The Cat
They had been sent in to be a replacement for a student at this strange university, so they assumed Prometheus’ spot, slipping into the false skin carefully, keeping their smile kind and their words like brimstone. No one had realized that Prometheus had been taken, to their knowledge. They were good at their job; they hid their aura well, wore silver rings and necklaces that looked close enough to steel to make people think they were human. But, this body, the person they stood in for…
She was too nice, too plain, too untalented to warrant a Taking. They even felt a kinship to the girl with her attempts at art, disdain for technology, quiet voice, quiet personality, and her Cat. Prometheus’ Cat was stunning, and Not Mortal in the way cats were supposed to be. Her roommate, Ging, avoided both “Prometheus” and her Cat, keeping salt only around her bed within the room. They appreciated that, and The Cat did too, curling up on their lap while they wrote a paper on Tongues for Paranormal Research.
Then The Cat spoke to them.
“Where is The Girl of fire, brimstone, and hope?”
“I do not know, little one. I am sent only in her place. The captor is never sent, only an underling.” The Cat nodded.
“And how do you feel of her Taking? You seem uneasy about it, unsure in your step. I saw you before, in the eyes of The Boy of ash and light rains, hiding beneath his skin, and under his eyes your step was sure. What now shakes it?” The Cat tilted its head at them, eyes wide, questioning. They tapped the bed beside them to offer up room.
“Freely given.” The Cat meowed gently and hopped up. They hummed. “You may call me Acid, Cat, and my steps are unsure as I do not understand why Prometheus was Taken. She is too plain. I question why, but is it something pertaining to you?” The Cat purred gently.
“You may call me Cosmos, faerie, and you have deduced correctly.“They almost flinched as Cosmos referred to them by their species, not a kind word, but settled for tilting their head slightly instead. "They believe that in Taking her, they may draw me back into The Court. They have decent reasoning, but They are fools in thinking I would go alone.”
“Who would you take with you? Ging seems unwilling.” Cosmos purred, grinning in a way cats do not, its Otherness shown in the needles of teeth pointing every which way.
“You. I know your Name, Pluviamignius.” They froze, ice running through their ichor as fire raged in the chest cavity they had formed to impersonate Prometheus best.
“H-how do you know my Name,” they asked, shivering, holding onto their glamor desperately as Cosmos willed them let it drop, forced it to fall, revealing their form, long, gaseous, made of water, ice, fire, and steam. The silver on their form felt cold and suffocating. They left it on.
“You told me, in the Forest. I know the true names of All, little one. I am the Old Queen, how could I ever forget what gave me power even as I offered it up?” Cosmos said, slipping around their frozen body and through the steam of their joints effortlessly. Pluviamignius felt the intensely human urge to sob.
“My Queen, I beg-”
“Silence, curr. You are not allowed to beg. You are to gather others who will gain My Charge back from the Cruel Court,” “Cosmos” explained, leaning into their face with the Old Queen’s features, teeth like needles arrayed like nettles in her mouth as she smiled, and Pluviamignius finally realized that the Former Queen had eyes like a cat’s. They breathed out in relief as the power holding them in place rushed from them. The Queen looked again like an Other Cat as opposed to The Queen while their own glamour flared back up, and they hugged their too-human arms.
“Yes, My Queen. I will gather her friends and an unwilling changeling, and we will return to you shortly.”
The Cat meowed sharply in response. Pluviamignius fled the room.
They weren’t looking forwards to exposing themself, but they would not disobey The Queen. Not when she knew their Name.
After all, they knew what The Queen had done to the last faerie who disobeyed her.
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