Rejected (Shadow Beast Shifters #1) - Jaymin Eve Page 0,49
including seelie and unseelie, demi-fey, and the lurkers. And the last door popped up as Frozen Tundra: no known inhabitants. Too extreme to be explored.
Well, that was interesting. I quickly moved on to the other side, and in order they were:
Brolder: Birthplace of shifters. Hybrids. And Beasts of the deep.
Honor Meadows: the original source of light. Powerful beyond knowledge.
Shadow Realm: information unknown. Critical error.
Watchers: those with omniscient power. Governs many. Answers to few.
Desert lands: born of heat and fire, magics and wishes.
I blinked. “What the actual fuck?” I muttered out loud. I had so many questions. Just, like, so many.
“My apologies!” Gaster said, his words busting through my confused brain. “Apparently, a book was misshelved, and usually, the library itself handles that situation, but in this case, it was able to be slotted into two categories, and that was where the confusion arose…”
He continued to ramble, and I stared blankly at him, my mind still mulling over these various and vast worlds that connected to this Solaris System. The information about them might have been brief, but it was enough to capture my interest. Especially Brolder, the apparent birthplace of shifters. Had Shadow been there when he created us, making his own human hybrid version? Or was there another explanation?
Speaking of no explanation… What the fuck was up with the Shadow Realm? Critical error?
“Miss Mera?”
Gaster peered up at me, his gnarled face even more creased with what appeared to be concern.
“There are ten worlds that lead from this library,” I choked out.
He tilted his head, his eyes almost blending into the brown of his skin as they lightened slightly. “Eleven actually.” He jerked his head to the directory. “Beyond this one is the pathway to the humans.”
Right. Right. I knew that. I’d walked that long hall… or been carried for most of it, anyway.
My eyes shot to Inky, who was creeping closer for the first time since I’d touched it. Like it knew I was thinking about the Shadow Beast. Back up, bitch, I mentally warned, and whether it was my expression or what, it stopped moving closer. Good Inky.
“What is up with the Shadow Realm?” I asked, turning back to Gaster.
His face dropped before he shook his head. “That’s not my story to tell. Now, please, follow me.”
He spun and hurried back into the library, and I stared after him. Guess that was his hard line, and he was not crossing it. Following as directed, the awkward silence lasted about fifteen seconds before he was back to his happy self. “The master wants me to start you in cleaning, and you will work your way up from there.”
Gritting my teeth, I didn’t argue. No doubt this was Shadow’s plan all along, and I was determined he never knew he’d struck any points against me. Sure, I hated cleaning more than almost anything in the world, but I was going to go out there and do a perfectly adequate job at almost cleaning. Nothing like moderate effort to prove a point.
Gaster led me to the cleaning supplies, all of which were brand new because “the library usually cleans itself,” but nevertheless, I spent the next however many hours leaning on a broom and dusting dust-free shelves.
All the while with a smile on my face because fuck you, Shadow Beast. He wanted me to fear him, and he had no idea how close he was to that achievement, but he also must have wanted me to hate him. In that, he could count himself successful.
It was impossible to tell time in this library, with its constant rotating guests from the worlds. To pass the day, I spent a good number of hours trying to guess which world each inhabitant came from. Some were super obvious—like Karn—while for others, I had zero idea.
The only consistent in this place were the dozen or so goblins who all seemed to follow Gaster around. I enjoyed watching them as well, the goblins having a clear hierarchy that appeared to have nothing to do with gender or position, and everything to do with intelligence and respect.
They might have been the most advanced race of all.
As I people-watched, learning as much as I could and filing it all away for future reference, my stomach started rumbling. Loudly. Spinning on Inky, my stalker, I growled. “I need to eat and sleep. Make it happen.”
It swelled in size, and I could again see all the sparking lights swirling inside the vortex of darkness. I was too tired and hungry