“BLT!” Brendan cried, stricken.
Titi rose from the branch, transforming before Brendan’s eyes into a spiky little bat creature with a wet, snuffling muzzle and talons for hands. She fluttered to Orcadia’s shoulder and perched there, watching Brendan with glassy black eyes.
“She’s gone! Worry about yourself,” cackled Orcadia.
“No! No! This isn’t real,” Brendan stammered. “You’ve gone to the Other Side. My father sent you there.”
“Fool.” She waved an arm and the whole of her body was transformed. She was Orcadia Morn, beautiful and terrible. Her wild white-blond hair crackled and snapped with energy. She raised her hands, holding them slightly apart. Brendan watched, mouth agape, as a ball of energy gathered between her palms. “This time you won’t escape.”
“This can’t be happening… ” Brendan gasped. “Greenleaf… ”
“That simpering dandy was no match for me. I took his place, concealed by glamours. Now I will have my revenge.” She leapt forward. “You followed me to your doom, like a lamb to the slaughter.”
She was right: no one knew where he was. He couldn’t even cry for Human help, concealed as he was within the glamour surrounding the ravine. Kim didn’t know where he and Greenleaf had gone. He was utterly alone. If he was going to survive, he had to do it without any outside help.
Brendan scrambled backwards, falling over the stump to escape her attack. The air rushed out of his lungs as he slammed onto his back on the hard ground. Gasping for breath, he scrabbled through the carpet of dead leaves as Orcadia came on, igniting the dry grass where she stepped.
“I will!” she cackled. “There won’t be enough of you left to sing a song over!” Orcadia raised her hands. Between her palms, a fierce light collected as she drew energy from the surrounding air. He watched in fascination with his acute Faerie Sight as tiny motes of light swirled into a ball. He smelled ozone and felt his hair begin to stand on end from the static electricity. “Breandan Morn! Prepare to DIE!”
^ 18 The three-piece suit has become a mainstay in men’s tailoring: pants, jacket, and vest. It’s much more classy than the one-piece suit (also known as overalls) and less unwieldy than the eight- piece suit (basically a three-piece suit with two scarves, a hood, one glove, and pantyhose).
^ 19 Please do not mention “my cousin Dave.”
^ 20 Yorkville is a part of Toronto where rich people buy expensive things. They aren’t necessarily nice things, but if they are expensive, rich people feel obliged to buy them to prove that they are rich. It’s a sad, endless cycle of spending. I wish I had that problem.
^ 21 People often use the expression “I could have kicked myself
… “ I don’t think it’s possible. I was part of a scientific research group that attempted to study the act of kicking oneself. Despite extensive trials and the waste of a lot of government grant money, only one of us managed to kick himself, and that was after his leg was severed in an automobile accident.
TALENT
Brendan’s mind flooded with panic. His heart was racing. He couldn’t get enough air into his lungs. Do something! his mind screamed.
“You can’t escape,” Orcadia cackled. “And no one can help you. It’s just you and me!”
Brendan’s back came up against the rough bark of the tree trunk. He could flee no farther without turning his back to the threat. His chest heaving, he pressed himself into the tree, wishing he could disappear. His eyes searched for a way out, and he almost failed to see the crackling orb sailing at his head. He ducked and rolled, coming to his feet as the tree erupted in flames.
How had Orcadia managed to fool everyone? How had she escaped from the Other Side? His father had said she couldn’t come back!
“You can’t be here!” he said suddenly. “This isn’t real.”
“It’s real, weakling.” Orcadia raised her arms and purple fire erupted above her. The flames fanned outward and ignited the dry, dead branches of the winter trees. Instantly, the forest above Brendan was ablaze.
“Stop it!” Brendan cried. He was terrified, not only for himself, but for the Humans who might see the flames and come to investigate. He knew Orcadia had no compunction about revealing herself to Humans and wouldn’t hesitate to harm any who came near.
Brendan pushed himself up onto his toes in a fighting stance as ash and cinders began to rain down. Sparks ignited tiny fires in the dry leaves on the ground around him. “Go back to the Other Side, Orcadia. You can’t do this here.”
“Why don’t you cry for your Human mother, weakling?” Orcadia laughed. “Don’t worry! She won’t survive long after you’re gone. Neither will your father or your sister.”
Brendan gritted his teeth. The thought of his Human family in danger awakened something within him. “You will not touch them,” he said coldly.
“Or else what?” Orcadia sneered.
“GO!” he shouted as powerfully as he could, putting all his anger and fear behind that one word.
Orcadia shuddered. Battling against the Compulsion, she clawed the air for purchase. Brendan’s heart soared.
“I did it!” he crowed. “I did it! I Compelled you!”
His elation died as he saw Orcadia’s features grow calm and her shuddering cease. She shook herself like a dog climbing out of a pond and then stood still, a vicious smile blooming on her lips. “Nice try. Is that the best you can do?”
Brendan didn’t answer. He merely closed his eyes and stretched out his thoughts.
The sensation was like flinging a door open in the back of his mind. Suddenly, he could feel everything: the jittery minds of the birds in the trees flickering like strobe lights, the buzzing slumber of young raccoons curled in their dens, nestled against their mothers. He even heard the cold, alien pinpoints of thought that marked the passage of ants, worms, and insects as they burrowed in the soil underfoot and in the tree bark, seeking refuge from the winter’s chill. He reached out with his mind, looking for help…
That’s when the park warden ran into the clearing.
Obviously, the warden had seen the flames and was coming to investigate. Seeing Orcadia, she stopped short and stared, her face a mask of shock. She was perhaps twenty years old, looking pathetically defenceless in a green parka with the city parks logo on the sleeve.
“What’s going on here?” the warden asked, her eyes taking in the bizarre scene.
Brendan lost his concentration immediately. How had the warden gotten through the glamours protecting the clearing? Maybe Orcadia isn’t worried about maintaining them anymore? In desperation, he cried, “RUN!”
The woman hesitated for an instant, and that was enough time for Orcadia to act. As the warden turned to flee, Orcadia let loose a crackling ball of power that sizzled after her, striking the girl directly in the back, turning her into a staggering mass of flame. The warden screamed, ran on for a few ragged steps as if trying to escape the agony, and fell to the ground, her synthetic jacket blazing.
Brendan couldn’t believe his eyes. He stood rooted to the spot, unable to shift his gaze from what seconds before had been the park warden. At last, he turned to see a look of crazed, gloating satisfaction on Orcadia’s face.
“What’s the matter, nephew?” she smirked. “She was only a Human girl. They’re a dime a dozen. They breed like lice, Humans.”
“I’ll kill you,” Brendan said through gritted teeth.
“Ah! The creature has some claws after all. Let’s see if he can scratch!” She flung another crackling orb of power, aiming squarely for Brendan’s chest.
Without thinking, driven by rage, Brendan warped into motion, tapping into the bizarre energy that made him a Warp Warrior. He felt the world around him slow down. Even in the throes of his fury, Brendan loved this feeling. Though he always had trouble reaching a warp state, once he was there, he never wanted to let go. To him, it seemed as though he were moving at normal speed while the whole of creation moved in slow motion. He saw the
