The Trinity War (Book 3 of the Trinity series)

Chapter 43

They call it fight-or-flight. 

It's when the body is completely alert to its surroundings, often activated in conditions or situations where our primal instincts are most needed. It's thought to be evolutionary; that when you are in a situation of danger like war, the most important senses and processes of the body are activated. Your senses of sight and sound become heightened by the dilation of your pupils, your ears are hypersensitive to sounds of eminent danger. Your muscles tense and you stop all digestive functions of the body. You are hyperaware of what is going on around you, ready to flee at any moment of life-threatening danger, or in my case, fight.

When we charged Trinity University after the final rays of sunlight had disappeared, my fight-or-flight response kicked in. We had to move quickly and swiftly. I was the only one that could get past the magical barriers put up by the school to protect its inhabitants. Once I crossed the barrier, there was only silence.

The campus was indeed dead, as Dom had assured me. I looked towards the tall dormitory buildings and saw that there were lights on. Surely that was wear the armies were camping out. I used a spell to magnify my sight so that I could see further away. In the distance, by the base of the dormitories, I coud see a couple dozen witches and wizards walking around as patrol. I noted this and then looked around, spotting my father's office building. Sure enough, there were lights on in there. I sharpened my eyesight further to see through the large glass windows of my father's office and felt my heart leap into my throat. 

There, sitting calmly in the confines of my father's office were four of the most important people in my life: Abbey, Lance, my father, and Trey.

I felt my throat constrict, the drumming in my ears growing louder when my eyes fell on Trey. He looked good; like, really good. He had matured significantly over the course of the year. He looked taller and more muscular. He looked confident and wise. With my heightened sense of sight, I could make out the colors of his eyes: amber, green, and grey. He could control every element except for water; he could control everything except for me.

In that moment, I wanted to leave all of the armies outside and run to Trey. I wanted to keep running until I could pull him away from all of this. I wanted to run until I could outrun all of my problems. But I knew I couldn't. Because even I ran, my curses were always one step ahead of me. There was no out-running this. And so, with a heavy heart and a clouded mind, I set off to take care of my task, which was to disable and disarm the protective barrier around the school. 

Back when I was doing actual work for Elijah as a double agent, I surveyed the school several times over. I had found where the security agent controlled and monitored the consistency of the barrier. He had a tower near the dormitories. Somehow, engineers of magic had figured out how to use common technology to monitor the status of the barrier. The security officer was in charge of overseeing this technology. The only people that were able to pass through the barrier were registered students and faculty. I was able to get through without setting off an alarm because I was a registered student at the school. However, the security guard was still able to see that someone had entered the premises of the school. And with war on the brink, I'm sure he was given orders to be extra sensitive and attentive to any fluctuations in the barrier. My guess was that he had probably alerted one of the patrol by now to go check out who had entered. Although I didn't trip off an alarm, I drew attention. My goal now was to make sure nothing happened with that attention. 

I conjured up some bags and suitcases as I casually strolled along the walkways towards the dormitories. I was going to have to take out the security guard, but I would have to get past the patrol first. Once this was done, I was to give the signal for the rest of Elijah's army to come in. Then, the real war would start.