“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.

“Do you know where my parents are? Can you tell me what the word means?” I asked him, fighting down the urge to grab the edges of his sweater and shake all I needed to know from him.

“I don’t know where your parents have gone. Since your phone call I did some digging and made a few phone calls of my own. A few of my sources haven’t been able to get back to me yet, but so far no one knows anything about your parents’ whereabouts.”

I gulped, fighting back more damn tears.

Professor Pops continued, “As for information on Vaktare, I can give you most of it.” He moved and indicated I should stand in front of the book.

Why not all of it? Where were my parents? What didn’t Professor Pops know and where would I find the answers?

Professor Pops tapped his fingers against the book. The movement sent particles of dust into the air, leaving a smell of old paper hanging around us. “Within these pages is most of the history of the Vaktare. It isn’t as thick as histories from other magical realms or creatures, but that’s because your species are relatively new to me.”

My fingers brushed the pages. I was thrilled too. “Have you ever seen a Vaktare? A werecat?”

He glanced at his watch. “I have not, at least not in its original form.”

For some reason that made me sad.

“It’s eleven-thirty. Are you hungry? I can prepare you a steak,” Professor Pops said.

I’d eaten on the plane. “I think I’m too excited for food.”

Professor Pops nodded. “Very well. I’ll leave you down here to read. You’ll be safe. The only person with a key is me.” He patted at the key around his neck. “If you get tired, there’s a cot in the other room.” He pointed to a smaller room without a door. “There’s a bathroom as well.”

Did he think I would sleep down here all night? No way. Just thinking about being so far underground, away from the moon and the sky made my heart race. “Professor Pops, I have my driver waiting outside. I think I’ll have him take me to the hotel where I can get some rest and then come back in the morning.”

Professor Pops came forward. “I know this is odd and not at all what you’re used to.”

“That’s right.” He obviously didn’t know my family that well at all if he thought I’d do anything except what I wanted. I was a Cavanaugh after all.

“Have you changed forms yet?”

His question frightened me and I couldn’t meet his gaze. I turned my focus to the words in the book. The first two sentencesread:Hiraken is the tenth realm on Earth. The Vaktare came first, followed by the Locanis.

So the Locanis were a species and not the name of the wolf who’d protected me the other night. One question answered. “Yes,” I finally said.

“If you were to change in the hotel tonight, and needed to hunt, what do you think you would go after?” He pointed to a line in the book. “Read it.”

“The Vaktare and Locanis hunt and eat all flesh.”

“All flesh,” he reiterated.

“Are you saying you think I would hunt people?” I was disgusted. How could he think that? I was a person too.

He rubbed a hand over his eyes. “I don’t know for sure, but do you want to take the chance?”

I glared at Professor Pops. So many wicked ideas ran through my head. “No, I don’t.” I leaned on the stand. “Fine. I’ll remain down here, but don’t leave me for too long.”

“Of course not. I’ll be down first thing in the morning.” He went to the door. “And if there’s an emergency, text me. You have my number.”

I’d forgotten that.

“I’ll have the driver leave your suitcases here and then we can reassess the situation in the morning, after you have some of your answers.”

“All right.” I heard him, but I had another question. “The werewolf over there. Is he a Locanis?”

Professor Pops seemed perplexed. “I don’t think so. This werewolf came from a small town in Arizona. It was believed he was the last of his kind.” He shrugged. “Anything is possible.” His eyes twinkled as he touched the pages of the book. “This is the history of your people but it’s more than that. It’s the history of your realm. Read it with care.”

“Thank you, Professor Pops.”

He used the key to unlock the door. So it locks from the outside and the inside, I thought, making a mental note. Before he closed the door, he turned to me and said, “I can count on you to keep this room secret, right? I think you can imagine what might happen if so much supernatural information fell into the wrong hands.”

“Oh, um, right. Yes. I won’t say anything.”

Professor Pops smiled. “Excellent. It’s been lovely to see you again, Beatrice.”

When Professor Pops was gone, I checked my phone. I still had bars. Adam hadn’t texted from the last time, but I texted him again anyway: Hope you’re good. I’m getting answers. Talk more in the morning.

Thinking about Adam sent my mind immediately to our kiss. What a kiss it was. I’d kissed several guys over the years but Adam’s kiss was the first for me with feelings so I had nothing to gauge against it. I thought about Will and the awkward way he’d tried to feel me up when we kissed. I had a feeling Adam’s kiss was better than any other guy ever.

Taking a deep breath, I forced away thoughts of kissing Adam and began to read. The history of the Vaktare and Locanis went back thousands of years. The book included many details including several legends.