Luathara - Book Three of the Otherworld Trilogy Read Online Free PDF Page A

continued, “can I invite him in?  It’s kind of rude to just stare at him through the window, don’t you think?  He met up with me down in the swamp and I asked him to wait outside while I broke the news to you.”
    “What news?”
    So far, Dad had remained relatively quiet, taking everything in with a grain of amusement.  Now he looked serious again.
    Oh Dad, I thought miserably, you know what I’m going to say, don’t you?
    I let my shoulders slump and said, “I’ll be going to the Otherworld soon.  Cade said I’ll be safer there and that we should be leaving in a week or two.”
    “Meghan, I don’t think you should just run off with this young man.  How can you even know if you can trust him?”
    Mom would worry, and I couldn’t blame her.  I decided to go with the truth without telling her everything.
    “Trust me, Mom.  Cade and I have been through a lot together.  I can’t tell you everything because it would make you worry even more.  But believe me, he has my best interests at heart.”
    I could tell my parents didn’t like the situation at all, but they knew, as well as I, that I was eighteen, legally an adult, and that I could leave the house whenever I wanted to without their permission.
    “So, are we letting the elf in now?”
    “Bradley!” my mother hissed, then looked at me.
    I nodded and moved towards the front door, burning in embarrassment and hoping Cade hadn’t heard anything that had been said.  I opened the door and stepped outside quickly, before my family could get a better look at him.  He sat on the bench where I had left him, the hood of his cloak pushed back and his longbow resting in his lap.  Despite the uncomfortable scene I had just left behind, I couldn’t help but smile.  No wonder Bradley thought he was an elf; he looked like a character out of one of his video games.
    “Um,” I said, my hands behind my back, one still grasping the doorknob, “my family is ready to meet you.”
    Cade merely nodded, then stood, placing his bow beside his travel bag.  My heart began to speed up again.  Was he nervous?  Would he scare my family?  And more likely, would they scare him?
    I thought it prudent to warn him before we went inside.  “My family,” I began, then took a deep breath.  “They can be overwhelming.  They are going to be curious about you, ju st so you know, and my brothers, and Dad and Mom, might ask you some awkward or inappropriate questions.”
    I gritted my teeth and studied my toes, feeling embarrassed again.  The light touch to my shoulder brought my gaze back up.  Cade was looking at me, his mouth turned into a crooked grin, a mischievous glint in his eye.
    “They can’t be any worse than my family, can they?”
    I star ed blankly at him for a moment or two, wondering if he was referring to his mother, the Morrigan, his father, the Celtic hero Cuchulainn, his foster father, the Dagda, or his sister, Enorah, the wild woman of the Weald.  It didn’t matter.  His statement made me laugh and my anxiety instantly melted away.
    “No, I guess they couldn’t.  Though my brothers can be fierce in their own way.”
    Cade smiled for real this time, his eyes crinkling at the corners.  “Good.  I’ve always wanted brothers.”
    Before I could even fathom exactly what he meant by that statement, he gently nudged me aside and opened the door.
     
    -Three-
    Welcome
     
    To my utter surprise, my family’s reaction to Cade went quite well.  After introducing himself to everyone as Caedehn MacRoich with an annoyingly impeccable display of manners, my brothers moved to ambush him, as I had anticipated.  But just before pouncing, they stopped short and gazed up in awe at the Faelorehn man who now seemed to take up the entire room with his presence.  I had to bite my lip to hide a grin as Logan and Bradley, and even the twins, all burst out with ridiculous questions.  They wanted to know if he had magic like their sister, if he owned a sword,