Student of Blood Snippet
Book Two of the Professor Howard Chronicles
Hello all.
Below is a snippet from the upcoming second book in the Professor Howard Chronicles, (currently) titled Student of Blood:
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I am Dave Howard, recently-hired Assistant Professor of Psychology at Trueman College, and recently-anointed Knight of the Ghostly Blade.
And at the moment, the Knight of the Ghostly Blade was being menaced by a chicken bone.
At least I assumed it was chicken. I’m not a biologist. Ms. Fitzroy had withdrawn from her purse a dry bone, etched with an intricate pattern of symbols and letters. She slowly rubbed her thumb over the bone as she spoke. “You will regrade my son’s paper, and see to it that he passes your class.”
That made sense. After all, it’s only reasonable to take context into account, and I might have been too harsh.
“I didn’t choose this little nothing of a college just to see my boy fail. Your stupid society requires a degree for him to succeed, so I am seeing to it that he gets a degree.”
She was right, it really is a stupid society. And there had been something earlier about patriarchy and struggles. So I guess…
“DAVID!”
Baldric’s voice shook something loose. Fitzroy was trying to do a brain-whammy on me! I had been brain-whammied before (occupational hazard), so I recognized what it felt like, and I was not about to put up with such shenanigans in my own office. Before Ms. Fitzroy could press her psychic assault, I struck with all the speed, skill, and precision of an unathletic academic who had never had a day’s training in how to fight.
I slapped the bone out of her hands.
The indignant Fitzroy… rippled… somehow. The effect was like the momentary distortion of the image in a mirror if the mirror is struck. Her face twisted into a mask of insane rage as the bone hit the floor and broke in two. “How dare you! How DARE you!”
“Dave, what’s going on?” The yelling had drawn the attention of one of my fellow faculty members. Jack Priestman, an overweight, middle-aged, balding physicist (a great guy, but don’t let him near your computer), stuck his head through my office door.
Fitzroy didn’t miss a beat. She began to wail, “He attacked me! I came here to ask for help with my son’s special needs, and this horrible man just hit me for no reason!”
“Dave?”
I pointed at the bone. “Attempted grade appeal by way of magic brain-whammy.”
“Magic?” Jack’s face snapped into tense focus. He stepped closer, filling the door with his pudgy frame, and his raspy Australian voice took on a severe tone. “Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to remain here until we can get Security over.”
“I don’t believe this!” Tears were now freely flowing. “I’m the victim here, and you treat me like I did something wrong!” She moved toward Jack, fingers curving into claws. “You let me go right now!”
A crackle of electricity sparked around Jack’s hands. It just so happened that the area of study that brought Dr. Priestman to Trueman College was lightning magic. “Please just stay put, ma’am.”
At that moment, a commotion arose just outside the building. Whatever was going on, it was drawing a crowd of some very confused-sounding people. Fitzroy took advantage of our momentary distraction, driving an elbow into Jack’s gut and dashing into the hallway. I snatched Baldric’s sword from its place on the wall, and hurried after her.
The hallway was vacant.
I looked around frantically for the escaping magic-wielder, but could not pick up even the sound of retreating footsteps. Holding the sword, I had access to Baldric’s spiritual senses, but even those came up empty. It was as if the woman had simply vanished into thin air.
I returned to my office and helped Jack to his feet. “Okay,” he said, looking down at the broken pieces of bone. “I think we need to have a meeting about this.”
I’m also not a fan of meetings.
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