Page 48 of Professor and the Seer

The scene began moving again, drawing close to the seamless door, its surface smooth. No handle, no markings.

“I almost peed myself when it opened,” she murmured, and the mirror showed that moment. The door swung inward, but nothing could be seen past its threshold.

“Okay, that’s good.” He went to lower his camera, only to suck in a breath as a figure appeared.

“That’s the guy I was telling you about,” she whispered, while he could only stare. She’d failed to mention how big the cloaked figure was. Close to seven feet and definitely floating above the floor. Its cloak hid its shape and face, the cowl too deep and shadowed to see anything. A terrifying memory for sure. He’d not planned to ask her to show him, given how rattled the encounter had left her. Yet, since she did it unbidden, he kept the video rolling, taking in the undulating cloak.

An arm lifted, the sleeve draped over the hand as it pointed at them. Frieda muttered, “That didn’t happen in my dream.”

“It’s just your imagination. The mirror only shows what you’re thinking.”

“But I wasn’t thinking about him,” she replied in a whisper.

A chill breeze suddenly swept past his cheek, the feel of it unnatural. “Take your hand off the mirror.” He tried to keep his tone calm so as to not frighten Frieda.

“I can’t.” A tiny thread of panic in those words.

He reached to remove her hand, only to be jolted hard enough he recoiled a few steps.

The figure in the mirror neared until its upper body filled the entire frame.

Frieda panted, her breath misting as the temperature dropped.

Moving his hands quickly, John shaped magic and wrapped it around Frieda, cutting her off from the mirror. She snatched her hand to her bosom and retreated, but the image on the surface remained.

Uh-oh.

John tried to move so he could stand between Frieda and the apparition, only his limbs didn’t cooperate. He could only watch.

You’ve found a protector. A voice spoke, and he couldn’t have said if it was aloud or in his head.

“Leave him alone,” Frieda snapped.

I have no interest in him.

“What do you want?” she asked, clearly not realizing the mirror shouldn’t have been able to do this. The mirror showed what was in a person’s mind. No sound. No real-time events or conversation.

I’m here to warn. You’re in danger, prophetess.

“No shit. Guess letting you loose wasn’t the right thing to do.”

It was foreordained. But I am not the foe you think. Beware. There are those who would remove my chosen that I might fail in my task.

“What task?” Frieda asked.

Revenge.

With that final message, the mirror cracked.

15

I stared at the spiderwebbed surface of the mirror. Broken. Because of me.

“I’m sorry,” I quickly rushed to say, only John didn’t seem to care I’d broken an ancient artifact.

His arms wrapped around me. “You are uninjured?”

“I’m fine, but your mirror… I had no idea that would happen. I swear I didn’t mean to conjure him.”