Now that the danger had passed, Brendan was overwhelmed by a wave of exhaustion. He tried to walk to the judges but staggered. Kim was instantly at his side to catch him. He leaned on her as he made his way to where the judges awaited him. The crowd parted, oddly hushed and watchful. He had done things that were thought to be impossible, and now they felt trepidation at being too close to this young boy.
He squeezed Kim’s hand gratefully and nodded. She stepped back, within easy reach if he needed her support.
Pukh rose to his feet and addressed Brendan with a warm smile. “Well done, Brendan. You have certainly Proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are your father’s son and a Prince of Ancient Lineage. Congratulations. You may now be accepted into a Clan as a fully fledged Faerie. I extend my invitation to join the Clan of Tir na nOg! We can use someone with your gifts.
“There is no Clan with more power and influence than mine,” Pukh continued. “You can be at my right hand. You have proven that you deserve the rank.” He cast a scathing glare at the helpless Lugh.
Brendan couldn’t tell if Pukh’s sincerity was just a show or he really meant what he said. Lugh was Pukh’s minion, and he’d tried to kill Brendan. The Lord of Tir na nOg could not be trusted.
“I don’t care about your Clans. I won,” Brendan said brusquely. “Now let me and my friends and sister go.”
“Of course,” Ariel agreed. “They will be Compelled to silence and freed.”
“No,” Brendan said. “That isn’t going to happen.”
Ariel’s pale face went even paler. “Those were the conditions of the bargain. They will be upheld.”
“That bargain was finished when Lugh pulled the knife,” Brendan said coldly. “The rules have changed. It’s time for things to be different.” Brendan looked at the faces of Og, Deirdre, and Greenleaf, full of pride and relief at his survival. Merddyn winked, and Kitsune Kai’s dark eyes were watchful, expectant.
Brendan turned to address the silent throng.
“I’ve done all that’s been asked of me. I’ve tried to follow the rules. I’m not going to do that anymore. These people…” He indicated the little group huddled on the floor. “They are as important to me as any Fair Folk will ever be. I love my new family. Aunt Deirdre, Greenleaf, Og: they have been as kind as they could be, but my Human parents were there in all the hardest parts of my life. They thought of me as their son. They took me in when my real father put me aside. I owe them everything.” He smiled at Delia. “My sister has been… a sister. We’ve fought tooth and nail. We’ve shared our childhoods and grown up together.” He turned to Harold and Dmitri. “My friends were there for me when I thought I was alone in the world. They risked their lives to help me, and I repaid them by not trusting them enough to tell them my secret. Well, that’s going to change. There will be no secrets anymore.”
Outraged voices cried out in protest. Brendan waited until the shouts ran their course. “I know many of you will disagree with me. Many of you will feel threatened. I want you to understand that I don’t plan on going out into the world and revealing your existence. Humans aren’t ready for that. Many of you feel they’ll never be ready for that. I think you’re wrong.”
He looked to Merddyn. The old Faerie was watching him with bright eyes, eager to hear his words. He smiled encouragement.
“The truth is, the Human world needs us. The Pact was a mistake. It was born out of fear and mistrust. Our two tribes, the Humans and the Faeries, were never meant to be separated. We’re two sides of the same coin. Faeries say Humans are destroying the world with their progress and their pollution, but then Faeries turn around and copy their technology, ape their ways. It doesn’t make any sense. We sit back and despise the Humans when we should be helping them, guiding them.
“That’s why the Pact must change. Faeries were never meant to be alone. Humans were never meant to be alone. We were meant to share the world, to complement each other. Instead, we’ve both been going our own ways, and now the Earth is suffering for it.”
Brendan addressed Pukh directly. “You, living alone in your fantasy world. You are the worst of all. You cut yourself off from what’s real and cling to the Old Ways. That’s absolutely the wrong thing to do. You can never return to the past.”
Pukh sneered, his normally handsome face distorted by disdain. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Humans can’t be trusted.”
“What? They’re less trustworthy than you? I doubt it.” Brendan laughed.
Maya danced from foot to foot. “Let me kill him, my Lord! Let me!”
“Try,” Brendan said evenly. He didn’t want another fight, but he wasn’t afraid of it either.
Maya stilled herself but her eyes beamed hatred at him. Brendan ignored her.
“I’m going to leave now. I am taking these Humans, my friends and family, with me.” He bent down and untied Delia as he spoke. When she was free, she worked on the others’ bonds. “You can do whatever you want. I’m going to live my life as I see fit. No Pact is going to rule me. I will judge each moment as it comes and do what I have to to survive and to be the person I want to be. My mum and dad are probably wondering where I am. I’m going home. It’s Christmastime and I’m going to celebrate with them. I don’t need a Clan. I have a family and I have friends.”
“Without a Clan,” Pukh said flatly, “you will die.”
Brendan’s voice was equally cold. “I’ll take my chances.”
He swept his eyes over the group. Deirdre’s face was unreadable. Greenleaf’s held a gentle smile. Ariel’s face was cold and distant. Pukh’s lip was curled in disdain. Merddyn smiled openly. Brendan looked for Charlie but caught only a glimpse of her as she disappeared in the excited crush of Faeries.
His eyes fell on Kim last. She smiled at him, an exasperated, eye-rolling smile that made him laugh in spite of the pain that racked his ribs.
Brendan turned to leave.
“Brendan!” Merddyn’s voice stopped him. The Ancient Faerie held the wrapped bundle that was his father’s sword out to him. Brendan hesitated. Did he really want it? Without it, he wondered if he’d ever be able to speak to his father again. Still, the sword scared him a little.
“Come,” Merddyn said softly. “It is yours. No one else here may touch it.”
What made him decide to take the sword was the annoyance on Pukh’s face. If taking it would upset the King of the Everlasting Lands, he had to do it. Brendan took the sword, sensing its power and energy through the wrapping. He nodded to Merddyn. Without a word, he joined his companions and walked out of the Swan of Liir. He wondered if it would be for the last time. Then he decided he didn’t care. He was with those who mattered most to him. If others didn’t understand, so be it.
They made it outside the door without incident and Brendan breathed a sigh of relief.
Later that night, safe at home, Brendan lay in his bed, content. He and his friends had split up and gone to their separate homes with the plan to meet up after Christmas to talk about what had happened. The boys promised Brendan that they wouldn’t share their experience with anyone without discussing it with him first.
As he lay in the darkness thinking about what had happened at the Swan, he felt suddenly bereft. In the darkness, alone, doubts began to crowd in. He wondered, had he been too hasty? Had he burned his bridges? He had to believe he’d done the right thing. He knew he was right. All he’d seen since he’d become aware of the Faerie world convinced him that the Fair Folk and Humans could not continue living the way they were. The Earth was suffering because the two were not in tune.
The enormity of the problem suddenly pressed down on his chest. He felt completely alone. Sure, he had his friends Harold and Dmitri and now Chester. He had his sister, although he still wasn’t sure where she stood. She’d been unnaturally quiet and subdued all the way back and had gone straight to her room. He hoped she would come around.
He heard his parents come home, giggling and a little tipsy. His father started singing and his mother shushed him. They came up the stairs to their room, trying to be quiet but laughing like children. Brendan smiled and a weight lifted. He loved them so much.
The road ahead was uncertain but he wasn’t afraid. Well, not much. He had friends and he had family, and that would have to be enough.
He must have fallen asleep because the tapping on the window startled him awake.
He sat up and banged his head on the ceiling. Cursing, rubbing his head, he went to the window and raised the sash.
Charlie clung to the drainpipe outside the window. Her dark hair was once more in a mohawk and she was wearing a torn T-shirt, even though the temperature was well below freezing. Tweezers curled around her shoulders, his bright red eyes blinking at Brendan.
“Hi,” Charlie said.
“Hi,” Brendan answered. “Do you want to come in?”
“No thanks. I just came to say goodbye.”
“Why? Where are you going?”
“Just away for a while. I need a little time to think.”
Faced with the prospect of not seeing her, Brendan suddenly felt sad. He should have been glad to be rid of her after all her harassment. Now here she was going and he wished she wasn’t. “Where will you go?”
Charlie shrugged. “No idea yet. Just away. Merddyn hasn’t made any progress finding my parents.”
“I’m sorry,” Brendan said and meant it. “I wanted to thank you for your help. Without you, I don’t think I could have made it through the Proving.”
“You did very well.”
“Where were you?”
“What?”
“Where were you, during the Proving?”
Charlie turned her face away.
Brendan pressed. “I really needed your support.”
“I thought I’d done enough for you.”
“Yeah.” Brendan nodded. “I guess you did. I missed you, that’s all.”
Hair shadowed her features but Brendan could tell her mouth was set in a hard line. “I had to check on some things.”
“What kind of things?”
“Personal things,” Charlie snapped.
They were quiet for a moment. The drainpipe creaked gently under Charlie’s weight. The wind gusted, a few flakes of snow clicking on the windowpane.
“I should be going,” Charlie said.
“Wait,” Brendan said. “I saw you talking to Pukh. What did he want?”
“Oh.” Charlie’s eyes slid away. “Nothing in particular. He was just asking about you. I… didn’t tell him anything. Nothing important.”
“Be careful,” Brendan said. “You can’t trust him.”
Anger flashed in Charlie’s sapphire eyes. “Why don’t you just mind your own business, Brendan? Go inside to your family. I’ll take care of myself.”
She turned to go but Brendan held her arm. She reluctantly looked into his face.
He thought of the moment in the basement. The sadness of her voice as she sang. “I’ll miss you.”
Tears stood in her eyes.
He felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of that beautiful face, glowing in the moonlight. He remembered running through the park under the stars.
“Be careful,” he said.
She smiled. Gracefully, she slid down the pipe and landed lightly on the snowy ground. With a final wave, she set out across the backyard. Her body shifted and she became a stag that vaulted the back fence with ease and grace. In a flash, she was gone.
Brendan stared at the place where she’d disappeared for a long while. Just as he was about to close the window, a streak of light flashed out of the night sky and into the bedroom.
“Oh, boy!” BLT crowed. “You really stirred them up, I tell you!”
“Shhh!” Brendan hissed. “People are sleeping.”
BLT looped the loop and lighted on the bed. “Ariel is totally furious with you, but Deirdre and Greenleaf are talking him down.”
“What did Merddyn do?” Somehow, the enigmatic old Faerie’s opinion mattered most to Brendan.
“He said he accepted your decision, which seemed to settle most people down. Then he up and left. He’s gone!”
“What about Pukh?”
“Old Puke was strange. He didn’t seem all that angry. He actually seemed pretty mellow about the whole thing. Lugh is still stuck in the floor, though. Not a happy camper.” BLT started to laugh and it was infectious. Brendan found himself laughing along.
“Brendan?” His mother’s voice from the hallway below interrupted the mirth. “Is someone up there with you?”
“No, Mum!” Brendan answered. He was going to tell them everything. Just not tonight.
“Why are you laughing all by yourself?” she asked. “That’s a sign of insanity, you know. Should I be worried?”
“No!” Brendan called, smiling. “I’m just watching a video on my iPod. Sorry!”
“Time to sleep!” He heard her footfalls as she headed back to her room and closed the door.
“If you’re going to sleep, I’m gonna go out,” BLT announced. “I’ll just have to celebrate for the both of us!”
BLT zipped across the room and waited at the window as Brendan opened it enough to let her escape. He then went and sat on the bed.
He thought about what his mother had asked him. “Should I be worried?”
He suddenly felt confident and optimistic. I really did give the correct answer. No.
He reached under his bed and slid out the cloth bundle that held his father’s sword, now his sword. He peeled back the cloth and revealed the hilt. He clasped his fingers around the smooth crystal and it settled easily in his hand.
As soon as his skin touched the hilt of the weapon, he felt its contentment. It was like holding a cat that falls asleep in your arms. The sensation was so comforting that Brendan felt calmness wash through him. He closed his eyes and cast his mind out, searching for his father’s presence, but there was only the soft purr of the sword. He lay back on his bed and let the hum lull him into sleep.