Page 41 of Professor and the Seer

I’d forgotten Carillo used the same term. “Do you think he’s the one who ratted me out?”

“It’s possible. Why didn’t you mention seeing this being before?”

I shrugged. “At the time, I thought it was just a dream. I was there when the portal opened. No one exited that doorway.”

“Could be they hid their arrival with magic. Not to mention, with the commotion of the battle and the lightning strike, you might have missed their arrival.”

“Meaning something did emerge and is now here on Earth.” My lips turned down. “I don’t like this.”

“You and me both,” he muttered. He rose from the bed and pulled on his boxers before pacing.

So much for morning-after snuggles. “Is there something I can do to make sure I don’t get sucked into visiting him again?”

“Maybe. I’ll have to research astral travel, as I’m not familiar with it.” He whirled to face me. “How would you feel about taking a drive to my college? It’s where my library of arcane books is. We can look more into the astral travelling, and while I can’t think offhand of any ruins or excavations with your type of markings, perhaps you can help me create a composite with the computer that we can run against known sites.”

“Are you sure you want to help me? I can’t help but think this mysterious cloaked person is going to be behind the attempt on your life.”

“Then the more we know, the better prepared we’ll be.”

I liked his use of “we.” At the same time… “I don’t want you in danger.” A human, even a wizard, against a possible god? I didn’t see that ending well.

He leaned in to brush his next words against my mouth. “Ditto. But together I know we can figure this out.”

I mashed my lips to his, suddenly wanting his confidence we could prevail.

I had to do more than hope, though. I had to believe. Believe that his Grams truly did see a path where we were together. A way for me to love this man for a long time.

A man who showed me a good morning that did more to lift my spirits than any breakfast or sunrise.

By the time we left his house to head for his college—with an umbrella in the backseat despite the blue skies—I’d almost convinced myself everything would be fine. It helped that I managed to hold a wall around myself and block the things trying to show me their future.

However, I couldn’t stop a shiver as the suddenly clear sky darkened with storm clouds and I got smacked with a vision.

13

John

Thanks to their close proximity, John noticed when Frieda suddenly tensed in the passenger seat. A glance showed her expression frozen, her eyes glazed over, her lips parted. Magic swirled around her in a way he’d not noticed before with anyone else, a whirling kaleidoscope. It didn’t take much to surmise a vision had taken hold.

Rather than shake her awake—a lesson learned at a young age because of his Grams—he let it run its course while he pulled into his parking spot in front of Leabhar House, one of many such buildings on campus. Leabhar House held the library and English department as well as his office. Not that he taught many classes. Despite being a tenured professor, he spent most of his time finding and deciphering arcane history texts.

“You okay?” he asked as Frieda blinked and emerged from her daze. He couldn’t completely hide his worry. It had been quite a shock earlier to suddenly wake because he shivered with cold, only to realize the woman he held in his arms radiated an unnatural chill. She’d been stiff like a corpse, her heartbeat so slow at first he’d thought she’d died. Knowing she’d astral-walked gave him an explanation. However, where and who she’d visited? Major cause for concern. And now this sudden fugue state… It felt as if events were snowballing, and he only hoped he could help Frieda to if not control her power, at least not be consumed by it.

“Something popped up despite my wall,” she muttered.

“What? Is it the college? Did it trigger you?” A place steeped in history, much of it arcane, he’d not even considered the fact she might react badly.

“Not the college exactly, but something’s going to happen here.” She glanced out her window to the blue sky. “Today, I think.”

“What did you see?”

“You’re going to laugh,” she murmured.

“I won’t. Promise.”

“I saw us outside this building in the pouring rain, facing off against a rabbit. A great big one with big fangs.”

He couldn’t help but chuckle.