The Kuthun (15 page)

‘Ellie, are you alright?’ Uncle Jo asks again softly.

My body feels heavy, leaden with stone. The kuthun pulsates softly against my chest. Magi puts her head on my shoulder and her warmth radiates through me. I slowly raise my hand to pat her head and bit by bit my body starts to loosen up. Everyone is watching me, but no-one makes a sound. An eerie silence flows through the car.

I exhale.

‘Ellie?’ Phoebe places her hand on my leg.

‘Huh?’ My head feels fuzzy. I glance down at my trembling hands and clench my fists, allowing the blood to flow once more.

‘Everybody just take a deep breath.’ Uncle Jo is gripping the steering wheel with both hands, revealing the whites of his knuckles. He lays his head back on the seat and closes his eyes.

Aunt Lily reaches out to him and places her hand on his shoulder. ‘It’s over, Jo.’

‘What’s over?’ I ask them confused.

‘Ah…E, you just toppled the car behind us with your superhero powers,’ Phoebe says.

‘I what?’ I slowly turn to look behind us and in the distance I can see that the traffic on the highway has come to a standstill. Smoke is billowing its way upwards and people have gotten out of their cars to see what’s happened.

I quickly face forward. ‘Did…did I do that?’ I wring my hands together nervously, not remembering anything that just happened.

‘Yes. You did,’ Uncle Jo says.

‘Did I hurt anybody?’
Please say no
,
please say no
.

‘From what I could see I think it was only the green car that was hit.’ Uncle Jo is staring straight ahead.

He can’t bear to look at me. What have I done?

The images are piecing themselves back together inside my head, but it feels as though I am looking at them from someone else’s perspective, like it wasn’t me doing it.

‘I think I’m going to be sick.’ I open the door and stumble out, releasing my anxiety on the shoulder of highway 94.

Aunt Lily is rubbing my back while the aftertaste of metallic bile lingers in the back of my throat. I feel light-headed and confused.

Uncle Jo takes me into his arms and holds me until I stop shivering. ‘I love you, Elena. Everything is going to be alright, I promise.’

He keeps me tight against his chest until the sound of sirens startles me and I gently pull away. He wipes the tears from my face and gives me a smile. I manage to smile softly and nod my head.

I get back in the car and Phoebe grabs my hand, holding it the rest of the way home. There is nothing else to say.

The car ride home is silent and unsettling. We drop Phoebe off just as the sun is setting.

‘I had a great day, despite the surreal goings on,’ Phoebe says. ‘Your secret is safe with me.’ She peers at me with her big brown eyes.

I nod. ‘Thanks, Phoebs. I’m…sorry you had to be involved.’

‘I’m not. My best friend is a witch. How many girls get to have that?’ She smiles cheekily. But I feel like she is just trying to make me feel better. How would I feel if it was her instead of me? ‘Although I do want info later.’ She points a finger at me as she hops out of the car. We wait until she is safely inside before we turn for home.

‘I’ll drop you off here and park up at the shed. There’s a few things I have to do.’ Uncle Jo has stopped on the driveway at the front of the house.

‘Will you be long?’ I ask.

‘I’ll be in real soon. Don’t worry.’ His face softens.

I get out of the car and Magi jumps out after me. He pulls away and I see the headlights stop at the shed doors.

‘Come on, sweetie. Let me make you a cuppa.’ Aunt Lily wraps her arm around my shoulders and leads me inside.

I sit down at the kitchen table and Aunt Lily gets busy making tea. I stare at my hands, shocked that my magic was used to hurt somebody.
What you choose to do with it is the ultimate test
, my mother’s words haunt me. Would I be capable of killing someone? My body feels numb but my mind keeps replaying the scene over and over. Where did that spell come from?

I remember Ama telling me that my powers will increase now that I am sixteen and be magnified by my emotions. I also remember her telling me that the kuthun holds many generations of Ancient Cole magic. Maybe I’m channelling power through the kuthun? My mind is in overdrive and I can’t shut it off. Aunt Lily tries to distract me by turning the TV on.

A female anchorwoman appears on screen. ‘Good evening. A short while ago highway 94 experienced some trouble when a green Ford Bronco careened off the road, flipping several times before hitting a nearby tree. A few cars were involved but fortunately no-one was hurt. The highway was cut off while rescue crews and police cleaned up the scene. The driver was nowhere to be found and police are asking anyone who was within the area at the time to come forward with information that may help police in locating the driver, who may be injured or disoriented.’

The TV is switched off suddenly. ‘Well that answers my next question.’ I hadn’t even heard Uncle Jo enter the kitchen. He places the remote control down on the table. ‘If it was that easy to kill him then he wouldn’t be a very worthy opponent would he?’ he says.

He’s still alive. I can’t believe it. My heart sinks inside my chest. A part of me felt sick at the thought of actually hurting somebody on that highway let alone killing them, even if it was the Venator, but then I also felt relief at the thought that maybe all this was over.

Aunt Lily starts to sob. Uncle Jo hugs her and lets her cry. ‘It’s alright, Lil. It’ll be alright.’

‘No it won’t be alright!’ she yells, pulling away from him. ‘That’s the whole problem, Jo. Why couldn’t he have just died today? Why couldn’t it just have ended there?’ Her body shudders with fear, anger and sadness all rolled into one.

I’ve never seen Aunt Lily raise her voice before. I move towards her and we all embrace one another, letting the day wash over us. I cast a calming spell and feel the soft waves of magic pass through us.

Aunt Lily pulls away first. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t know where that came from,’ she says, slightly embarrassed.

‘I think we all feel the same.’ I smile faintly at her.

Uncle Jo starts pacing. ‘Listen, this isn’t going to go away easily. We are going to have to fight!’ He slams his fist into his hand. ‘But we need to stay strong and support one another through this.’ Aunt Lily and I nod our heads, his strength making the situation appear less hopeless. ‘At the very least this has bought us some more time.’

‘More time for what?’ I ask.

He leans against the kitchen bench and crosses his arms. ‘More time to figure out how we attack this. Tomorrow you and I are going to research and we are going to come up with another plan, another way that we can finish this once and for all.’

I feel very tired all of a sudden. ‘As long as its tomorrow. I’m too tired to even think right now.’ My body feels exhausted, every part of me is screaming out in protest at the thought of having to do anything else today. ‘I’m just going to go upstairs for a while. I don’t feel so good,’ I say, already heading toward the door. I recall something that was bothering me in the car earlier and I turn back to look at them. ‘Oh, one more thing. Why did you all react so badly in the car earlier when you looked at me? Was it that I frightened you?’ I ask quietly.

They exchange looks. ‘It wasn’t that. You could never scare us, Ellie. It was…your eyes,’ he confesses, looking slightly uncomfortable.

‘My eyes. What was wrong with them?’ I ask surprised, suddenly feeling vulnerable.

He pauses, pain reflected on his face as he remembers. ‘They were blood red, Ellie.’

I frown. ‘I don’t understand?’

‘Think Robert Pattinson in the throes of hunger, type of red,’ he says sarcastically, trying to lighten the mood.

I don’t smile. I start to feel sick again. I nod, not knowing what else to say. I wave them off as I head upstairs. Red eyes? Why the bloody hell would my eyes turn red? Am I turning into a vampire? Am I a mutant now? My mind takes over, creating images I would rather not think about.

I all but crawl into my room and collapse on the bed. I feel dirty and tainted but I can’t muster enough energy to have a shower so I pull the covers over me and stare into darkness, letting it devour me.

I wish you were here
,
Mum
.
I wish you didn’t have to leave
.

I wake up to the sound of Magi rustling around on the floor. I rub my eyes, wondering how long I’ve been asleep for.

Through my window I can see that the moon has crept up into the night sky and its crescent outline is highlighted against the backdrop of a million twinkling stars. I slowly peel myself off the bed, the taste of bile still present in my mouth reminding me that I need a serious clean. I step over Magi’s restless body and make my way to the bathroom, passing the clock that tells me it’s just gone eight o’clock.

I close the door and turn on the shower, letting the steam work through my muscles. I brush my teeth thoroughly, expunging all traces of funk and get into the shower, letting the hot water wash away all my aches and pains. I stand there for a while, not rushing the sensation.

Someone bangs on the door. ‘How long are you gonna be in there?’ I hear Phoebe’s voice call out.

‘Phoebs?! What are you doing here?’ I yell back as I turn the shower off and climb out.

‘I couldn’t leave you alone tonight after what happened, so I rang your aunt and she said to come right on over.’

I smile, knowing how lucky I am to have a friend like her. ‘Okay, I’ll be right out.’ I dry myself off and wrap another towel around my hair before I open the bathroom door.

‘Geez, girl! How much hot water did you use?’ she asks, fanning away the steam that is escaping through the door.

I smile. ‘I thought I needed some extra cleaning power.’

‘You got that right. Your breath was fanging earlier.’

‘Thanks.’ I roll my eyes at her unique ability to say exactly what she is thinking.

I walk past her and grab a fresh pair of jeans and a t-shirt out of the cupboard, noticing that Magi has high-tailed it out of the room. ‘Turn around, Phoebs,’ I say as I get dressed.

She faces the wall. ‘Should I ask what happened to the door?’ she asks me curiously.

‘Probably not,’ I reply. ‘Okay, you can turn around now.’

‘Ah, that’s more like it. You look almost normal. If that’s actually possible under the circumstances.’ She grins cheekily. ‘So I thought we could do a slumber/my-best-friend’s-a-witch-and-she’s-coming-out-of-the-closet party. I’ve brought s’mores to cook on the fire, which your uncle has so kindly lit for us, and I brought over our favourite movie to watch.’ She claps her hands happily.

‘
Hunger Games
?’ I ask.

‘Um, not really appropriate after today, E.’ She shakes her head. ‘Seriously.’

She has a point.

‘Umm…
Lord of The Rings
?’ I ask hopefully, always happy to see Aragorn in action.

‘No perve! I got Sherlock Holmes!’ she exclaims.

Sherlock Holmes is actually one of
my
favourites, not Phoebe’s, but she knew that. ‘Great choice. I love it.’

She grins, looking pretty pleased with herself. ‘I know. Anyway before we go downstairs is there anything you want to talk about.’ Her face turns serious.

‘Ah, well you could have told me I had eyes like a hungry vampire earlier,’ I say as I pull on my slipper hoodies.

She nods. ‘That was pretty weird…and freaky, but it all happened so quickly and to be honest it didn’t really matter. You were just protecting yourself, right?’ She shrugs like it was just another normal day.

‘It’s okay to be freaked out, Phoebs. I wouldn’t blame you, honestly. This is all a lot.’

‘I know it is. But after I got home I thought about everything that had happened. Was it a shock to hear that my best friend is a witch? Yes. Was I freaked out about your crazy eyes? Yes. But having had experience with supernatural phenomenon that has overtaken social media over the last few years, I can safely assume that we all have a bit of freak in us, am I right?’

A smile escapes me and I shrug.