by Lexi Rees
Aria points at some coconut trees on the shore.
‘Whose turn is it to get them?’ she asks.
‘Definitely yours. I went last time.’
Aria shrugs, ‘Are you sure?’ She lifts the wooden rowing boat off the deck and lowers it into the water.
‘How do you do that?’ I ask. ‘You make it look like it’s not heavy.’
‘It isn’t, to me,’ she says. ‘I feel like the air supports it.’ I think of the way Dad lifted the bounty hunter’s motorbike.
With just a few fluid strokes, she rows to shore, hops into the shallow water and drags the rowing boat up onto the beach.
She scampers up a tree and fills her backpack with giant, green coconuts. She shimmies back to the ground, tosses the overflowing backpack into the bottom of the rowing boat, pushes it into the water, picks up the oars and cuts her way back to the Alcina.
She passes over a coconut so I can make a hole in it for her, and another for myself. I tip the coconut up over my mouth and pour the cool, fresh liquid down my throat in great gulps.
‘I’ll take this one down to Dad,’ she says picking up another and heading below decks, ‘If he’s awake.’
Suddenly, I realise there’s someone standing in the water in front of me. Where did they come from? I didn’t hear anyone wading out to the boat.
I must be hallucinating.
The character is not so much standing in the water as standing on the water.
EIGHT
Witch-doctor
‘Aria, could you come here, please? We’ve got a visitor… I think,’ I call.
My eyes are glued to the woman. Tattoos cover her body; the images crawling across her bone white skin as if they were alive. Her black hair hangs in gnarled dreadlocks, entwining an assortment of bones and beads, like a witch-doctor, or voodoo-priestess. Animal skins cling to her curves; claws and teeth still attached. Magic radiates from her, her outline almost shimmering. Terrifying, yet strangely captivating.
The witch-doctor stretches out her hand. She’s close enough to touch me. Instinctively, I pull back. I want to run away and hide, but she smiles and her whole face lights up.
I take a deep breath before speaking, ‘Who are you?’
Without consciously deciding to, I tentatively reach for her, her strangeness drawing me in like a magnet, but just when I should touch her, my fingers glide straight through. I snatch my hand back and clasp it to my chest.
‘She’s a ghost,’ Aria exclaims.
The mysterious lady doesn’t speak, but turns and points inland, gesturing at us to follow.
‘What should we do?’ I ask Aria. ‘Do you want to follow her?’
‘No, look at her! And we don’t know who she is.’
‘She hasn’t attacked us … yet.’
‘I guess.’ Aria wrinkles her nose. ‘She could have snuck up on you if she wanted to kill you, or cast a spell and we’d both be dead.’
‘Exactly,’ I agree. ‘I want to see where she’s going. I think we should follow her, just for a bit.’
‘Are you sure?’ Aria’s voice wavers.
‘We can always turn back if we don’t like it,’ I say, although I know in my heart I won’t be able to. I’m drawn to this strange lady, as if bewitched. ‘And we’ll come back to the boat before it gets dark.’ Probably another lie.
I scribble a quick note for Dad, so he isn’t worried when he wakes up, and we’re off.
We follow the ghost woman along a dried-out river bed. Insects scuttle amongst the fallen leaves and twigs. Brittle, brown fronds crack under our feet.
She stops in front of a small hut. The walls are woven out of vines and it’s thatched with giant banana plant leaves. It’s so well camouflaged that I would have walked straight past without noticing it.
Her exact double steps out from the hut and merges into the ghost-like figure we’d been following, leaving us facing a solid, real person. I’m not sure if that makes me feel safer or not.
‘Come in,’ she says, her voice as dark and rich as treacle. She holds back a screen made from strings of beads and shells. ‘We have a lot to discuss.’
I take a deep breath and step through the screen. The beads and shells jingle as they fall back across the entrance plunging us into semi-darkness. A jumble of rugs and multi-coloured cushions fill the hut. The only light comes from dozens of flickering candles perched on ledges around the walls.
I’ve never seen so many objects in one place. Glittering crystals and orbs, dusty books and scrolls, rough wood carvings, and hundreds of tiny delicate models of strange creatures: beasts with wings, birds with fins, and more.
‘At last. You’re here. I’ve been waiting for years to meet you,’ she says, clasping my hand.
‘You have?’ I ask, confused.
‘Of course. I’ve been watching you.’
‘Watching me?’
‘You are the only one who can find the relic and release me.’
‘Who are you? What are you talking about?’ I ask.
The witch-doctor closes her eyes and takes several deep breaths, her hands clasped as if praying. Her eyes ping open. ‘Let’s start again,’ she says. ‘My name is Lisana. I was born over four hundred years ago.’
‘That’s impossible,’ Aria says. She turns to face me, ‘Coming here was a mistake, Finn. We should go back to the boat.’
Lisana whirls round as if she had only just noticed Aria. ‘Wait,’ Lisana says. ‘Let me finish before you decide what to do. If you want to walk away then, I will accept your decision and you may leave freely, but you must hear me out.’
A shiver runs down my spine, but I nod.
‘When I was a young girl, I was given a task. I was to be a guardian. My family were so proud of me. It was such an honour to be chosen.’
She stops. Her voice falters as if there’s something she doesn’t want to say. Her fingers pick at the edges of her belt, pulling the fibres loose.
I nudge her to continue, ‘A guardian of what?’
Lisana draws herself to her full height and slaps her hand over her heart. ‘Of a relic,’ she says proudly. ‘One of the most important items in the world.’
‘A relic? What makes it so important?’ I ask.
‘The relics were created during the Last War. In their quest to rule the world, the Earth Lords tried to kill magic. Unable to defeat the Earth Lords, the clans were forced into hiding. Each one chose a sacred relic and locked their magical powers away in it,’ Lisana continues.
‘But the Earth Lords rule anyway,’ I ask. ‘What was the point of hiding the powers in a relic?’
‘It bought the clans time. One day, they hope to release the magic from the relics and to rise again.’
I turn to Aria. ‘Why did Mum only tell us half the story? She only told us about the clans. She never mentioned relics.’
Aria shrugs.
‘The relics are a closely guarded secret. It was safer for you not to know about them,’ Lisana says to me.
Lisana turns to Aria and leans down, her face just millimetres from Aria’s, her breath hard and fast. Aria’s bright blue eyes glaze over, unfocussed. ‘Safer for both of you, I think. What is it that I sense within you …’ Lisana sniffs the air, wolf-like.
Aria shuffles uncomfortably and stares at the floor, pursing her lips.
‘A Rider,’ Lisana says, standing bolt upright. ‘Yes … An air-rider. The first blood-magic Rider in centuries.’
Aria lifts her eyes from the floor and looks at me.
‘It’s OK’, I say to her. ‘I know the truth. I guessed you made the strange gust of wind that knocked the bikers off the cliff near the cave. I asked Dad about it.’
Aria smiles. ‘I wanted to tell you ages ago, but Dad made me promise not to say anything,’ she says.
‘Good,’ Lisana inte
rrupts. ‘Your powers are already growing. But you are not my concern. Yours will be a different quest. You two, a sea-tamer and an air-rider, are the Relic Hunters. It is your destiny. Together, you can, and you must, change history. You must find the relics and free the clans.’
‘If magic is just hidden in these relics, not gone, does that mean it can come back?’ I ask.
‘Yes, it can. The guardians were appointed to protect the relics until the time was right to release the magic,’ Lisana says. ‘That’s why Sir Waldred must find and destroy the relics. Only then will magic truly be lost and the Earth Lords rule forever unchallenged.’
‘So, there are two ways to restore magic to the world? Through the blood-magic and through the relics.’
‘Not exactly. The blood-magic lives in just a few. Those few must use their relic to restore magic to the rest of the clan. With your help,’ Lisana continues, ‘the Sea-Tamers can be reborn. You, Finn, must free them.’
Responsibility presses down on me. Can I do it?
She stoops down in front of me until our faces are level. I feel her energy pushing inside my head, pulsing, swirling bright red, deep green, and vivid purple. The room spins then dissolves. Images flood into my mind. Children playing, weaving water, climbing clouds …
I put my hands up defensively. She snaps her fingers and the images vanish but I feel a tentative thread still joins us, as delicate as spider silk.
I stumble out of the hut, collapse onto the dirt and vomit. Inside, I hear Aria shout at Lisana. After a few minutes, Aria emerges. She crouches down beside me, helps me to my feet, then half carries me back into the hut.
Lisana kneels before me and takes my hand. ‘I didn’t mean to scare you, but I had to show you the truth. You had to understand. We need you.’
‘I know. I saw. I understand. I’ll do my best,’ I say.
Tears spill from her eyes. She rubs them away with the back of her hand, leaving a streak on her face.
‘What’s wrong?’ I ask. ‘I said I’d try. I can’t promise anything more than that.’
‘I know. These are tears of happiness. I have waited so long to hear you say those words. You’ve given me hope again. You see, I was a terrible choice of guardian,’ she says through the tears. ‘I failed. I lost the relic. The elders cast me out of the clan, they banished me. I brought such shame on my family.’
‘I’m sure losing it was an accident,’ I say. ‘Maybe we could help you find it?’
Lisana’s face hardens. ‘Don’t you see? It has been found.’
‘Found?’ I ask. Subconsciously, I pat the parcel in my pocket. How does she know about it?
NINE
Secrets
‘The relic … it called to you, didn’t it …’ Lisana says, pacing up and down like a caged tiger. ‘You’ve found the relic. And you’ve brought it here. We have no time to lose. You must take it to the elders.’
‘Err …’ I start.
Lisana’s eyes flick towards my pocket, the one where the parcel is nestled. ‘Yes, my relic …’ she says, then stops, her eyes fixed on my pocket. The silence stretches, tension building like an elastic band, ready to snap back at any moment. A claw-like hand reaches towards me.
‘It’s not yours,’ I say, ducking out of reach. ‘It’s mine.’
‘It doesn’t belong to either of you,’ Aria says, planting herself between us. ‘It belongs to the elders.’
‘You’re right,’ Lisana says. ‘It’s just hard to resist after all these years.’
‘How did you know I had it?’ I ask.
‘It sings of the sea. It calls to me.’
Aria pulls me aside and whispers, ‘That’s what the voice in the cave was saying. S. E. A.’ She spells the word out. ‘Not S. E. E. The parcel, it really did call to you. It really is the Sea-Tamer relic.’
‘She’s right,’ Lisana says. ‘That you lived long enough to come into your powers and find it is a miracle. Kallan and Morgan made the right choice. The elders did well hiding you.’
‘The elders didn’t do much except cause trouble from what I can see. But Mum and Dad certainly kept me safe,’ I say. ‘Do you know Kallan and Morgan?’
‘Yes, I knew them. We were friends once. A very long time ago, long before you were born,’ Lisana says.
‘Oh. I hoped you knew where they were.’
‘Well, Kallan will still be with the Elders, but they haven’t spoken to me since I lost the relic. I haven’t seen or heard from Morgan.’
‘So how did you find me then?’ I ask.
‘As your blood-magic started to grow, I felt you, I saw you. I sent the dolphins to watch over you. Yet you used your powers too freely, without caution. You made ripples that spread in great rings around the world. It was most unwise. Others saw you too. Sir Waldred saw you. He realised your secret. Like me, he realised you would have the power to locate the missing relic.’
I gasp. Sir Waldred is watching me? ‘Dad should have told me to stop,’ I protest, although I know in my heart that even if he had, I would have carried on secretly anyway. The thrill of exploring my new skills was too exciting for me to have stopped.
‘You,’ she continues, jabbing me with a bony finger, ‘should have started training long ago. What was your father thinking, keeping you ignorant and untrained? We risk losing everything.’
‘I know,’ I say. ‘Dad has promised to find me a teacher.’
‘The elders will find the right teacher. But first we need to find the elders.’
‘How do we do that?’ Aria asks.
‘We have no time to lose. When Finn first touched the relic back in the cave, I saw him. I saw where he was. But I’m not the only person who was watching. They’re coming for you.’
‘Who are coming for us?’ Aria asks.
‘Waldred’s trackers. Now that Sir Waldred knows you have found the relic, it’s a race to stop you from releasing the magic inside it.’
Trackers. My heart skips a beat. We’re doomed. That elite force will pursue you to the very ends of the earth. Escape from the trackers is impossible. They always catch their targets. Whispered stories of torture and murder are passed between smugglers, but nobody knows what really happens when they catch you. Nobody lives to tell the tale. Dreading the answer, but needing to know, I ask, ‘How long do we have before they get here?’
‘A couple of days at most. The nearest mega-city is New Istanbul. It’s only a few days’ sail away so they will be close.’
The colour has drained from Aria’s face turning her as white as a sheet. ‘You mean we’re being … h … hunted?’ she stammers.
‘Yes,’ Lisana says with a scowl, ‘hunted. The relic hunters are also the hunted. You must get away before they reach here. Open the parcel.’
I hesitate.
‘Wait,’ Lisana urges, rummaging in a trunk. ‘Use these.’ She passes me a massive pair of shark-skin gloves, far too big for a twelve-year-old boy. ‘These should help muffle the signal and make it more difficult for you to be tracked.’
Fumbling through the gloves, I pull the parcel from my pocket and place it on the floor of the hut between us. I hesitate. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve opened a parcel after all, despite Dad’s number one rule, Never, ever open a parcel. This is no different, I tell myself. I can re-wrap it later and he’ll never know.
I let the tatty fabric slip off. We gasp. Resting in the middle of the ancient, grubby cloth is a giant, black pearl. It shimmers with a myriad of colours.
‘At last, the Sea-Tamer sacred relic has returned,’ Lisana whispers. ‘For years, I scoured the remotest corners of the globe. Where was it? How did you find it?’
‘Dad was asked to pick it up.’
‘By whom?’ Lisana asks.
‘He claims he doesn’t know, but I think he does,’ I say. ‘I think he has a secret.’
&nbs
p; ‘You never said, how did you lose it?’ Aria asks.
‘It was stolen from me.’
‘Why would someone do that?’
‘To protect it from Sir Waldred. And from me. They knew … knew that … that I was in love with him. My love put the relic in peril. So they stole it and hid it somewhere it would never be found.’
‘But how did they get it from you?’
‘They tricked me. I thought we were friends.’
‘You mean you know who took it?’
‘Yes, I’m afraid I do.’
‘Who was it?’
‘Isolda and Morgan.’
‘Mum?’ Aria cries. ‘Have you seen her?’
‘Morgan, again,’ I whisper.
‘I haven’t seen either of them. I don’t know where they are.’
‘It’s all your fault,’ Aria explodes. ‘If it wasn’t for you, Mum would still be here. I bet she left because of you.’
‘Aria, it can’t be Lisana’s fault that she disappeared. Lisana lost her relic long before either of us was even born.’
Aria scowls at me. ‘I’m sure it’s all connected. I’m sure this is why she vanished.’
‘Aria, there are lots of reasons why she might have left us. You have to let her go.’
‘I won’t. She’s not dead. I would know,’ Aria says, wringing her hands.
‘Let me search for her,’ Lisana says. ‘Maybe I can see if she has crossed to the spirit world or if she still lives.’
She spreads her fingers on the table. Her eyes cloud over. Assorted beads and bones in her dreadlocks clatter onto the table as her head drops forward. Her breathing slows.
Aria looks at me. I shrug. The air grows heavy. Sweat trickles down my back. Aria wipes her brow. Suddenly, a cool breeze whirls through the hut. Lisana sits bolt upright.
‘She is here. In this world.’
Aria bursts into tears, shaking uncontrollably, ‘I knew she was alive. Where is she?’