monster then back into his past, and she was fast asleep, with her reading light still on, when James texted her an hour later.