Page 76 of Professor and the Seer
“And the power to achieve them if she’s not stopped.” Reaper spread his hands. “It will take your combined strength to defeat her.”
“Defeat her how? What’s her weakness?” Enyo demanded.
“That she has no true power of her own. Separate her from what she’s stolen, and she’ll be vulnerable.”
“And how do we do that?”
Before Reaper could reply, he’d faded from sight, leaving them to plot without him.
Whatever. John didn’t trust Reaper to have Frieda’s best interests at heart. But her sisters? They would do anything to rescue her.
Dina seemed to think she could get them to the mountaintop with the castle holding Frieda if John let her borrow one of the arcane spell books in the archive at the college. Merlin’s book of incantations, usually off-limits to all but the most trusted. Mostly because people who tried to read it went mad or turned into a frog. Given John hated amphibians—nasty, slimy things—he’d never bothered trying. He knew he didn’t have the right kind of magic to use it, nor did he have the interest.
But Dina had no fear. When he removed Merlin’s book from the heavily warded chest, she’d practically clapped her hands in glee. As he laid it on a pedestal, she waved them away. “Leave me alone while I figure it out.”
While she studied, he got stuck with Fraussa, as Enyo and Bane sneaked off together on the pretense of keeping guard.
“So, you love my daughter,” the elder Grae stated without preamble.
“Yes.”
“She’s a difficult girl.”
Not a very nice remark considering who it came from. He got defensive. “She’s got a difficult gift.”
“She and the other girls think I abandoned them.”
“Did you? You certainly never taught them about the arcane, and yet you seem very well versed in it.” He saw no reason to spare her feelings because there was something about Fraussa that struck him as… wrong. He just couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
Her lips twisted. “I had my reasons for keeping them away.”
“In doing so, you left them vulnerable. Frieda especially. She suffered because you never had her taught to even create a basic mind shield.”
“I’ll admit I could have done some things better.”
“You should have hired a proper teacher for her.”
“I tried. I asked the most powerful seer in the world, but Betsy said no.”
Wait, she’d asked Grams for help? “I’m sure she would have taught her if you’d brought her by.”
“That’s just it. Betsy doesn’t leave her safe little cottage, but at the same time, she didn’t want Frieda showing up there because you and she weren’t supposed to meet that soon in the future she wanted for you.”
The manipulation blew his mind. If true. “Do not blame Grams for failing to secure her a tutor. She had no problem teaching Frieda some basics when I brought her home.”
“Because the future we sought was already in motion.”
“You make it sound like you were expecting all this. Like Frieda’s difficulties were all part of some master plan.”
Fraussa shrugged. “I won’t apologize for doing what I had to. The world needed my girls to be strong. To not rely on anyone but themselves.”
“Why?”
At his query, she turned on him. Her eyes swirled with color as she whispered, “Because a long time ago, I accidentally helped someone do a very bad thing. Now, I’m hoping to make things right.”
Before he could ask what she meant, Dina emerged to declare, “It’s time. Everyone in the library.”
Amidst the stacks of books, she gathered them in a loose circle. Given what had happened the previous day with Swain, the library had been closed to student traffic until they could be sure no threat remained.