How To Babysit A Changeling: A Feyland Tale

By Anthea Sharp

When a mortal boy is exchanged for a hideous faerie creature, Marny Fanalua steps up to help her friends in their battle against the Dark Court. (70 page Feyland novella.)

*NOTE * The events in this novella occur simultaneously with Feyland: The Twilight Kingdom. Reading the complete Feyland Trilogy first is recommended to avoid spoilers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fiddlehead Press
• Release date: Jun 24, 2015
• ISBN: 9781680130409

Anthea Sharp

~ Award-winning author of YA Urban Fantasy ~Growing up, Anthea Sharp spent her summers raiding the library shelves and reading, especially fantasy. She now makes her home in the Pacific Northwest, where she writes, plays the fiddle, and spends time with her small-but-good family. Contact her at [e-mail], follow her on twitter, find her on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/AntheaSharp), and visit her website.

Book preview

Table of Contents

How to Babysit a Changeling

HOW TO BABYSIT A CHANGELING

A Feyland Tale

ANTHEA SHARP

Copyright 2015 by Anthea Sharp. All rights reserved.

Please do not share or upload this book without permission – support indie authors! This is a work of fiction - any resemblance to characters living or dead is purely coincidental.

Cover art by Ellerslie, via Fotolia, used by licensed permission.

~*~

NOTE TO READERS: This story takes place during the events depicted in The Twilight Kingdom (Book 3 of the Feyland Trilogy). The storyline of How to Babysit a Changeling is woven throughout The Twilight Kingdom, and this novella reveals the ending. *If you have not yet finished reading the complete trilogy, be aware that there are spoilers ahead!*

Recommended reading order:

Feyland: The First Adventure (free ebook on all retailers)

Feyland: The Dark Realm – Book 1

Feyland: The Bright Court – Book 2

Feyland: The Twilight Kingdom – Book 3

How to Babysit a Changeling

Trinket (short story)

Spark: Feyguard Book 1

Royal: Feyguard Book 2

Marny: Feyguard Book 3 (Coming Summer 2015)

Don’t miss Marny’s release! Sign up for Anthea’s mailing list to be notified the instant the book is on sale. You will also receive a bonus free short story upon joining. http://eepurl.com/1qtFb

HOW TO BABYSIT A CHANGELING

The cafeteria at Crestview High was filled with the din of conversation, the clank of silverware on plasmetal trays, and somebody’s tunes cranked up too loud, screeching tinnily out of their earbuds. Despite the noise, despite the smell of floor cleaner mixed with cooked cabbage, despite the fact that high school was all kinds of tedious, Marny Fanalua never let things get to her. It wasn’t worth getting tangled up in small annoyances—and almost everything was small, when you took a breath and looked at it.

She sat across from her friends, slightly scruffy Tam Linn and rich-girl Jennet Carter. They’d all found out recently that life was a lot more interesting than they’d ever imagined.

A little too interesting at times, maybe. It wasn’t every day a person discovered that their favorite sim video game was actually a portal into a treacherous magical world.

Marny leaned forward and rested her broad arms on the table, studying Tam’s face. She’d known him a long time, and she could tell by the tightness around his eyes—what she could see of them behind the screen of his overlong brown hair—that something was severely wrong.

Wrong beyond the usual tweaked state of Tam’s life, which was bad enough. Nobody could call scraping by in the Exe fun.

Maybe his mom had taken off again. In Marny’s opinion the woman barely qualified for the title, other than the fact that she’d given birth to Tam and his little brother. So, either his mom had gone off her meds and left Tam and the Bug in the lurch again, or something freaky was going on.

And if it was something freaky, that meant magic. Fey magic.

Okay, spill it, she said.

Jennet sent her a grateful half-smile, but Marny stayed focused on Tam. He clenched one hand, then smoothed it out flat over the scraped tabletop. Before speaking, he shot a quick glance at the neighboring tables, but nobody was paying attention to them. Why should they? She and Tam were misfits—always had been. And Jennet had become a lost cause to the status-conscious Viewer kids since becoming Tam’s sort-of girlfriend.

They’ve taken my little brother, Tam said, his voice tight.

Oh, crap. Marny narrowed her eyes. Tam’s brother, the Bug, was a sweet kid, if a bit random.

"They, as in the Dark Court faeries? she asked. Tam nodded, and coldness settled in the pit of her stomach. How do you know?"

I know because they left a changeling creature in his place. Tam swiped his hair out of his eyes. My brother is being held hostage in the Realm of Faerie by the Dark Queen, in payback for Jennet and me meddling between the realms.

"Yeah well, your meddling is kind of crucial. Marny folded her arms. It’s keeping the fey from stealing human energy and opening a gateway to the mortal world. Stopping blood sacrifice. Little things like that."

We never thought they could do something like this, though, Jennet said. Tam’s brother is in serious danger.

She would know, too, having encountered the queen a few times too many. The back of Marny’s neck prickled. Personally, she was glad to have never encountered that particular being. One of the advantages of staying out of sim games. Especially Feyland, which had managed to use the game interface to open a gateway from the Realm of Faerie to the mortal world, with serious consequences.

Also, my mom’s gone again, Tam said, his gaze dropping to the dingy floor, as if it were his fault the woman had problems.

Double serving of trouble for Tam, then. Marny shook her head.

How do we get your little brother out of Feyland? she asked.

We’re working on that from the inside, Jennet said, laying one pale, slim hand on Tam’s shoulder. We’ll get him back.

Meanwhile there’s a creature living in my house. Tam shoved his tray away, food uneaten. "I can’t leave it there alone all the