Chosen (12 page)
‘Everything will be alright,’
he said stroking her hair softly. ‘Shibby will be fine, Jason seems
like a good man.’
‘It’s not just Shibby,’ came
the muffled reply, ‘it’s everything, I’m so frightened, I’ve tried
to be brave but I’m just an ordinary person.’
‘I know, I know,’ said Haven
holding her tightly, ‘but we’ll get through this, I promise, as
long as we all have each other we’ll be fine, won’t we Gil?’ he
said looking for support.
‘Yes, most definitely,’ said
Gilster, ‘we’ll get Daria back and find the next Chosen; we’ll do
what we have to do and then we can go back to being ordinary people
living ordinary lives.’ He tried to say the words with a conviction
he didn’t feel.
‘Come here,’ said Max holding
out her hand to Gilster, ‘group hug.’ Gilster joined his
friends.
‘One good thing has come from
this,’ said Haven, pulling away from the hug and looking down at
Max.’
‘What’s that?’ said Max.
‘We met you,’ he said,
smiling.
‘That’s true,’ said
Gilster.
‘I love you guys,’ said Max
smiling, the tears still glistening on her cheeks.
‘It’s settled then,’ said
Gilster, ‘now I think we should try and get some sleep before we
leave.’
Before they knew it two am
arrived and it was time to leave. The three crept around trying not
to make any noise as they gathered together the last of their
belongings. With Daria being taken and Gilster’s gunshot wound they
had not had time to get the extra clothing they needed, so each had
a small backpack with some provisions in and that was all.
‘I’m popping over the road to
the ATM,’ said Max. ‘I think it’s better if we use cash instead of
my credit card. I’ll be right back.’
She returned with a wad of cash
and put it in her purse. Hopefully it would be enough for their
journey; they would only need money for petrol and food as they had
decided sleeping in the car would be the best option. She wrote a
short note and put it together with her credit card on the dining
room table.
‘What’s that?’ asked Gilster,
looking over her shoulder.
‘Well . . . I felt guilty about
sneaking off without paying, so I thought I would leave my credit
card to pay for everything.’
‘Why bother,’ said Haven
pulling on his boots.
‘Because this is my home and if
by some miracle I get back I don’t want a criminal record and an
arrest warrant out for me.’ Haven was just about to mention the
matter of the stolen GPS, when she added. ‘And don’t think of
mentioning the stolen GPS, you did that, I was just an
accessory.’
‘I wouldn’t dream of mentioning
it,’ laughed Haven.
She was on a roll now, ‘and
I’ve watched enough TV to know you can be tracked if you use your
credit card,’ she finished.
‘Who’s going to be tracking
us,’ said Gilster, zipping up his backpack.
‘Besides the people who want to
kill me, who knows,’ said Max, ‘but I don’t want to take any
chances, now let’s go, we’ve wasted enough time.’ She opened the
front door which decided now would be a good time to make the most
unholy screech. Max cringed. She was just about to step out the
door when Gilster hissed.
‘Wait! Did you find Daria’s bag
when you packed everything, it had the scroll in it; if it’s not
here then the Anubian’s must have taken it when they took
Daria.’
‘No,’ said Max, ‘I didn’t find
it, but I wasn’t looking for it.’
‘She hid it in her room just
before they arrived’.
‘I’ll go look,’ said Haven. He
walked back inside the darkened cabin, almost tripping over the
three backpacks on the floor near the door. Max heard him quietly
cursing and stifled a giggle.
‘Look out for the bags,’ she
whispered.
‘Bit late now,’ came back the
muffled reply, ‘but thanks for your concern.’
He fumbled in the dark, his
hands waving around so as not to bump into the furniture. He made
his way down to Daria’s room.
‘If it’s not here,’ he thought,
then what is the point of continuing. He searched the room, finding
nothing; he was just about to leave empty handed when he noticed
the moonlight shining through the half open curtain reflecting off
the wardrobe door-handle; the door was slightly ajar. Opening the
door wider he looked in, nothing. He was just about to close the
door when he spied a spare pillow on the top shelf, moving it aside
and standing on tiptoe he noticed a small bag pushed against the
back wall. Breathing a sigh of relief he removed it and felt around
inside, ‘clever girl,’ he thought. He walked back outside, beaming.
‘I’ve found it,’ he whispered. ‘Let’s go.’
Max input the co-ordinates into
the GPS and pressed “go to”, the information appeared on the
screen.
‘Ready everyone,’ said Max,
‘here we go.’ She pulled out of the car-park and they were on their
way. Reaching the main highway, she headed south. ‘Now we just head
where the GPS tells us,’ she said.
They made good time for the
first few hours until they reached the outskirts of the city. The
traffic began to slow as commuters made their way to work. Haven
and Gilster gawked out the windows looking at the tall buildings,
the traffic, the people.
replied Max, ‘what do you think?’
‘I think I don’t like it,’ he
said, ‘for a start, it smells terrible and the people, I can’t
believe there are so many in one place, it’s horrendous. I hope the
next world is better.’
‘Hey!’ said Max, trying to
sound offended, ‘I live here you know.’
Gilster was crestfallen. ‘I’m
so sorry Max, I wasn’t thinking; please forgive me that was
extremely rude.’
Catching sight of his face in
the rear-vision mirror, Max felt guilty.
‘It’s ok Gilster, I was only
joking, I can’t stand this place either. I’m excited about what we
might find in the next world too.’
Finally they made it through
the city and back out into the countryside. Haven continued to
follow the line on the GPS and update Max on the direction they
should be taking. Hour after hour Max drove, ever onward towards
what she hoped was the portal.
Eventually, as day passed into
night, they lapsed into the silence of companionship. Gilster was
dozing on the back-seat, Max’s thoughts were wondering from subject
to subject, and Haven was trying desperately not to listen to what
she was thinking.
‘Hey, guess what,’ said Max
suddenly, making the two men jump. ‘It was my birthday yesterday
and I completely forgot; I can’t believe I’m now twenty two years
old, jeez I feel ancient. How old are you guys?’ she asked
innocently.
‘I knew this would come up
eventually,’ mumbled Haven.
‘I told you to tell her
earlier,’ said Gilster, ‘now you have no choice.’
‘What’s the big secret?’ asked
Max, ‘are you younger than me or something, come on, tell me, I can
handle it.’
‘Eh . . . no,’ said Haven,
‘that’s not it, in fact we’re quite a bit older than you.’
‘Well, how old are you then?’
Max was intrigued, how old could they be.
‘Do you really need to know,’
asked Haven, sounding distinctly uncomfortable.’
‘No, it’s ok if you don’t want
to tell me . . . OF COURSE I WANT TO KNOW, tell me.’
Haven took a deep breath, ‘I’m
one hundred and seven years old.’
There was an almighty squeal as
Max slammed her foot hard on the brake. The car skidded down the
road before coming to a sudden stop, throwing the occupants
violently forward.
‘What did you just say?’ said
Max, ‘one hundred and seven?’
‘Um . . . yes,’ said Haven,
wishing he had kept his mouth shut. ‘Actually, I’m the baby of the
bunch, Gilster is one hundred and seventeen and Daria is one
hundred and fifteen.
‘You’re joking,’ shrieked Max,
‘you are joking . . . aren’t you?’
‘Eh . . . no, not joking.’
‘How is that possible?’ said
Max, ‘you don’t look a day over twenty five at the most.’
‘Thank you,’ said Haven
smiling, ‘I do try to look after myself.’ Gales of laughter came
from the backseat. ‘Stop it,’ said Haven, ‘you’re not helping
matters.’
‘Sorry,’ said Gilster wiping
the tears from his eyes, ‘but you do get yourself into some funny
situations. Thanks for the laugh, I needed it. By the way Max,’ he
continued, ‘I know it’s late at night and everything, but I don’t
think sitting in the middle of the highway is very safe, perhaps we
should move.’
‘Er, yeah, right,’ said Max
putting her foot back on the accelerator.
‘Do all your people live such
long lives?’ she asked after a few minutes.
‘Most,’ said Haven, relieved
that she seemed to be accepting of it, ‘it’s the energy work, the
more we do the longer we live.’
‘How long are we talking here?’
said Max.
‘Oh quiet old,’ he said wishing
she would change the subject.
‘How old is old?’ persisted
Max.
‘Promise you won’t slam the
brakes on again.’
‘I promise. Now tell me.’
‘Well, some of our Elders have
reached one or two thousand years old,’ said Haven, neglecting to
mention that High Elders lived even longer.
‘Oh my god, so in that sense
you’re just babies. This just gets better and better, now I’m a
cradle-snatcher.’
Not knowing what else to say,
Haven decided silence was the best option. They continued on for
another thirty miles, with only the occasional snigger from the
back-seat.
‘We’ll need to look for a right
hand turn soon, if we’re to keep heading in the right direction,’
said Max matter-of-factly. ‘Keep your eyes open because if we miss
it we may have to travel fifty miles or more before we find a place
to turn around.’
‘Is that so?’ said Haven.
‘Yes,’ said Max, ‘it can be
very annoying.’
‘I imagine it would be.’
‘Oh, come on, you two, stop
it,’ said Gilster from the backseat, ‘you sound like two strangers
having a friendly chat.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Max, ‘but it
all came as a bit of a shock, the age thing and all.’
‘I’m sorry too,’ said Haven, ‘I
should have told you earlier but I wasn’t sure how you’d
react.’
‘You’re very lucky you’ll live
to see one hundred and eight,’ said Max laughing, ‘I could have
killed us all.’
‘No harm done, we’re still
alive and everything is out in the open now, so it’s all good. We
are good aren’t we?’ said Haven worriedly.
‘I think I can handle it,’ said
Max smiling.
They continued on, stopping
once for petrol and food. It was the early hours of the morning
when Max decided she needed to pull over for a quick nap. They had
not passed another car in ages, only trucks seemed to be on the
highway this time of night.
‘Sorry guys but I’ll have to
stop and have a cat-nap before I fall asleep at the wheel,’ she
said, as she slowed and pulled onto the side of the road.
‘That’s all right,’ said
Gilster from the back-seat, ‘get some rest, I’m sure the portal
isn’t going anywhere.’
Max had barely shut her eyes
when she felt a nudge in the ribs. It was Haven.
‘I think we might have a
visitor,’ he said looking over his shoulder out the back
window.
Max opened her eyes and looked
in the rear-vision mirror at the blue lights flashing behind
them.
‘Oh no, it’s the cops.’
‘What are cops,’ asked Gilster
following Haven’s gaze out the back window.
‘Someone we don’t want to see,’
said Max.
‘What’s he doing now?’ asked
Gilster, noticing the officer looking at something on the dashboard
of his car.
Max was still watching in the
rear-vision mirror.
‘I expect he’s checking our
rego to see who we are. Here he comes, let me do the talking, you
guys just keep cool.’ She stepped out of the car and waited for the
officer to reach her.
‘Hello officer,’ she said, with
a cheery smile.
‘Evening,’ came the curt reply.
‘Can I see you license please.’
‘Certainly,’ said Max, ‘I’ll
just get it, it’s in my bag.’
She leaned in through the
window to reach for her bag which was between the two front seats.
Haven grabbed her hand.
‘He knows,’ he hissed, ‘he
knows who we are, I can hear his thoughts, he knows we took the GPS
from the shop.’
‘Oh shit,’ whispered Max, ‘now
we’re in trouble.’
She backed out through the open
window and fumbled around pretending to look for her driver’s
license.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, stalling
for time so she could work out what to do next. ‘I know it’s in
here somewhere.’
The officer stepped back and
pulled his pistol from his holster.
‘Put the bag down slowly and
put your hands on the bonnet of the car,’ he said pointing the
pistol straight at Max.
‘You two,’ he shouted to Haven
and Gilster, ‘get out of the car, slowly, no sudden moves and keep
your hands where I can see them.’
Haven and Gilster not knowing
what else to do, complied and slowly got out of the car, but as
they did so Gilster began to sing softly, his eyes never leaving
the officer.
‘What the. . . ?’ said the
officer looking down at his pistol.
The barrel had begun to melt
and drip onto the ground with a soft plipping noise. He dropped it
and made a grabbed for his pepper spray; he wasn’t quick enough,
Gilster’s song had changed. The officer slid gracefully to the
ground and landed at Max’s feet with a gentle thud. It all happened
so quickly, Max was still standing by the car with her hands on the
bonnet. Haven rushed around the car and knelt down by the side of
the incapacitated officer.
he said stroking her hair softly. ‘Shibby will be fine, Jason seems
like a good man.’
‘It’s not just Shibby,’ came
the muffled reply, ‘it’s everything, I’m so frightened, I’ve tried
to be brave but I’m just an ordinary person.’
‘I know, I know,’ said Haven
holding her tightly, ‘but we’ll get through this, I promise, as
long as we all have each other we’ll be fine, won’t we Gil?’ he
said looking for support.
‘Yes, most definitely,’ said
Gilster, ‘we’ll get Daria back and find the next Chosen; we’ll do
what we have to do and then we can go back to being ordinary people
living ordinary lives.’ He tried to say the words with a conviction
he didn’t feel.
‘Come here,’ said Max holding
out her hand to Gilster, ‘group hug.’ Gilster joined his
friends.
‘One good thing has come from
this,’ said Haven, pulling away from the hug and looking down at
Max.’
‘What’s that?’ said Max.
‘We met you,’ he said,
smiling.
‘That’s true,’ said
Gilster.
‘I love you guys,’ said Max
smiling, the tears still glistening on her cheeks.
‘It’s settled then,’ said
Gilster, ‘now I think we should try and get some sleep before we
leave.’
Before they knew it two am
arrived and it was time to leave. The three crept around trying not
to make any noise as they gathered together the last of their
belongings. With Daria being taken and Gilster’s gunshot wound they
had not had time to get the extra clothing they needed, so each had
a small backpack with some provisions in and that was all.
‘I’m popping over the road to
the ATM,’ said Max. ‘I think it’s better if we use cash instead of
my credit card. I’ll be right back.’
She returned with a wad of cash
and put it in her purse. Hopefully it would be enough for their
journey; they would only need money for petrol and food as they had
decided sleeping in the car would be the best option. She wrote a
short note and put it together with her credit card on the dining
room table.
‘What’s that?’ asked Gilster,
looking over her shoulder.
‘Well . . . I felt guilty about
sneaking off without paying, so I thought I would leave my credit
card to pay for everything.’
‘Why bother,’ said Haven
pulling on his boots.
‘Because this is my home and if
by some miracle I get back I don’t want a criminal record and an
arrest warrant out for me.’ Haven was just about to mention the
matter of the stolen GPS, when she added. ‘And don’t think of
mentioning the stolen GPS, you did that, I was just an
accessory.’
‘I wouldn’t dream of mentioning
it,’ laughed Haven.
She was on a roll now, ‘and
I’ve watched enough TV to know you can be tracked if you use your
credit card,’ she finished.
‘Who’s going to be tracking
us,’ said Gilster, zipping up his backpack.
‘Besides the people who want to
kill me, who knows,’ said Max, ‘but I don’t want to take any
chances, now let’s go, we’ve wasted enough time.’ She opened the
front door which decided now would be a good time to make the most
unholy screech. Max cringed. She was just about to step out the
door when Gilster hissed.
‘Wait! Did you find Daria’s bag
when you packed everything, it had the scroll in it; if it’s not
here then the Anubian’s must have taken it when they took
Daria.’
‘No,’ said Max, ‘I didn’t find
it, but I wasn’t looking for it.’
‘She hid it in her room just
before they arrived’.
‘I’ll go look,’ said Haven. He
walked back inside the darkened cabin, almost tripping over the
three backpacks on the floor near the door. Max heard him quietly
cursing and stifled a giggle.
‘Look out for the bags,’ she
whispered.
‘Bit late now,’ came back the
muffled reply, ‘but thanks for your concern.’
He fumbled in the dark, his
hands waving around so as not to bump into the furniture. He made
his way down to Daria’s room.
‘If it’s not here,’ he thought,
then what is the point of continuing. He searched the room, finding
nothing; he was just about to leave empty handed when he noticed
the moonlight shining through the half open curtain reflecting off
the wardrobe door-handle; the door was slightly ajar. Opening the
door wider he looked in, nothing. He was just about to close the
door when he spied a spare pillow on the top shelf, moving it aside
and standing on tiptoe he noticed a small bag pushed against the
back wall. Breathing a sigh of relief he removed it and felt around
inside, ‘clever girl,’ he thought. He walked back outside, beaming.
‘I’ve found it,’ he whispered. ‘Let’s go.’
Max input the co-ordinates into
the GPS and pressed “go to”, the information appeared on the
screen.
‘Ready everyone,’ said Max,
‘here we go.’ She pulled out of the car-park and they were on their
way. Reaching the main highway, she headed south. ‘Now we just head
where the GPS tells us,’ she said.
They made good time for the
first few hours until they reached the outskirts of the city. The
traffic began to slow as commuters made their way to work. Haven
and Gilster gawked out the windows looking at the tall buildings,
the traffic, the people.
‘What
is
this place?’ asked
Gilster.
replied Max, ‘what do you think?’
‘I think I don’t like it,’ he
said, ‘for a start, it smells terrible and the people, I can’t
believe there are so many in one place, it’s horrendous. I hope the
next world is better.’
‘Hey!’ said Max, trying to
sound offended, ‘I live here you know.’
Gilster was crestfallen. ‘I’m
so sorry Max, I wasn’t thinking; please forgive me that was
extremely rude.’
Catching sight of his face in
the rear-vision mirror, Max felt guilty.
‘It’s ok Gilster, I was only
joking, I can’t stand this place either. I’m excited about what we
might find in the next world too.’
Finally they made it through
the city and back out into the countryside. Haven continued to
follow the line on the GPS and update Max on the direction they
should be taking. Hour after hour Max drove, ever onward towards
what she hoped was the portal.
Eventually, as day passed into
night, they lapsed into the silence of companionship. Gilster was
dozing on the back-seat, Max’s thoughts were wondering from subject
to subject, and Haven was trying desperately not to listen to what
she was thinking.
‘Hey, guess what,’ said Max
suddenly, making the two men jump. ‘It was my birthday yesterday
and I completely forgot; I can’t believe I’m now twenty two years
old, jeez I feel ancient. How old are you guys?’ she asked
innocently.
‘I knew this would come up
eventually,’ mumbled Haven.
‘I told you to tell her
earlier,’ said Gilster, ‘now you have no choice.’
‘What’s the big secret?’ asked
Max, ‘are you younger than me or something, come on, tell me, I can
handle it.’
‘Eh . . . no,’ said Haven,
‘that’s not it, in fact we’re quite a bit older than you.’
‘Well, how old are you then?’
Max was intrigued, how old could they be.
‘Do you really need to know,’
asked Haven, sounding distinctly uncomfortable.’
‘No, it’s ok if you don’t want
to tell me . . . OF COURSE I WANT TO KNOW, tell me.’
Haven took a deep breath, ‘I’m
one hundred and seven years old.’
There was an almighty squeal as
Max slammed her foot hard on the brake. The car skidded down the
road before coming to a sudden stop, throwing the occupants
violently forward.
‘What did you just say?’ said
Max, ‘one hundred and seven?’
‘Um . . . yes,’ said Haven,
wishing he had kept his mouth shut. ‘Actually, I’m the baby of the
bunch, Gilster is one hundred and seventeen and Daria is one
hundred and fifteen.
‘You’re joking,’ shrieked Max,
‘you are joking . . . aren’t you?’
‘Eh . . . no, not joking.’
‘How is that possible?’ said
Max, ‘you don’t look a day over twenty five at the most.’
‘Thank you,’ said Haven
smiling, ‘I do try to look after myself.’ Gales of laughter came
from the backseat. ‘Stop it,’ said Haven, ‘you’re not helping
matters.’
‘Sorry,’ said Gilster wiping
the tears from his eyes, ‘but you do get yourself into some funny
situations. Thanks for the laugh, I needed it. By the way Max,’ he
continued, ‘I know it’s late at night and everything, but I don’t
think sitting in the middle of the highway is very safe, perhaps we
should move.’
‘Er, yeah, right,’ said Max
putting her foot back on the accelerator.
‘Do all your people live such
long lives?’ she asked after a few minutes.
‘Most,’ said Haven, relieved
that she seemed to be accepting of it, ‘it’s the energy work, the
more we do the longer we live.’
‘How long are we talking here?’
said Max.
‘Oh quiet old,’ he said wishing
she would change the subject.
‘How old is old?’ persisted
Max.
‘Promise you won’t slam the
brakes on again.’
‘I promise. Now tell me.’
‘Well, some of our Elders have
reached one or two thousand years old,’ said Haven, neglecting to
mention that High Elders lived even longer.
‘Oh my god, so in that sense
you’re just babies. This just gets better and better, now I’m a
cradle-snatcher.’
Not knowing what else to say,
Haven decided silence was the best option. They continued on for
another thirty miles, with only the occasional snigger from the
back-seat.
‘We’ll need to look for a right
hand turn soon, if we’re to keep heading in the right direction,’
said Max matter-of-factly. ‘Keep your eyes open because if we miss
it we may have to travel fifty miles or more before we find a place
to turn around.’
‘Is that so?’ said Haven.
‘Yes,’ said Max, ‘it can be
very annoying.’
‘I imagine it would be.’
‘Oh, come on, you two, stop
it,’ said Gilster from the backseat, ‘you sound like two strangers
having a friendly chat.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Max, ‘but it
all came as a bit of a shock, the age thing and all.’
‘I’m sorry too,’ said Haven, ‘I
should have told you earlier but I wasn’t sure how you’d
react.’
‘You’re very lucky you’ll live
to see one hundred and eight,’ said Max laughing, ‘I could have
killed us all.’
‘No harm done, we’re still
alive and everything is out in the open now, so it’s all good. We
are good aren’t we?’ said Haven worriedly.
‘I think I can handle it,’ said
Max smiling.
They continued on, stopping
once for petrol and food. It was the early hours of the morning
when Max decided she needed to pull over for a quick nap. They had
not passed another car in ages, only trucks seemed to be on the
highway this time of night.
‘Sorry guys but I’ll have to
stop and have a cat-nap before I fall asleep at the wheel,’ she
said, as she slowed and pulled onto the side of the road.
‘That’s all right,’ said
Gilster from the back-seat, ‘get some rest, I’m sure the portal
isn’t going anywhere.’
Max had barely shut her eyes
when she felt a nudge in the ribs. It was Haven.
‘I think we might have a
visitor,’ he said looking over his shoulder out the back
window.
Max opened her eyes and looked
in the rear-vision mirror at the blue lights flashing behind
them.
‘Oh no, it’s the cops.’
‘What are cops,’ asked Gilster
following Haven’s gaze out the back window.
‘Someone we don’t want to see,’
said Max.
‘What’s he doing now?’ asked
Gilster, noticing the officer looking at something on the dashboard
of his car.
Max was still watching in the
rear-vision mirror.
‘I expect he’s checking our
rego to see who we are. Here he comes, let me do the talking, you
guys just keep cool.’ She stepped out of the car and waited for the
officer to reach her.
‘Hello officer,’ she said, with
a cheery smile.
‘Evening,’ came the curt reply.
‘Can I see you license please.’
‘Certainly,’ said Max, ‘I’ll
just get it, it’s in my bag.’
She leaned in through the
window to reach for her bag which was between the two front seats.
Haven grabbed her hand.
‘He knows,’ he hissed, ‘he
knows who we are, I can hear his thoughts, he knows we took the GPS
from the shop.’
‘Oh shit,’ whispered Max, ‘now
we’re in trouble.’
She backed out through the open
window and fumbled around pretending to look for her driver’s
license.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, stalling
for time so she could work out what to do next. ‘I know it’s in
here somewhere.’
The officer stepped back and
pulled his pistol from his holster.
‘Put the bag down slowly and
put your hands on the bonnet of the car,’ he said pointing the
pistol straight at Max.
‘You two,’ he shouted to Haven
and Gilster, ‘get out of the car, slowly, no sudden moves and keep
your hands where I can see them.’
Haven and Gilster not knowing
what else to do, complied and slowly got out of the car, but as
they did so Gilster began to sing softly, his eyes never leaving
the officer.
‘What the. . . ?’ said the
officer looking down at his pistol.
The barrel had begun to melt
and drip onto the ground with a soft plipping noise. He dropped it
and made a grabbed for his pepper spray; he wasn’t quick enough,
Gilster’s song had changed. The officer slid gracefully to the
ground and landed at Max’s feet with a gentle thud. It all happened
so quickly, Max was still standing by the car with her hands on the
bonnet. Haven rushed around the car and knelt down by the side of
the incapacitated officer.
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