Whenever I think back to that moment, my skin crawls with horror. So many things could have gone wrong. So many things.
Dinu was looking at me with terrified Cleopatra eyes. ‘I do want to go back!’ he said. ‘But I don’t want my finger to explode.’
I looked at his left hand. The little finger was pink and swelling around the ring. I brought his hand closer as it was hard to see in the dim light of the smoky Mithraeum. I could see the ring was made of gold and was quite delicate. Could I bite through it?’
‘Be brave!’ I said. ‘I’m going to try to bite it off.’ I heard his gasp of pain as I closed my mouth around it and bit. This was no good; my teeth were pushing it in. I needed to cut through from inside. The knife! I pulled Mud Woman’s knife out of my tunic belt and put the tip between the ring and his flesh. Blood oozed out and he whimpered and squeezed his eyes shut.
‘Please God,’ I prayed silently, ‘help me do this and get us both back and I promise I will believe in You.’ Then I gave the tip of the knife a violent twist. Dinu gasped. Blood spurted. Still the ring was not off.
But it was bent.
‘Just once more,’ I said, horribly aware that we were running out of time.
I pressed and gave the tip of the knife another twist. The ring snapped and fell to the stone floor with a ping.
Dinu’s eyes were full of tears and his finger was bleeding, but at least he was still whole. ‘Go! Go! Go!’ I hissed.
As Dinu pulled off his tunic, I saw a second initiation was taking place in the central nave, right between us and the portal. A new naked guy was kneeling. This time the Father had a bow and arrow. As Dinu stepped out of his gladiator nappy and ran down the central nave, the Father pulled back the bowstring and let fly, aiming right at him.
By some miracle the arrow missed. I heard it strike the double oak doors of the Mithraeum with a thunk!
Meanwhile, Dinu had veered around the Father and the naked guy and jumped through the portal.
I almost cheered as he disappeared in a flash of green light.
Some of worshippers yelled in fear. Others cried out, ‘Nama, Mithras!’
A few of them fell forward in prayer. Or maybe they had just fainted.
The Father’s dark eyes were as round as coins.
‘Please, God!’ I whispered. ‘Please help me get through too, and please may we not have messed up the future!’
I dropped the bloody knife, untied my belt, peeled off my tunic and streaked down the central nave.
Don’t ask me why, but just before I dived through the glowing disc of the time portal I yelled, ‘Stella sum!’ I am a star!