The Kuthun (19 page)

He slowly looks up at me and then to Magi. ‘Ellie, do you know what sort of rigmarole it would be to take Magi to Egypt? Apart from the fact that Egyptians don’t take kindly to animals of any sorts, they most certainly won’t have the room to accommodate her. It’s not like here,’ he says sympathetically.

I shake my head. ‘I don’t care. She has to come. It’s important.’

He looks at me questioningly. ‘Okay, if that’s what you want. But just be mindful that Magi may be quarantined for up to three months upon our return. Is that what you want for her?’

My stomach lurches at the thought of Magi not being with me. I lower my head. ‘No, that’s not what I want.’ I sigh and look upon her furry face. She is gazing at me intensely and puts another image inside my head.

We are standing on a precipice of a cliff. The moon is shining down upon us, revealing the dark ocean beneath. I hear the sound of the waves breaking against the cliff face. I search the nightly beyond, the water seems to go on into an endless abyss where there is no horizon, yet I am not afraid. Magi’s fur is being windswept by the oncoming southerly swell and my clothes are starting to stick to my skin with the force of the gale. Magi takes one last glance at me, her amber eyes shining with courage, before she launches herself off the precipice into the dark sea below. The vision ends abruptly.

My hands cover my mouth.

‘What is it?’ Uncle Jo stands up quickly. ‘Ellie, what’s wrong?’

I shake my head. Words fail me but comprehension dawns on me and I understand Magi’s meaning.
If you jump
,
I jump
.

‘Ellie?’ He grabs my arm.

I lower my hands. ‘Uncle Jo, Magi
is
coming, no matter what. So I suggest we find a way to take her that doesn’t involve the authorities.’

He takes a step back and frowns, surprised at my reaction. ‘Alright, but can I ask why it is suddenly so important?’

I look down at Magi. ‘Because she spoke to me.’

He looks between us. ‘Sorry, did you say that Magi
spoke
to you?’

I nod my head. ‘She can project images to me.’

He scratches his hair and I see confusion cross his face before he says, ‘The kuthun?’

‘I think so.’

He shakes his head lightly. ‘Well, after what Taqôq Wiyon said I’m not surprised. So how do you propose we get Magi there then?’

I think about it, knowing that there must be a way, there has to be. And then an idea presents itself. ‘What about the kuthun?’ I ask. ‘What if I could channel its power somehow to teleport us there?’

Startled he says, ‘The kuthun! But it only teleports you back in time, and you have no control over that.’

I know he has a point but I believe it can be done. ‘Yes. But you said earlier that the kuthun helps my power to expand. If I were to focus, would it be possible that I could use the kuthun’s ability to teleport to our advantage?’

He watches me closely, his finger finding its way to his chin in thought. ‘It may work.’ He puts his hand up. ‘I’m not saying it will, only that it could be possible, especially now that your powers have increased in strength.’ He regards Magi for a moment. ‘There is only one way to find out.’ He quickly turns his attention back to me. ‘We need to practise.’

He strides over to the back door and holds it open, jerking his head at me. I do as he suggests and follow him outside, where the daylight hits me with its midday force. I shield my eyes with the back of my hand, adjusting to the glare. ‘Where are we going?’ I ask him, trying to keep up.

He doesn’t respond. I follow him obediently to the far side of the property, to the back of the barn where the pile of built up timber that he collects for the fireplace sits undisturbed. He stops and turns.

‘Alright. What we are going to do is practise with the kuthun from this side of the property. Hopefully no one driving past will see us here.’ He looks around, satisfied that the barn is covering us from the road.

‘I want you to focus your magic into the kuthun. See if you can teleport to the other side of the property where we found Magi the other night. Can you do that?’

I nod. ‘I think so.’

‘Try to focus on that area, imagining it inside your mind. When you feel you can see it clearly then take the kuthun and connect with it. Please try not to disappear to another time though. Really focus, Ellie,’ he says.

I take a deep breath and shake my arms out, trying to calm all my senses. I keep breathing deeply until I feel my energy relax and then I close my eyes, focusing on the destination.

I picture the grassy area where Magi lay only two nights ago, the tree line alive in the background. I feel the soft grass beneath my feet and the light breeze flowing from the mountains. I hear the birds and cicadas talking amongst themselves high in the surrounding canopy. I take my time, listening to the sounds around me, feeling them ripple through me as I attune myself to the natural elements.

I am ready
.

Without opening my eyes I reach up to grasp the kuthun. I feel my body shudder in response and then I teleport.

I open my eyes and find that I am standing ten metres away from where I stood only a moment ago.

Uncle Jo claps his hands as he runs towards me. ‘Whoa! You did it! I mean you didn’t get too far but you still did it!’ He gives me a high five, smiling from ear to ear. ‘Are you alright? How do you feel?’

I grin. ‘Good. I feel good.’

‘Are you ready to go again?’

‘Sure am.’ He takes a step back and I focus just like before. My energy is stronger now and my senses are heightened. I reach for the kuthun…

I open my eyes and am disoriented for a moment. I can hear laughter in the distance and my eyes follow the sound. I see him and Magi running towards me. I glance around and find that I did it—I teleported to the exact spot where Magi lay. I clap my hands and jump up and down with happiness.

My heart is pumping wildly and I run towards them. ‘Did you see that?’ I shout, as I get closer.

Uncle Jo gives me a bear hug. His eyes are alive. ‘Ellie, you did it! I’m so proud of you,’ he gushes.

I feel the colour come into my cheeks. ‘Thanks,’ I say. Magi’s tail is wagging madly.

‘Well, at least we know it’s possible,’ he says as his eyes comb the tree line for any signs of activity. ‘You’ll need more practise before we can move on to further distances, so let’s go again shall we?’

I nod, still a little breathless but feeling invigorated at the same time. I calm my centre and close my eyes.

I walk out from behind the barn and wave to Uncle Jo. He waves back and signals for me to return. In a blink I am standing right beside him again. We do this back and forth for the next couple of hours, each teleport becoming more easily attainable as my power and the kuthun find synchronicity with one another.

We eventually decide to call it a day and walk back to the house, feeling satisfied that we achieved something pretty special.

‘You did great today, Ellie. Really great,’ he says proudly, his arm wrapped around my shoulders.

‘Thanks. You did pretty well yourself.’

‘We may actually be able to pull this off. Tomorrow I want to try a larger area. That is…if you feel up to it?’ He glances at me hopefully.

‘Of course I will, although I do have school tomorrow.’ Images of skipping school enter my mind.

He smiles. ‘I’m sure you could miss a couple of days. I’ll let the school know. I’m sure under the recent circumstances it won’t be a problem.’

As we near the house I smell Aunt Lily’s cooking. ‘I’m starving,’ I say hungrily.

‘That makes two of us.’

We make our way inside with Magi hot on our heels.

‘I figured you would be hungry after all that vanishing bizzo out there, so I made an early dinner,’ Aunt Lily says as we enter the back door. She looks up from the stove where she is slowing mixing spaghetti bolognaise around in a large pot.

‘You saw us?’ Uncle Jo asks, a little taken aback.

‘Of course, Jo. It was pretty obvious. There was a spark in the air every time Ellie vanished. It was quite remarkable actually,’ she says casually, her eyes turning back to the pot.

I smile. ‘Well…that’s that then.’ I turn my attention back to Uncle Jo. ‘Something is concerning me a little. I mean, I could do it out there because I am familiar with the area. But to teleport to somewhere like Egypt…’

‘Egypt! What is this about, Jo?’ she asks worriedly. She is holding the spoon out in front of her and the bolognaise sauce is dripping all over the kitchen floor.

‘Uh…honey, the sauce,’ he says. She quickly puts the spoon back into the pot and wipes her hands on her apron. ‘Lil, I was going to talk about it later with you when I had decided how best to approach all this.’

She puts her hands on her hips. ‘I’m sorry. Did you say when
you
had decided how best to approach all this?’

I purse my lips and move back out of the firing line.

He glances at me nervously and I have to stifle a laugh.

‘Come on, that’s not what I meant and you know it.’

She presses her lips together in annoyance and slowly walks towards him. ‘Josiah Olsen, you better remember that
we
raise Ellie together. We! Not just you! Do you understand?’ She is scowling at him.

He looks at me for support.

‘You’re on your own old man.’ I laugh.

He faces her again. ‘Yes ma’am.’

She holds his gaze for a few seconds longer and then turns on her heel and heads back towards the stove.

He shrugs his shoulders and sits down next to me. Sweat is lightly beading across his forehead. Venators, odd policemen and the threat of imminent death doesn’t scare him, but my Aunt’s soft wrath does. I laugh softly.

He clears his throat. ‘Uh, back to what I was saying. We’ve discovered that the answers we need to find lie in Egypt. So that’s where we have to go.’

She squints her eyes at him. ‘Uh huh. And when is this supposed to be happening?’ She folds her arms ever so slowly.

‘Well, as soon as we can get Ellie to teleport us there actually,’ he says.

‘Pardon. I thought you just said teleported?’ she says aghast.

‘Honey, calm down. We have to take Magi with us, which as you know could be a long process, plus we need the element of surprise. If Ellie can do this, then we can get in and out quickly without having to leave much of a trace.’

She looks to me for reassurance. ‘Aunt Lily, I can do this. Please trust me. We have to try.’

She turns her back to us and faces the stove again. ‘Fine, but you both better pray that you come and go in one piece or there will be hell to pay. Believe you me.’

Uncle Jo and I glance at each other and smile.

I leave them to talk and go and wash up before coming back to the table where dinner has been served. The atmosphere is happy and relaxed, and for the moment I have forgotten that the Venator is still out there, biding his time until he can strike again. We talk about the events of the day, filling Aunt Lily in on the information that we uncovered.

‘Right, so tomorrow I want to see if you can teleport to Phoebe’s house and back. We can’t risk being outside the property for long as we still don’t know where
he
is.’

‘Alright, but isn’t that a little risky? I mean, what if someone sees me?’

‘We have to risk it a little considering we need to test how it all works. We also need to see whether your energy can sustain the trip without you becoming over exhausted. You were able to teleport much easier by the end of today, so let’s hope the same happens tomorrow.’ He twirls the spaghetti onto his fork in one swift movement.

I nod, trying to mimic his twirling technique, but I fail miserably and the spaghetti slides all over the place.

‘It seems that Ellie is able teleport to places she knows, but she’s never been to Egypt. How will she be able to focus on it?’ Aunt Lily takes a sip of her wine and waits for a plausible response.

‘I’ve thought about that. The only thing that I can think of is that we get a picture for her to focus her attention on. Somewhere in Egypt that we need to go. Where exactly, I don’t know yet.’

I swallow. ‘I do.’

They both look at me.

‘We need to get to the Temple of Philae, just as Ama said.’

‘Of course. You’re right. That’s where she said the scripture was found. It would make sense that we would find the light there.’ He gets lost in thought.

‘What scripture?’ Aunt Lily asks confused.

I recite the scripture back to her, having committed it to memory.

‘Oh, well, that does make sense then,’ she agrees. ‘So any idea what this light may be?’

‘Not as yet,’ I say.

The worried look that was present on Uncle Jo’s face earlier is back.

We sit in silence after that, contemplating all the possibilities to come. I try not to over-analyse what might happen as I know that it will keep me up tonight. Instead, I bring to mind Mum’s face. I remember her from the dream I had a few days earlier where she was being pulled back into the darkness. A glow appeared behind her and she calmly walked through it, but not before telling me to listen to the light.

I am standing before the stone door again. The
kuthun sits in the top section of its face, highlighted by the silver metallic liquid that flows through it. It starts to glow and pulsate in rhythm with the kuthun at my neck. Slowly my power grows, my hands start to tingle and I feel my body transform. I raise my hand in front of my face and see that my fingers are longer, more slender, with pieces of gold jewellery covering every surface. My skin is darker and there is a tattoo of some sort on the inside of my wrist. There is not enough light to make out its pattern clearly. My clothes feel tighter and heavier, and whatever sits atop my head is weighing me down. I feel like me but then…not me, like there are two of me within one body. I know I must open the door, and this ‘other me’ knows how. I let her take over, trusting that what I need to find beyond this door holds the answers that I seek. The air within the tunnel starts to build and specks of sand are being blown against my legs. She places her hand onto the door and in a soft voice she casts a spell. ‘Omna luna charkra ma. Solemeni senu tema ra.’ The light behind the door brightens. I hear the grinding and movement of stone upon stone. Slowly the door begins to open but I still can’t see what lies beyond. The light threatens to blind me. I hold my breath.