Chapter 6

The next morning when Selene woke, she felt a bit light-headed. Giddy, even. But also petrified. Maybe a little aroused. Definitely baffled. All from her encounter with the horned man.

The ball last night had certainly been an experience to remember. She often helped out with parties hosted by her mother's event planning business, yet she'd never attended anything as lavish as Queen Thema's ball. Then while she was chatting with Hollen, a strange feeling overtook her. One minute she was fine, the next she had felt her whole body tremble with awareness. Almost as if someone had whispered her name. Urgently.

She had looked across the room… and there he was. The intriguing horned man she had seen in the distance the day before. Just standing there, watching her.

He was a lot to take in. He towered over everyone else in the ballroom, probably 6'6 at least. His skin was tinged with pearlescent shades of gold, green, and peach with a rakish scar bisecting one eyebrow. High cheekbones cast shadowy indentations on his face, while a black leather vest similar to the guard Rig's was pulled tight across broad shoulders.

He cut such an imposing figure that the presence of 5-inch ridged horns sprouting from the top of his head almost seemed natural. The S-shaped curves gleamed amid his mass of long black hair. Like a god from a heavy metal album, she thought. Ominous, but elegant too.

When his eyes darkened on her and his mouth curved into a sensual smile, Selene felt as though all the air in the room had been sucked out. Suddenly, it became too much—intense and overwhelming. Enthralling and terrifying, especially when he started to walk toward her.

Rig's invitation to dance had come at the right moment to break the tension. But once she got out onto the dance floor, the horned man had disappeared. Later, when Selene asked Hollen who he was, the Malkina's eyes grew large.

"You mean the guard who's massively tall, covered in ugly scars, with huge horns and a terrible temper?" Hollen had asked. "That's Samael, Queen Thema's demon guard. She thinks he's wonderful, but he gives me the shivers."

Selene pulled back the covers and got out of the bed, thinking of about a thousand follow-up questions she'd wanted to ask Hollen but didn't get the chance. Right at that moment, Queen Thema had appeared to introduce Queen Cebna. For the rest of the evening, Selene had met so many new people she gave up trying to recall each of their names. But she certainly wouldn't forget Samael.

She pulled on a gauzy purple dress she found in the closet and wondered if she might see him again today. Did she want to see him again? Keeping a healthy distance from an actual creature of hell seemed sensible. But, although the way he stared at her was intense, she didn't feel afraid. There was a vulnerability behind his eyes that made her heart pound.

She straightened her dress and thought about how she would spend the day. Yesterday, Hollen had tried to show her the library but they kept getting interrupted by courtiers who were curious to meet her. Putting aside her nagging fear and anxiety about her situation, Selene decided to start the day with two simple goals—find the library, and then find Queen Thema to ask her again about getting home.

After getting lost twice, Selene finally made it to the library on the eighth floor. As she pulled open the mahogany entrance doors, her jaw dropped. It was a stunning room.

The room was round, and despite its size, unexpectedly cozy. It was probably due to the dark wood and the number of leather chairs scattered around the room. Everything had the same Art Nouveau vibe as her bedroom, with spiral staircases connecting the two levels of bookcases. Small nooks and off-shoot rooms were tucked away at random intervals, while sunlight streamed through leaded-glass windows.

The space was empty when Selene approached the stacks, curious about the kind of books Aurelians enjoyed. The first book she pulled out was a volume of poetry, written in beautifully rendered calligraphy. The second was a travel guide to territory of the Harpies, complete with drawings of a cranky-looking creature guarding the entrance. The third was a thick hardcover detailing ocean tides. She was surprised to find that most books were written in English, then remembered how Hollen told her that the queens adapted to speak the tongue of the human lands they frequented most.

Selene made a full loop of both levels, then explored the small rooms nestled between the stacks. The largest one opened up into a gallery of hanging art. A massive portrait of Queen Thema greeted her as she passed through the doorway.

Selene chuckled softly. The artist had certainly captured the way Thema could be both glamorous and terrifying. The Queen was depicted standing in front of a stylized sun projecting beams on a jagged crop of rock. Her eyes projected confidence as her cream-colored dress billowed out beneath her breastplate like a superhero's cape. In the background, the image of a mountain lion crept toward her.

Selene began circling the room to admire the other paintings, which were also portraits. A silver frame held the depiction of a short-necked woman with feathered wings and a snarling mouth. A being that looked like a cross between a bear and a woman stood with her arms crossed. A fish-tailed siren had long blue hair that flowed around her like seaweed. One portrait was covered with black cloth. Flowers were strewn across the floor around it.

There were also smaller framed items clustered on the back wall, away from the light. Selene moved closer and saw these frames contained mostly documents. Bold black text set onto white paper, like a newspaper, but the headlines didn't seem to fit together.

Cryptologist Society Meeting Thursday

Conway High School Unveils Wampus Cat Indoor Facility

Beast of Exmoor Terrorizes Countryside

Appalachian Legends and Ozark Monsters

Selene heard a pat-pat-pat sound coming from behind her and turned to see the orange cat that always accompanied Queen Thema trot into the room. He mewed up at Selene then rubbed his cheek against her shoe. As she bent to stroke him, she heard the queen's voice.

"Nim? Where have you gone off to?" Her footsteps echoed closer as she entered the gallery. "Selene! What a lovely surprise. Are you enjoying my portrait collection?"

"Yes, they're beautiful. Who are they? And what are these?" Selene asked, gesturing to the documents hanging before her.

"Ah, it's no surprise that you're drawn to them. Look closer," Queen Thema answered. She waved her hand. Suddenly, each of the documents glowed.

Selene jerked with surprise at the queen's hidden skill, then leaned closer.

"They're from your world." Queen Thema said. She looked as if she were waiting for Selene to solve a riddle. "I collect them, or my sisters bring them to me. Do you see a theme?"

Selene read a document's headline aloud, "Monstrous Wampus Cat Spotted in East Tennessee. Hey, that's… " A rush of homesickness made her pause. She turned to Queen Thema to finish her thought, but all that came out was a shocked, "Oh!"

For one moment, Queen Thema had looked normal, just as Selene had known her. But in the next second, like the flicker in a movie projection, her face had contorted. It shifted and morphed—her nose elongated, fur sprouted from her smooth face, her pointed ears migrated to the top of her head, and her eyes glowed.

Selene gasped as the queen's face shifted back to how it was before. Then Thema began to chuckle, the front fangs of her teeth glinting. "Don't worry. I won't bite."

"How did you do that?"

The queen shrugged. "Perk of demi-goddesshood."

Selene swallowed thickly. "Are you the Wampus Cat?"

The queen sighed dramatically. "Your people have many foolish names and myths for The Seven Sisters. In your region, some call me the Wampus Cat. I've also been called the Black Beast of Exmoor, the Cactus Cat, the White Death… the list goes on."

"That was you they spotted in Rugby. With the injured paw," Selene breathed. Just when she thought the past two days couldn't get any weirder, here was a whole new layer. "My brother sent me an article about it."

"My injury made the newspaper?" Queen Thema asked excitedly. "I must try to find it on my next patrol."

"So, the other portraits in the gallery are—"

"The Seven Sisters of Aurelia!" Queen Thema boomed. "Despite our best efforts to look like something of your world when we visit, we don't quite fit. It confuses your kind, and so they make up tales."

"Why do you look so different from each other?"

Thema bent to pick up Nim and nuzzled her face against his furry neck. "We each transform into something closer to our sacred animal… and our true nature. My story is complimentary compared to some legends about us."

"What are they?"

"I don't know them all, but they liken us to terrible things. Devils, monsters, dogs… " Queen Thema turned to walk through the gallery, motioning for Selene to follow.

She stopped at the portrait of the snarling winged woman. "They compare my sister Aello to a moth—a male moth—when she clearly has the wings of a Harpy." She waved toward the fish-tailed woman. "They blame Cebna, who you met last night, for poor fishing and shipwrecks. And Yerena!" She pointed to the furry, bear woman. "Her people value privacy above anything else, but humans are obsessed with her movements."

"How so?"

"She has a large province with many different portals. But your kind attributes every rustle in the forest to evidence of her presence. And now she has a terrible insecurity about the size of her feet." Thema made an exasperated sound.

"Her feet," Selene repeated slowly. "As in… they're big?

"Mmm. She has to be very careful on her patrols."

"I see." Selene's head was swimming. I'm talking to the Wampus Cat. Who is sister to Bigfoot and Mothman.

"You must understand that we were all given a sacred duty to guard the crossroads between dimensions. I told you the human plane is a harbor dimension, yes? We make sure that any creatures who go through the veil do not stay."

"What sort of creatures?"

The queen smiled. "Your innocence is charming. A non-human in the human realm is like—what would your people call it? A child in a candy store. Dwarves covet your gems. Fairies play pranks. Elves leave gifts for children. Demons feed on your faults. It's all in good fun until it gets taken too far. And then we intervene to send them back home, or kill them." Thema paused at Selene's shocked expression and added, "Perhaps it's more polite to say we send them to the Underworld."

"Is that like hell?"

"There is no legendary place where suffering is eternal. Only the Underworld where all dead go to be judged. If they have lived pure, they go to the Afterworld. If not, they are punished until they repent."

The vehemence in Thema's voice at the word "punished" was so unexpected, Selene took a step back. Then she stood motionless, trying to let all that she had been told sink in.

Queen Thema introduced the portrait of a woman with spiky hair and wolfish features as Keebee, Queen of the Lycah people. A woman with eel-like skin posed by a glittering lake bore a plaque below her painting that read, Delphine of the Drago.

"Can your sisters go to any dimension?" Selene asked.

"Any dimension but the Underworld and the Afterworld. However, we are charged to use our powers to protect the human world. So that's where we spend most of our time outside of Aurelia."

"But Aurelians can't leave Aurelia?"

"No. Aurelia is meant to be a sanctuary and refuge from the ills that plague societies like yours. Certain stones allow the bearer to travel to any dimension, though they are very rare. Why would anyone want to leave? Aurelia is a beautiful, peaceful dimension. Everything anyone could ever want is to be found here!" Thema held up her arms to twirl dramatically.

Nibbling on her thumbnail, Selene looked around at the faces in the gallery. This whole thing was a new layer of absurd to already outlandish experience. But also, it made perfect sense—the unreliable sightings, the lack of proof, the conflicting stories. The so-called "cryptids" weren't aliens, failed science experiments, or evolutionary hiccups, they were inter-dimensional guardians. A week ago, she never would have believed there were other dimensions, let alone portals to get to them. Yet here she was.

But she only counted portraits of six sisters. Gesturing to the portrait covered by a black sheet, she asked, "And who"s this one?"

Dust swirled as the queen ran her hand down the black cloth. "That"s the sister that's lost to us" She looked down at the flowers on the floor and whispered, "I haven't said her name out loud in years. It was Lilith. It is Lilith."

Then she wiped her eyes and abruptly brightened. The sadness of her voice was replaced with a jovial tone. "They call her the Jersey Devil in your world! Or sometimes Ahool or Olitiau. They claim she has the body of a goat, the head of a horse, and sickly little wings. Can you imagine? Humans can be so cruel. She's always had a long face, and her wings are bit bony, but really! "

Selene smiled tentatively. "What are her people like?"

"Ah, she is a Goblyn and ruled the Goblyn race. Then later she took on ruling the vampire race up north, near Drago lands."

"She ruled vampires? But aren't they… dangerous? Arkaya was ready to kill me when she thought I was one."

Queen Thema tilted her head. "They weren't always so troublesome, they were human once. Their kind became very lost in your world once they straddled the line between life and death. Dear Lilith took pity on them and arranged to bring them all to live here instead."

"Why?"

"My sister had a generous nature. At first the vampires were model citizens—grateful and hard-working. But now without their queen, they"re like petulant children. Won"t listen to their aunties or follow any rules. They are meant to live on donated Aurelian blood, yet they don't thrive on it as we had hoped. Many are bitter about it and get into trouble."

"What sort of trouble?"

"Nothing to worry yourself about," Queen Thema said. "The few that are left are old and weak."

Selene nodded. She wanted to ask more, but Queen Thema seemed to be holding control of her emotions by a thread so she tucked away her questions for another time. "I"m sorry. I hope your sister comes home soon."

"Yes, as do I, my dear. As do I." The queen turned to walk out of the gallery and gestured for Selene to follow. "Many think I am a fool for believing that she will, but I know she"s alive."

"How?"

"I still see her in my dreams," Queen Thema said. They stepped out of the gallery back into the library with Nim following. From the corner of her eye, Selene saw a dark figure ahead.

"Ah! Samael, I've been looking for you," Queen Thema called out. "Come! Meet our human guest."

Selene's heartbeat quickened. It was him. Samael stiffened, then turned to walk toward them. Selene twirled a strand of hair between her fingers, suddenly feeling very self-conscious.

Nim bounded ahead of them to wiggle his rear end playfully at a gray kitten who had appeared from under a bench. The kitten darted out in a counter-attack but then stopped to stand in front of the demon.

Samuel bent to scoop it up, and Selene was seized with a sudden, irrational fear that she was about to witness a terrible, demonic act like biting off the poor thing's head or tossing it like a football. But he only cradled the tiny ball of fur in his massive hand. Then he began to stroke the kitten's forehead until its eyes slid blissfully shut.

"Did you need me, my lady?"

The deep timbre of his voice made Selene's belly flutter.

"Yes! I want you to meet our guest. Samael, this is Selene. All the way from Gaia!"

Selene smiled politely and tried to keep her eyes off his horns. He was much taller up close, and his body was packed with muscle.

"Hello," she said, trying to appear more confident than she felt.

Samael made eye contact long enough for her to see that red ringed his black irises. He shifted his weight and mumbled, "Good afternoon."

"Samael is also a stranger to Aurelia just like you," the queen said, touching Selene's shoulder. "He comes to us from the Underworld."

Selene cleared her throat. Her father had always said the trick to meeting new people was to find commonalities, even if it was about the weather. But how could she respond to that? A weak, "Oh?" was all she managed.

"We rely on him to keep us safe. He has an excellent knack for sniffing out trouble," Thema said with a wink.

"Um… t-thank you for your service, Samael," Selene stammered, then cringed at how ridiculous that sounded. What did she think he was, a member of the armed forces?

The glare Samael gave her was unforgiving. "It is my duty! Your gratitude is misguided," he said with such force that Selene rocked back on her heels.

She pressed her lips together into a tight line. Yikes, he was terrifying, just as Hollen had said. She glanced at Queen Thema to gauge her reaction, but she seemed oblivious. Gulping hard, Selene focused on the kitten in Samael's hand. It had started to squirm, so he bent to release it onto the floor. Selene watched the kitten zoom away at a breakneck pace, wishing she could do the same.

"Samael, there"s a matter I need to speak with you about later," the queen said.

"I see. Shall we arrange a time in your study—"

"I will stop by your chambers later."

"But that"s not necessary—"

Queen Thema held up a hand. "I won't stay long. I just don't want any disturbances."

He nodded, looking uneasy. "Is that all, my lady?"

"That's all," Queen Thema said. Samael gave Selene a curt nod, then turned to walk out the library's exit. They both watched his retreating back before Queen Thema stifled a yawn. "I believe it's time for my midday nap. Enjoy your afternoon, Selene—"

"Wait! I wanted to ask about what you said yesterday. There's someone who might be able to help me go home?"

Queen Thema gave Selene an assessing glance. "Yes. I do know of someone. But have patience, dearest." She started to walk away then said over her shoulder, "We'll discuss it tomorrow."