I Spy Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 45

The flashes of green that I saw were enough to tell me what was happening. An assault with Greek fire in the glass-domed throne room. Good one, Malcolm, I thought to myself. Now I gotta make a run for it somehow.

Instantly, Tritannus grabbed my shoulders hard. "No. Don't even think about thinking about it. You're not jumping in there!"

"And what do I do then?" I challenged. "Nosedive into the sea while you get burned to a crisp? That's Greek fire right there, Tritannus!"

"At this rate, jumping into the sea would be safer!" He said, looking desperately at me. "But have it your way, wait for me here." He looked back at the hall. "But....if the fire spreads, and it will........ run."

At that moment, I was going through an Ancient Roman death sentence. Each of my limbs were attached to horses by rough, thorny ropes, and I was being torn apart to death. Should I let him go, or save him now only to lose him later?

I simply nodded. It was a hundred times better to lose him to the fire than to see him killed by the forces of Olympus. It could be worse, the dark part of me said. You could be the one killing him.

No! I said, firmly pushing the idea away from my mind. Maybe when I first started out on the mission, that would have been my end goal. But now........things couldn't be further from what I'd assumed would happen in the future. I couldn't kill him. I'd just be killing a part of myself.

You probably wouldn't be able live long enough to feel guilt over his death.

While I stood still, wallowing in my thoughts, Tritannus sprinted inside the burning hall. The slamming of the door woke me up to what I had just done, and I cupped my mouth in horror. I didn't have enough time, however. Greek fire rained down from above me, a blazing green inferno. The moonlit sea now had tinges of piercing green, creating a very familiar color.

I firmly told myself that my eyes were stinging with tears from the fumes. Nothing else.

First things first, I told myself. Create a portal, and get yourself the hell out of here!

I don't know whether it was fueled by my anger at myself or my fear of becoming the next Joan of Arc, but the portal appeared as soon as I summoned it. I quickly moved to the safety of the portal, but I accidentally tripped on my dress and fell through. As I spiralled downwards into the darkness, I thought to myself, Damn this stupid dress, even though it probably made me look mildly presentable for Tritannus!

Seconds later, I fell onto hard, smoothly tiled floor. Weirdly, I had the most odd feeling that this had happened before. As I looked at my surroundings, I knew it wasn't deja vu. I'd fallen into the office on my first day of work and during the drakon fire. Thinking of the drakon, I wondered whether it was helping in the attack. The distant shriek of 'Drakon!' that I heard must have been because of it.

As I shakily got to my feet, I took notice of my abrupt change in clothing. A black hoodie, black skinny jeans that clung to my legs and pure black combat boots that made no noise as I moved. Convenient, I thought to myself as I made my way to my desk, shielding myself behind it in case anyone decided to come through the portal wall.