Sentinel

Chapter 14: Happy Birthday

Time did not make Dr. Whitney any easier to handle. Sitting in the back of the classroom, I struggled to force myself to focus on the content of the course and not the teacher. Throughout the hour I had been mildly successful. The hardest part was keeping myself from raising my hand and asking her what she was going to do to help Ronan.

As the other students left the room, I approach Dr. Whitney at the front.

When she noticed me, she said, "Perfect, I need to talk to you."

"Have you found a way to help Ronan," I asked quietly.

"Look who's joined the big kid table," she said, patronizingly. "Even if you are in the loop now, that information will stay between Ronan and me. I have something else to talk to you about."

I swallowed my aggravation, it would be worse if she knew she could get to me, and asked, "What?"

"You need to be careful tomorrow."

"Is that a threat?"

Dr. Whitney rolled her eyes. "It's a warning. I've foreseen that something bad is going to take place tomorrow. I don't know exactly where or when but I can definitely sense your essence around the event."

I felt a pit form in my stomach. "Why are you trying to help me?" I couldn't help but feel suspicious. She obviously didn't like me.

"Ronan asked me to watch out for you," she said, her tone clearly saying that otherwise, she wouldn't care.

"Is that why you are teaching this class?"

"Ha! Don't be ridiculous. I'm not a babysitter." Dr. Whitney turned to gather her things, clearly done with the conversation.

"Is that really all you can tell me about tomorrow?" I really couldn't stand her attitude but I was more worried about what 'bad' meant.

Without turning back to me, Dr. Whitney scoffed and said, "That's all you get. Seeing the future is not easy work. Now if you would excuse me."

She left me standing alone in the classroom, frustrated and anxious.

Well, at least I knew my birthday wouldn't be boring.

***

"Something bad?" Will repeated, his face was troubled. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know," I said, exasperated.

After class, I had gone straight to Will's and now I was sitting on the couch in the living room, Ronan close beside me. Will was in the recliner, which had been shifted in the circle so that it was directly in front of the couch. If Will was bothered by the rearranged living room, he didn't let on.

"She said seeing the future is difficult and that was all I was going to get; that it was something bad and my 'essence'," I made air quotes with my hands, "was involved or something."

Ronan nodded. "Seeing the future isn't something that Mages can easily do. And even when they do, it's mostly just a feeling they receive."

"So we just have to go on what we have," I said with a frown. "But what can we do about it?"

Will was leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, his hands tense in their grip on each other while he thought for a moment. "Well... I guess we just need to make sure that one of us is with you at all times tomorrow. I'll talk to Brynn and Nate."

"What about class?" I asked.

"If we can assume that the threat comes from a chimera or a Mage then I think it's safe to say that we don't need to worry about such populated places. Besides, Brynn and I will be there."