The Trinity War (Book 3 of the Trinity series)

Chapter 17

"Bags?" I asked.

"Check," Nina replied.

"Books?" Gerrard asked.

"Check," Nina answered.

"Laptop, cell-phone, list of numbers?" I listed off.

"Morphology Potion?" Gerrard asked. Nina nodded and patted a small suitcase that we had filled with little vials of the potion. Although the spell we had put her under was permanent until we undid it, we didn't want to take chances with her features changing back to normal. So we made her a large batch of a potion that would keep her features the same as mine. We had ordered her to drink one vial at the end of every week.

"I think we're all set then," I said.

"What about your ring?" Nina asked, cocking her head to the side. My hand instinctively went towards my engagement ring.

"Hell no," I said, glaring at her. There was no way I was giving her my engagement ring. I needed to hold onto it in case I ever lost hope. It was a part of me now and I was never going to take it off.

"Give me that other ring," Gerrard said, pointing to my other hand. I slipped off the other ring that I had on. Gerrard cupped the ring between his two hands and muttered a spell. He opened his hands up to reveal a ring that looked nearly identical to mine, except the stone was fake.

"Here. Now she really looks like you," Gerrard said, handing Nina the ring. She put it on her finger, grinning at it.

"Except the real thing is always better," I said.

"Are you referring to the diamond or you?" he asked. I shoved him and he laughed.

"Okay. Well, I'll be off then," Nina said.

"Make sure to give us reports once in a while," I said. She nodded, picking up her bags and walking away.

"Thank God she's gone," I muttered as we waved good-bye to the Caley-clone.

"I'm going to miss her. She was nicer than you," Gerrard said. I punched him in the arm, making him chuckle. We got into his rented convertible and drove back to the condo, which was now quiet and empty. We had done all of our necessary packing and had cleared up the place. The next day, we would be leaving for the Sahara.

"I still think we should stay until Nina starts classes," Gerrard said.

"She'll be fine. The sooner we get going, the sooner we'll find answers. The Sahara Desert is huge. It took us nearly five days to find Sylvanterra and it probably would have taken longer if Paco and his pack hadn't found us. We don't know if the same will happen in the Sahara," I said.

"Have I mentioned how I'm really not looking forward to walking around in the desert for days on end?" Gerrard said.

"You signed up for this voluntarily. No complaining," I said. He rolled his eyes at me, making a face before walking out of my room. Tomorrow, we would leave.

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I heard a knock at my door and then heard it open. I stood staring at my selection of clothes. What did one wear while journeying into the desert? I looked up to see Gerrard standing impatiently at the doorframe.

"I don't know what to wear," I told him.

"It's not a fashion show, Caley!" he exclaimed.

"I don't want to die of heat stroke!" I cried.