The Prince of Two Tribes mp-2

by Sean Cullen

  “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 ha
rd 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.

  “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.

  Brendan sped down the middle of the road. Charlie took a more adventurous route, leaping lightly along the roofs of the parked cars. Her footfalls were so gentle that she didn’t set
off a single car alarm. The vehicles didn’t even shift under her weight. Brendan was so engrossed with watching her that he almost didn’t see the police car cruise around the corner ahead of him.

  “Brendan!” BLT squeaked. Brendan snapped his head forward and saw the looming grill of the cruiser just in time. Without a conscious thought, he sprang into the air, clearing the flashers with a metre to spare. He skidded to a halt, his bare feet sliding on the icy pavement.

  “Whoa. That was close,” he gasped.

  He didn’t have time to dwell on his narrow miss. Red light bathed him as the police cruiser slammed on its brakes, slewing to a stop on the slippery street. The red lights on top began to spin and the driver’s door swung open.

  “Stay right where you are!” the policeman shouted as he climbed out of the car.

  Brendan froze. He’d never been yelled at by a policeman before.^ 33 He’d also never been out in his pyjamas and bare feet in the middle of the night before. How was he going to explain himself to the constable walking toward him, flashlight in hand? How was he going to explain this to his parents? Brendan blinked as the beam of the flashlight rose to glare into his face.

  “Uh… ” He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but he didn’t know what to say.

  In the end, he had no opportunity to speak. A dark shape flashed by between him and the policeman. The flashlight went spinning from the constable’s hand.

  “Wha-?” Before the officer could register the flashlight smashing onto the pavement, the shape streaked by again. His weapon belt snapped open and the heavy leather holster bearing his gun, Taser, and walkie-talkie thudded around his ankles. The dark shape blurred by once more before stopping to reveal Charlie standing directly in front of the startled man.

  “Evening, Officer,” Charlie said sweetly and pushed the man in the chest with both hands. The constable stumbled on the belt at his feet and fell backwards onto his butt with a loud whuffing sound. Charlie whirled around and dashed past Brendan, laughing merrily.