The Breton Boys

All twelve-year-old Reid Breton wants is to fit in at the exclusive school for boys where he was abandoned as a baby. Easier said than done when you're a poor orphan surrounded by rich kids and a headmistress with a grudge. So when Oliver, the twin Reid never knew he had, tumbles out of a tunnel in the wall of the dormitory basement, Reid jumps on the chance to escape.

He follows Oliver through the tunnel to the hidden land of their birth, Hollenmere, where Reid learns that he wasn't abandoned as a baby. He was kidnapped by darthags: faunish creatures who snatch babies from Hollenmere and dump them on Earth under the orders of their queen. While the thought of baby-nabbing monsters is more than a little terrifying, Reid hopes he will finally find his place in Hollenmere's woodlands.

That hope begins to crumble the moment he arrives and begins training as a soldier to fight the darthags. Though he is excited to learn archery and swordsmanship with Oliver, the prospect of actually fighting the darthags paralyzes Reid, not least of all because he isn't very good at soldiery. He gets sick in the practice yard, and his comrades treat him as a separate species, fearing the otherworldly diseases he might be carrying. Oliver is the only one who believes in Reid's abilities.

But when Oliver is captured by the darthags, Reid has to find the guts to face battle, or risk losing his only brother, and his only friend, forever.

THE BRETON BOYS is an upper middle grade fantasy. Look for updates every Saturday!