Free Realm of Mirrors (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 3) by Sonya Bateman Page B

mind. Plans I didn’t know anything about were my favorite—especially when they were made by a terrifying Unseelie. “Well, anyway…thank you,” I said. “I’d better get down there. He’ll freak out if I’m not where I said I’d be.”
    “Very well.” Cobalt nodded. “Goodnight, Gideon.”
    “’Night.”
    I waved and rushed down the stairs, already fighting a swell of frustrated panic.
    How could I tell Abe that I might never see him again?

    “I knew it,” Abe said.
    We were sitting at one of the tables in the studio, drinking coffee that was as terrible as he’d threatened. With the lights on and the people gone, the place was kind of creepy.
    I still hadn’t gotten to any of the actual bad news, and Abe was already upset.
    “Hey, I’m not fighting werewolves,” I said. I’d only told him that I had to go away for a while. “It’s not even Milus Dei this time.”
    “So what is it?”
    Worse. I took a swallow of overcooked coffee and managed not to gag. “It’s like this,” I said. “You know Taeral?”
    His brow furrowed. “Your friend with the metal arm. The, uh, Fae.”
    “Yeah, him. Thing is…he’s not my friend.” I stared at the table for a minute, and finally got enough nerve to look at Abe. “He’s my brother.”
    I could see the moment it clicked into place for him. “Your actual brother?” he said.
    “Well, half-brother.” Abe knew the Others existed—he’d met most of them I knew, under seriously strained circumstances. But I had the feeling it was all kind of philosophical for him. Until now. “I didn’t know anything about it until I met him, a few days before you did,” I said. “That’s when I found out we have the same birth father. His name is Daoin…and he’s Fae.”
    Abe frowned slightly. “Was it an affair or something? I thought you lived with your parents.”
    “Yeah. So did I.” This part got a little unbelievable, so I tried to explain it as simply as possible. “Apparently my real mother died when I was born, and I was switched at birth.”
    “Huh,” he said. “Isn’t that the damndest thing? I never thought that switched-at-birth stuff really happened.”
    It wasn’t exactly a traditional switch, but I wouldn’t get into that right now. “I gotta say, you’re taking this really well.”
    “Taking what well?”
    “Seriously, Abe?” I said. “I just told you I’m not human.”
    He looked surprised. And then, he smiled. “Werewolf, Fae, bogeyman, whatever—we’re all basically people,” he said. “Well, maybe not the bogeyman. Point is, I wouldn’t care if you were part chupacabra, Gideon. I know you. You’re a good kid…a good man. And you’ve saved a lot of lives. Including mine, in case you forgot.” He reached across the table and patted my hand. “That makes you human in my book.”
    My throat spasmed shut. Right then, I almost decided not to go through with it.
    But if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be the man he thought I was. The man I wanted to be.
    “Thank you.” I drew a deep breath, and it shuddered out of me in a rush. There was no easing into this. I’d just have to spit it out. “Taeral and Daoin were kidnapped by some very bad Fae who aren’t going to let them go, and probably plan to kill them,” I said. “So we have to go try to rescue them—me and Sadie, and another Fae. But these guys took them to Arcadia. The Fae realm. It’s…not exactly on Earth, and we have to use magic to get there. And I might not make it back.”
    Abe didn’t say anything for a long time. He stared at me, sipped his coffee, and stared some more. At last he pushed the cup away and said, “Yes, you will.”
    “Abe, don’t—”
    “You will.” He shook his head, and a grim smile formed on his lips. “Even if you might not, just make an old man happy and lie to me. Say you will.”
    “All right,” I said slowly, not sure I’d be able to keep talking like this. But I pressed on somehow. “I will, then. Be back in about a