Page 6 of Professor and the Seer
My shoulders rolled. “I don’t know.” A phrase I’d begun to hate even as I kept repeating it.
“And this is where I have to disappoint and tell you I’ve never managed to find anything about Bane’s curse. The secret of what was locked inside that portal, and why, has never surfaced in any of my research.”
“Is that why you are looking for a seer who can see the past?” Something Enyo had told me about John back at the castle, in one of her attempts to convince me to talk to him.
He nodded. “More specifically, I’m looking for someone who can touch an object and receive a vision of its past. It’s a rare power. According to the arcane annals, there hasn’t been anyone with that ability in the last century. At least, none recorded.”
“I didn’t even know seeing the past was a possibility. Then again, I don’t know much. I’ve only met one other true seer. She called herself Lady Clara and only got her visions in spurts. She never saw the branches like I did.” She’d accused me of lying and, when I insisted I told the truth, accused me of being a drama llama.
“Open yourself to me, child.” She’d gripped my hands in hers so tight I yelped, not only because of the discomfort but what I saw… Her in a padded room, rocking and drooling.
She’d released me and staggered, her expression wide-eyed with horror, surprise, and, within seconds, madness. Apparently, she couldn’t handle what I saw. At times, neither could I.
“Never heard of her.”
“Do you know many seers?” was my sarcastic retort.
“A few.”
I blinked. “Seriously?”
He nodded. “Some better than others. I can put you in touch with them if you’re interested.”
“That would be awesome.” For a brief second, my lips curved in a smile, only for me to realize his plot. “Stop being so helpful. I swear it’s like you’re purposely trying to make my vision come true.”
“The future isn’t set in stone,” John insisted.
“Some things are,” I muttered. “I should have never said anything.” Blame the fact I’d been bombarded with visions of paths since the portal opened. It made me weak.
“Too late to take it back now, but tell you what… Since you feel that strongly about it, then I won’t push. However, I am more than willing to aid you in finding the information you need to rein in your power.”
With that offer, he left me alone to hug myself and wish he was a rude prick. Why did he have to be so nice? Despite what John claimed, I knew Death’s method of claiming him had to do with me. I caused it somehow.
At the same time, could I handle this increased ability on my own? Until now, the Grae triplets did everything together. But not this time. Now that the magical bond that tied us together had been severed, I didn’t have to involve them, and a nagging sense of doom gripped me coldly when I thought of asking them to help. They would say yes because they loved me, but if being involved with me caused John’s death, then what if, by relying on them, I transferred that fate? I couldn’t live with myself if I killed my sisters.
Once more I lamented the fact that seeing the future wasn’t a gift or a blessing like Mom claimed, but a curse. Because it didn’t come with an instruction manual—i.e., do this and avert madness while saving everyone I cared about.
I’d yet to find an answer to my dilemma by the time we docked that night at a busy city in Mexico. Puerto Vallarta, a tourist town that never slept. Our group disembarked the yacht and booked into a hotel, a nice place that managed to accommodate our request for four bedrooms on the same floor. Privacy, at last, after having spent several days sharing a space with Dina.
I made it a point to refuse to go out for dinner and drinks with the gang. I couldn’t do people anymore. Alas, the room didn’t provide a quiet refuge. Everything I touched showed me the futures of strangers who’d pass through after me, the bed being the worse. People fucking and picking their noses and puking on the sheets.
I had my eyes shut tight, hands tucked under my armpits, but it didn’t help. My flashes were the worst I’d ever dealt with. Breathing exercises, meditation, nothing blocked the nonstop signals. I sat on a tiny patch of carpet usually hidden under a chair with the most boring future of being unused because of its spot. I rocked and hummed, trying to ignore all the possibilities screaming to be heard.
Blame my mental state for the fact I didn’t realize someone entered my room. My head only lifted at the sound of a thump followed by cursing in Spanish as the intruder bumped into the chair I’d shifted.
Before I could scream, they pounced.
3
John
John nursed the same beer he’d had since the beginning of dinner. While Bane celebrated his newfound freedom and lady love, and Dina waxed on about the places she planned to visit now that the triplet curse had been lifted, he thought about Frieda.
She’d seen him dying in her vision and seemed to think it an irrefutable future. Funny, because he’d always believed the words of seer, advising he’d live a long life. Then again, she might have been wrong because she’d also claimed he’d fall in love and grow old with his lover. Given he’d just celebrated forty-four, that seemed more and more unlikely.
Or was it…
His gaze went to the ceiling of the hotel restaurant’s bar, as if he could see to the sixth floor where Frieda chose to closet herself in her room, claiming overstimulation. Poor woman. He’d seen her tense and struggling, wanting help but, at the same time, eschewing it because she worried about him. The irony being he worried about her.