It was a little after ten in the evening. I stared out the window at the water and the lights. Salt Lake was a booming city. It had everything, but it wasn’t until I drove in a city like Boston that I realized Salt Lake was still pretty small.
The partition between the driver and me was down and he asked, “Are you here for business or pleasure?”
My mind thought one thing: business. But my mouth said the other, “Pleasure.”
The driver winked. “If you want the inside scoop on where all the fun places are, just let me know.”
I pressed my back into the seat. “My itinerary is already capped out, but thanks for the offer.”
The driver chuckled. He was a big guy with burly arms and beefy hands. His hair was black, greasy, and slicked back. “Itinerary and pleasure can’t mix.” He laughed again.
“They do in my world.” My words came with icy finality. I was done talking.
It took nearly forty-five minutes to get from the airport to the address Adam Henry had given me. I realized it was a residence not unlike mine as a large mansion illuminated by dozens of lights came into view.
“Nice place,” the driver said, putting the car in Park.
“I agree.” He came around and opened the door for me. I climbed out. “I’ll need you to wait here. I shouldn’t be too long.”
“Yes, Miss Cavanaugh.”
I climbed the steps, my heart thundering in my chest. Adam Henry had information about the Vaktare. He had answers. The prospect of finding out more was both terrifying and exhilarating. I knocked on the door. A guy around my age, maybe a little younger answered. “You must be Beatrice?”
“Yes, may I speak with Adam Henry?”
“Sure, he’s waiting for you in his study.” The guy was tall, had lean muscle and that just-mussed hairstyle all the guys were going for. “I’m Troy by the way.”
I glanced up at his pretty brown eyes. “Nice to meet you, Troy.”
“So you must be in some kind of trouble. I know Grand Pops has been flitting around the house like a scatterbrained—”
“I don’t flit.”
Troy jumped and whipped around. I leaned around Troy so I could see who spoke. The man standing in front of me was older. He smiled, and the skin around his eyes wrinkled. His hair was graying. He was handsome. Kind eyes. He wore khaki pants, a button shirt and a button sweater. Across his forehead was a set of silver reading glasses. And in his hand was an ancient book.
“Go on, Troy. I need to have a conversation with Miss Beatrice.” He winked when he said my name and I had to smile. He was personable, friendly, and I immediately liked him.
“Fine.” Troy jogged past Adam Henry, and slapped him on the back. “See ya, Pops.”
Adam Henry chuckled. “My whole life has been filled with boys. It’s nice to see a female in the house again.”
I nodded. “You are Adam Henry?” I asked, just to verify.
“Yes, but everyone calls me Professor Pops.”
That was an odd name. “Ad— Mr.—” Professor Pops totally fit. “Professor Pops, you know what a Va—” He put a hand over my mouth.
“Follow me.” Then he put a finger to his lips, giving me the universal sign for be quiet.
I complied and followed him through the kitchen, down a hall, to a set of stairs. We went down. We were in the basement. He opened a door to what appeared to be a storage room. In one corner was a furnace. Professor Pops walked up to it, pressed a button and the wall behind it swung open to reveal another set of stairs.
“We’re almost there,” he said when I hesitated.
I went down after him, nervous about where we were going and just how deep into the earth we were. It smelled like dirt and wet cement. The wall closed behind us but before we were in total darkness, lights along the walls flicked on.
When we finally made it to the bottom, there was another door. Professor Pops took a key that hung around his neck and used it to open the door. “It’s peculiar,” he said as he pushed the door opened. “I haven’t been down here in years. But in the past several days I’ve needed to come down here twice.” He gave a short laugh and flipped on a light.
Never in a million years did I expect to see what I was seeing. The door had clicked shut behind me. I had a feeling it locked automatically. But I wanted to test the theory. Because the room I’d just entered couldn’t be real.
I pressed myself against the door, trying to turn the knob.
“Beatrice, it’s okay. This is a museum of sorts. I once told someone it was like a Museum for the Supernatural.” Professor Pops walked over and patted my arm. “Nothing in here is alive, except you and me. And every creature in here gave me permission.”
I swallowed and nodded my head. I wasn’t convinced though. Was he telling me the creatures agreed to allow themselves to be slaughtered so that he could stuff them and put them down here. And for what purpose? There were creatures big and small inside glass boxes. Some were from fairy tales, like a fairy, a troll, and a dragon. Others were from nightmares or scary movies.
“What is he?” I asked, walking over. It was an extremely striking man with crimson eyes.
“That, my dear, is a Hunter.”
I gasped, glancing back at Professor Pops. “Is he like me?”
Professor Pops came to stand next to me. “He is nothing like you. He is a blood drinker whose sole purpose was to mark children so that the Vampire Queen might claim them.”
“Vampires are real?” I held a hand to my neck.
“Yes, they are.” Professor Pops clamped his hands behind his back.
I wanted to ask him more, but the sight of a werewolf distracted me. He stood on two legs and was covered in black fur. He didn’t have on any clothes. His teeth were yellowed and sharp. Around his neck was a pendant of some sort. His eyes were bright green.
“A werewolf,” I breathed, walking over to stand in front of him.
“That’s right.”
“Locanis,” I whispered, pressing my fingers against the glass.
“So you’ve heard the words,” Professor Pops said coming to stand beside me.
“What?” My fingers tapped the glass as I studied the wolf.
Professor Pops bent over and pressed a button. A latch clicked and a drawer popped open. There was a book inside. He withdrew the book and placed it on a wooden podium. “Come here.”
When I stood next to him, Professor Pops said, “Chapter One.”
The pages flipped on their own until they landed on a page with Chapter One across the top.
“How did you do that?”
Professor Pops smiled. “This podium possesses a special magic. Just give it a page number or chapter heading or even a word and it’ll flip to the correct page.”
“Oh.” I stood beside him so that I could see what the words on the page said.
His already serious features became grave. “Beatrice, thirteen years ago I met you and your parents for the first time. They had heard about me and thought I could help.” He took his glasses off his forehead and tucked them into the breast pocket of his sweater. “Before that fateful day I’d never heard of the terms Vaktare or Locanis and I’ve been alive a very, very long time.”
Professor Pops paused and glanced around the room. “These creatures all belong to the seven magics.”
Magics? That was new.
“They receive magic according to whatever creature they are. Of course I knew that the seven magics couldn’t be all that there were. The Universes are too vast, too huge. But I figured after thousands of years, I would’ve seen all the magics this planet had to offer.” He shook his head, and chuckled. “Boy was I wrong.”
My heart was racing again. He’d met my parents. He’d met me. And he knew the word—Vaktare.