The Changelings

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Tell your friends!

  Book Description

  Other Books by Elle Casey

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Epilogue

  Next in the War of the Fae series

  Please leave a review!

  About the Author

  Other Books by Elle Casey

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  War of the Fae

  Book 10

  Winged Warriors

  ELLE CASEY

  Being an independent author, I depend entirely on you, the reader, to get the word out about my books. If you liked this book, won’t you please leave a review online and recommend it to a friend? The more you spread the word, the more books I can write, and nothing would please me more than to put a new book in your hands every single month!

  BOOK DESCRIPTION

  Jayne and friends are fighting their biggest battle ever. Darkness and Light are once again pitted against one another, and only one can emerge the victor. Fae the world over are called into service, and the lives of millions are at stake. Friendships will be tested, hearts will be broken, and when the dust finally settles, the world that emerges will be forever changed.

  Read more Elle Casey books here:

  http://bit.ly/ECKobo

  Want to get an email when my next book is released?

  Sign up here: www.ElleCasey.com/news

  OTHER BOOKS BY ELLE CASEY ON KOBO

  CONTEMPORARY URBAN FANTASY

  War of the Fae (10-book series)

  *Book 1, The Changelings, is a free ebook at most retailers*

  Ten Things You Should Know About Dragons (short story, The Dragon Chronicles)

  My Vampire Summer

  Aces High (with Jason Brant)

  DYSTOPIAN

  Apocalypsis (4-book series)

  SCIENCE FICTION

  Drifters’ Alliance (3-book series)

  Winner Takes All (short story prequel to Drifters’ Alliance,

  Dark Beyond the Stars Anthology)

  ACTION ADVENTURE

  Wrecked (2-book series)

  PARANORMAL

  Duality (2-book series)

  Pocket Full of Sunshine (short story & screenplay)

  ROMANCE

  All the Glory

  By Degrees

  Rebel (3-book series)

  Don’t Make Me Beautiful

  Shine Not Burn (2-book series)

  Full Measure (written as Kat Lee)

  Just One Night (romantic serial)

  Just One Week (romantic serial)

  Love in New York (3-book series)

  Mismatched (with Amanda McKeon)

  COPYRIGHT NOTICE

  © 2018 Elle Casey, all rights reserved, worldwide. No part of this ebook may be reproduced, uploaded to the Internet, or copied without author permission.

  The author respectfully asks that you please support artistic expression and help promote anti-piracy efforts by purchasing a copy of this ebook only at author-authorized online outlets that serve your country. If you’re viewing this book without having paid for it, you are pirating this creative work.

  PIRACY = STEALING

  Elle Casey thanks you deeply for your understanding and support.

  DEDICATION

  For Jayne. You know who you really are.

  CHAPTER ONE

  AS I WALKED through the hallways of the fae compound with Scrum, resting my weary head on his shoulder, I tried to imagine what might be waiting for me in my room. I could shortcut the whole process and figure it out quickly by asking my friend, but I wasn't mentally ready for a description of that potential hell yet. So much had happened in the past few weeks…hell, over the past year…that I needed some time to enjoy not knowing stuff, even if it was only going to last for another five minutes. Living in ignorance was a luxury I could rarely afford, but at that moment, it seemed like it couldn't hurt to wonder for a little bit longer.

  Months ago—or weeks ago, depending on whether I was counting time-slipping issues—I left the compound to join Biad the dragon at the portal to the Underworld, so I could fulfill my duty as her companion. I had actually been kind of looking forward to it, curious about what the whole thing would entail, even though it wasn't necessarily convenient to temporarily move to another country for two weeks twice a year. But I never made it there; instead, my friends and I were waylaid by a nasty Fate named Judith who sent us into another realm in another time.

  It was there that I met Ishmail Windwalker and another Fate named Victoria who'd had a hand in sending me to places I shouldn't have been sent. Ish's situation would be one of the many mysteries to solve after I reached my room. Where was he? Had he survived disappearing into his elements a thousand years ago after having been the beneficiary of my advance warning to be careful when commanding Wind? Or had he been swept up in my giant cleaning-of-the-Overworld move and ended up here with my friends? Or had he simply gone on to live his life where he was meant to be and ended up in exactly the same place as he'd been before we'd started this grand adventure? I would soon find out.

  I wondered about my friends, too…their wellbeing, and whether they had made it back to our time unscathed—or mostly unscathed; Tony was definitely sporting some new scars, not the least of which was the burn he'd suffered when he'd officially made the ranks of dragon rider.

  I felt like I hadn't seen Spike in ages, but the memory of his arms around me hadn't faded one bit. My body warmed just thinking about it. I really needed to see one of his smiles and hear his words of wisdom and kindness. He always knew what to say to calm me down and help me get my head on straight. His mind was going to be officially blown when I told him the news I had. Or the news I might have. I rubbed my lower abdomen, not sure whether Tim's comments to me about having conceived a child still held true or not. I didn't feel any different, that was for sure. Just tired and worn out, which wasn't surprising considering all I'd been through.

  Talking to Ben in the white void had eased my mind about the dragon riders having survived our battle in the Overworld, but that didn't mean everything was hunky dory. Any one of my friends could have suffered injuries that would never heal and scars that would plague them for a thousand years. Fae did tend to live a long time, and our healers had been stumped on more than one occasion when searching for a remedy for a weird injury or disease. And what could be weirder than damage suffered in a bat
tle with demons in the Overworld?

  Seeing Scrum acting like his regular self outside the compound door had brought me some relief. He didn't seem to hate me, although I'm not even sure what could make Scrum hate a person. His own grandmother dropped him on his head and abused him in a hundred different ways, and he still claimed to love and miss her.

  My feet dragged along the floor, partially because I was so tired and partially because I wasn't in any hurry to face my future. I was worried about everything and everyone. Knowing they'd lived through adversity was not the same as knowing they were okay. And on top of all that, I still had major questions about how my own life had been turned inside out.

  Brad, my former high school enemy, had weirdly turned out to be my hero. I still wasn't exactly sure how that had happened. He'd spent so much time being a dick to me—literally, he'd spent years being that way, working it like it was his job—and then there he was…boom…saving my ass. All because Ben the fire and wind elemental had told him to. I knew from firsthand experience that Ben could be a very convincing guy when he put his mind to it, and he had obviously put that skill to use, convincing Brad that magic existed and that I was important and had to be busted out of mental hospital jail. But how had Ben known that I needed help in the first place? Knowing him, he'd been scrying, but had there been more to it than that? And had my rescuer—Brad—been given the opportunity to become a changeling yet? Had he been put to the test in the Green Forest and survived the obstacles?

  And what about Long and Mike? The last time I'd seen them, they'd been on the jet eating ham sandwiches with Dardennes and Céline. But time had been jumbled, which meant they could have ended up back at the hospital with no knowledge of me or the fae, once I'd been transported away. The thought of that made me profoundly sad. I knew for sure that Long didn't belong there, and I was pretty sure Mike didn't either. I couldn't let them stay in that awful place. If they'd been sent back, I'd just have to go rescue them, it was as simple as that. Leaving them behind was not an option.

  I was also worried that Céline and Dardennes learning who I am—an elemental and Mother of the fae—while I was time-slipped in Miami, had caused ripples that would somehow send us down different paths and in alternate directions. Apparently, some things hadn't changed, though; Scrum knew who I was, and I was still welcome in the compound. And at least some of my friends were there. But did those friends include Tony? Spike? Becky, Finn, Tim, and everyone else? Or had some of them been left out, victims of time-slipping changes and alternate futures? I became nauseated, imagining what my activities in the wrong times could have done to the lives of others.

  The door to my bedroom was approaching. I could feel it, even though it wasn't yet in sight. I put my hand on Scrum's arm. "Wait."

  He paused and looked down at me. "What's the matter?"

  I moved my clothing around, adjusting the dirty scrubs I was still wearing and brushing my feet off on my pant legs as best I could. The clothing wasn't any cleaner than my body, unfortunately. "Just…getting ready."

  Scrum turned to face me and waited for me to look up at him before he spoke.

  "What?" I asked, feeling ashamed at my cowardice.

  "You don't have to worry. No one is mad at you."

  "Oh, yeah? Well, that's good." Not that his words made me feel any better. No one was ever mad at me, no matter how badly I screwed up. They were always so patient and forgiving, even when fae got hurt as a result of my actions. I didn't feel like I deserved that kind of generosity, so it just made me even more mad at myself.

  "You say it's good, but why do you sound so upset?"

  I sighed. "Scrum, wouldn't you, if you were in my shoes?"

  He frowned. "No. I don't think so."

  "What if you screwed up and hurt people…physically…and ruined people's plans, and made everyone's lives more difficult, and said rude things that annoyed people, and…?"

  He put his hand on my arm, stopping me. "Is that what you think you are to us?"

  I shrugged. "Those are the facts. They aren't debatable."

  He pulled me into a hug, startling me with the tenderness of it. "You're so silly, Jayne. That's not what any of us are thinking when your name comes up."

  I laughed. "Oh, yeah? I find that hard to believe."

  He patted me on the back. "We were just talking about you before I came out to meet you, and you know what Finn said?"

  "No." My heart felt like it was in someone's fist, and that someone was squeezing the hell out of it.

  "He was saying how brave you were. How you and Biad working together as a team won the battle for us in the Overworld and sent us all to safety. Without you, every single one of us probably would have died out there." He pushed me from his arms, resting his hands on my shoulders. "You saved our lives, Jayne. It's a big deal, and we all know it and appreciate it. You should too."

  Tears trickled down my face. "But did you forget that I'm the reason you were there in the first place? That if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have been involved in that battle at all?"

  He smiled, shaking his head at me like I was a dopey little kid and he was my parent. "Oh, Jayne. You just don't get it."

  I punched him lightly on the chest. "Shut up."

  He shook me a little. "No. I'm serious. We're all serious, about our lives here and about our duties to our people."

  I wiped the stupid tears off my face. "I know."

  "Well, if you know that, then you know that none of us wants to be sitting here in the compound on the sidelines doing nothing when there are demons running around where they shouldn't be."

  The clamp around my heart loosened just a little. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

  "Being with you when you went to see Biad was an honor. I mean…I'm a changeling, not even twenty years old yet, but I was asked to go with you and watch over you. Do you know what a gift that was for me?"

  I tried not to smile at his goofy face and impassioned delivery. "I guess I know."

  "No, I don't think you do." He let me go and folded his hands in front of his chest, like he was pleading with me. "All my life, before I got here, people laughed at me. They made fun of me. No one wanted to be my friend. But here, I'm respected. People care about me. I actually have real friends, the kind that don't disappear at the drop of a hat."

  "Of course you do, Scrum. You're cool." I punched him once more, worried I was going to start crying all over again.

  "I am cool now. But I wasn't then. And every day that I live my life with the fae as my family, I want to earn their admiration. I want to earn their trust. I want to do whatever I can to make our lives better and our community safe."

  "Me too." I lifted my chin, the pride in my fae identity restored and maybe even a little ramped up. Scrum was seriously good at pep talks. He would have made a great football coach.

  "Then don't blame yourself for everything bad that happens. We're all in this together. We're all playing our parts. And we all screw up from time to time. You aren't the only one learning the ropes around here."

  I smiled up at him, seriously impressed with who he'd turned out to be. "When did you get so smart and eloquent and shit?"

  He grinned. "I've been paying attention. And I've been through a lot. Life teaches us stuff." He turned his head to look down the corridor. "Are you ready to go on yet?"

  I nodded. "Yeah. Let's do this." If Scrum could be as brave as he obviously was, I sure as hell could suck it up and act like I was too. Fake it until you make it, baby. I put one foot in front of the other and made my way down the corridor on my own steam, no longer resting my head on his broad shoulder.

  CHAPTER TWO

  THE REMAINING WALK to my room went way faster than I wanted it to. Yeah, sure…I was feeling braver and not so wimpy after Scrum's awesome pep talk, but at the same time, I was aware that the rest of my life was about to begin, and it wasn't going to be a calm and peaceful one; it was going to be totally nuts. Not that this was any different from the existen
ce I'd been living before, but after all I'd been through—having to relive my past, getting lost in my elements, and about a hundred other crazy things—I was kind of hoping destiny would have a little vacation in mind for me.

  But it was not to be. I could already hear the sounds of many voices as I turned the last bend in the hallway before the door to my room. It was strange, because in my experience, the rooms in the compound were mostly soundproof. The only time I'd ever heard anything I shouldn't have was when the Council had locked a buggane up in the prison chambers and he'd howled his head off.

  "Scrum, why am I hearing voices?" It was highly possible they were actually originating from inside my own head. I wouldn't have been surprised to find out that my latest escapades had resulted in me coming down with a solid case of schizophrenia.

  "There's not enough space in your meeting chamber to hold everybody, so they're in your living room too."

  "Meeting chamber?" I frowned at his back as he strode ahead of me. "I don't have a meeting chamber. I have a little sitting area and my bedroom and the garden. Are you telling me people are hanging out in my bedroom?" That would mean I had no privacy left, and that would never do. I seriously valued both my cuddle time with Spike and my private bathroom breaks. "They'd better not be in the garden. Abby will kick their asses if they step on a single plant."

  "No. No one's in your bedroom. And I'm sure they're being careful in the garden." He stopped when he reached my door and waited for me to catch up, turning to face me. He searched my eyes. "Are you sure you're okay?"

  I gazed at the thick wood separating me from whatever the hell my future held before answering him. "Sure. Yeah. I'm cool. Cool as a cucumber. As cool as ice. Call me Ice-Ice Baby." My teeth were chattering, I was so nervous.