Sean Cullen - The Prince of Two Tribes

“We’ll probably go to the movies or shopping or something.”

“Yeah,” Brendan’s dad agreed. “It’s a real freak weather system. So wear your heavy coats, guys. It’s gonna be super cold.” He picked his parka off the hook and pulled it on. “And don’t lick any frozen pipes!”^ 52 With that advice, he opened the back door and was gone.

“I gotta go, Mum,” Brendan said. He lifted his backpack off the floor and bent to kiss his mother. “See you tonight.”

Brendan and Charlie walked along College Street, past the hospitals and the cafes that served the university.

“What’s the matter with you?” Charlie said finally. She’d appeared at his side moments before. “You haven’t said two words in a row since I showed up.”

“I don’t know,” Brendan mumbled. “Don’t feel like talking, that’s all.”

Brendan’s father was right. The city was gripped in an arctic chill. BLT took refuge in Brendan’s parka pocket, refusing even to poke her head out. The very air seemed to crystallize around them. He focused his Faerie Sight and saw the minute particles of ice glittering in the clouds of his breath. All the people around him were bundled up against the cold, only their eyes peering out between scarves and hats. The clouds hung low and grey with the promise of more snow.

They turned up a side street, cutting across to the Spadina loop.

“Merddyn likes you,” Charlie said. “I can tell.”

“Good for me,” Brendan grunted.

“Come on,” Charlie chided him. “It’s quite a thing to impress that guy. He’s seen everything, that one.”

Brendan stopped and faced her. “Why should I care? I have enough people who like me. I have my family and my friends. And they don’t expect me to save the world for them, either.”

“So angry all the time.” Charlie shook her head. “What have I done?”

“It’s not what you’ve done, it’s why you’re doing it.”

“I’m just trying to show you how to use your power.”

“Because Merddyn told you to.”

“Oui,” Charlie agreed. “He told me to get close to you and help you. But after a while, I did it for me. I envy you, Brendan. I don’t know who my family is, or if they’re even alive. I like your family.”

“Do you?” Brendan said angrily. “You’ve come into our lives and told them lies and they believe you. They don’t even know who you really are. What’s worse, I think they want to believe you for my sake, to make me happy.”

Charlie hung her head, her dark hair hiding her face. When she raised her head again, he saw that she was crying. Tears shimmered on her cheeks. “You’re right. What you say is true. I’m sorry, Brendan.” She turned and walked away.

Brendan suddenly felt ashamed of himself. So what if she was helping him to help herself? Did that make her so terrible? Did that give him the right to attack her? He reached out his hand, about to call her back…

“BRENDAN!” A voice suddenly pierced his head like a spike driving between his ears. He cried out and fell to his knees. “BRENDAN! COME TO ME NOW!”

Brendan fell on his face on the frozen sidewalk. When he rolled over onto his back, he saw that he was in front of Lord Lansdowne School. The black rock loomed over him. It seemed huge, about to topple down and crush him with its infinite weight.

“No!” Brendan cried out. “NO! Get away from me!”

“BRENDAN!” the voiced howled in his head. “YOU MUST HELP ME! I’M TRAPPED IN HERE!” The voice filled his whole mind and soul. It was rife with need and pain and anger. There was something else. Beneath the pain and anger was blackness, an abyss of unnatural hunger.

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” Brendan shouted at the top of his lungs. He could feel something clawing at his consciousness, trying to unravel the edge of his mind like a cat tugging at a ball of yarn. It was a sickening feeling.

“Brendan! Brendan!” A voice spoke nearby. “Brendan? Are you all right?”

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” Brendan screamed, pushing the speaker away. Suddenly, the voice was gone and he could think again. Charlie had fallen over the low fence that surrounded the stone. He must have pushed her without realizing. Instantly, he reached for her hand and helped her to her feet again.

“I’m sorry,” Brendan said automatically. “I heard a voice. That rock… It spoke to me.”

“Spoke to you?” Charlie said in surprise. She turned and cast an appraising eye on the rough surface of the stone, her focus suddenly on it rather than Brendan. “Has this happened before?”

Brendan got to his feet. He felt shaky. “Once or twice.” He raised a hand to touch Charlie’s arm but she absently batted it away.

“And it was with this rock? Only this rock?”

“Yeah. What’s the matter with you?”

“I must go,” Charlie said suddenly.

“Where? What’s going on?”

“Nothing. I just forgot I had to do something.” Charlie turned to go.

Brendan grabbed her arm and pulled her back. “I’m sorry I hurt you. Why are you acting so weird all of a sudden?”

She pulled away from him, flowing effortlessly from his grasp. “See you at the Gathering tonight, Brendan.” Before he could speak again, she raced away.

Puzzled, Brendan stood watching the place where she’d disappeared from sight. “That was weird,” he said to no one in particular. He looked once again at the rock, fearful of hearing that insistent voice once more, but it seemed to be inert now, a simple lump of stone. Finally, Brendan went on his way. He was late for school.

The last day of school before the Christmas break had a festive air. Students in the halls greeted Brendan cheerfully as he went from class to class. The classes themselves were lax and easy (except for algebra, which sucked as much as ever). The teachers had brought in baked goods and candies, and the physics teacher even brought a punch bowl full of eggnog. Brendan would normally have enjoyed the light mood, but his mind was weighed down with fears of the upcoming Proving.

He would have liked to talk to Harold and Dmitri. Although he couldn’t have told them everything that was bothering him, just talking to them would have been nice. But they weren’t in school today. When Brendan asked his homeroom teacher where they were, he was told that both had called the office to say they were sick. They weren’t the only ones. A lot of kids had decided to start the holiday early, but Harold and Dmitri never cut class. Even stranger, today they’d been scheduled to present their social studies project. Brendan couldn’t believe they’d bailed, but he was relieved. He’d forgotten all about the dumb project and now he was off the hook.

Bereft of their company, Brendan drifted through French and chemistry, listening in as other kids talked excitedly about what they’d be doing over the holidays: visiting family, going to Florida, skiing. Their plans sounded simple and wonderful. He wished his life were like theirs. Instead, he’d be going through an ordeal at the hands of beings from legends.

Failing the Challenges would be bad. Aside from the fact that he might actually die at the hands of the judges, the consequences of failure if he survived weren’t much better: Exile. An Exile from the Faerie community was completely alone. Brendan would have to live in the Human world knowing all that was closed off to him. He’d only just begun to explore the many gifts his Faerie heritage offered him. Though he’d been confused at first, as his senses expanded, heightened, and changed, he realized that living without his Faerie abilities would be a bleak existence. Watching his family and friends age and die while he hung on, frozen while the world changed around him, filled him with dread.