Page 4 of Professor and the Seer
Upset didn’t even come close. Overwhelmed. Exhausted. Depressed. How to explain that I couldn’t handle my power? That I wished nothing more than to get rid of it. Which was when it hit me. John studied the arcane. Knew its history.
I turned to him and, expression serious, said, “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.” His lips curved, his smile genuine and warm.
But only because he didn’t know his fate if he stuck with me. “You shouldn’t be so quick to agree. It could be dangerous.” I tried to give him warning.
“I’m not afraid.” I could see he truly meant what he said.
My lips turned down. “You should be. Never mind. Forget I asked.” I whirled from him and clung to the railing so tight my knuckles turned white.
“Now you have to tell me. What’s got you upset? Did you see something?”
“More like I can’t stop seeing.” My whispered admission.
“I’m not sure I understand.”
A bitter laugh spilled from me. “How could you, when I don’t? I thought my power was bad before, but since the portal opened…” I closed my eyes and rocked in place. “Now it’s worse than ever. Now every move I make, breath I take, the future of everything is blasting me with every possibility.”
“Is there something I can do to help?”
The moment he offered, the vision hit me hard and fast. The same one I’d seen before. The one that never seemed to change. The one where he died.
“No!” I barked. “You shouldn’t even offer. As a matter of fact, you should be running fast and far from me.”
“You saw something, and that’s why you’ve been avoiding me,” he declared.
Guess I’d made that too obvious to lie. “I did.”
“You going to tell me what you’ve seen?” He kept his voice soft, not that it stopped my trembling.
Tears clung wetly to my lashes, and I tried to hold my emotions in check as I mumbled, “You’ll die because of me.”
“That seems kind of extreme.”
“I’m not exaggerating. I saw it in my very first vision when I was sixteen.”
“Well, forewarned means we can prepare. After all, the future isn’t set in stone but is rather a series of branches. We just need to avoid the path that kills me.”
“It’s not that simple,” I insisted.
“Isn’t it? You thought your sister would die helping Bane, and that never came to pass,” he pointed out.
“A valid assumption because the paths to her death were many and only one existed where she lived. But you…” I paused before I lifted my chin and looked him in the eye. “I’ve only ever seen one future for you. And in it, you’re stabbed through the heart.”
If I thought telling John he’d end up dead would deter him from having anything to do with me, I obviously didn’t grasp how fate worked. He refused to be deterred.
“Stabbed, eh? That sounds painful but is avoidable. They do sell armor to prevent that. Maybe I’ll invest in something magical,” he mused aloud.
“You’re not wearing armor in my vision,” I stated.
“Obviously, or they wouldn’t have managed to run me through. Guess I’d better get used to having some on until we get past that particular point in time.”
A part of me wanted to blurt out that he was naked when it happened, but that would lead to questions, such as why we were naked together. Not something I wanted to answer. “This isn’t funny.”
“I assure you I am not the type to be amused by death. I am also not the type to hide away because of danger. And let’s be honest, you wouldn’t have asked me for help unless you really had to. I’m aware you don’t like me.”
I blinked at him before blurting out, “What makes you say that?”