“Forget it! We’re going out!” She grabbed Brendan’s arm and hauled him across the floor. Now it was his turn to be manhandled against his will.
“Let go of me!” Brendan said, trying to pull away as she dragged him to the window. She may have been slight but she was incredibly strong: her grip was like a vise around his wrist. In spite of his greater height and weight, she dragged him inexorably across the floorboards.
At that moment, BLT streaked in through the open window and jerked to a stop in front of Charlie’s face. “Who are you?” she demanded. “And where are you taking Brendan?” She raised her little fists in a challenge.
“Oho!” Charlie laughed. “Qui est? Une petite pugiliste! Tweezer!”
The ferret slithered from beneath Charlie’s hoodie and curled protectively around the girl’s neck, baring its teeth.
“Uh-oh!” BLT backpedalled in the air as the furry creature hissed at her.
“Leave her alone,” Brendan demanded in a harsh whisper.
“Worry about yourself, mon ami!” She grabbed Brendan by the front of his T-shirt with both hands and flung him out the window.
“Brendan!” BLT cried, zipping out after him like a tiny comet.
Brendan barely had time to marvel at the strength required to lift him from the floor before he realized he was falling. Again, his body instinctively kicked into high gear. He could feel every cell fizzing as he phased into warp time. He twisted himself in mid-air, kicking out with one bare foot against the brick wall of the house as it unreeled beside him. The impact spun him around so that he landed on his feet with a soft thud in the backyard. The snow crunched under his feet. The shock of the ice on his bare soles made him yelp, even with the resistance to the cold afforded him by his Faerie blood. He felt every flake of snow and blade of frozen grass beneath, a sensation that he had yet to become used to or tired of, for that matter.
BLT streaked down from above and clutched at his shoulder. “What’s the idea, leaving me at the mercy of that rabid beast!”
“I hardly had a choice!”
“Still, nice landing.”
“Thanks,” Brendan muttered, his breath clouding the air. The night was cold but he felt no discomfort, even dressed in a threadbare Arcade Fire T-shirt and flannel pyjama pants. He looked down and cursed softly when he saw a hole torn in the knee.
There was a soft rustling sound as Charlie alighted beside him. She had taken the less dramatic route down, scurrying like her ferret, Tweezer, down the brick wall of the house. The ferret was nowhere to be seen.
“What is your damage?” Brendan hissed angrily.
“Chill, Brendan,” she said lightly.
“Chill? You pushed me out a window!”
“Do you always state the obvious? What a wonderful night to be alive, non?”
“My pyjamas are ripped,” Brendan complained.
“Tabarnac! They’re pyjamas. Big deal! Stop whining like a little bebe.”
“You don’t get it. Nothing you do has consequences. You don’t have to explain anything to anyone. I’ll have to explain this to my mum! How am I supposed to keep my nature a secret when you show up and start rubbing my parents’ noses in it? I’m trying to keep a low profile.”
“You are not just hiding from your family. You are hiding from yourself.” Her eyes fell. “And for your information, I am not so free as you imagine.” Brightening, she clapped her hands. “Tonight, there is no one to hide from. Tonight, we enjoy who we really are. Come on!”
Before Brendan could protest, she grabbed his hand and pulled him away.
“Whoa!” BLT tumbled from Brendan’s shoulder, righted herself, and streaked off in pursuit.
Brendan was once again awed by Charlie’s incredible strength. He had no choice but to try to keep up. They ran full speed at the back fence, a wooden barrier, easily three metres tall. Charlie gathered herself and leapt, clearing it easily, while Brendan had to place one foot on the top to vault over. They sped down the back alley, flashing by dark yards and garages. A family of raccoons crowded around an overturned trash can watched them pass.
They burst out of the alley and into the street. Charlie didn’t slow at all. A cab, trawling along Dundas Street for a fare, was the only sign of life. Charlie sped across the wet pavement, lightly stepped onto the hood, and somersaulted over the car. Brendan followed her, noting the alarmed face of the cabdriver who belatedly slammed on the brakes. The angry echo of the taxi’s horn followed them under the bare branches of the trees of Trinity Bellwoods Park.
Brendan had never been in the park in the wee hours of the morning. The moonlight sparkled on the frost rimed limbs of the trees, spread like bony fingers bereft of their summer foliage. With surprise, Brendan realized that Charlie wasn’t pulling him anymore. Somewhere on the street she had released him, and now he was warp running without any awareness of doing so. He couldn’t help but laugh with delight as his feet barely grazed the snowy blanket that covered the park. Searching ahead, he saw that Charlie was in front of him, bounding across the open snow like a deer in great, ground-eating strides. In fact, as he watched her, he thought he could almost see the shadowy shape of a deer surrounding her as she moved. Brendan grinned. He decided he was going to have to show her up. He threw his head back and picked up his pace.
The world slowed as he warped deeper, faster. He caught up with her on a flat, open space just past the baseball diamond.
“Is that all you got?” Brendan called.
Charlie glanced over her shoulder. Her look of dismay was gratifying. Brendan put on another burst and made to pass her.
“Uh-uh-uh!” she scolded. Deftly, she tapped his heel. Brendan’s feet tangled and he fell hard. His speed sent him sliding wildly, spinning, unable to stop himself as he dug a furrow in the freezing snow. He stuck out his hands to stop himself. Looking up, he was alarmed to see a row of trees approaching. He knew he wasn’t going to stop in time. All he could do was cover his face with his forearms and hope his injuries wouldn’t be life-threatening.
Suddenly, his ankles were clamped in a powerful grip. His teeth slammed together as his forward motion was violently arrested. Tentatively, he looked up to see the moss-encrusted trunk of a tree mere inches from his nose.
“Yikes.” He let out his breath and twisted to see Charlie grinning, holding his ankles in her hands. Her black boots had gouged two deep furrows in the frozen ground.
“That was fun.” Charlie giggled, breaking her hold.
Brendan pushed himself to his feet, brushing the dirt furiously from his pyjamas. “What’s the big idea? You could have killed me!”
“But I didn’t. Lighten up.”
BLT, circling overhead, piped up. “That was amazing! You were really warping, Brendan. Until you face-planted.”
“I didn’t face-plant! She tripped me!” He brushed snow from his T-shirt.
BLT hovered in front of his face. “You’re missing the point. How did you manage to warp like that?”
Brendan stopped and thought about what the tiny Faerie had said. “I don’t know. I just did it. I didn’t think about it.”
“Maybe you should think less all the time,” Charlie said, arching an eyebrow. “Thinking: good. Too much thinking: bad. Let’s go.” In a flash, she was speeding away again.
“Where are we going?” Brendan cried. He set off after her with BLT clinging to his shoulder.
He caught up with her just as they reached Queen Street. An all-night streetcar rumbled past. Charlie leapt across in front of it, waving at the startled driver. Brendan sailed across a second later. Before the driver could reach for her warning bell, they were speeding down a darkened side street.