Rakitaki: A Jonas Quartermain Adventure

by Lee Alexander

Fire consumed him. He felt his skin burn away with his nerves; smelled his body cooking. Then he was back in the house, posed mid-step over a sleeping college kid.

  “I… don’t know. I remember fire.”

  “Yeah, we had the bonfire last night and played games around it. Then you disappeared, and the next time I saw you, you were naked in the yard.”

  “Next to those trees,” Jonas said, looking back at the kitchen. He couldn’t see outside anymore.

  “Enough about the trees. Wait here, I need to find something for you to cover up with. Hopefully nobody sees your full moon. It’s blinding enough as is.”

  Elliott disappeared upstairs, leaving Jonas awkwardly covering himself with his hands as he hoped nobody would wake up. A moment later, Elliott returned with a pink bath robe. “Here, put this on.”

  “No thanks.”

  “Are you for fucking real right now? Your clothes are missing and it’s below freezing outside. Put the damn robe on, the taxi is probably already here.”

  Jonas sighed, then put the fluffy garment on. It felt soft against his skin and remarkably warm. He immediately started to shiver.

  “Great, let’s go,” Elliott said. He pulled Jonas along as they stepped around slumbering partiers. Sure enough, a taxi sat idling at the curb. Elliott waved to the cabbie. When they were close enough, the passenger side window rolled down.

  “You Elliott?” The cabby asked.

  “Yeah.”

  He pointed at Jonas. “This guy going too?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Bit cold for that, ain’t it?”

  “Yeah. Don’t remember what happened to my clothes,” Jonas replied.

  “Kids these days.” The driver said it like a curse. “Let’s go. You leave any stains on my seats and you pay extra.”

  They got in the back of the cab and it shot off.

  “Where you classy gents goin’?”

  “UofA dorms.”

  “I should’a figured. Alright, I’ll have you there in a minute.”

  They rode in silence. Jonas thought over the events of the night. He knew for a fact Madsen had been at the party. He remembered it being Madsen’s house, or his family’s. He also knew there hadn’t been any Joshua trees in the backyard the night before. He thought back to the other trees on the road to Cairo from Sharm El-Sheikh; about the confused reactions of his classmates when he asked about Hatem.

  They arrived at the dorms and Elliott paid the man. He said something out of earshot, then drove off. Jonas just walked through the snow to the door of the dorms. Warm air greeted him, and he started to shiver violently.

  “Woah, that’s not good. Go take a shower in water as hot as you can stand. I’ll bring a change of clothes for you.”

  Teeth chattering, Jonas barely managed a nod. He walked over to the bathrooms and let himself in. He dropped the robe, turned on the shower, and screamed as the water hit his skin. He hurriedly turned the heat down. It felt like he was on fire all over again. He gritted his teeth and turned, trying to warm up. Five minutes later, Elliott returned with a change of clothes. Jonas was just starting to feel human again.

  “Damn, you look like a lobster.”

  “I feel like one going into chowder,” Jonas replied. He turned the heat up again, still feeling pins and needles all over his body. Eventually, he stepped out, toweled off, and dressed. Elliott was gone. Jonas trudged to his room, flopped in his bed, and was out like a light.

  A massive eye with a golden iris stared at him. It was unblinking with a nebulous form. It looked like a cloud of stardust, only looking like an eye by accident. It stared into his soul. Instead of feeling fear, he challenged the eye. He shouted into the void. It looked back, unmoving, unwavering. He screamed until his throat and lungs were sore, until he felt fatigue drag him to the ground. He slumped to his knees, breathing heavily in the darkness.

  “What do you want?” He asked, feeling helpless.

  A voice almost touched his mind. It almost spoke. Words were nearly formed. He reached out to feel the connection he didn’t know he was yearning for. Power seemed to be just beyond his reach.

  “JONAS!” A voice shocked him out of sleep. His hand was raised to the ceiling.

  “Dude, the hell was all that?”

  “What are you talking about?” Jonas asked in a sleep-fuzzed voice.

  “All that screaming and yelling. You kept threatening someone, probably your roommate. Speaking of, where the hell is he? I don’t remember the last time I saw him.”

  “Henry? No idea, I honestly can’t remember the last time we talked. Maybe before winter break. Even then, he doesn’t live here, he lives at a place his friend owns on the other side of town. Seems like a bad crowd.”

  “Says the guy who gets so liquored up at a party he ends up naked in the snow.”

  Jonas sat up, looking at his friend standing in the doorway. “Bite me. What are you doing here?”

  “I was dropping by to see how you were doing. You were pretty out of it when we got back this morning, and I heard you shouting through the door. Must have been a hell of a dream, to have you acting like that.”

  “I guess.” Jonas stretched, scratched his head, then swung his legs out of bed. “What day is it?”

  Elliott crossed his arms. “Still Saturday. Why?”

  “What even is the weekend anymore. I’m hungry. Let’s get food.”

  He shook his head. “Nah, I’ve got plans. Like I said, I just wanted to stop by and check that you were okay. You’re certainly full of energy.”

  “Alright. Well, thanks for waking me, I guess.”

  Elliott grunted and waved as he left the room. Jonas got out of bed and started to dress. Five minutes later he was bundled for the winter cold, walking across campus to the cafeteria.

  It was mid-day. He grabbed a lunch with his meal card then found an unoccupied table to eat at. He had just sat down when another tray was set down next to his. He turned, still tired from his restless sleep, and found a pair of green eyes staring back at him with mirth.

  “Lily, are you stalking me?” He stuck a fry in his mouth.

  “No. I tried to get your attention like six times while you were grabbing your lunch. You were in your own little world.”

  He nodded, swallowed the fries, then spoke. “Yeah, I’ve got a lot going on. I thought you were going to go see your family.”

  “I called yesterday. My dad is fine, but wants me to visit them next week. I decided to use the weekend to get classwork done and study at the library, then head over on Monday. It’s an hour-long drive, so I’ll probably just go in the afternoons.”

  “Ah.”

  “Well, what’s bothering you?” She picked up her sandwich and took a bite.

  He shook his head. “More of the same, I guess.”

  “What, you were arrested for drugs again?”

  He glanced around wildly as he shushed her.

  “Don’t go saying that! I’ll get kicked out of college!”

  “Relax,” she said with a laugh. “Anybody listening would know I’m joking anyway. So, what is the issue?”

  “You remember I told you about the weird fight at the club?”

  “Yeah,” she said. She stuffed a few fries in her mouth then spoke around them. “Said you had superhuman strength, then you caught fire or something like that.”

  “Did I tell you all that?”

  She shrugged. “You did seem pretty out of it at the time. Maybe you didn’t mean to mention all of it. You look pretty tired now, too.”

  “Yeah,” he sighed. “Still not sleeping well. Same weird dreams. Still troubled.”

  “Let me guess,” she said with a finger from each hand steepled to her lips. “You got into another fight. And this new drug… what did you call it?”

  “Rakitaki.”

  “Right. The Rakitaki was involved. How am I doing?”

  He pointed at her. “You got the gist of it. The weirdest part is nobody can remember the fight.”


  “That is weird. Most people remember a fight breaking out, no matter how drunk.”

  He sighed. She continued eating while he sat there contemplating.

  “Go on, eat before it’s all cold.”

  “Mmmh,” he grunted. He ate his fries, then started on his sandwich. After they were done, she asked him a question that turned his brain on its side.

  “Well, what research have you done?”

  “What research?”

  “I don’t know. The word ‘Rakitaki’? Or Joshua trees appearing where they don’t belong. People with elongated teeth. All the things you’ve been talking about.”

  He shook his head. “I would look insane looking for something like that.”

  She pointed her last fry at him. “Unless you were doing research for a creative writing assignment.”

  “That’s a great idea.”

  “Well, I’m free for the weekend. Want some help?”

  He nodded; happy she had offered. “Uh, yeah, that would be great.”

  32

  Jonas and Lily walked to the library at a leisurely pace.

  “It must be different.” Her voice broke the preternatural silence.

  “What is?” He was confused.

  “This, compared to Egypt’s weather.”

  “Oh, yeah,” he said with a chuckle. “It was in the fifties and sixties pretty much the whole time, sunny every day. And the sand. Oh, the freaking sand. I hate sand so much.”

  She laughed, a high and carefree sound that set his heart racing.

  “I bet. I remember the last time I went to a beach. Sand everywhere.”

  He paused, looking at her. She didn’t wait and he had to catch up. “Wait, you were in Egypt at the same time. Why are you asking me?”

  “I was, but I was either in class at the university or studying at home the entire time. Airconditioned classrooms, aircon in the car, and at the house I was staying at.” She shook her head. “I didn’t get to sightsee much at all. Barely even spent any time outside.”

  “That busy?”

  “Yeah. It’s okay, but I’m sad I didn’t get to see more of the city.”

  They arrived at the library and walked into its warmth. Lily pulled him along to an open table, where they took off their jackets and scarves.

  She turned to him with a gleam in her eyes. “Where should we start?”

  “You really like researching stuff, don’t you?” He asked with a laugh.

  “Love it.” She rubbed her hands together. “Now, where should we start?”

  “Uh, I guess the easy stuff. Joshua trees, Egyptian foliage, and some light hieroglyphics as well as mythology around the two symbols we know. First is the Eye of Horus, which is super easy. The other one is a two-symbol phrase that translates as Crimson Night. That’s the Hermit Ibis and ‘grh’, or night. That one looks like a horizontal line at the top with a loop hanging below.”

  “That’s the easy stuff, huh?”

  “Yeah. After that, we have to find myths relating to elongated canines, vampires or vampire-like entities in Egypt, glowing hands, and people dying when exposed to sunlight. After that, people disappearing from history. And, uh… I feel like I’m forgetting something else.”

  She watched him struggle for a moment before helping him out. “You forgot the most important one.”

  “And that is?”

  “Rakitaki.”

  Jonas groaned, putting his head in his hand. “I must be exhausted.”

  “That’s okay. That’s why you have me here,” she said brightly.

  “Thanks.”

  “Let’s get started then.” She grabbed his arm and led him deep into the stacks. A thrill went up his spine when he realized he was alone with her in the stacks. He dry-swallowed, feeling his nerves on edge. He still didn’t understand why she made him so nervous, when other women never gave him that feeling of anxiety.

  “Here we are. Let’s grab, this one, and this one, and… yeah, this one.” She pulled large books from the shelves as she spoke, putting them into his hands. He grunted, then rearranged the books to be manageable. She led him around, grabbing more than a dozen books.

  “Great! This should be enough to get us started.”

  “Oh, no,” he said with blatant sarcasm. “I was hoping for more.”

  “Be careful what you wish for,” she said with an evil gleam in her eye. The smile matched, looking a little too feral.

  He backpedaled away, mock shielding himself with the books. “Just kidding! This is plenty. I’m about to rupture something. Let’s sit down already.”

  She laughed and they returned to the table. The library was quiet, not because of the oppressive atmosphere, but because it was nearly empty. Lily knew just about every detail of the events that he could remember, so he trusted her to know what to research. After three hours, both had a pile of notes. Half of the books had been moved from one side of the table to the other.

  “I know we ate just a little bit ago, but something about studying always makes me hungry,” Jonas said. Lily grunted, and he went back to studying. Ten minutes later, she loudly put her book down.

  “You just had to say that.”

  He looked up, startled by the interruption. “What?”

  “You mentioned studying making you hungry. Now I’m hungry. Damn you, Jonas Quartermain.” Her voice sounded serious, but the infectious smile told him it was a joke.

  “Should we order some pizza?” He asked.

  “I think we could get away with that. What do you like on your pizza? Please don’t tell me something weird like pineapple.”

  “What, Hawaiian pizza? I don’t mind it.”

  “Oh, gross. Pineapple has no business on pizza,” she said with a laugh.

  He shrugged in response. “I like the sweet and savory combination. Anyway, I prefer simplicity. Cheese or pepperoni.”

  “That I can understand. How about anchovies?”

  He gave her the side eye. “You’re joking right?”

  She stared him down for a long moment, then burst out laughing. “I tried to sell it! Yes, I’m joking. Pepperoni it is. I’ll be back in a few.”

  She stood, walking toward the reception desk. Lily returned a few minutes later, all smiles. “They said about half an hour. I had to bribe the librarian with a few slices, and we have to clean up after ourselves. What are you writing?”

  “Common protection myths. The shen ring, which was a ward against evil. The Ankh, which is that looping cross-like symbol you see everywhere these days. That one means everlasting life. The Uraeus, the cobra on the headdress, which means supreme power.”

  She nodded. “You already knew that though, from your studies.”

  “Yeah. I just wanted a break from the books. I also had to look up the two symbols for Crimson Night, just to make sure I remembered the translation correctly. The first symbol, the bird here,” he said as he pointed to one book spread open in front of him. “That’s the Hermit Ibis. It means red, because it is the only Ibis to live in the desert. Red is the color associated with chaos and destruction in Ancient Egypt. Then the other symbol is ‘grh’, or Night. It’s a portrayal of the sky with a ‘was’ scepter hanging from it.”

  “You said that earlier,” Lily said. “What does it mean?”

  “Well, the ‘was’ scepter was a symbol of control over chaos. So, linking the two symbols together could mean… control of chaos and destruction.”

  “That sounds really ominous. Do you know what it refers to yet?”

  Jonas shook his head. “No, unfortunately that was all that I managed to find on the tablets. What have you learned so far?”

  “The Joshua tree is a type of yucca native to the North American southwest, like California, Nevada, New Mexico, that area. Basically, the Mojave Desert.” She checked her notes. “Oh, and Arizona. There are yuccas native to Egypt, but none of them look anything like the Joshua tree. Which, that’s another thing.”

  “What is?”

  “Joshua
tree is a recent name. Before it was called that, it was the Yucca Palm.”

  He took the information in, trying to make it all fit together. “Interesting. Anything else?”

  “There are plenty of plants mentioned in old or ancient Egyptian stories, but nothing quite resembling the Joshua tree. Basically, nothing new. Now you,” she said as she put her notes down.

  “Well, there’s the stuff we’ve covered before, the warding against evil and such. Most of the mythology around those symbols is roughly what we expected. It gets more interesting after that. Elongated canines are sometimes associated with Anubis. As in, the Jackal-headed old lord of the dead from the Old Kingdom. He was later replaced by Osiris as lord of the dead, around the time of the Middle Kingdom. That’s like 1100 years later.”

  “I guess that’s interesting.”

  He held a hand up. “It gets better. Osiris has a particular symbol associated with him- the Eye of Horus. Also known as the wadjet. In addition, he was known as the god of rebirth.”

  “As in the one who gave life to the dead,” she said.

  He nodded. “Exactly. Though there’s really nothing like what we call vampires in the Egyptian mythos.”

  “That’s progress.” She sighed. “Not a lot to show for three hours of work.”

  “I think the next round will reveal more, if we can find answers.”

  Lily nodded, then stood and gathered their books. Jonas followed her lead, then helped her put the books back where they had found them. After they had returned the rest, she turned to him.

  “What’s next?”

  “Uh, let’s see.” He ran through his mental checklist. “Glowing hands, dying by sunlight exposure, disappearing from history, and ‘Rakitaki’ itself.”

  “Okay, I’m thinking greater mythology for most of those.” She tapped her lip with her index finger while she thought. “We’ll try some surrounding geographical regions. Western African mythos, the Mediterranean, maybe Indian?”

  Jonas nodded as he listened. “Sounds good.”

  “For the last two, I think we’re going to need more personal histories. Public figures being wiped from history kind of precludes them being included.”

  “We know that happens all the time, but it’s usually a political move. We’re talking about something more mysterious, where they aren’t just wiped from history but apparently from reality.” he said as he trailed off. He racked his brain about what to do.