The Beast of Hushing Wood

by Gabrielle Wang

  But the imagination is a real place, Jaddi told me.

  A warm glow spreads through my body like a river delta filling after a long drought. I touch the necklace Jaddi made. Rima, my animal spirit, is giving me strength and showing me what to do.

  Standing on my four strong legs, I shake my antlers at the hovering dragonfly. ‘I am not going home. I’m going to save Kalila!’ I shout as I race back to the river.

  Through the trees I run. The roar of the river fills my ears. When I reach the bank, I see Mystic watching over Kalila, who is trembling and crying in the middle of the river.

  ‘Good boy!’ I call out to him. Then to the silver fox I cry, ‘Hold on, Kalila, I’m coming!’

  I take one step and there’s a terrifying sound. The ground around me trembles. The Hollow Tree shakes. Then, as if in slow motion, the tree begins to fall, its roots tearing from the earth with an agonising groan.

  ‘Mystic!’ I scream.

  The top of the tree crashes onto the other bank, sending mud, branches and leaves flying through the air. I cover my head with my hands.

  After everything settles, I see the devastation. The Hollow Tree’s trunk is like a bridge spanning the river. Its roots look like tortured fingers reaching out to grab passers-by. My beautiful ancient tree, the one thing I thought would live forever, has been destroyed by the jinn. It’s as if my own heart has been ripped out.

  Dazed, I look around for Mystic. I can’t see him anywhere. What if he’s lying under the fallen tree? I hold back the wail that pushes up my throat.

  Then I hear Kalila’s pitiful cries. The silver fox is still crouched on the small log, struggling to keep her balance. I clamber over the enormous trunk of the Hollow Tree and run upstream along the bank towards her.

  But she loses her balance and falls into the river. The current carries her downstream, past me and straight towards the Hollow Tree. Only there’s no space for her to pass underneath. She’s going to be crushed against it.

  I hold my breath. But another violent eddy forms a whirlpool and sends her swirling in between some boulders. She tries desperately to scramble up onto one of them. Each time she does, her paws slip and she falls back into the water.

  She goes under. Comes up. Tries again.

  There’s only one thing for me to do.

  The shock of the freezing water makes me gasp. For a moment I can’t breathe. Then I swim out to the middle and let the current take me. Soon I’m at Kalila’s side. She paws me in a panic, her claws tearing my shoulder. Before I know it she’s pushing me under. I try and reach the surface but my legs are tangled in some kind of weed. I kick them free. A searing pain rips up my left leg. I feel the sandpaper scrape of jagged rocks. Red bubbles fizz around me. This is my nightmare, I realise weakly.

  You are mine now, I hear the river sing.

  Then I see Kalila sinking. I grab a handful of silver fur and pull her up to the surface. My lungs are on fire as I gasp for air. With the last bit of strength I have left, I keep her head above the water.

  I don’t know how long I can keep this up. The boulders are too slippery to climb. I feel my strength draining away, water filling my lungs. The sky, the woods are fading.

  Let her go and I will cradle you, the river sings. Let me take you down . . .

  Is that barking in the distance? It’s hard to tell because of the roar of the water in my ears and the feeling of drowsiness as the cold seeps in and my strength leaks out. But above the foaming, frothing river comes the definite sound of barking. And it’s getting closer.

  I turn my head and see Mystic with Raffi beside him. He must have gone to get him. A flame of joy burns away the fear within me.

  Raffi rushes to the water’s edge. ‘Ziggy Truegood, hold on,’ he cries. ‘I will get you out. Hold on.’

  Kalila lifts her head when she hears Raffi and begins to struggle. I can’t hold her and we both go under. I reach out for Kalila. I am not going to let her drown, not now, not when we are so close to being saved. I kick hard and we shoot up, emerging together.

  Raffi screams out something in his own language. At once, Kalila stops struggling.

  He quickly takes off his shirt and sandals. I see the dagger in a sheath at his hip. He wades into the river, carrying his shirt. The swirl of the current catches him and drags him in the other direction, and it seems like hours that he struggles against it until he reaches us.

  Kalila puts her front paws onto Raffi’s shoulders. He speaks to her calmly. My arms are heavy. I can hardly keep myself afloat. How easy it would be not to fight it any more, to let the river take me. Is this my destiny?

  You are mine, Ziggy. Come to me . . .

  Raffi ties a shirt sleeve around Kalila’s waist. Then he ties the other sleeve around my wrist. ‘Hold on, Ziggy Truegood,’ he cries as he treads water.

  I am so weary even the roar of the river is becoming a soft din in my ears. I feel a pull. Raffi is dragging Kalila and me to the shore. Keeping my head above the water takes all my remaining strength. Each time Raffi gets close to the bank, the river seems to pull him back.

  I see a flash of silvery green above his head. The jinn! I open my mouth to warn Raffi but I swallow froth and bubbles instead. I’m drowning. The jinn darts out over the water and hovers in the air as if it’s telling the river what to do. But Raffi’s will seems stronger and he reaches the bank. He turns and begins pulling us towards him.

  The jinn changes into a large wasp that stings his hand over and over again. Raffi cries out in pain. Then, as I watch helplessly, it becomes a snake that curls around his legs. It puffs itself up and squeezes. Still Raffi doesn’t let go of us. The snake vanishes and I see someone come out of the trees.

  I can’t believe it – it’s Grandpa Truegood! He’s come to save us.

  ‘Save yourself first, Raffi Tazi,’ Grandpa Truegood says.

  What’s he talking about? It must be the sickness that’s making him say such things. ‘Grandpa Truegood! It’s me, Ziggy,’ I choke.

  Raffi’s hands have swollen up from the wasp bites. But he’s still holding onto us. His face is filled with agony.

  ‘Grandpa Truegood,’ I cry. ‘Please, help us.’

  Grandpa turns to me and laughs.

  ‘That is not your grandfather, Ziggy Truegood,’ Raffi says through gritted teeth.

  A look of fury comes over Grandpa’s face. ‘Another Truegood! I fought a Truegood once.’ His voice is weird. It screeches high and booms low at the same time. ‘He tried to trap me, trap me in a bottle.’ Grandpa gives a demonic laugh. ‘I took his mind for that.’

  Mystic pounces forward. His lips curl back into a snarl, and Grandpa Truegood disappears. In his place is a creature of fire. Mystic runs at the creature, snarling, and it diminishes in size. Then it flares up again, spitting fire at Mystic.

  Mystic cringes away, yelping, the hair on his face singed.

  With one hand, Raffi grips the shirt tied to Kalila and me. With the other, he whips the dagger from its sheath and throws it at the jinn.

  ‘Injali bismallah!’ he shouts.

  The blade pierces the jinn and I hear a forlorn cry come long and high from its flaming mouth. Then the jinn and the dagger sink into the water.

  I’m lying on the muddy bank, my chest heaving, my mind dazed. Above me, silver raindrops cling to the branches.

  Mystic lovingly licks the river from my face. I see dark patches where the jinn’s fire burnt him. But he seems okay.

  ‘Thank you, Mystic,’ I say, gently touching his face. Then I smile. ‘You know what? I’m alive and it’s my birthday. Do you hear that, Mystic? I am alive . . .’

  He cocks his head, trying to understand me, and I have to laugh.

  Resting his head on my chest, he gives a little sigh. His body warms mine, and for the first time in a very long time, the woods look sparkling and new. They are my woods once more and I hear them singing a new song.

  Raffi has his arm around Kalila. As he strokes her wet fur, he speaks to her
softly.

  I lie there watching them for a long time, thinking about the story in my pocket that must be a sodden mess by now. Is the silver fox really Raffi’s little sister?

  Raffi looks over to me. ‘Thank you, Ziggy Truegood, for saving Kalila’s life.’

  I smile.

  ‘To escape the jinn, Kalila had to change into her animal spirit. It was the only way she could survive,’ he says.

  ‘Will she change back now?’ I ask.

  He looks sadly down at her. ‘If she feels safe, she will try,’ he says.

  ‘Is the jinn truly dead?’ I look at the spot where I saw the jinn sink into the river, and I shiver.

  ‘Jinns do not like daggers made with iron blades. I am hoping he will not be able to rise again,’ Raffi says.

  I unzip my pocket and feel around for the paper. Sure enough, it’s a mass of pulp. I’m disappointed, but now I know how the story ends I don’t need to read it. As we sit there on the bank, I tell Raffi about it.

  ‘But what I don’t understand is how the story can talk about us when it’s been locked away for years?’

  Raffi pushes his hair out of his eyes. ‘It is just that time moves differently in different realms,’ he says. He places one hand over the other, moving one slowly and one quickly. ‘In the realm you are living in, that story was written long ago. But when we met, things shifted. In this realm,’ he gestures around us, ‘that story is happening right now.’

  What Raffi is saying doesn’t make any sense.

  ‘This realm, where we are now, is the space between. It’s where magic happens, where stories live, and the choices you make ripple outwards to affect everyone,’ he says.

  ‘So the story hasn’t finished? What happens in the end?’ I say, suddenly worried.

  ‘Nobody can tell you that. There are choices still to be made. And each choice leads to two or three other choices. Jaddi told me all this. He said that our choices branch out from right here . . .’ Raffi points to where we are sitting ‘. . . and so, just like this, we make our story.’

  I think about this for a moment, trying to make sense of it all.

  ‘So is it like me going into the woods and there are all these trails and I choose one, and then a little later there’s a fork and I choose another path which takes me in another direction, and so on?’

  Raffi nods. ‘Everything behind you has already been fixed. You have made your story up to that point. But the rest of the story depends on the choices you make from now.’

  ‘Then from now on I am only going to make good and true choices,’ I say.

  ‘I said the same thing to Jaddi once.’ His smile is rueful.

  ‘And?’

  ‘He said learning to make good and true choices is the whole reason we were given life in the first place. How can you tell the difference?’

  I think about this while I look at Kalila, her head on Raffi’s lap, her soft silvery chest moving up and down. I think about the choice her brother made when he accepted the emerald from the dragonfly and what that has led to. ‘If you hadn’t made that bad choice, we might never have met.’

  ‘Sometimes what seems like a bad decision at the time can be good,’ he says with a sigh.

  I smile. ‘No, Raffi, I think that was a bad choice. You are just lucky that I was here.’

  He laughs out loud. It’s the first time he’s laughed with me and I’m filled with warmth. ‘Yes, that is true. I think we are all given a lot of luck while we are learning how to make good choices.’

  Mystic growls and the jade bottle at the bottom of my pocket begins to grow warm. A sick feeling rises in my chest.

  ‘Something’s wrong,’ I say, trying to scramble to my feet. I’m weak and fall back.

  Raffi looks around, holding Kalila close. Then he whispers, ‘It’s the jinn.’

  I think my eyes are tricking me because Kalila’s body is changing. It is flowing, losing its shape, not like water, and yet not like a cloud either.

  ‘She’s transforming back into a girl!’ Raffi says. ‘We have to protect her. If he catches Kalila while she’s changing back into her human form, she will be lost forever.’

  ‘What can I do, Raffi? Tell me what to do!’ I say, frantically.

  ‘Show me the bottle!’

  I hold the bottle out. Raffi pulls his hand from his pocket. In it, a brilliant emerald catches the dawn sun and gleams brightly. Under the emerald is a base of white jade.

  Raffi draws close to me and takes off the cork stopper, then he gently lowers the emerald top into the bottle’s opening. The fit is perfect.

  ‘I think this is the bottle that your grandfather tried to use to trap the jinn,’ Raffi whispers, his voice warm in my ear. ‘If we can trick him into going in …’ He mimes closing the gap.

  ‘But how?’ I ask.

  At that moment Kalila rises into the air, a mist of silver. A blast of wind knocks us off our feet. Then a black cloud rushes between us, leaving a stench of charred flesh. The jinn chases her up into the trees, then down along the ground. They twist and lunge, black cloud and silver mist, spinning and twisting among the tree trunks and branches.

  Raffi runs after them, then stops, fists clenched, as his sister flees her foe.

  Mystic barks, and as the black cloud swoops too close, he pounces, trying to clamp his jaws on the jinn. The jinn breaks off its chase and swirls around him, blocking Mystic from sight.

  ‘Mystic!’ I scream, and throw myself towards him. The black cloud has gone, leaving Mystic twitching and whimpering on the ground. I hold him, my heart bursting with anger. The bottle in my hand begins to pulsate like a beating heart. I feel the white antelope inside of me rise onto its four legs, its head down, antlers raised. I know suddenly what to do.

  ‘Come and fight me, coward!’ I cry as I hold the bottle up in the air.

  The silver mist swoops high, then dives into the bottle.

  I feel the bottle shudder in my hand. Raffi throws up his arm and I see the emerald stopper tumbling through the air. I thrust out my other hand to catch it.

  Fast behind the silver mist comes the black cloud, rushing into the bottle. As soon as its tail is inside, I stop up the bottle with the emerald top. Then I see the silver mist emerging from the tiny hole in the bottom.

  ‘Ziggy, you must seal the bottom!’ Raffi cries. ‘As soon as Kalila is out . . .’

  Mystic, my half-wolf, presses against me and I pluck a hair from his back. As the last of the silver mist comes out, I slip the hair into the hole.

  The bottle jerks and trembles in my hand and I have to use all my remaining strength to hold it.

  The white jade bottle turns as black as the ocean deep. Then it is still.

  The jinn is trapped!

  I collapse on the ground as Raffi kneels down beside me. ‘We did it,’ I say weakly.

  Raffi smiles and Mystic licks my face.

  ‘Ziggy!’ a frantic voice calls.

  Petal and Big Bobby Little stumble out of the trees and into the clearing. I am astounded that they have dared to come into the woods. They have been running and Petal looks like she has been crying.

  ‘We found you! It’s your birthday. We thought you might . . .’

  Petal’s voice dies away as, astonished, she sees the silver fox standing next to Raffi.

  It is the face that changes first. The silver and grey fur is replaced by skin, and a mane of long dark hair appears. A little girl’s face with large green eyes framed by brown eyelashes peers shyly up at us, but her body is still that of a silver fox.

  Petal comes and takes my hand and Mystic sits by my side, his head cocked. We watch the rest of the transformation in amazed silence.

  At last, there before us is a little girl.

  Raffi slips his wet shirt over Kalila’s head. He smooths her hair and his sister snuggles into him.

  I cannot speak. Too much has happened. It’s as if I’ve been holding my breath for months and now I can finally let it go.

  Raffi look
s at me.

  ‘You know, Ziggy Truegood, the curse of the jinn could only be broken by a great sacrifice. That was what you did. You risked your life to save Kalila. You thought you would die, but you tried to save her anyway. You are truly a child of light.’

  I feel myself blush and I don’t know what to say.

  Kalila reaches up to touch Raffi’s face. She whispers in his ear and points at me, shyly.

  Raffi throws back his head and lets out another rich, melodic laugh.

  ‘What?’ I say.

  ‘Kalila asks if you would be her big sister.’

  I smile and beckon Kalila over. She sits on my lap and wraps her thin arms around my neck. We are both wet and cold, but I don’t notice.

  ‘My little sister, Kalila,’ I say, and Mystic licks us both.

  When Big Bobby nudges her, Petal finally finds her voice.

  ‘Ziggy Truegood, I think the time has come when you need to tell us just what is going on!?’

  Momma is shouting into the telephone when we all walk through the back door. She drops the receiver on the counter without hanging up. Her face is filled with emotion – anger, relief, worry, hurt.

  ‘I know you’re angry,’ I say before she speaks. ‘But please, before anything, we have to get dry and warm.’ My words come out in a long shivery breath as I stand in the living room, trembling from the cold and the wet and the adrenaline that’s still rushing through me.

  Momma steps back in horror. She looks down at my leg, at the long gash that’s seeping watery pink blood all over the floor, at the claw marks on my shoulder.

  I gesture behind me. ‘Do you still have any of my old clothes? Raffi’s little sister needs to have a bath and get warm. And can Raffi use your shower?’

  Momma doesn’t say a word. I think she’s in shock. She looks from me, to Raffi and Kalila, then to Petal and Big Bobby as if asking them to explain.

  Raffi shuffles his feet on the spot, embarrassed. ‘Very sorry to disturb you, Mrs Truegood,’ he says. His hand, which had been stung by the wasp, is red and swollen and he holds it out from his body.