“Aunt Deirdre is the head of a Clan?” Brendan asked, amazed. He had no idea she was old enough to be considered a Clan leader. She hardly seemed older than his Human mother, but Faeries’ looks were very deceiving. Charlie had lived for centuries and still appeared to be a teenage girl. The same went for Kim.
“Indeed. She was born only eight minutes before me.” Greenleaf grinned. “We’re twins. A very rare occurrence among our kind.”
Kim piped up, “The last judge is a big deal. Pukh himself will be there. He calls himself the King of Tir na nOg, the Everlasting Lands.”
“Never heard of it. Sounds like a Japanese cartoon.”
Charlie burst out laughing. “Oh, Brendan, you are a real treat. Japanese cartoon. Ha! That’s good.” She continued to laugh despite glares from Kim and Greenleaf. She wiped her eyes with the hem of her T-shirt. “Sorry. That’s just funny.”
“Tir na nOg is a stronghold of Faeries who wish to follow the Old Ways,” Greenleaf explained. “Pukh was one of the Dark Faeries who lost the battle of the Final Alliance between Humans and Faeries. He chose to lead his followers into a sanctuary outside the realm of Humans. The Faeries of Tir na nOg rarely venture outside their kingdom, but Pukh put his name forward as one of your judges. This is a great honour, Brendan.”
“Lucky me! He sounds like a really great guy,” Brendan said glumly. “I guess I should be flattered?”
“I don’t know.” Kim shook her head. “I’d be suspicious. Who knows what he really wants. Maybe he just wants to get a look at you. Or maybe he has something else in mind.”
“He won’t make it easy, will he?” Brendan said.
No one said anything. Finally, Charlie smiled a lopsided smile. “Don’t count on it.”
Brendan felt his heart fall into his shoes.
Outside Greenleaf’s classroom, Harold and Dmitri strained to hear the conversation on the other side of the door. For some reason, though the door wasn’t particularly thick, they couldn’t make out a single intelligible word.
“What are they saying?” Dmitri whispered.
“What, have I got better ears than you? You tell me.” Harold’s round face was red and sweaty from the effort of squatting out of sight beneath the window, although he found maintaining his awkward position easier than he might have a few weeks before. He was eating less since he’d found this new obsession with Brendan. “It’s weird. They’ve been in there for half the lunch hour. What could they be talking about?”
“Beat me,” Dmitri whispered.
“Beats me. It’s beats me, you goof.” Harold had less patience with Dmitri’s English slang vocabulary than Brendan did.
“Sorry.” Dmitri shrugged. “What do we do now?”
“I don’t know. We gotta find out what Brendan’s been up to. And this super-babe cousin of his shows up outta nowhere? Did you see the way Kim reacted when she saw Charlie? She was really angry.”
“Yes,” Dmitri agreed. “There’s more to this than greets the eye!”
“Meets the eye! MEETS! OW!” Harold cried out as what felt like a vise gripped his ear and hauled him to his feet. It wasn’t a vise but a vice-principal. Harold and Dmitri had been so occupied with their eavesdropping that they’d failed to detect Ms. Abernathy’s stealthy approach. She clamped Dmitri’s ear in her other pincer and pulled him up, too.
“A little birdie told me you were lurking around up here,” Ms. Abernathy snapped. “The upper halls are off limits during lunch hour.”
“Yeah… uh… we… ”
“No excuses. We are going to the office and you’ll be assigned punishment duties. I think a couple of hours after school scrubbing the floors in the boys’ washrooms should teach you some respect for the rules.”
“We were just trying to… ” Harold stammered. “I mean, Mr. Greenleaf asked us to… ”
“What? Polish his keyhole with your ears?” she sneered. “You’re coming with me.”
Harold and Dmitri groaned as she dragged them away. Chester was careful to stay in the shadows of an alcove as they passed. Satisfied that the eavesdroppers were taken care of, he sidled away, whistling.
Inside the classroom, Mr. Greenleaf’s head turned as he heard the commotion. “We had some eavesdroppers, but thanks to my glamour and the trusty Ms. Abernathy, they’ve been dealt with.” He turned to Brendan. “We have explained what’s coming as best we can. I don’t want to frighten you, but you need to be prepared for the tests ahead. Ki-Mata… ” He addressed the sullen Faerie who sat with arms crossed at one of the desks. “I know you are upset. But I’ve done this for Brendan’s benefit. I hope you can forgive me and learn to get along with Charlie. You are more alike than you know.” Both girls snorted at that but didn’t speak. “All right. We’ve talked enough. The bell will ring soon and I have my lesson to prepare. I’ll see you tonight at the Swan.”
Kim, Brendan, and Charlie stood up and headed for the door.
“Oh, and Charlie?”
Charlie turned.
“Try not to do anything too outrageous, please?”
“Me?” She grinned. “Never.”
^ 41 I once leapt over a police car. It belonged to my nephew, who is three.
THE CIRCLE
The winter solstice, the time when the sun was farthest away from Toronto’s latitude, would fall on December twenty first, a Friday. That Friday would therefore be the shortest day of the year. It might also be the last day Brendan ever saw. Everything else seemed insignificant beside the Challenges. Brendan had four days until the Proving ceremony, and he was completely terrified.
According to Greenleaf and Kim, strong Wards, Compulsions, and glamours were being woven to keep the Human residents of Toronto away from the Island of the Ward. Weather glamours would freeze the lake to discourage travel, and the ferries would cease to run. Island residents would be convinced that they should spend the weekend away or ensconced in their homes.
Brendan couldn’t imagine the power required to work such a massive glamour. But he could easily imagine the worst coming to pass in the days ahead. In the four days he had left, he had to prepare for any possible test the judges might throw at him. And do his social studies project, although the wrath of Mrs. Scott, his teacher, paled in comparison to a fate worse than death. Brendan couldn’t believe how much his perspective had changed over the last few weeks. Before then he’d had a healthy fear of his high school teachers. Now he was standing across the sparring circle from Saskia, part-time bartender and full-time Warp Warrior, who was getting ready to hand him yet another beating as part of his training.
“This is completely hopeless!”
“Naw, it ain’t, lad! Ye were better tha’ time,” Og urged him. “Ye almost touched her once.”
“I missed by a mile,” Brendan grumbled.
“Och, aye. But still, it was closer than last time!” Og sat at the bar of the Swan of Liir, swigging from a mug of brown ale the size of Brendan’s entire head. Despite the glass’s size, his gnarled fist hefted it with ease. “Ye can’t give up.” He burped.
“Nope!” BLT cried, waving a tiny fist. She sat on the lip of a glass of diet cola, her feet dangling down and her free hand clinging to a drinking straw. “You show her who’s boss!”
Brendan was still gasping for breath after the last round. They’d been at it for an hour now, and he didn’t feel that he’d improved at all. His T-shirt was soaked with sweat and his hair plastered down. Saskia looked as if she’d just rolled out of bed, fresh as a daisy.
“You think too much, Brendan,” the Faerie said. “Your thoughts slow you down. Clear your mind and react, only react.”
Easy for you to say. Brendan tried to free his mind of all stray thoughts. The fact that he had an audience didn’t help. Kim and Greenleaf stood at the railing on the balcony above, witnessing his humiliation.