The Kuthun (18 page)

‘The Blood of Isis. Do you remember the spell that I told you about that I saw in the Book of Cole?’ I say.

He takes a moment to think about it and then he says, ‘You possess your blood Isis, and so on. The amulet is a protection for this Great One.’ His head jerks up.

I nod, already one step ahead of him. ‘I know. The Great One.’

He puts his hand up to silence me and is frantically scribbling away. When he’s finished he puts the pen down and turns to face me. ‘Ellie, think about everything that has happened so far. The kuthun has come to you and has proven itself incredibly powerful. But it’s not because it has that power on its own.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘It’s because your powers are connecting with it, making you and
it
, more powerful together. No-one in the family has ever experienced that before. If they did we would know about it.’ His eyes move back to the screen. ‘The spell said that the amulet is protection for this Great One, who will drive off anyone who would perform a criminal act against him. Do you remember it saying that?’ he asks.

I roll my eyes. ‘Of course I do. What are you saying?’

‘What I’m saying is, this kuthun will protect you from harm if in fact you
are
the Great One.’

I balk. ‘Are you serious?! You think that the amulet will protect me. From what? The Puritans?’

‘Well, hasn’t it so far? I mean you have your own powers granted, but hasn’t the kuthun expanded those powers when needed?’

I can’t deny what he is saying. Ever since the kuthun came to me I have felt more powerful, stronger, more attuned to the world around me. ‘Well, what if I’m not the Great One? What if it means something else?’ I ask.

‘Well then, we’ll have to wait and see I suppose.’

‘Oh goody! Let’s just test the theory on little old Ellie shall we?’ I reply sarcastically.

A thump upstairs catches our attention. We look at each other and jump up from the table. Uncle Jo strides over to the topmost kitchen cupboard and pulls out an old looking knife. Its handle is worn green and there are specks of tarnished steel along its blade—intricate carvings have been embedded into its razored edge.

I stare at it, surprised that he even owns a knife like that. ‘Where did you get that?’ I whisper.

He puts his finger to his mouth to silence me and signals towards the stairs. Carefully we make our way up, trying not to make any sound. The noise is coming from my bedroom. I can hear rustling and the sound of someone murmuring. Uncle Jo keeps me behind him and peers around the corner. His shoulders that were tense only seconds ago, now sag with recognition. He places the knife into his back pocket and looks back at me, mouthing the word
Ama
. I unclench my fists.

‘Boo!’ he shouts, as he steps inside the room.

‘Oh! Goodness gracious, Josiah! Don’t scare me like that,’ Ama rouses. ‘I’m an old woman you know.’ She is staring at him sternly, her hand at her chest.

I roll my eyes at her dramatics. Even though technically she’d be close to eighty if she were still alive Ama still looks the same age as when she died, making her only about thirty-seven.

Uncle Jo shrugs, ‘It’s not like you can die again,’ he says.

Her eyes turn into cat-like slits. ‘No…but you can!’ she warns him.

He laughs and puts his hands up in a sign of defeat, casually walking over to the window and looking out.

I walk towards the bed and give her a hug. ‘Hello, Shem,’ she says affectionately. ‘How are you?’

I sit down next to her. ‘I’m…alright, Ama.’ I notice she has the Book of Cole in her lap.

She pats the front cover, which I now recognise as Isis, and she nods her head. ‘I know what you are thinking. I’m sorry I startled you both, but this is important. I need to search through the book to see if what I have found out is true.’

‘What have you found out? Did you get into the Hall of Records?’ I ask hopefully.

‘Yes and no. I was able to get an audience with the Elders and they did allow me a certain degree of access to the old scripture. And let me tell you, what I found was a little disturbing.’ She pats the book again.

‘What do you mean disturbing?’ Uncle Jo says, coming to stand at the foot of the bed, his hands in his pockets.

Ama says, ‘I was able to find certain information that may indicate that the curse goes back further than just Isabella.’ She searches our faces for a response.

Uncle Jo and I quickly glance at one another. ‘We sort of figured that out ourselves earlier.’ I shrug apologetically.

‘Oh,’ she replies slightly annoyed. ‘Well, how about you tell me what you know and then I may be able to fill in the rest, hm?’ She stares at us expectantly, her finger tapping the book.

Uncle Jo coughs and proceeds to tell her what we were able to uncover about Isis; the potential for finding the light in Egypt; the fact that the Venators may have been hunting us for a lot longer than was previously thought; and for a very different reason.

She clasps her hands together. ‘Well, it seems you’ve been very busy. I’m impressed, really.’ Her tone implies that she isn’t surprised.

I cross my arms. ‘Ama, did you know any of this?’ I can tell she knows more than she is letting on.

‘Some of it I did. Other parts I wasn’t completely sure about, but now you’ve managed to fill in the pieces.’

She tells us about what she was able to find out.

She was given an audience with the Elders—highly evolved spiritual beings consisting of three females and four males, who act as high council to all souls on The Other Side. She asked them for the right to gain access to old scripture that could help us learn more about what is happening to me. Apparently, the Elders disagreed about how much access she should have, but with her natural charm she was able to convince them that there was an urgent time frame and she needed to act now.

They granted her the right to search through the scrolls but she was given a Handler to watch over her at all times. As she was sifting through the ancient scripts before her, she noticed that the same symbol kept popping up on some of the parchment.

The kuthun.

It was faint she said, but it appeared in the bottom right corner of certain scrolls. She said she asked the Handler what they meant but apparently he wasn’t able to converse with her on any level.

‘Anyway, I continued searching, trying to find a common thread. I was struggling with my understanding, as a lot of the writing was in Ancient Egyptian and Coptic. But one of the perks of being
dead
, Josiah,’ she glances at him sassily, ‘is that you can assimilate your energy with the written text to decipher its meaning. I was able to find three very important scrolls, all relating to what we face right now. When you mentioned that you thought the Puritans may have used Salem as a cover up to destroy us, I was able to confirm that with what I found.’

Uncle Jo and I look at each other in astonishment. He nods in my direction, letting me know my hunch was right.

She continues, ‘I was able to find a parchment that contains a written document by Augustus himself. It describes his opposition to paganism in any form and mentions his Roman Puritan religion as being the only true faith. He sent a group of scholarly men into Egypt. These men were equipped to read Ancient Egyptian and decipher hieroglyphics. They spent months scrolling through ancient texts and reading the walls of pyramids and tombs that they could gain entry to. The information they were able to obtain was quite remarkable. On the inner west wall of the Temple of Philae, a temple dedicated to Isis, they found significant hieroglyphic markings in the form of scripture. It is not known if this scripture still resides there but I can be fairly sure that the Puritans may have tried to destroy its existence at some point in time. The translation is as follows, “She who is Mother, who is of pure blood, shall be the bearer of humanity. She will forge a new world, and upon it she will bring forth the Light”.’ She pauses, letting us digest this new information.

I start to pace, thinking about all the new developments that have come to pass today. I search Uncle Jo’s face for some deeper understanding but he is staring at the ceiling with arms crossed, obviously trying to make sense of it all as well.

Ama is watching us both, a smile playing at her lips.

‘Was there anything else you were able to find?’ I ask.

She tisks me. ‘Of course, pet. Through these scrolls I was able to see that Augustus felt threatened by the Ancient Egyptian belief system. His writing conveys this by repeatedly condemning such practices as worship or rituals that embrace these beliefs with unrefuted contempt. He put out an order, that if anyone was seen to be following the Ancient Egyptian beliefs, they were to be considered a prodotis, or traitor, and were punished for this so called “act of sin”. This coincides with your findings about the Puritans and their grudge against us going back much farther than any of us previously thought.’

I shake my head in disgust at how many people in the world have died in the name of religion.
Why does different always breed fear in the weak
? I feel sick to my stomach. Phoebe’s words echo back to me. ‘I know that most people kill out of revenge or jealousy, power or greed.’ She was right on the money.

‘Sounds about right,’ Uncle Jo says matter-of-factly.

‘But that still doesn’t explain why they want us dead?’ I say exasperated.

Ama smiles at me. ‘It does if you can understand the Isis translation.’

My head whips up in response.
She’s right
. I nod and continue to pace. ‘Yes, okay. So we know that Isis was the first of our blood, right?’ They both nod. ‘And we have confirmed that the Puritans have been hunting us for a lot longer than the time of Isabelle…’ What am I missing?

Uncle Jo is watching me, a look of sadness crosses his face. I stop pacing.

‘What is it, Uncle Jo? Are you alright?’

He and Ama exchange glances. He nods his head and looks as though he is about to say something but then decides against it.

Ama intervenes, ‘Elena, what we have confirmed so far is crucial. Do you know what this means for our family? We can now better understand our kind, and we can finally put unanswered questions to rest. The Cole women before you would be proud.’ She puts the book down and comes to stand before me, taking me by the shoulders. ‘Your mother would be very proud.’ She kisses my forehead.

‘Thank you,’ I manage to whisper.

‘So what is the plan?’ she asks us.

Uncle Jo moves towards the door, his hand raking his hair. ‘I think I need another coffee and maybe we should be buying a couple of airline tickets?’ He looks to me in question as he passes.

Airline tickets? ‘We’re going to Egypt?’ I ask excitedly.

I see the back of his head nod as he turns the corner. My heart does a flip.

‘You better start packing,’ Ama says. She hugs me tightly. ‘Please be careful, Shem. And just…remember who you are.’ I hug her back and she vanishes.

I clench my fists together in excitement and give a little jump. I’m going to Egypt! Apart from teleporting I have never travelled anywhere. It was always too risky. You don’t get much older than Egypt—soaring pyramids and white, hot sand; ancient carvings and hidden tombs. The thought of walking through the Valley of the Queens, and gliding down the Nile in a felucca, gives me a warm, melancholy feeling. I smile at the thought of such an adventure. And then I remember
why
we’re going.

Daydream over.

Falling back onto my bed I reflect on what we’ve
learnt so far. It’s all happening so quickly. A feeling of dread washes over me. What will be the outcome? I hear Mum’s voice in my head saying, ‘Don’t be afraid.’

I turn my face to peer at The Book of Cole. ‘What is it to be, Isis? Will I live…or will I die?’ I say, as I place my hand on the cover, hoping to get a response. No answer becomes evident. I sigh and sit up. Magi is sitting at my doorway staring at me.

‘Hey, where did you come from?’ I ask her, not having heard her paws ascending the stairs.

She tilts her head and stares at me with glowing amber eyes. I feel a rush of energy course through me and an image of Magi and I standing under the sun and the moon vividly enters my mind—like a snapshot frozen in time.

I’m gobsmacked. Is she talking to me? ‘How are you doing that, Mags?’ I ask in astonishment.

She then shows me an image of a hot, sandy landscape. The heatwaves roll off the caramel-coloured dunes. Magi and I are walking alongside one another, heading in the direction of a distant location—a hazy silhouette of a pyramid in the background. The image disappears.

I stare at her open-mouthed, not quite believing what just took place. ‘Are you telling me that you want to come to Egypt, Mags?’

She pads towards me and places her nose in my outstretched palm. I laugh. I cannot believe she can communicate with me. I can’t stop laughing, and before I know what is happening the laughing has turned into tears.

It must be the kuthun.

I put my face to hers. ‘Okay, Mags. You can come.’ The corner of her mouth lifts into a doggy half-smile. I laugh again and shake my head in disbelief.

We make our way downstairs. Uncle Jo is sitting at the kitchen table scouring the internet, a warm cup of coffee sits obediently beside him. He hears us enter and looks up from his research, his face etched in a scowl.

‘What is it?’ I ask him concerned.

He focuses on my face and I see his eyes glaze over. He quickly turns his attention back to the screen. ‘Nothing. Just thinking that’s all,’ he mumbles.

I know he is hiding something. I can feel it. I scan his aura—the colours become clearer and I see them intermingling with one another in a chaotic fashion. The flow of his energy is being affected, telling me that his emotions are all over the place.

What is he worried about? I would ask him, but if I have learnt anything about my uncle it’s that he’ll tell me when he’s good and ready. Instead, I try and distract him with another more pressing issue. ‘Uncle Jo…um, if we are going to Egypt then we need to take Magi too,’ I say.