Chapter 3
Something pointy was digging into Selene’s arm. She felt around and realized it was the strap of her backpack, which also explained the bulky lump pressed between her shoulder blades. Awareness of other parts of her body came into focus. Her legs were stretched out in front of her, her arms cushioned by grass. Her head felt like she had been beaned with an anvil in a Roadrunner cartoon.
“Cass? What happened?” she called out. Her voice sounded croaky and thin. “Did I faint?” She listened carefully for her sister”s response but only heard the gentle rustling of leaves in the breeze.
Selene pulled herself up to a sitting position and opened her eyes. When her head stopped swimming, she felt even more disoriented. She was sitting in the middle of a forest, but it looked very different from the woods of Rugby. The trees surrounding her looked ancient—more than one hundred feet tall with wide, knobby trunks. Smaller trees were intermixed among the colossal ones, with sprawling roots that twined and tangled. Dinner plate-sized white flowers bloomed in mossy patches along the ground, and there was a watery tang in the air, as if a lake or river were close by.
Where am I?
Her water bottle peeked out of her backpack along with a protein bar. She seized upon both, hoping low blood sugar and dehydration were to blame for her disorientation. She must have wandered off the hiking trail. Surely she couldn’t have gone far. Maybe she’d hit her head in the Witch’s Cave and was dreaming?
While she chewed nervously, she dug through her hiking pack for her phone. When she found it, the screen was black. It had been fully charged a few hours ago, but now it was completely dead—no signal, no battery. Before the reality of being lost in the woods hit her, the sound of footsteps made her turn. A figure stepped out from behind a cluster of bushes.
“Intruder! State your business!” barked a petite woman with unusual features. She had long gray hair swept back over her ears into a thick braid. Bronze skin was creased with age, but she looked about as frail as a machine gun. Her emerald eyes were sharp, but they seemed too large for her face and out of balance with her high cheekbones and pointed chin. Her embroidered green dress skimmed the ground while a ring of keys hung from her hip. In her hands was a wooden staff. The sharpened end was pointed straight at Selene.
“E-excuse me?” Selene stammered.
“How is it that you’re out in daylight?” the woman demanded.
“I was hiking with my sister, and I think I hit my head.”
The woman frowned and took a step forward, giving Selene a glimpse of the gray-furred boots she wore. “Stand up so that I may see whom I fight.”
Selene held up her hands fearfully. “No, no! I don’t want to fight. I’m lost!”
“Lost?”
“Yes, I’m from Nashville. Do you have a phone I could borrow?”
“A what?” the woman asked.
“A phone. Mine’s dead,” Selene said, holding up the dead device. The woman spoke with an accent she couldn’t place; perhaps she didn’t fully understand English. “I’ll be glad to get off your land, but I just need to find my sister.”
“My land!” The woman laughed without mirth, her eyes flashing. “Why, you trespass in the territory of the glorious Queen Thema—Lady of the Flame. The Devouring One. Mother Protector and She of the Change. I am Arkaya, the Lady’s house steward and head enchantress, and I abide no intruders. Now stand!”
Selene swallowed as she tried to make sense of Arkaya’s words. Maybe she was having an exceedingly realistic dream? She squeezed her eyes shut and tensed her muscles, willing herself to wake up. She concentrated on Cass’s face and the last image she remembered of Rugby.
Wake up, wake up!
Something sharp jabbed her thigh. Selene opened her eyes to see Arkaya poking her with the blunt end of her staff. If this was a dream, it was incredibly realistic.
“I really don’t want to fight you,” Selene said. “I told you I’m just lost.”
The woman helicoptered her staff over Selene’s head to strike a different pose. “If you think to glamour me or try to trick me with lies, you will fail. What weapons do you hide in your pack?”
“I don’t have anything. Look,” Selene shook out the contents of her pack at Arkaya’s feet.
“Are they strapped to your body?”
“No!” Selene said. The woman continued to eye her suspiciously, causing Selene to anxiously sweep a lock of hair behind her ear. The movement made Arkaya gasp.
“Your ears,” Arkaya whispered and lowered her staff. She stepped closer to Selene and bent to peer closer at the side of Selene’s head. “Rounded ears. My word,” Arkaya breathed as she ran her hand over the tip.
“What’s wrong with my ears?” Selene said. She had many insecurities about her body, but her ears had never been among them. She stared up at Arkaya, who now held the staff loosely at her side.
“Let me see your teeth,” Arkaya said. Selene dutifully opened her mouth, allowing Arkaya to peer inside. She tilted her head, then said, “You’re not of this world.”
Selene frowned. “What do you mean?”
“What are you?” Arkaya asked.
“I-I’m a human resources coordinator.”
“Human. I thought so.” The suspicion on her face was replaced with joy. “A living human—how marvelous! The queen will be delighted. And what a relief to know vampires haven’t found a way to walk in the day.”
Okay, so I’ve officially entered the Twilight Zone.
Her odd remarks made Selene’s anxiety churn faster, but also gave her a flash of clarity. “Wait! I’m on a reality show, aren’t I?”
The furrow between Arkaya’s brows deepened. “What is your meaning?”
“This place.” Selene gestured to the trees around them as a smile spread across her face. “Your costume and makeup. This is some kind of prank show, right?”
“I wear no costume!” Arkaya said indignantly.
“But—”
“Do you think me human?” Arkaya interrupted. Selene’s mouth went slack as the question shot dread down her spine.
Then Arkaya’s eyes twinkled as she deliberately turned her head to pull back the hair covering her own ear to reveal its shape. When Selene saw the pointed tip, her eyes widened.
“I am no human. I am of the Malkina people,” Arkaya said, as something long and thin flickered out behind her, like a tail. Selene looked down at the bottom of Arkaya’s dress and realized it wasn’t strange boots she had seen. Arkaya walked upright on two paws. An image from the old cartoon Thundercats sprang to Selene’s mind.
Slowly Selene asked, “Where am I?”
“You are in the realm of Aurelia. I imagine you went through a portal, which is very rare.”
The memory of a shimmering hole in the rock, plus a mind-scrambling drop, came rushing back. But before Selene could ask more, Arkaya said, “Come. I must take you to our castle to see Queen Thema herself.”
Arkaya had a strong gait and moved easily through the forest. Selene trailed behind, her knuckles white as she clung to the straps of her hiking pack. They walked in silence for what felt like miles until Selene felt as if the way her heart pounded in her ears would undo her.
She cleared her throat. “Do we have much farther to go? Not that I mind the walk. It’s beautiful here in… I”m sorry, where are we again?”
“We are in Aurelia.”
“What is that? Is it a country? A city? A planet?”
“Aurelia is the name of our dimension. It is also known as The Realm of the Seven Sisters. Well, I suppose there are only six sisters now. There are cities and villages throughout the land, but as a whole, it is called Aurelia. Like the chrysalis of a glintfly, this realm is home to our queens when they are not in transformation.” When Selene did not respond, Arkaya turned. “I suspect you believed the human world was the only realm, am I right?”
Selene nodded.
“There are many other worlds besides yours and ours.”
“Okay.”
“You come from the human dimension, or Gaia, as we call it.”
“Right.”
Arkaya glanced at her sharply. “You sound doubtful of my word.”
“No! Not at all. It’s just not, uh… it’s not something we talk about where I’m from. How many other realms are there besides this one?”
“Nine. But there could be more.”
Selene’s stomach lurched. Nine. She thought back to the time she got sucked into an old episode of Nova on PBS. The topic was string theory, and the physicist interviewed believed there were several parallel dimensions all vibrating at the same time.
Arkaya abruptly stopped walking and held out her staff to block Selene from taking another step. She tilted her head back to sniff the air, and her head whipped from left to right. Selene stood utterly still, even as a small growl sounded from her left.
With her heart beating furiously against her chest, she turned toward Arkaya, ready to take orders to flee or hide. Her eyes widened as she saw how Arkaya’s lips were pulled back, displaying two animalistic fangs gleaming among her white teeth. She froze as she realized the growl had come from Arkaya herself.
Just as abruptly as Arkaya’s growl had emerged, she relaxed and motioned for Selene to keep walking. They walked for several minutes before Selene could muster the courage to speak. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” Arkaya said. “I thought I heard a vampire approach, but I was wrong.”
“There really are vampires here?”
Arkaya stopped walking. “Again, you doubt my word?”
“No, no, of course not.” Selene shook her head swiftly.
“Odd human,” Arkaya muttered. She peered at Selene, seeming to scrutinize her face. Although Selene towered over the woman by several inches, at that moment, she felt very small.
Arkaya’s expression softened. “Ah, forgive me. I’m not versed in human ways. I have only read about your kind in myths and legends.”
Selene struggled to absorb Arkaya’s words. She wanted to ask more, but her mouth had turned dry. Myths and legends?
A pang hit Selene in the chest as she thought of her brother, Evan. He would undoubtedly be handling this situation with so much more grace. With his wealth of knowledge about the supernatural, he’d probably know how to go home by reciting a special chant or outwitting a troll.He’d at least know whether it was customary to curtsy or shake hands when about to meet a pointy-eared queen.
When will I see Evan again?
Selene felt nauseous as she realized Cass had probably called both Kevin and the police by now. She might be filing a missing person report at that exact moment. Selene looked up and watched a cloud obscure the sun for a moment. Focus on the positive. At least she was in a place where the sun still rose and set.
Arkaya gestured with her staff. ”Look ahead. You can see the lights of the castle, ready to welcome us back.”
Selene followed Arkaya’s gaze and spotted large globes of pink light peeking through the trees. They were perched on wrought-iron poles bordering a path shrouded in fog. Ornate ironwork snaked up the poles in swirls and flourishes. Although it had felt like morning when Selene woke up in Aurelia, the sun was beginning to set.
The forest thinned as they continued to walk, and Selene caught her first view of their destination in the distance. It was set into a hill like a shimmering jewel among the craggy bluffs. Other buildings of various heights ringed a central tower, all with pointed steeples and arched windows. The roofs emitted the same soft glow that Selene had seen from the poles, but the colors varied—pink, yellow, green, blue, and purple. The brilliant white of the stone exterior heightened the effect.
Mist swirled around them, making the ends of Selene’s hair curl. It was then she was certain what was happening to her was real. There was no way she could ever imagine something so beautiful.
“Ah, I see Samael waiting,” Arkaya said, gesturing toward the castle. “I’ll just let him know you’re of no threat to us.” She reached up to rub her gnarled fingers against a white crystal amulet around her throat. “There. That’s done.” Selene followed Arkaya’s gaze, curious to see this person who needed to know she wasn’t a threat.
Standing high up in front of the wide castle gates was a man. Powerfully built and tall, he stood with his arms crossed, dressed in black. His hair was long and dark, and though they were too far away for Selene to make out his features, there was something on the top of his head. She assumed it was a helmet or strange hat, but as she shaded her hand over her eyes to see more clearly, she gasped. Her already jumpy heart began to pound wildly, and she shivered.
He had horns.