Free Luathara - Book Three of the Otherworld Trilogy by Jenna Elizabeth Johnson Page A

after them.
    “Wait up!” she grumbled.
    Oh no, oh no, oh no !
    I twisted around and shot Cade a panicked look.  Would they be able to see the dead C u thra?  His face was grim.
    In the next breath, Cade’s words entered my mind: Meghan, it hasn’t been dead long enough to turn to ash and it no longer has control over its glamour.  They are going to see it for what it truly is.
    Crap!  What do we do?!   I sent back.
    Cade sighed, then gave me a long steady look, his eyes appearing black in the pale moonlight.   We tell them the truth.
    Could we?  Tell them the truth?  I mean, I'd wanted to tell them something about my true identity, but could I really do it?  After hiding it all these months, and would they believe me?  Was I really ready to tell them?
    A panicked curse coming from Will and a blood-curdling scream that could only belong to Robyn was my answer.  I let my shoulders slump as Tully bolted towards our other friends.  Ready or not, my friends were about to learn what I'd been keeping secret for the past few years.  That I was from an entirely different world than they were, one that grew monsters like old bread sprouted fungus.  And I thought the worst part of the night was over . . .
    * * *
    Half an hour later, we were sitting around the inside of the tent.  Cade had changed into a new set of clothes and I had pushed back the screen that separated our small alcove from ev eryone else.  And at the moment we were being very closely scrutinized by my friends , the light of the t wo lanterns we 'd switched on illuminating four unreadable expressions .
    “So,” Robyn said, her voice sounding uncharacteristically subdued.
    “So,” I repeated.
    I had just finished telling them, in a rush, everything I had been withholding from them for the past two years.  I told them how I had always heard voices, how I had stumbled upon Cade in the middle of the swamp, how he had told me about Eile and how I' d been jumping back and forth between the two worlds for some time now.  I didn’t, however, tell them about the Morrigan, only that the creature they found by the dumpster had come from the Otherworld and that it was Cade’s job to take care of them.  Cade had held my hand the entire time and I was certain he was only being a gentleman by not complaining about my death grip.
    Now we sat silently, Cade and I, facing my friends and waiting for the judgment, the questions , and the horror to come pouring out of them.
    Next to Will I could hear Thomas muttering something about God and the devil in Spanish.  I couldn’t blame him.  The C u thra had looked like something straight out of hell.
    “I must admit,” Robyn said, “that this all seems a bit far-fetched, and I would in no way shape or form believe you if it weren’t for that, that,”
    She gave me a hard look.
    I closed my eyes and released a deep breath.
    “C u thra,” Cade offered, his voice a bit clipped and defensive.
    Robyn cast him a quick , wary glance.  “Yeah, that, thing lying next to the trash bins in plain sight .  But, I mean, how is it even possible?  This is the stuff I’ve been telling you about for years Meghan!  It’s mostly mythology.  It isn’t real!”
    I blinked in surprise.  It was the first time I had ever seen or heard Robyn doubt her Wiccan beliefs .
    “But Robyn, I though t you believed in this stuff , ” Will sai d, voi cing my question aloud.
    “Well, yeah, some of it!” Robyn answered.  “There are spirits and ceremonies and the like that need to be observed, but nothing like this!”
    She gestured towards Cade, and I sucked in a breath, suddenly feeling resentful.  Cade must have felt it too because I could have sworn he growled under his breath.
    “What more proof do you need!?” I hissed, pulling my hand away from Cade’s so that I could throw my arms up in annoyance.
    Robyn snorted and crossed her arms, turning her head to stare at the wall of our tent.
    I gritted my teeth, trying not to