The Changeling Read Online Free

moment I’ve spent with you.”
    Tears rolled down my face when he said it and my anger subsided.
    “ You are the reason I fought my own kind two thousand years ago, you are the reason I haven’t joined the Unseelie, and you , Maggie, give me hope for the rest of your species.”
    “Really? I don’t even give myself hope.”
    Billy started laughing.
    “What?” I laughed with him, sniffling loudly and wiping my cheeks.
    “Most people who could do what you can do wouldn’t be so humble. Truth be known, absolutely none of my kind would be, and most of them aren’t half as capable as you.”
    The edges of my lips curled up and I found myself smiling.
    “That’s more like it.” He grinned at me.
    “And Mitch?”
    “I will make you a few promises, my dear. I promise that I’ll do everything within my power to get Mitch back, but I need you to give me some time. I believe he will be fine for a while—Ozara was telling you the truth. I also promise you that I will not let anything happen to you as long as there is…well…Naeshura in my veins.”
    “I make the same promises, Maggie.” Sara’s voice rang in my head.
    “Eavesdropping?”
    “But of course. You expected anything less?” She asked from down in Mitch’s room.
    “No, I guess not.”
    “Well, feign being sick again because Candace is headed to your room.”
    Billy blinked out just as Candace opened the door. She came over and sat next to me on the bed, wrapping her pale arms around her tiny waist.
    “Mags, you awake?”
    “Yes.”
    “Are you doing any better?”
    “I feel a little better.” It was an honest answer, but for reasons she couldn’t comprehend.
    “Well, good. I hope you don’t mind, girl, but I’m going to stay up here. The party sucks without you.”
    I lay there and tried to fall asleep as she ran her fingers through my hair. I knew Billy was right: I had to do this for everyone. I trusted him, but I also had to get Mitch back.

THREE
    AFTERSHOCKS

    Sara and Billy took turns guarding Drevek for the next two weeks. I avoided him and, to his credit, he did the same with me. Almost immediately, Mom and Dad noticed a difference in Mitch’s behavior and appearance. The changeling not only had a horrendous attitude, constantly whining and far more demanding than Mitch ever was, it was also growing ill. The only time I was tempted to intervene was when he refused to eat. On a few occasions I considered forcing him in the hopes that Mitch’s captors would do the same.
    Our search wasn’t going well. Billy began looking in a grid and quickly determined that Mitch wasn’t stashed in any of the caves on the Weald, not that any of us expected to find him that close by. Billy expanded his search to nearby farms. He thought it likely that Mitch was held captive by humans, because it would be far too easy to track Fae. That was a problem, as there were twenty-six thousand people in Carroll County and to the west, nearly half a million in Benton and Washington counties. Mitch could be with any of them. We needed more time.
    Just before I left the Weald on the first day of the spring semester, Ozara informed me that the Seelie hadn’t had any better luck than Billy, but she promised they’d keep trying. Mom and Dad left in the morning to take Drevek to the hospital. He’d thrown a temper tantrum when they mentioned it, but Sara was there to silently coerce him.
    With Billy out searching the Ozarks, and Sara keeping an eye trained on Drevek, I’d had more time to myself in the last two weeks than since I arrived a year ago. Worried about Mitch, heartsick over Gavin, who I hadn’t seen in six months, I was ready to see my friends and let them distract me for a while.
    Candace met me at the front doors of Eureka Springs High. We had talked by phone and texted continuously over the break, but I hadn’t seen her or anyone else since the party. She was nearly back to normal, with one big exception: a new disdain for unnecessary attention.