Page 59 of Professor and the Seer
“Yeah. It’s how my body gets rid of curses.”
“Seriously?” She sat up and blinked at him before grinning. “That’s actually kind of funny.”
“I’m glad one of us is amused.”
“What do you do with the rock? Is it dangerous?”
“Not that I know of, but just in case, I will send it off to be purified.” The Arcane League had a department devoted to handling odd relics—and, in his case, cursed stones. “Now, care to tell me how the necromancer appeared?” He didn’t mean to sound accusatory.
Her lips turned down. “I swear I didn’t do anything. It was the broken mirror. The glass in it suddenly poofed into these balls of energy that combined to form a giant sphere that exploded, only nothing got broken. Except the cabinet started making noise. Next thing I knew, the doors blew open and I tried to escape, but that ghost came after me, and that poor kid died and then you arrived, and I didn’t want you to end up like a deflated bag of skin and so I kind of begged any god listening to give me a hand and well… You saw what happened.”
His turn to blink as he tried to absorb her words. “Which god did you pray to?”
“None in particular. It was more, hey, if anyone is listening, I need a hand so I don’t die. Then bam, I felt a presence inside.” She thumped her chest. “It spoke through me and then showed me how to get rid of the ghost. Apparently, if you sever someone’s future, you eliminate them for good.”
“Wow. That’s quite the power.”
Her nose wrinkled. “You mean burden. I’m not a killer.”
“Then you’ll have to be careful, but it’s good to know you have more than one way to defend yourself.”
“I guess.” She didn’t sound convinced.
“I’m sorry. It would seem the archive needs some better wards because none of that should have happened.” Given the timing of the explosion, and what it did to the archive’s defenses, he had to wonder if it also caused the shield around the college to fail.
“I can’t believe I didn’t forsee any of what we experienced. What’s the point of being a seer if I can’t protect anyone?” Her gaze strayed to the body.
He reached out and turned her face toward him. “Swain killed that student. Not you.”
“But I broke that mirror, which is what caused that ghost to escape in the first place.”
“We are not playing the blame game. The important thing is we stopped Swain before he could hurt anyone else.”
“And yet the danger isn’t over.” She turned her head and glanced to the library entrance. “The storm is here.” Thunder punctuated her claim, but it was the scream that had them both scrambling to their feet.
Now what?
Holding Frieda’s hand, he ran with her and entered the hall where the students huddled far from the doors outside. All except for Jessica. She turned big eyes on them and whispered, “There’s a monster outside.”
“I thought I told you to stay in here,” he chided.
“I didn’t go out, but I was in the window watching the storm when it hopped into view.”
At the word “hopped,” John stiffened and glanced at Frieda. She wrung her hands and murmured, “It’s the vision I had in the car.”
John removed the magic preventing exit and opened the door and stepped outside. He stood at the top of the steps and ogled the giant bunny with great big fangs.
It had one ear flopped down, the other upright. Its big, furry body showed bulging muscles, the swollen kind usually achieved via drugs. The unnatural glow in its eyes went well with its impossibly large saber teeth.
“Stay behind me,” he cautioned, wishing he’d armed himself with something. Not being a fighter didn’t mean he couldn’t shoot a pistol.
He reached out with his arcane senses, looking for magic. Perhaps if they could sever its link, they could get rid of the threat. Only just like the storm, he sensed nothing from the creature. Not even a hint of power.
Hop. The rabbit got closer. Hop. Hop. It also didn’t come alone. More of them emerged from the bushes. Not just mutant rabbits, but immense rats and even an oversized hissing feline.
“What’s wrong with them?” Frieda whispered.
“I’m not sure.”