I Spy Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 26

"Now it's my turn, Nereus," I said. "Listen to my questions carefully, answer them properly, and everyone's gonna be fine and not decapitated." He raised his hands in surrender, which probably meant ask away.

"First question: Do you know what's gonna happen on October 31st?" I asked.

"Halloween?" Nereus asked weakly.

"My birthday," I said, annoyed. "The day I turn 22."

"Oh yay," Nereus said with a bored look on her face. "Don't expect me to buy you gifts or anything. As you can see-" he gestured to his attire, "I'm homeless."

"I don't want gifts!" I said. "I just want to know: can you see what's going to happen on October 31?"

"I know what's going to happen," He said, and my heart sank. "But I can't tell how exactly it's going to happen. That's not in my power. You can ask the Oracle, if she's recovered from the, um, thingie that happened with Python and everything."

At that moment, I felt as if my body was the abyss of Chaos, and my heart was slowly sinking deeper and deeper. Apollo had once told me that knowing my future was dangerous, but under my circumstances, it was necessary.

If I didn't know that I wouldn't live to graduate college, I would have just wasted my life. If most people heard that they were going to die, they would waste their time bemoaning their fate. Luckily, I wasn't most people, so knowing my fate made me even stronger.

I was glad that my dad was honest with me ten years ago, when he sent me to the US. You didn't really talk about death to twelve year olds, it ruins a great party conversation.

I felt a lump form in my throat, and no, I wasn't getting an Adam's Apple. "Next question, " I said shakily,giving a sideways glance a someone who was standing at the railing. "What's the deal with him?"

"Ah, Katastrofeas," Nereus said nonchalantly. "He's complicated. He doesn't have a past of his own. You know that he has flashbacks, don't you?" I nodded.

"That's going to go on for a long time, and it won't stop until he's uncovered the whole truth. You're gonna have to get used to it." He scratched his grubby chin. "There is a way that it could stop...but for that, you'd have to be willing to help him."

"Help him?" I asked. "He's my fake boss and all, but why should I help him regain his memory?"

"He wants to trust you, Khloe," Nereus said, suddenly very uncharacteristically serious. "He thinks he can trust you. Should I really tell him otherwise?" He didn't need to say anymore, I got what he meant.

Having an enemy be suspicious of me was far easier than having them trust me.

"Trust....me?" I said, my throat feeling dry all of a sudden. "I've never had anyone truly trust me."

"Well, there is one, Witchy," He said with a crooked grin. He was about to say more when I cut him off.

"You don't have the right to call me that," I said in what might have sounded like a growl. "Only they do. And you know that."

"Ooh, snappy today, aren't we?" Nereus said. I was determined to call him some names that were hardly acceptable to say at any time, until I remembered another thing, which was probably the reason why I even signed up for this.

"There's a tiny doubt that I have," I said as I swung the backpack over my shoulder , zipped it open and took the object of question out, not forgetting to zip the bag closed. "And I just need a little help confirming the truth."

I held it out in front of me for Nereus to see and his eyebrows raised as if he was unimpressed. "A tiny fuzzy box. It's made of gray velvet, there's no doubt about that."