Fifty one days. Fifty one days ago Cade MacRoich walked out of my life like a ghost passing into the hereafter. And no, I haven’t been obsessive enough to keep track of the hours and minutes, or even the seconds, but I’ve felt every last one of them. I probably wouldn’t have been so fixated on his absence if he hadn’t just up and left the way he did. Of course, at the time I was too distracted by my recent trauma to truly grasp what was going on.

Nearly a year ago I was under the impression that I was just a slightly abnormal teen. Sure, I’m tall and gangly and insecure like everybody else my age, but now I know just
how
different I am. Then one day this gorgeous guy shows up, out of nowhere, with a very simple explanation for all of my eccentricities: my changeable eyes, my tendency to hear voices and see things, the fact that I’d been found parentless as a toddler, roaming the streets of Los Angeles like a young girl who’d been separated from her mother in the women’s clothing section of a super mall . . . He had come to tell me I was Faelorehn, immortal, from the Otherworld.

Shaking my head, I got back to work. Of course, watering Mrs. Dollard’s plants didn’t take much brain power. I had considered getting a part time job in town this past summer, but when the old lady had come over to ask if I could feed her cats and keep her yard alive while she was in Europe, I accepted right away. She was loaded and she always over-paid me. Besides, working in a cafe or at a local clothing store meant dealing with the public. I didn’t do well with the public.

The sharp caw of a crow made me hit the ground like a soldier avoiding gunfire. If acting like an idiot wasn’t bad enough, the hose got loose and soaked me. I glanced up and released a sigh of relief. Just a normal crow. I scrambled to my feet and tackled the hose before going over to shut it off. Yes, freaking out at the sound of a crow was weird for any normal person. But when you’ve spent the last several months dodging a Celtic goddess in raven form, well, any large black bird would give you the heebie-jeebies.

The garden was watered, Mrs. Dollard’s five cats were sleeping off a food coma, and the afternoon sun was dipping low in the sky. The giant wet spot on my t-shirt was making me cold, and it was time I headed home anyways. Didn’t want to get caught out after sunset. That’s when the faelah are the most active . . .

A short bark greeted me as I made my way around the house. I smiled. A great white wolfhound with rusty colored ears sat patiently, panting and grinning.

“Hello Fergus. When’s your master coming back?”

I placed a hand on his head and gave him a good scratch. He didn’t answer my question, but I didn’t expect him to.

Mrs. Dollard’s was only a few houses down from my own. Before I stepped inside, however, I kept on walking to the end of the street, bypassing the
Dead End
sign. I had developed the habit of checking the knothole in the oak tree every day, hoping that Cade had left me a new note.

I frowned in disappointment when the knothole proved empty, but I wasn’t surprised. Cade’s absence was understandable. A few months ago, I had crossed into the Otherworld thinking that I was going to save him from some cruel fate. Turns out the Morrigan, one of the most powerful of all the Otherworldly deities, had merely wanted me where she could conveniently kill me. Still being pretty ignorant of my roots, I had believed her when she’d told me Cade needed my help. Hey, she’d been very convincing and well, I kind of had a huge crush on the guy, still do. And I’d say it’s turned into something much more than a simple crush.

Pushing the hair out of my face, I climbed back up the slope and headed towards my bedroom on the basement floor of our house. I didn’t like how much time I spent thinking about Cade; it couldn’t be healthy, but he had saved my life after all. And he had been the one to tell me the truth about where I had come from.

My room greeted me with its usual chaos: various items of clothing spread about the floor and furniture, computer screen saver glowing blue and green, comforter and sheets wadded up into an unintelligible mess.

“Meghan!”

I jumped, and then grumbled. “What Logan?”

My younger brother, oldest of the five, stuck his head through the trap door that led up into the main part of the house. His blond hair fell to the side. I grinned. He looked like some miniature version of a pro surfer.

When his eyes found me he piped, “Dinner! Oh, and we’re going to the beach for my birthday party tomorrow, remember?”

I cringed inwardly. Oh yeah. Forgot about that one. Logan had turned eleven just over a week ago, but he hadn’t had his party because most of his friends were still on their summer vacations.

“Alright,” I said, “be up in a minute.”

Logan disappeared and I turned to look back through my sliding glass door. Fergus was gone, but I merely shrugged. He did that a lot. I wasn’t sure if other people could see him or not (basically, I didn’t know if he was visible to mortals), but maybe he didn’t want to take the chance.

After quickly changing into a dry t-shirt and a pair of old sweat pants, I made my way up the spiral staircase and out into the circus that was the Elam family.

Mom was darting about the kitchen, getting the last minute dinner items ready, Dad was sitting in his recliner, as usual, reading the paper, and all five of my brothers, Logan, Bradley, Aiden and even the twins, Jack and Joey, were thoroughly engrossed in some science special on TV. I rolled my eyes. It was one of those ‘deadliest insects’ things and it included a detailed description of what they did that made them so dangerous. I felt my stomach churn when they started describing internal parasites.

“Boys, could you turn that off? We’re about to eat dinner!”

Thank goodness for Mom.

We all sat down and tried to commence as a normal family would at mealtime. Too bad we weren’t normal. One of us was a Faelorehn from the Otherworld. Of course, none of them knew about my true identity. Like the adoption agency that found me those many years ago, they thought I was just another abandoned human child. I knew if I told my mom and dad what I’d learned over the past year, they wouldn’t be able to accept it. Or they would drag me off to another psychologist who would only prescribe mind-numbing medication. No thanks. I’d like to have all my wits about me when the Morrigan decided to attack again, thank you very much.

“Meg, you are coming with us tomorrow, correct?”

My dad’s voice snapped me out of my train of thought. I grimaced. I really didn’t want to go. Not that I had anything against Logan or birthday parties or even the beach, it’s just that ever since my ordeal at the end of spring, I’d been very wary about wandering too far from home. That’s what made Mrs. Dollard’s offer so appealing. Only four houses down the road, I could manage that . . .

“Sure,” I shrugged and stabbed at a few green beans.

“
Sure
?” Mom gave me one of her looks. “Meg, you’ve been practically cooped up in this house all summer. You only ever leave to take care of Matilda Dollard’s cats, take those walks down into the swamp, or to visit Tully.”

Okay, I had good reason not to wander far, reasons that had nothing to do with my fear of the faelah creatures creeping out of the dolmarehn hidden deep in the swamp. Up until a few weeks ago I had been in a leg cast, and that really limited my mobility. She couldn’t really count visiting Tully, my best friend, as ‘never going out’. Tully lived all the way at the head of our street. A good fifteen or so houses down. And my walks in the swamp were quite exciting, really. Or at least they had the potential to be. An Otherworldly creature could show up at any minute and cause quite a stir. And if that Otherworldly creature happened to be Cade . . .

I swallowed and put him as far out of my mind as possible. No need to get all dreamy-eyed at the dinner table. But really, my walks were productive. If Mom knew that I practiced with my longbow and arrows when I went down there, maybe she would change her mind. Of course, I only went down there alone because I knew Fergus would accompany me. If Cade’s spirit guide wasn’t around, I’d gladly admit defeat and take on the guise of a recluse.

“You have to go Meg!” Logan whined.

I glanced over at him, his blue eyes almost brimming with tears. I felt my heartstrings tighten. How could I deny my little brother anything?

I heaved a great sigh. “What beach again?”

“Avila,” Dad said, “we’re going to have a bonfire and everything, so be sure to bring your warm clothes. It’ll get cold after dark.”

I gritted my teeth despite my smile.
After dark . . .
I had been lucky the past few months. I’d only seen a handful of faelah wandering around in the swamp, but they had been small and Fergus had dealt with them. I had a feeling Fergus would not be accompanying me to the beach, and let’s face it, it had just been too long since anything of great significance had happened. I was well over due for a good haunting.

* * * * *

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