“Well?” Charlie whispered. “What do you say? Are we going to be friends?” She grinned, baring her teeth. The three shadow creatures leaned closer. “Or not?”
Footsteps sounded on the path.
As quickly as they had grown, the creatures shrank back and scampered up Charlie’s legs, scrabbling and clawing up her clothing and leaping back into her skin like divers into a pool. Her skin rippled before settling into its former solidity. Only the creature in her arms remained, nose twitching. Another lone jogger approached. He saw Brendan pressed against the tree and slowed slightly, asking Charlie, “You all right, miss? Is this guy bothering you?”
“I’m fine, thanks.”
The runner nodded and, with a stern look at Brendan, continued into the park.
“What is that?” Brendan whispered. “A weasel?”
“Ferret,” Charlie corrected. “Though he does come from the weasel family. Don’t you, Tweezers?”
The thing blinked once and the red eyes shifted to a more natural yellow, staring at Brendan with obvious suspicion and dislike. The ferret suddenly scuttled up Charlie’s arm and coiled around her neck.
Recovering from his fright, Brendan grunted, “He was asking the wrong person.”
“You’re afraid of little me?”
“Shouldn’t I be?”
Charlie shook her head. “Non. I’m here to help you. If you’ll let me.”
Brendan shook his head. He didn’t know what to say. She’d keep hounding him until he let her have her way. He turned his attention to the creature on her shoulders. “Ferret, huh? I guess he’s kinda cute,” he conceded. “If it is a he?”
“Oui, un petit homme,” Charlie said. “His name is Tweezers.” The animal in question chittered loudly as Brendan gently scratched him between the ears. “I think he likes you.”
“I can see that,” Brendan said. “Where did he come from?”
“He comes from me. He’s one of my spirit animals. But I will explain all to you some other time. You should be getting home.” She smiled and started to jog off through the park, stopping after a few steps and looking back at him, her eyes slightly sad. “You have a nice family. You should feel very fortunate.”
“I do.”
She nodded and started off again.
“Where are you staying?” Brendan called.
“Here and there,” came the reply, and then she was gone with a lazy wave of her hand.
Brendan turned and headed for home. When he arrived, he suffered his parents’ prying questions about his new girlfriend. They were far more excited about the prospect than he was comfortable with. At last, he made his retreat to the attic. Brendan threw himself onto the bed, his head filled with the possible disasters that could arise from Charlie hanging around. He had to find a way to get rid of her.
At some point he fell asleep, in spite of his worries. With all the bizarre events of the day, he’d failed once again to talk to Harold and Dmitri.
^ 30 Busking is the art of street performing. In my opinion, busking should be avoided at all costs. If you are a performer, try to perform indoors. First of all, one doesn’t get rained or snowed on. Second, there’s usually a stage or some other sort of platform to perform from. Third, any performer who plays for spare change and the odd half-sandwich from a passerby is not really a performer at all, although I read about an eccentric French pop star who only accepts payment in the form of bacon baguettes.
^ 31 The term lutin is an ancient French name for Fair Folk. The word isn’t used in France anymore, but medieval farmers brought it with them to Eastern Canada when they settled New France. Lutins are reputed to be mischievous and playful, causing minor problems like curdling milk or tipping cows in the night.
^ 32 Toronto does have a reputation for being a little bit stuffy and boring, but only among people who’ve never actually been there.
NIGHT RUNNING
Brendan felt he had barely closed his eyes when the covers were torn from his bed. He drew in breath to shout, but a hand clamped over his mouth. Panic flooded his body with adrenaline. Without thinking, he tapped into his warp powers, grabbing the wrist of his attacker and flipping the person to the ground. He pinned his foe face down on the wooden floor.
“Hey! Relax, will you?” Charlie’s voice sounded pained. She struggled against Brendan’s grip but he held tight. She may have been small but her muscles were like steel. It was like pinning an eel.
“What are you doing here?” Brendan released her arm and stood up. The warp reflexes were already fading. His limbs quivered as the adrenaline drained from his system. He stepped aside and allowed Charlie to sit up. “I thought I was done with you for the night.”
“I see you have some warp skills,” she said, straightening her shirt. “Impressive.”
Brendan wouldn’t be distracted. “Yeah, whatever. What are you doing here? This is my room.”
“You’re really uptight, you know? This is my room! This is my house. This is my family. You should listen to yourself,” Charlie said, clicking her tongue. “You have serious selfishness issues.”
“Whatever. I’ll ask you again, what are you doing in my room?”
“It’s nice. Cozy, even if it does smell a little bit. And as I said, I like your family. I’ve been looking in on them. All of them are sleeping, peaceful. It’s quite beautiful.”
Brendan went cold at the thought of Charlie with her spirit animals stalking through the house in the dark, looming over his sleeping parents. He studied her face in the moonlight.
“Don’t ever do that again,” Brendan said evenly, with all the menace he could muster.
Charlie cocked her head and looked at him as if she suddenly understood that wandering around people’s houses at night was frowned upon.
“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt them. I told you, I like them.”
“Who cares if you like them? You shouldn’t even be here! I have one rule: my Human family is off limits. I let everyone know that.”
Charlie looked out the open window at the dark backyard. “Oh, yes. I’ve heard the rule. But I chose to ignore it. I thought you’d appreciate that.” She turned her head to look at him, the contours of her smirk etched in moonlight. “After all, you break our rules daily. You chose your Human family over your own people.”
“That’s none of your business.”
“It is my business. I’m a Faerie. That makes it my business. But there’s no reason to get all defensive. I like you, Brendan. And we actually have a lot in common.”
“We have nothing in common!” He realized he was almost shouting and lowered his voice to a harsh whisper. “Just get to the point.”
“I got to thinking after we split up in the park. I thought you should get out and see what you’re missing. There’s a whole world you’re not experiencing.”
“I’ll experience it in the morning,” Brendan whispered. “Now get out!”
“I’m going out and you’re coming with me.”
“What? It’s two in the morning! Where could we possibly go?”
Charlie smiled mischievously. “There’s plenty to see at night. We are the People of the Moon, after all.”
“Oh yeah? Well, I’m not really interested in going out in the middle of the night. If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll get some sleep.”
“Sleep?” Charlie scoffed. “You’re a Faerie! You don’t need to sleep. You’ve been living with Humans too long.”
“Keep your voice down!” Brendan hissed, cocking an ear for the sound of his parents stirring below. There was no sound, save for the creaking of the house and the dull hum of a car passing by. “I know I don’t need sleep. I like sleep. And I’d like some right now.” Brendan had become aware through spending time with his new Faerie friends and family that Faeries didn’t require sleep the way Humans did. Instead, they entered a meditative state for as long as they needed to restore their strength. Like all the new Disciplines Brendan was struggling to learn, a meditative state was hard for him to reach and, once in it, hard to maintain. It was another failure in a long list, but he wasn’t about to reveal his shortcomings to Charlie.