“Your sister!” Kim practically shouted.
Brendan grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the closest Faeries. “Quiet!” he hissed urgently. “She’s over by the tent with the red stripes. See her?”
Kim scanned the area and nodded. “How?” Kim asked. “How did she get to the island?”
“If I knew, I’d tell you. I’ve got to get her out of here before someone else sees her.”
“You can’t leave. They’re about to call you forward for the Proving.”
Brendan groaned. “What am I gonna do?”
At that moment, three boys joined his sister. Brendan recognized Harold and Dmitri. He took an instant longer to recognize the third boy as Chester Dallaire. “What is he doing here?”
Brendan’s thought was interrupted by Ariel’s voice.
“Brendan, Son of Briach Morn. Step forward.”
Brendan froze. He didn’t know what to do.
Kim took his face in her hands. “Go. I’ll take care of this. Good luck.”
She whirled away, weaving through the crowd to where Delia and the boys stood.
Dazed, filled with worry, Brendan tore his eyes away from her progress and turned to face the judges. He took a deep breath and walked through the crowd. The Faeries parted to let him pass.
Delia couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It was like a scene from a movie or an insane dream. She had run ahead of the others through the maze of fluttering tents, following the eerie, throbbing music until she arrived on the edge of an open space filled with these bizarre people, all in the throes of a frenzied dance. A woman in white stood on a large stone. She played a harp with furious passion. Other instruments accompanied her from here and there in the crowd. A DJ at a table supplemented the sound. The scene reminded Delia of a rave, only the music was so much more hypnotic and compelling. She felt the urge to leap out among the dancers and join them in their state of abandon. She was on the verge of doing exactly that when the music suddenly stopped.
Delia felt bereft, as if someone had torn a part of her soul away. She longed to hear the music again, but the woman in white was stepping down from the stone. Delia tried to focus. She scanned the crowd, looking for Brendan. Chester, Harold, and Dmitri arrived.
“Holy crap,” Harold whispered.
“What’s going up?” Dmitri asked in wonder.
Chester didn’t say anything. He just took in the whole sight, mouth slightly open and eyes wide.
Delia ignored them, searching for Brendan. At last, she picked him out. To her chagrin, he was staring straight at her. Kim was with him. She swung her head and locked eyes with Delia.
“Uh-oh,” Delia breathed.
At that moment, someone called out Brendan’s name. Delia’s adopted brother reluctantly turned away to answer the summons of the pale guy who now stood on the rock. Kim, on the other hand, started weaving her way through the crowd. She wore a look of grim determination. She was heading straight for the little group of spies.
“Run!” Delia cried. Turning on her heel, she followed her own advice.
She didn’t have a plan. She was just trying to get away. Harold, Dmitri, and Chester set off after her. They wound their way through the maze, walls of silk funnelling them along.
“Stop!” Kim’s voice called to them. “Guys, wait!”
They paid no attention. All of them were driven by a desire to be far away from this place as soon as possible. They were on the verge of panic.
Suddenly, a young girl stood in their path. She wore a hoodie and jeans. She was Human. One of them!
“Come,” the girl said urgently. “Hide in here.” She held open the flap of a tent and motioned them inside. Something about her inspired trust. Delia made a decision. She didn’t want to be caught. It was hard to think. Something was keeping her from concentrating.
“In here, guys,” the girl cried and led the boys into the tent. Delia ducked in after her.
Kim pelted around a corner to find the way empty. She had been gaining on the little group of interlopers. All she wanted to do was get them away from the Faerground and off the island before they were discovered. Now they were nowhere to be seen.
Puzzled, she stood in the alleyway between the tents, wondering how she could have missed them. Without any other options, she decided to retrace her steps. Slowly, listening hard, she jogged back toward the Faerground, passing the closed flap of the tent where the group was huddled, waiting for her to leave.
When they were confident Kim was gone, the group of Humans let out a collective sigh of relief. In the gloom of the tent’s interior they allowed themselves to relax.
“That was close,” Delia said.
“She almost caught us,” Harold added.
Dmitri frowned. “Would that have been so bad?” They all looked at him, confused. In response, he shrugged and continued. “I mean, why did we get so panicked? We just ran. Doesn’t that strike you as an odd thing to do? There was no reason to assume that Kim meant to hurt us.”
Harold thought about that. “Yeah, I guess that’s true. I just felt this total panic. I had to run.”
Delia realized they were right. “I don’t know.”
“Something made us do it,” Chester said heavily. “Or someone. Where is she?”
“Who?” Delia asked, confused.
“The girl,” Chester said. “The one who told us to hide here.”
“Uh… ” Delia couldn’t concentrate.
“Here I am!” came a playful voice from the gloom. A girl danced out into the light of the single lamp that hung from a tent pole. In the golden light, all pretense of Humanity was gone. As she came out of the shadows, she cast aside the hoodie. Beneath it she wore a ragged black dress, and her hair stood out in a wild tangle around her pale, childlike face. Her eyes had a mad gleam. She grinned, displaying glittering pointed teeth. “Who wants to play with me?”
Instinctively, the group backed toward the tent flap. They turned to flee but found the opening filled with the bulk of a tall, silver-haired man with cold grey eyes.
Chester stepped in front of the others and raised his hands in a defensive stance.
“Let us go,” he demanded.
The silver-haired man tilted his head to one side and stared at the boy as if considering the challenge, then said a single word.
“No.”
^ 60 Most Humans see what they want to see, what is easiest to believe. We explain away the amazing by convincing ourselves that magical, bizarre, or impossible events have mundane causes. UFOs are weather disturbances. Ghosts are hallucinations brought on by indigestion. Faeries use our willingness to disbelieve our eyes to help their glamours work. Brendan, an untried Faerie with little control of his powers, seems to have left an unconscious suggestion in Chester’s mind that allowed Chester to see the Faerie world. Now Chester has transferred his power of Sight to his friends, not because he has any Faerie abilities himself, but because he has made them want to see. No amount of will can turn me into a cat, however. Believe me. I’ve tried. A lot.
^ 61 Indeed, it is not good, as we will soon discover.
PROVING
Delia! Always manages to be annoying. Now she’s annoying in two different worlds! I’ll kill her if somebody hasn’t already. So it was Harold and Dmitri who’d been spying on me, but Chester? How did he get involved? And how could my sister possibly stand dealing with my friends? She wouldn’t normally be caught dead with such nerds.
With effort, Brendan pushed the questions from his mind as he made his way through the crowd of silent Faeries. He had to have a clear head if he was going to succeed. The crowd watched him pass with watchful, appraising eyes. Here and there he saw someone he recognized.
Leonard stood with his massive arm around Saskia’s waist. He flashed his gold teeth in a smile and Saskia
