“Huh.”
“Huh?” I stepped back from Caleb to look him in the eye. “I just told you legit my-sister-is-crazy stuff and you say huh? Where are the questions? Like, are you on drugs? Or what the heck are you talking about? Or, my personal favorite, it can’t be that bad? Which, by the way, it is.” I shot a look around my brother.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for the real Caleb.”
He shook his head. “Well, I already figured out we had a connection. The only surprise is you admitting it. And besides, I’ve been hearing heard a lot of crazy stuff lately, so this doesn’t seem that abnormal.”
I punched him in the shoulder.
“Ow. I didn’t mean from you.”
“Then who? Your other sister that you can magically connect with? Because last time I checked, you’re still in a coma.”
Caleb scratched the back of his neck instead. “Well, at least this confirms that guy was right about elves being real. I was thinking he was the crazy one, but he knew so much about you…”
“Wait, what guy? And how do you know about the elf thing?”
“It’s going to sound a little insane.”
I snorted. “We just covered insane. I’m pretty sure that anything you’re about to add can’t touch what I’ve gone through these past few days.”
“Okay, then.” Caleb looked down at his feet. That was a bad sign. “So, there’s this friend—well, ‘friend’ is a strong word. I just met him, but he seems decent enough. Anyway, he’s been talking to me for, well… Time is a little warped at the moment, but I figure it’s been a couple of days. Or maybe it’s only been one. It’s a kind of one-way thing, but I guess that’s how it works for people in my position.”
I closed my eyes and begged the universe for patience. I loved my brother. I really did. But his need to be as precise as possible was getting a little frustrating. “Okay. You have a friendly person talking to you.”
“Exactly.”
“And what is this friendly person saying?” Extracting information from Caleb could be a nightmare sometimes.
Caleb took a deep breath. “A bunch of stuff, actually. Most of it about you.”
That piqued my curiosity.
“Go on,” I said.
“He pretty much said…” He glanced up at me, a shadow of disbelief taking shape on his face. “That you’re a changeling. That you’ve got magical powers, and you’re using them to keep me alive.”
Okay, that was news to me—the whole powers thing, anyway.
“Yes to the first part, but definitely no to the second. I have zero magic, which is part of the problem here. Although…” I remembered what Goldilocks had said about me being weak. “Even if I did have some, I have a feeling I’d need a bunch more to keep the rebels off my back.”
“Yeah, about that.” Caleb scratched his neck. “Apparently it does take a ton of magic to do what you’re doing—especially from the distance you’re doing it at. It’s enough to keep your magic drained. At least, that’s what the guy said.”
“Oh really? And who is this guy, anyway, because I’d really like to talk with him myself.”
“He said he was your dad—your real dad.”
“What? What’s his name? Where is he now?” I found myself searching the white space around us, even knowing that he couldn’t be lurking nearby.
Caleb shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“Well, what did he look like?”
Caleb cocked a brow.
“Oh, right. The whole coma thing.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, the whole coma thing.”
“Sorry about that,” I said. He shrugged. “So, um, you met my dad.”
“Yeah. Says he’s an elf, like you”
I looked everywhere but at Caleb. “That would be correct.”
Silence. I fidgeted, not quite knowing what to say. Sorry that your sister turned out to be a changeling elf didn’t seem to cut it.
“You’ve got a whole new family now, huh?”
Whoa, wait a minute. My gaze snapped back to his. “No. I do not have a whole new family. My real mom is dead, I haven’t met my real dad, and even if I did, the only person I care about is right here.” I stamped my foot for emphasis. “In this weird dream-not-dream…thing.”
A ghost of a smile flitted over Caleb’s face. “Sorry, I just—”
“You were just being stupid, I know.”
He rolled his eyes but a grin tugged on his lips.
“So what else did this… my dad say?”
“Some stuff about an investiture.” Caleb hesitated. “Something about you needing all your power back to get through it okay.”
I shook my head. “That’s not right. Maeve said the investiture would work fine with or without me having magic,” I said, even as the memory of Goldilocks talking about nothing being left of me after the investiture flashed in my mind. The beginnings of alarm crept into my chest, making my heart beat erratically.
“Do you trust Maeve?” Caleb asked.
I hesitated, swallowing down something that felt suspiciously like panic. I wanted to chalk up Goldilocks’ mini monologue to rebel fae smack talk, but now doubt wormed its way in. Why would Goldilocks bother lying to something she was about to kill? And it wasn’t like Mickey and Maeve had a good track record with being upfront about everything.
“No,” I whispered, hating the fact that there was no one I trusted here—that everyone in this fae town wanted something from me. The only exception was the elf who’d just tried to kill me—and was now dead.
Caleb nodded as if he suspected as much.
“Well, I think this guy was telling the truth. It all makes sense to me, anyway.”
“Exactly what, in all of this mess,” I said, swinging my arms out wide, “makes sense to you?”
Mickey sat down and patted the white space next to him. I huffed but gave in, leaning into his side as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
“Let’s go ahead and accept the premise that you’ve got a ton of magic you’re
