The Kuthun (27 page)

Mum
,
was that really you
? After all this time she now chooses to reveal herself, if only faintly. Is that why Ama hasn’t seen her on The Other Side yet? Has she been stuck here all this time? I don’t understand what is happening. My hand goes to my chest and I grab the locket.

‘Where did she go?’ I whisper desperately.

He shakes his head. ‘Ellie, you stay here and Magi and I will check it out.’

‘No way! I’m coming with you.’ I frown deeply.

‘Fine. But stay behind me,’ he replies sternly.

He begins to move forward, with Magi taking the lead. I follow close behind, aware that for now I have to accept that the vision we saw may, or may not, have been that of my mother, Evelyn Viola Cole.

I search the dim corners of the cavern for any sign of movement, any sign that she is still here. The air around me gives off an eerie stillness.

We stop just short of where we saw her and I now see that there is a little nook inside the cavern wall that appears to be a circular entrance, reminding me of a hobbit door.

Magi makes her way toward it, keeping her head low and alert. She puts her nose to the ground and walks up and down the outside, sniffing out any potential threat. She walks back to us and sends me an image of her water bowl. At first I thought she was telling me she was thirsty, but then I realised that there is water behind the door. This is where the sound must be coming from.

‘How are we supposed to get in?’ I ask, not being able to see any sign or symbol that may help us.

He doesn’t answer. He is searching the door for something.

‘What are you looking for?’ I whisper.

‘There must be a latch or some sort of secret mechanism that will open it. Look for anything that seems slightly off,’ he says.

I begin to search the door face, the rock surrounding it, and then finally the outer walls. ‘I can’t find anything,’ I say frustrated.

‘It has to be here. Keep looking.’

I roll my eyes and grunt, and a small space at the bottom of the rock wall catches my attention. I bend down to get a closer look but the light is bad down here and I can’t see properly. As if on cue a bright light streams out from behind my head to illuminate the wall before me. My body jerks in response.

‘Oh, sorry. Thought you could use some help that’s all,’ Uncle Jo whispers, as he flashes his small torch onto the wall. He smirks tauntingly. I shake my head at him.

On the bottom of the wall a small rectangular piece of rock is protruding out slightly.

‘No wonder we missed it,’ I say.

I press it, hoping I’m right, and silently the door starts to open. We step back and prepare ourselves for a possible attack, but nothing happens. The doorway beyond is quiet. There is no-one inside. We glance at one another before heading through it, where the sound of water is much louder now.

As we cross the threshold to the cave we find that natural light is peeking through the pockets within the ceiling, allowing us to see the cave clearly.

In the centre of the cave is a large running stream. There are two gold archways at either end, adorned with hieroglyphics. A swift current of water enters and exits through these archways via a man-made channel dug into the ground. The walls of the cave are stone but have been waterlogged over time—greenish-black tinges of dampness sit on its surface.

My eyes roam the room hoping to catch another glimpse of Mum, but she is nowhere to be found.

The air down here is chilly, making me glad I have my Kevlar vest on. As I cross my arms over my chest I peer at the most disconcerting object in the room—a canoe-like wooden boat that sits tied up to a stick along the stream wall.

‘Are you serious?’ I say. ‘I’m not going in that!’

Uncle Jo slaps me on the back lightly. ‘Oh yes you are, missy.’

I cross my arms in defiance and he smirks. Magi seems to be smiling at my childish antics too. They walk towards the boat.

‘You better get your butt in here or else I’m going without you.’

I unfold my arms and groan. ‘But this is all too Indiana Jones for me. Don’t you think this is all strange? The hidden passageways, ancient symbols, life-threatening scenarios. I mean, what is all this water doing down here anyway? Aren’t we in a desert?’ I flail my arms around dramatically.

‘How about trying to see this as an adventure, Ellie.’ He and Magi hop into the rocking boat.

‘It could be an adventure to
hell
, did you think of that?!’

He shakes his head with amusement and I reluctantly make my way forward.

I get in, grabbing tightly onto the wooden poles acting as a hand-hold within the boats body. Uncle Jo slowly manoeuvres the boat away from the edge with the wooden rudder and the stream takes us up within its flow.

The current moves us slowly under the archway and into an enclosed tunnel. As I pass under it, I try and see if I recognise any of the symbols. I don’t.

I can’t help feeling that I am on a flume ride at an adventure park. My hands grip the poles tighter as we are plunged into darkness. The sound of the water lapping against the boat is all I can hear.

‘Well this is great!’ I whisper exasperated. ‘I told you, hell here we come!’

Uncle Jo chuckles. ‘Have faith, Ellie. I have a feeling Isis knows what she is doing.’

I sigh and try to calm my jittery nerves. I see Magi’s amber eyes glinting at me, reassuring me that everything is alright. I reach out my hand to stroke her head.

The boat dips and curves through the dark waters, bouncing off the rock wall, keeping it on course to who-knows-where. Minutes pass by slowly and still there is no light to be found.

‘This is nuts!’ I say. Before I can cast a spell to produce my own flame I see candlelight up ahead. ‘There!’ I point in the direction of the light.

‘I see it. Hang on.’

He steers the rudder towards it. As we move closer I see that there are two more archways—each leading to somewhere unknown.

‘Which one do we take?’ I ask, rubbing my hands together nervously. Seconds tick by and we are drifting closer. ‘Uncle Jo?’

‘Give me a minute,’ he says.

‘We don’t have time!’ The archways are pressing in on us. In seconds we could be crushed against the middle wall separating the two. This is it! This is what Maya was talking about. We are going to die in the depths of Egypt where no-one will ever find us.

I feel a swift pull to the left. Uncle Jo has veered off using all his strength, directing the boat down the left passageway.

I breathe a sigh of relief, sweat beading its way down my forehead. ‘That was too close.’

‘Sure was,’ he says, puffing with exertion.

‘How did you know that was the right one?’

‘I just...knew.’

I see confusion cross his face. ‘Maybe Maya was right. Maybe you
were
Sosibius in a past life. That would explain how you knew which one to take.’

He frowns but doesn’t respond.

I turn back to focus on the dark waters, hoping that we took the right entry. Up ahead I see faint threads of light.

As we pass through another archway we enter a semi-circular cavern, where the stream bed curves along its edge, leading back out through another exit point. Silver light is teeming through the portholes above. Is it night already? We must have been down here for hours.

Uncle Jo slows the boat to bring us up against the edge of the wall. He strains under the pull of the current.

‘Quick, Ellie, tie it off.’

I jump out and grab the rope, tying it off to the anchor point. He and Magi make their way out and we stand against the stream wall watching the water flow past us. Uncle Jo puts his head between his legs.

‘Are you alright?’ I ask, touching his arm gently.

He stands up and takes a breath. ‘I’m okay. That was just a…strange ride, that’s all.’ He glances at me briefly. ‘Let’s keep moving.’

We turn to face the cylindrical cavern and find there is only one way out. Candles highlight the narrow stone stairs that are winding their way upwards. Higher and higher they curve around the cavern wall, beckoning us to step forward.

I don’t like heights. They make me nervous. Especially heights without a guard rail and some form of harness strapped to me. My palms start to sweat.

‘It’s alright, Ellie.’ Uncle Jo senses my concern. ‘We’ll be fine.’ He smiles at me.

I don’t smile back.

He shrugs the knapsack firmly onto his back and moves towards the stairs.

I am frozen in place. My body won’t move. I feel Magi nuzzle my hand and a warm sensation spreads through my arms and then the rest of my body.

‘Thanks, Mags,’ I whisper.

She walks ahead and I follow slowly. I take my first step and exhale, then another and another. I don’t look down.

‘An adventure, remember?’ he calls out sarcastically.

‘Won’t be much of an adventure when you plummet to your squishy death,’ I reply sulkily.

I hear him chuckle and it makes me smile.

We wind our way upwards, following the curving stairway. The minutes tick by and my thighs start to burn. ‘Are we there yet?’ I ask, puffing loudly.

‘Nearly. I can see an entry up ah—’

The step under him collapses and he falls, only to catch himself on the stair above him.

‘Uncle Jo!’ I yell.

‘Ellie, don’t move.’ He struggles to pull his weight up, using the stone wall as a foot hold.

There’s nothing I can do. Magi is whimpering nervously on the step below him.

He pulls himself up, straining under his own weight, and then he collapses onto the step.

‘Are you alright?’

He gradually stands up and brushes himself off. ‘I’m okay.’ His eyes flick to mine. ‘Must have been an old step.’

‘Everything down here is old.’ I shake my head. ‘No, I think this is another challenge.’

He glances at me and then looks back up at the next hundred stairs we have left to climb. He sighs. ‘Okay, stay close, and try to stay on the inner step closest to the wall.

The walls start to shift.

‘Now what?!’ I shout over the din of the moving stone. We brace ourselves against the vibration that threatens to topple us over the edge of the spiral staircase.

‘The walls are closing in!’ he yells. ‘The step must have triggered a booby trap. Ellie, move!’

We take the stairs faster, trying to beat the walls as they enclose in on us, threatening to engulf us in their stone-like jaws.

‘Move!’ I hear him yell again.

Faster and faster I run, my legs burning with exertion. The opposite wall is gaining in distance. My lungs gasp for oxygen as we make our way upwards.

With only seconds to spare we launch ourselves through the narrow opening, before the walls block our exit forever.

‘Are you alright?’ he asks, bending over me.

‘I’m okay,’ I respond breathlessly. Magi is sitting on her haunches panting loudly. ‘We made it, Mags.’ She licks my face and I make my way to a crouching position. ‘You were right about the other challenge.’

He grunts. ‘Wish I hadn’t been.’ He dusts himself off. ‘Let’s keep moving.’

I push myself up off the hard ground and wince. I turn my elbow to find blood seeping from a small cut. I ignore it for now, the pain reminding me that I’m still alive.

This passageway is smaller than the others and Uncle Jo has to bend his tall frame to make it through. As we are walking I think I hear a voice.

I stop.

Uncle Jo turns back towards me.

‘What is it?’ he asks.

I feel a presence all around me, pulling me towards the wall to my right. Electricity is rippling through me, acting like a magnet, drawing me closer.

Isis
.

The kuthun starts to pulsate heavily against my chest. Uncle Jo eyes widen at the orange glow that suddenly emanates from it.

‘She’s through there,’ I say calmly, pointing to the wall.

He takes a closer look. ‘There’s nothing here.’

‘Stand back,’ I say.

The familiar sphere of light suddenly appears in my hand. Its power courses through me. Uncle Jo moves toward me but I shake my head at him and he stops reluctantly.

I feel stronger than ever before. The heat that travels from the sphere isn’t as hard to endure as a few days ago. I hold my hands out in front of me, ignoring the burning pain. Then the kuthun explodes with orange light. It enters the sphere and then beams into the wall.

The stone wall begins to disappear. The light sheds away its hard exterior to be replaced by a clear veil of jelly-like substance. It reminds me of a science fiction movie where they enter another galaxy through an alien portal. I don’t take my eyes off it.

When the veil reaches its intended size the sphere of light begins to wane. The intense heat in my hands slowly dies along with it, until it eventually disappears altogether.

The air around us is still, heavy with the feeling of impending uncertainty. I take a step forward.

‘Ellie, wait!’ Uncle Jo says warily. ‘You don’t know what’s in there?’

I smile at him, knowing full well what I will find in there. ‘It’s alright. I know what I’m doing,’ I say.

Magi whimpers beside me.

I soften. ‘Hey, what happened to the adventure?’ No-one says anything. ‘We have to do this. There is no other way, so stop the worrying you two.’ My words don’t seem to have the intended effect. ‘Saminda bala ranme.’ The spell works its magic. I see their auras calm and their faces soften.

‘Not fair,’ Uncle Jo says quietly.

I smile. ‘Well it worked didn’t it? Are you both ready now?’ I ask.

I give them one last glance before putting my hand into the portal. As it’s going in it feels like I’m pushing my hand through a big pile of goop. I see it come out the other side, feeling the cool air against my skin once more.

‘Here goes nothing,’ I mumble.

I hold my breath, shut my eyes and enter the veil.

Every part of me feels like its entering a jelly bath—sight, smell, and sound are all muffled while I push through the goo. My body finds the other side and I expect to see sticky residue left on my skin, but there is none.