Page 23 of Professor and the Seer
For all his studies, John never did acquire the knack for combat magic, but he could defend. He took care of the unarmed Frieda first, bubbling her in a shield that would stop claws and teeth. Then he extended one to Enyo, who remained on the ground to fight, unlike Dina, who floated, casting lightning bolts from her fingers. Bane proved trickier to help because the shield spell kept sliding off the slippery feline.
With them protected, John then got wily, throwing up invisible walls that the monsters slammed into, taking the momentum from their charge. Enyo advanced on those easy targets. However, for every one taken down, more rushed in to take its place. Wave after wave of Chupacabras kept coming, surely more than should exist in a single area without notice.
More than they could keep pace with.
A few slyly maneuvered around the leopard with its deadly claws. Some of them were spotted by Enyo and shot. Others twitched on the ground, electrocuted by Dina. John noticed an oddity though: where the monsters aimed. Even the injured, who crawled despite the agony of their wounds. All the monsters headed for Frieda.
Frieda, who stood wide-eyed as a large Chupacabra who’d evaded the deadly defense raced for her, jaws wide and slavering. Red eyes glinted with malice. Two more, injured but still running on four legs, also got past.
“I’m out of ammo,” Enyo yelled, pulling a knife.
Dina’s bolts of lightning kept firing, but even she couldn’t stop the horde intent on reaching Frieda.
John threw as much power as he could into her shield, strengthening it a moment before the first monster slammed into it, jaws wide open, ready to snap. It failed to bite and roared its discontent.
Frieda didn’t scream or even flinch. To his shock, she stood straight and tall, her eyes glowing and her voice ominous and deep as she exhaled, “Enough.”
A moment later, all magic in the area suddenly stopped working.
A floating Dina suddenly fell with a sharp cry. Struck by a sudden weakness, John hit the ground on his knees. A slower Enyo grunted as a swiped claw drew blood. Bane suddenly became a man.
What had happened?
John glanced at Frieda, who looked calm, even hard, her face stone-like, despite death lunging for her with sharp teeth. Did she know the shield had fallen?
She held out her hand, and while magic might have died for everyone else, she didn’t appear affected. On the contrary, when he narrowed his gaze, he could see the tendrils of power flowing into her and then exploding from her hand.
The monster that wanted to tear into her flesh lunged for her, only to halt abruptly, nose mere inches from her palm. It shivered and panted then yelped as it turned tail and fled.
One threat down, but the other Chupacabras remained focused on Frieda, slinking for her, death in their gazes.
Frieda showed no fear, no emotion at all as her hands spread wide and she whispered words that vibrated. “For too long you’ve been the nightmare. Now it is your turn to be afraid.”
Power exploded from Frieda and concussed outward in a wave that caused the Chupacabras to tremble. And then, like the first one who confronted Frieda, they made various noises of distress before running back off into the night where they’d come from, terrified by what she’d shown them.
A weak-kneed John, feeling drained, moved quickly to Frieda’s side, expecting her to collapse, only she turned a smile on him. “Not so useless after all.”
“No one ever claimed you were,” he murmured.
“What the fuck happened back there?” Enyo exclaimed.
John had a theory, and a second later, Dina came to the same conclusion out loud. “Did you siphon our fucking power to scare those fuckers off?”
“Did I?” Frieda chewed her lip. “I wanted to help, and so I tried doing to them what I did to Carillo. I threw a vision at them, one that had them believing we were bigger, badder, and deadlier than them.”
“Using my magic.” Dina pouted. “Rude.”
A contrite Frieda’s lips turned down. “Not on purpose.”
“You’re lucky it wasn’t permanent,” Dina growled.
“The important thing is it worked,” John interceded, but even he had qualms about how it got accomplished. The ease with which she’d taken their magic. The fact they couldn’t stop her.
More than ever, it became imperative he got Frieda talking to Grams. The sooner the better.
8
For once, I’d actually been useful in a battle, but it was by doing something bad. I didn’t mean the fact I’d given the monsters a living nightmare. I didn’t regret doing that, but the theft of magic from others? What a huge breach of trust. A part of me felt guilt at stealing. But at the same time, I’d not done it on purpose. It just happened.