The Prince of Two Tribes (15 page)

“I could go find you some,” Harold offered.

“Me, too,” Dmitri chimed in. “What’s a cheese curd?”

“Just cool it, guys.” Brendan shook his head. “It’s like you’ve never seen a girl before.”

“Shoot! Mr. Greenleaf told me he wanted to see you,” Harold suddenly broke in. “I totally forgot.”

“When?” Brendan asked.

“Like, right now. I ran into him in the hall between classes. He wanted you to come by during lunch. It slipped my mind.”

Brendan arched an eyebrow. “I wonder why.” Harold and Dmitri had been practically sitting in Charlie’s lap all lunch hour. Harold shrugged as if to say,
Can you blame me?
He’d been sketching Charlie surreptitiously from the moment she sat down. Brendan rolled his eyes and stood up.

“Come on, Charlie,” he said. “Let’s go.”

“But I ’aven’t finished eating!” she protested.

“Yeah, she hasn’t finished eating,” Harold and Dmitri said at the same time.

“You guys are pathetic,” Brendan observed. To Charlie he said, “Bring it with.”

Harold and Charlie watched Brendan leave with this beautiful new creature. As soon as they were out of earshot, Harold said, “Come on. We’re following them.”

“What?” Dmitri raised his eyebrows. “Why are we doing that?”

“We have to find out what Brendan is up to. He’s been weird for weeks. Ever since I woke up and found these drawings in my sketchbook.” Harold held up the dogeared sketchpad he carried with him everywhere now. “You know I don’t remember doing these. I’m sure I did them on the day we lost!” He flipped the pages for Dmitri to see. There were pictures of Brendan floating in the air borne by seagulls, tiny people with wings, and a terrifying woman surrounded by a nimbus of lightning. “These are the best drawings I’ve ever done. I showed them to Brendan and he said I have an amazing imagination. But they aren’t from my imagination! I know this stuff really happened, and I think somehow we were made to forget it. You lost that day, too. Aren’t you the least bit curious?”

Dmitri frowned and nodded. “I guess so.”

“We’ve gotta find out what the deal is with Brendan.” Harold grabbed Dmitri by the arm and pulled him to his feet. “First he blows off our study session and now this ‘cousin’ shows up? It just gets weirder and weirder.”

“I think you are having a conspirority complex,” Dmitri said, gathering up his books.

“It’s
inferiority
complex,” Harold said. “But I think you mean conspiracy theory … either way, you’re wrong. Brendan has been acting weird. He doesn’t hang out the way he used to. We never see him after school.”

“Maybe it’s something simpler,” Dmitri said sadly.

“Like what?”

“Like, he’s found other, cooler people to be friends with.”

Harold thought about that for a moment. Brendan’s skin was better. His glasses were gone. He was more confident and, in a word, cooler. Harold felt an empty space opening up in his stomach and a tiny voice saying,
He’s right, you know. He doesn’t need nerds like you guys.
Harold refused to listen to that little voice. “Naw. Brendan’s a good guy. It must be something else. We’re gonna tail him until we figure out what it is.”

“I can only imagine that this will end badly,” Dmitri sighed.

Together, the two friends headed for the door.

As is the way with most people who decide to follow others, Dmitri and Harold never considered the possibility that they might be followed in turn. Chester had been eating his lunch at a corner table, alone. He’d been watching the little group of his former victims with quiet interest. As Dmitri and Harold left the cafeteria, Chester discarded his half-eaten sandwich, swept his books into his bag, and set off after them.

³⁹
 Again, see Book One.

⁴⁰
 
Poutine
is a culinary peculiarity that hails from the province of Quebec. A bed of french fries is laden with immature cheese in curd form and drenched in thick brown gravy. No one knows the origin of this dish, but its popularity has spread widely. There are many variations on the original. Italian style uses Bolognese sauce in place of gravy. The Indian version employs a glutinous curry sauce. An Arctic version uses chunks of whale blubber in place of cheese curds. No matter which variety you choose to enjoy, be aware that you will shorten your life by several weeks.

BOUNDARIES

Greenleaf’s English class was on the top floor of the school overlooking the park. Greenleaf stood at the windows watching the birds chase each other through the grey sky. Snowflakes were falling, large and soft, swirling against the panes of glass. Brendan entered the room with Charlie in tow and closed the door.

“I smell gravy,” Greenleaf said without turning around.

“And fries,” Charlie said cheerily. “Want some?”

“No food allowed in the classrooms.” Kim’s voice was flat and brittle as a pane of glass. She sat on a desk at the back of the room, glaring at Charlie.

“Really? I’m new here. I don’t know the rules.”

Kim launched herself to her feet and marched up to Charlie, snarling, “Obviously not. You have no business being here. Brendan is my responsibility. I’m his guardian.”

“He’s also my responsibility,” Greenleaf pointed out, his voice calm and even as always. “Let’s not be angry, Ki-Mata. We have only one chance to make a first impression.”

Kim whirled on Greenleaf. “She’s made a pretty bad first impression on me! She approached Brendan on her own without permission. No one’s supposed to butt in on his education.”

“Education?” Charlie laughed, tipping her empty french-fry container into the wastepaper basket and licking her fingers. “Is that what you call it? He can barely use any of his powers. Last night I had to show him what he was capable of. You’ve had plenty of time to do the same and you haven’t.”

Brendan didn’t like Charlie’s tone. Kim and Greenleaf had been doing their best.
He
was the problem.

“Who exactly do you think you are?” Kim snapped. “There are rules for a reason!”

“Yeah, well, I hate to break it to you, Kim,” Brendan interjected. “But Charlie doesn’t seem to be too big on following rules. And I didn’t ask her to show up. She just did.”

“Why didn’t you come to me and tell me?” Kim demanded.

“I tried to this morning but you gave me the cold shoulder. Anyway, who says you can pick who I hang out with? I’m getting sick of it.”

“It’s for your own good,” Kim retorted.

“Not that it’s doing much good,” Charlie quipped, sitting on Greenleaf’s desk.

“You stick a sock in it,” Kim snarled at Charlie.

“Or what?” Charlie laughed.

“Or else,” Kim replied, reaching back and hauling the field hockey stick out of her backpack, “I’ll stick a sock in it for you!”

Charlie responded by crouching on the desktop. Her tattoos writhed and the shadowy shape of the she-bear flickered around her human form. Brendan was seriously concerned that they were going to throw down.

Greenleaf quashed any hope of a rumble with one word. “STOP!” His voice was surprisingly powerful in the confined space of the classroom. Pencils rattled in a cup on the desktop. The two girls froze. “You will stop this instant.You forget yourself, Ki-Mata. Set an example of control and self-possession for your student.”

Kim relaxed with a visible effort, lowering her stick. Charlie stuck out her tongue.

“Charles!” Greenleaf said darkly. “Behave yourself. Ki-Mata does have authority here. She is Brendan’s appointed guardian.”

Charlie tossed her head and studied her nails. “Fine. If you say so, Greenleaf. Just remember, you asked me to come here.”

Kim whirled on Greenleaf, her mouth hanging open in surprise.
“You!
You
asked
her to come here?” Fury turned her voice into a rasp.

“You?” Brendan repeated. He was angry, too. “What’s the big idea?”

Greenleaf heaved a heavy sigh. He ignored Brendan and addressed Kim’s wounded pride. “Ki-Mata, we needed help. The kind of help that only Charles could give us.”

“What kind of help could she possibly give us?” Kim demanded. “Some backwoods lutin?”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Charlie smiled, leaning against the desk.

“That’s jealousy talking, Ki-Mata. You know we have to help Brendan at all costs, even if that means a bruised ego. And Charles has a special past. She was raised in a Human family. She knows things about Brendan’s situation that may help him make a breakthrough,” Greenleaf said evenly. “You have to admit, we’ve been less than successful.”

Kim’s shoulders bunched with repressed fury, but she managed to hold back her anger. “Why wasn’t I consulted?”

“I had no time,” Greenleaf answered. “I consulted with Ariel and detailed the trouble we were having. On his own authority as the Eldest in the region he called Charlie’s teacher.”

Kim simmered in silence, her eyes narrowed in mistrust of Charlie. Charlie, for her part, took Kim’s hostility in stride. Brendan supposed that the threat of being burned at the stake made most other forms of disapproval pale by comparison. Then his mind hooked on something that Greenleaf had said. “Charlie’s teacher? Who’s that?”

“You’ll see soon enough,” Charlie said, leaving him hanging. She addressed Greenleaf. “He made a breakthrough last night, I think.”

“What kind of breakthrough?” Kim demanded. She was intrigued in spite of her annoyance.

“With a little prompting from
me,
he was able to enter and maintain a warp state on his own. He outran me.” She arched an eyebrow in Brendan’s direction. “Almost! And I watched him leap over a police car.
⁴¹
Has he ever shown
you
ability like that?”

Kim glared at Charlie but didn’t speak. Instead, she jammed her stick back into her backpack and sat down with a snort of disgust.

“Hey,” Brendan said, breaking the angry silence, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “I don’t mean to interrupt yet another discussion where you talk about me like I’m not even here, but … I thought I’d laid down some rules of my own. No one was supposed to come into contact with my family without my permission.”

“I realize we bent the rules a little bit … ” Greenleaf admitted.

“Yeah, I’d say so. And if anybody has a right to be angry,” Brendan said, aiming a pointed look at Kim, “I’d say that would be me.”

Greenleaf sighed another world-weary sigh. He took a moment to gather himself, plucking a bit of lint from his otherwise immaculate green vest. Finally, he sat in the chair behind his desk. “Brendan, we didn’t tell you everything about the ceremony.”

“Oh really? What an unbelievable surprise!”

“No need to be so dramatic, Brendan,” Greenleaf sniffed. “It’s only a little bit dangerous.”

“Oh great!” Brendan slumped down in a chair. “Here we go! More horrible things I didn’t know about. Awesome! Kill me now and get it over with.”

Greenleaf chuckled. “Death is not to be feared, Brendan. It is a natural transition from one state of being to another. However, there are … ”

“Don’t tell me! Don’t tell me!” Brendan interrupted. “There are worse things than death and they could happen to me if I don’t pass some weird tests devised by weird Faerie weirdos that I don’t know?”

“Am I that predictable?” Greenleaf laughed. “You seem to have a grasp of the situation. The Proving is only a part of the ceremony. Once you complete the Proving and survive, you must submit to be chosen by a Clan. Clan membership is very important, Brendan. As soon as you are chosen, you have the protection of that Clan and access to all of its resources. You gain powerful allies. To be without a Clan is to be truly alone in the world, which is not only sad but can be very dangerous.”

“Can’t I be a free agent? Neutral or something?” Brendan demanded.

“It’s very rare,” Kim said with a frown. “Only the most powerful can survive outside of a Clan.”

“Won’t I just join your Clan?” Brendan asked Greenleaf.

“Clan has very little to do with family,” Greenleaf explained. “Though Og and I are brothers, we are in different Clans. The Clan system is a sort of support network. In Ancient times, the Clans were constantly feuding and fighting. Fair Folk banded into Clans for safety and to pool resources. Now we don’t fight anymore … “

“Much!” Charlie interjected.

“Much,” Greenleaf agreed ruefully. “But being part of a Clan is important because it provides support and protection from the Dark Ones, the rogues who seek out the weakest and turn them to the Darkness. Being outside of the Clans means that Dark Faeries like Orcadia will prey upon you with impunity. You’ll be on your own. Even if we chose to break the Law and try to help you, we wouldn’t be able to guarantee your safety or your family’s—there aren’t enough of us.”

“Fine,” Brendan said, exasperated. “Another reason I have to pass these tests. So can anyone just tell me what they’re going to be? Shouldn’t I be studying them to make sure I pass?”

“I wish things were so easy.” Greenleaf shook his head regretfully. “The highest-ranking Faeries present choose the tests. No one knows what they will be until the ritual begins. That makes preparation incredibly difficult.”

“Great.” Brendan threw up his hands. “Do I at least get to know who the judges will be, or is that a big secret, too?”

“No, the judges are no secret.” Greenleaf smiled.

“I assume Ariel will be a judge, since he’s the head honcho around here?”

“Ariel is the head of his Clan. But he is acting as the chairman, so he’s neutral. But Kitsune Kai from Japan will be there. It’s a great honour to have her as a judge. She is a strange one and quite … eccentric. Her test will be a bit odd, no doubt. You’ll have to be on your toes. Happily, my sister will be a judge, too.”

“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. Pûkh himself will be there. He calls himself the King of Tír na nÓg, the Everlasting Lands.”