Rich, Handsome, Charming... Half-Faerie...

So if the choice before me is whether to finish signing a veritable mountain of paperwork that has something or other to do with a million or so dollars that my business wants to invest in an upstart software company or write a ridiculous little biography about myself, I suppose I may as well take a break. It is lunchtime, at any rate, and I have a peanut butter and cucumber sandwich waiting for me. I think I’ll add mustard.

My name is Liam Caslow and I am the unfortunate offspring of Romeo and Juliet. Oh yes, they were star crossed and dramatic and died in each other’s arms and everything. They did manage to survive for twelve years after having me, which I guess puts them ahead of Shakespeare’s originals. My father, I’m told, was a hunter, stationed in the minute hamlet of Coverdale in Yorkshire, England. Good spot to catch faeries, you know. Lots of channels between our world and the Otherworld in Coverdale for who knows what reason. My mum, who was Fae, apparently sneaked through one of those channels for a bit of sight seeing in the mundane world. She and my father fell madly in love. Of course, that’s forbidden, and not just because it’s a disgustingly romantic cliché. They went underground for years. When I was born, I was immediately packed off to live with my great aunt (on my father’s side) and I only saw them every few months – or years, depending on how things were going. They started some sort of revolution, but it ended badly. They both died, as did poor Great Aunt Mary Ellen of a stroke that same month.

If it hadn’t been for Oliver and Hannah Caslow, I would probably have been shipped off to one of those special facilities for mistakes like me. The Caslows were hunters, but they realized that I didn’t have enough magic in me to damage the mundane world and convinced the Transworld Congress to let me stay on this side of the channels. The Caslows adopted me. I thought myself pretty lucky.

At least until I met my new sister Amanda. She is… well, let’s just say that my life has been much easier since she crossed the pond with her new American husband Geoff Gallagher. They stayed in the family business, hunting illegal crossers from the Otherworld. Seem to do pretty well for themselves. I’ve heard that they’re two of the best in the business—

But, then, I’ve made it very clear to my parents, my sister and brother-in-law, my niece, and anyone else who’s interested, that I don’t want to know what’s going on in the transworld. I don’t want a job as a courier. Really, I don’t want to be involved.

So why is Amanda leaving me messages? Again?