The Kuthun (17 page)

I am astounded. I don’t know what to say. My eyes don’t leave the map. We sit in silence for a while and I retrace the lines, trying to commit them to memory.
All those women
,
all that power
,
ending in one spot
.

‘How did you do all this?’ I ask.

He sits back and sighs. ‘It took me a very long time. I was able to trace back obituaries and diary entries that had been preserved over the years, through libraries and computer archives. I visited every library I could find when I was travelling around the world with the military. I scoured thousands of books trying to connect the dots. Any free time I had was dedicated to researching our bloodline. When I couldn’t find the information I was looking for, I would call in favours from those who could gain access to certain documents, and slowly but surely the dots started to form a clear picture.’

I shake my head in astonishment. ‘I just can’t believe you did all this. I had no idea.’ I look at him with a newfound respect. ‘Uncle Jo, this is amazing!’ I say, appreciating how much work would have gone into such an extensive family history.

‘Thanks,’ he mumbles. ‘Three years ago I was able to trace the line back to Egypt. From there I couldn’t find any more threads. I searched and searched but kept coming up empty. So by a process of deductive reasoning, on all the information I had obtained, I was able to conclude that our bloodline must have begun in Egypt.’

Three years ago
? ‘I’m a little confused,’ I say, distracted by something he just said. ‘So three years ago you found this you say? Was that when I came to live with you?’ I ask.

He scratches his head. ‘Ah, yeah that’s right. It wasn’t long before your mum passed.’ He keeps his eyes focused on the paper in front of him.

My heart skips a beat. ‘Uncle Jo?’ I wait for him to look at me. ‘Did you leave the military to look after me?’ I ask, hoping that he will tell me that I’m being ridiculous and then I won’t have to feel guilty about him having to give up a career I know he loved.

He rakes his fingers through his hair. ‘Ellie, it wasn’t like that. There are some things I haven’t told you, and haven’t wanted to, because I know they will cause you pain.’ He places his hand on my forearm gently. ‘Your mother had already asked Lil and I if we would take you should something happen to her. We didn’t even hesitate in our decision. Everything else in non-important.’

I knew it.
‘I can’t believe you would do that for me. Mum always said you loved what you did. You told me that you retired!’ Tears form in my eyes and I look down at the table.

‘Come on now, don’t get upset. My job is something I
had
to do. Looking after you is something I
want
to do.’ He tilts my chin up towards him. ‘I wouldn’t change a thing.’

I know he means it. ‘Alright.’

‘Okay, well let’s get back to Egypt.’ He turns his attention back to the table and points to the map. ‘I was about ninety-percent sure that Egypt was where I would find more answers, but it wasn’t until you told me about the passage in the Book of Cole that mentioned Isis’ name, and then The Watcher’s staff revealing hieroglyphics, that I really felt certain about it.’ His brow furrows in concentration. ‘I think you may have been right the other day when you said that he was trying to help you. I think he may be connected somehow to whatever
light
it is we need to find.’

He leaves that notion hanging in the air between us before he continues, ‘Since then we have also deciphered the clue that Taqôq Wiyon revealed, telling us that Isis, Goddess of the Sun, is potentially the first of our bloodline. Now all we need to do is find out what the
light
is and stop this curse once and for all.’

I scoff. ‘Oh, of course! Just like that. We’ll just waltz into Egypt, find the light, and this will all be over!’

He takes a casual sip of his water and doesn’t respond to my outburst.

‘Ugh!’ I groan, dropping my head onto the table. The knock on the head brings back my conversation with Phoebe earlier. I turn to the side, peering at him through one eye. ‘Phoebe said something earlier that was interesting.’

‘Oh?’ he asks, uncertainty creeping into his voice at Phoebe’s ability to make any sense at all.

‘She asked me why the Venators were still trying to kill us after all these years. What was their purpose? What were they trying to prevent happening? It hadn’t occurred to me earlier but she has a point. I mean why keep trying to kill us if not to stop something.’

He frowns. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, we haven’t ever questioned
why
they are trying to kill us. I mean we assume it’s because of the affair that Isabella had that started the chain of events, but what if it wasn’t? What if it was always about something else? Something we’ve never been able to figure out because we never had the historical facts before now.’

My mind is swirling with images and thoughts, all mixed together in a tornado like funnel—I can see my mother and Isabella, Taqôq Wiyon and Magi, Uncle Jo and the Venator, the kuthun and The Watcher.
What am I missing
?

A powerful thought occurs to me. ‘What if the Salem witch trials were actually a cover up?’

His frown deepens. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Think about it. The Salem witch trials came about because of a family dispute where one family didn’t like the behaviour of the other, so out of revenge, one little girl started rumours of the other women showing signs of being a witch.’

‘Yes, I’m aware of the event, thank you,’ he replies dryly.

I roll my eyes. ‘Stay with me for a second.’ Could I be right? Is it possible? I continue, ‘These rumours then escalated out of control, but funnily enough this little girl was a daughter of the reverend at the time.’

I remember reading up on factual accounts of the witch trials over the years, trying to piece together parts of our history where I could. I pause for a moment, gathering the new information in my head to produce a crazy, yet plausible conclusion. ‘The reverend himself was a Puritan right?’

He nods.

‘A Puritan, Uncle Jo!’ I exclaim, hoping he is on the same page.

He raises his hand to interrupt me. ‘Hold on a minute.’ I can see his mind working overtime. ‘If what you are saying is accurate, then are you suggesting that the Puritans used the Salem witch trials as a cover up for trying to kill off the Cole bloodline?’

I nod excitedly. ‘That is exactly what I’m saying. It all makes sense. I mean, we think it was because Sally Fischer was intent on revenge against Isabella for the affair, but what we know, and didn’t consider, was the fact that she was a Puritan herself. If it wasn’t for her husband caring for Isabella and warning her, then she would have almost certainly been killed, ending the bloodline then and there!’ I pause, letting him absorb what I’ve said. It all makes so much sense
.
My body is buzzing with adrenalin. ‘What do you think?’ I ask him.

He puts his hands behind his head, leans back and closes his eyes. Taking a deep breath he says, ‘I think your epiphany has just potentially changed the course of a monumental historical event.’

We are still, neither of us saying anything as we contemplate the enormity of what we’ve uncovered.
I can’t believe it!
‘Everything I was told to believe is all a ruse.’ I shake my head in disbelief. ‘Uncle Jo.’ I touch his arm, causing him to open his eyes and look at me. ‘How did we miss this? What was it that the Puritans found out?’

His hazel eyes have darkened and I can feel his frustration seething under the surface. ‘I spent so much time trying to trace our history, hoping it was going to reveal the answer, and all along it only took one unassuming girl and one conversation to make more sense of it than I could in over a decade.’ He shakes his head in disgust and bangs his hand down on the table with such force that it startles me, causing me to jump in my seat. ‘How could I have missed this?’ he growls.

I touch his shoulder lightly. ‘We couldn’t have understood any of this if it wasn’t for all the work that you did. None of this would have happened without your input.’

Aunt Lily walks in and notices Uncle Jo’s body language. ‘What is it?’ she asks worriedly, putting her bag on the kitchen bench.

‘Ellie just changed the course of history,’ he responds gruffly, looking down at the table.

I glance at her and shrug my shoulders.

She nods, knowing better than to get involved. ‘Okay, well I’ll just leave you two to continue your history lesson. I have to go to the shops anyway so I will see you later.’ She gives me one last look and smirks, before grabbing her bag and heading out the door.

I wait patiently for him to stop sulking. The minutes tick by and I decide to fix myself a sandwich. I make him one of his ridiculously strong coffees and place it in front of him. The scent of it wakes him out of his trance and he finally lifts his head.

‘So let’s assume that all this is correct. Now all we have to do is find out what the Venators know,’ he says sullenly, grabbing his mug.

‘Exactly!’ I mumble between chews.

‘We have a lot of work to do,’ he says. He starts to shuffle around the papers and organise the information into alphabetical order.

I finish off my sandwich in silence, while questions run manic inside my head—who are these Puritans? What do they know? Why are they threatened by us?
I am unable to have the answers I need right now but I know where I can find them…Egypt!

As if sensing the exact same conclusion Uncle Jo draws a great big circle around Egypt on the map.

He gets up to make himself another cup of coffee
and I turn on the laptop. Magi enters through the back doggy door, looks at me, scratches her ear and then pads into the living room to resume her spot by the chaise.

I log on. ‘Alright, where do we start?’ I ask.

He walks back towards the table and sits down. ‘I think the first thing we need to do is find out more about Isis, don’t you?’

I type in her name. ‘Oh great! Only about seven million sites mentioning her name. How excellent!’

‘Just tap on the first one and we’ll go from there,’ he says blowing on his coffee.

I glance at him. ‘Doesn’t coffee that strong make you nuts?’ I click onto the first page and my eyes wander through the information.

‘If it was possible to get any nuttier, then I would need something a hell of a lot stronger than this here coffee, let me tell you.’ He grins.

I smile. ‘This site says that Isis, or the correct pronunciation “Aset”, was the Goddess of Egypt, one of the most popular deities of Ancient Egypt. She was the wife and sister of Osiris and mother of Horus, yep yep yep.’ I scroll down the page already knowing these details. ‘Ah, here’s something interesting. She was the mother of nature and magic, and the protector of the dead. Look, here’s a picture of her holding a staff in one hand and an ankh in the other,’ I say pointing to the screen.

‘That ankh looks very similar to the kuthun don’t you think?’ he says. ‘Keep scrolling down.’ He starts to take notes and I continue relaying relative information.

‘No-one can confirm when exactly Isis lived, but scholars have found that the first written references date back to the fifth dynasty of Egypt. It says here that for over 3500 years she was considered the principal Goddess of Egypt. It says the worship of Isis eventually spread through the Greco-Roman world, continuing until the suppression of paganism in the Christian era.’

‘Augustus!’ Uncle Jo and I blurt out at the same time, remembering that the Roman Emperor Augustus was the founder of the Puritan faith.

I click onto another site, my eyes scanning the text for something relevant. ‘Look at this.’ I point to the image that appears on the screen. It is another depiction of Isis wearing a headdress: a solar disc nestled between two u-shaped horns. I frown, trying to remember where I’ve seen this before.

My eyes widen, ‘This is the face that is on the Book of Cole!’

He leans in closer to take a better look. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Absolutely!’ I answer excitedly. ‘All this time and no-one knew. Unless…they did know and just didn’t say anything? For it to be on the cover of the Book of Cole someone must have known, right?’

He shakes his head. ‘At this point anything is possible, Ellie. We are never going to know for certain.’

Yeah because everyone’s dead
. I shake off the demons and turn back to the screen. ‘It says here that magic is central to the entire mythology of Isis. Well that makes sense.’

I keep searching for any and all details that will help us. We find that The Book of the Dead is frequently described when referring to Isis. This book contained spells; magic; rituals; and rites; that had been collected during the period of Ancient Egypt. During our search we find a passage from the Book of the Dead that surmises who she was. It reads, “She who gives birth to heaven and earth, knows the orphan, knows the widow, seeks justice for the poor, and shelter for the weak.”

I look up from the page. ‘She was more than just a deity. She was the New Coming.’ I am startled that those last words just came out of my mouth. The New Coming? Where did that come from?
The kuthun throbs in response.

Uncle Jo looks at me curiously. ‘Ellie, where have you heard that before?’

‘Uh…I’m not sure. I don’t know where that came from.’ I frown.

He writes down more words on his notepad.

I enter into another site and this one comes up with many images depicting Isis. I search through them and two in particular jump out at me. Up on the screen, perfectly detailed, is the kuthun. I stare at it, not quite believing my eyes. I frantically read the information surrounding it with intense interest. Uncle Jo shuffles closer and does the same.

It says that the kuthun is actually called a
tyet
. It is the symbol of Isis, also known as the Knot of Isis because it resembles a knot that the Egyptian Gods would have worn to secure their robes—knots were seen as containing magic. The other title is that of the Blood of Isis, which causes goosebumps to dance across my arms and I quickly remember why.