A police officer detached himself from the group and pulled me aside.
"Are you Magicai?" he asked.
I nodded, still unsure of equating the word with me. Kaie had taught me a few tricks, most involved focusing my magic and releasing its power in varying degrees through my hands.
The police officer patted me on the back and led me to the mouth of the cave. "Back up everyone," he said. "The Magicai needs to see what's going on."
The crowd parted before me and I found myself ushered through the cave. Rocky puddles splashed beneath my feet, and the smell of cold, wet stone hung in the air the way stalactites suspended from the ceiling.
My eyesight slowly adjusted to the limited light, but the passageway got narrower and narrower, and we had to crawl in some places to gain access. No wonder they couldn’t get equipment through.
"Damn it!" I cursed, as I cut my knee on the craggy floor.
"You okay?" The officer asked.
"Yeah, I’ll be fine." I dusted the dirt and mud from my knee and looked at the cut. It was only small, but bleeding excessively. I pressed the clean bottom of my T-shirt against the wound and within seconds the bleeding had stopped.
"Why the hell was Dawa anywhere near these caves?" I asked.
The officer shrugged. "It seems that he followed a fox in with the intention of saving him. Silly really, the fox managed to escape of its own accord. It probably comes and goes all the time, but you know what monks are like."
He shook his head and continued deeper into the cave.
I knew what Dawa was like, and it seemed his big heart had gotten him into trouble. I choked back a worried gasp and followed the officer.
I thought we'd never reach our destination when a cluster of lights shone several metres away. Three monks were gathered in a chamber, around a small crack in the rock wall. A child's fingers were poking through, black with dirt and bruises. Just from this small glimpse, and the whimper of his voice, I knew we didn’t have much time. Dawa was fading.
One of the monks was touching his fingers and talking through the crack, telling him that everything would be okay.
Suddenly, I was claustrophobic. The cave pressed down on me and I couldn't breathe.
The other two monks jumped up at our arrival, leaving the other to continue reassuring Dawa through the crack. They crowded me, demanded to know what I would do and how long it would take me to get Dawa out of there.
Oh, God! How the hell was I supposed to help? I barely had control of my magic, and none of the tricks I knew would help. I couldn't blast the rocks away. I’d either cause another rock slide or push the existing stones on top of Dawa. The thought of hurting him further sent a shiver up my spine. I couldn’t risk that, but what else was there?
I braced myself and called the magic to my hands. Even though I wasn't close to a ley line, the power rushed through me and ignited my skin in a blaze of energy. I decided to try and lift the stones. I directed an orb of light along the wall and tried to establish which stones were safe to move and which would bring the roof down on our heads. I started with something small, and was pleased when it rose into the air, it drifted towards my hand and a lay it down in a small cavern to the side of our chamber.
Buoyed by my success, I tried again, but this time my magic faltered. The stone fell to the ground and everyone had to jump out of its path. Dawa screamed at the commotion. The monk rushed back to touch his fingers.
"Ssh," he said. "It's okay, Dawa. I'm still here. Everything's going to be fine. The Magicai is moving the rocks, it may take a little time, but we'll get to you. I promise."
Tears welled in my eyes and I swallowed down a gulp. Dawa needed me and I was messing everything up. There had to be a way to get to him faster. I just had to think!
I walked up to the wall and placed my hand on the cold stone. The wind whistled through every nook and cranny, and I wished Kaie was here.
I shook my head to chase away my self-doubt. For someone who didn’t believe in wishes, I sure as hell made a lot of them lately. There had to be something better that could help.
Then, I remembered my third training session. I'd queried how the Cintamani Stone in my world had found its way inside the Buddha. A statue, which for all intents and purposes, was made from solid rock.
~
"Simple." Kaie held a small pebble in the air in front of my face. "What do you see?" he asked.
"A rock."
"But what is the rock made of?"
I took it out of his hand and dusted it off before bringing it closer to my eye. "It looks like marble," I said.
"Yes. I would say it looks like marble, too, but what is it made of?"
"Well, marble is formed from limestone."
"No, no, no." Kaie laughed. "Look around you. The buildings, the trees, the people." He took the rock from my hand and threw it in the air before catching it. "This rock, what are they all made of?"
"Atoms?"
"Yes. Atoms. Everything is made of atoms. So why can we control the atoms in our hand, guide it to pick up a stone, to scratch our head, but not control the atoms in the stone?"
"The stone isn’t a part of me," I said.
"Yesterday, I witnessed you lift a stone with a wave of your hand—"
"But that was magic."
"Yes, magic granted to you by the Cintamani Stone when it connected you to the ley lines. Magic that connected you to other atoms. Magic that gives you power over those atoms. If you believe."
I scoffed. "By that reasoning, I could turn a cat into a dog."
"No. You cannot destroy the natural order of the universe. Every form has a given shape, and you cannot change that, but, for a short time, you can change its density, make it lighter, harder, and turn something solid into something no thicker than air."
Kaie threw the stone in the air again and went to catch it, but this time, it didn't land in the palm of his hand, it passed right through. I gasped at the impossibility of his act, but only an hour later I had managed the same feat.
~
I took a deep breath and rubbed my head. This had to work. I set my shoulders and crouched next to the hole.
"Dawa, it’s Hayley. How are you, my little man? I asked.
“Cold,” he answered, his voice no more than a whisper.
“I know. I’m going to get you out of there, okay, but I need you to tell me something first.”
“Okay.”
“How much room is there on your side?”
"Lots," he answered.
“Enough that if the wall wasn’t here, I could come right in and stand next to you?”
"Yes. Why?"
"Because that’s what I’m going to do, okay?"
The monks looked at me as though I was crazy, but I shrugged them off. It wasn't the first time someone had looked at me like that, and the way my life was going lately, I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be the last time either.
I set my feet, rubbed my hands together, and planted them firmly on the rock wall. I'd left the Cintamani Stone at the temple, seeing no need to carry it with me after the first two days, but I framed an image of its green brilliance in my mind. It shone as brightly as the first time I laid eyes on it. I reasoned that the stone granted me my powers, so it could help me now and act as a focal point for my mind. I held on to the image and the belief I would succeed along with it.
"No thicker than air," I said over and over. "No thicker than air."
A great light flared from my hands and seeped into the rock, engulfing it in a blaze of green. The wall shimmered and I pushed forwards. My hands sank in.
"No thicker than air," I said again, closed my eyes, and stepped forward. When I had taken three large strides, I opened my eyes and found myself on the other side on the wall.
Dawa looked at me as though I was an angel. I fell to the ground and swept him into a big embrace.
"Don’t you ever do this to me again," I said, squeezing him tightly. "I’m going to get you out of here."
<
br /> "Magicai," a voice called through the crack. "Are you in there?"
"Yes. I'm with Dawa."
The monks erupted in a cheer of relief.
Their joy was infectious and a big smile spread through my face. "Okay," I said after a moment. "I need you to stand back. We're coming through." I turned to Dawa and wrinkled my nose. "Aren't we?"
I lifted Dawa off the floor and into my arms and clutched his head to my shoulder. "Close your eyes and stay still," I told him.
I reached out to the wall. "No thicker than air," I said as the magic of the ley lines sang through my fingers and changed the density of the rock before me.
Chapter Eleven
A surge of bodies greeted us as soon as we left the cave. Poor Dawa was alternately showered with kisses and scolded for being foolish enough to get into trouble in the first place. Monks patted me on the back and sang my praise, but I couldn't enjoy the moment. The warmth radiating through my body and my earlier joy and relief at Dawa’s safe return had faded.
The taint was back.
The magic felt more dangerous and volatile than ever, and I knew it was because of what I had done.
I kissed Dawa on the forehead. “Stay safe, little man. I’ll see you as soon as I can,” I promised and hoped with all my heart that was true.
I sped through the forest. The tangle of trees and branches looked foreboding, and a strange vibration thrummed in the air. The birds and insects, so vocal on my way to the cave, were silent, as though they sensed the danger as well as I. It felt as though everything could be ripped apart at any moment. I bound over ferns and ducked under branches, desperate to reach the temple.
A darkness fell over everything, so I turned my gaze skywards. The clouds were unnatural and ominous. They gathered in a swirling black mass, shrouding the heavens and blocking out the sun that only moments before had blanketed the Earth in its warm embrace.
My legs threatened to buckle beneath me with every step, and my blood pounded through my body, but I couldn't stop. Instead, I increased my speed and soon found myself running through the temple grounds and towards the small bunk room where I'd left the stone.
A blaze of green light flared from beneath my door, and I had to shield my eyes from its brightness when I entered.
I bent double, desperate to catch my breath. The ley lines were all around me, but they were no longer still beacons of energy. They were torrents of power, whizzing around the planet like a cataclysmic whirlwind. There was no noise, but I was deafened by an unheard cacophony.
Kaie appeared beside me. "Quickly," he said, his normal, calm voice risen in panic. "You must leave."
He snatched the box from the table and thrust it into my hand. "Now, before it's too late."
I turned and followed him to the grand hall. "What happened?" I asked.
"Did you call to the stone, access its powers?"
I was about to deny calling the stone, but remembered how I'd pictured it in my mind. "Dawa was trapped in a cave. I focused my mind on the Cintamani Stone and made the rock face thinner than air. I passed through and brought him back to safety."
"You passed through the rock? All of you? Such a thing should not be possible."
"But you said it was possible."
"Small things are possible, for a short period of time. What you did was beyond the power of any human being... Maybe, if two Magicai worked together."
His words drifted off and Kaie stared at me without seeing. His mind was elsewhere, thinking through possibilities alien to me. After a moment, he snapped out of his trance and ripped the mala beads from his wrist.
"Take these," he said. "I think you used the Cintamani Stone as a conduit for your power, and in doing so, combined its magic with your own. You must learn to channel that power through these beads instead. Concentrate on them, draw their image in your mind just as you did the stone. They must be your conduit from now on.” Kaie shook his head. “I fear, even in your own world it would be dangerous to use the stone."
I nodded and slipped the beads on my wrist. "What do I do?" I asked.
"Hide the stone. You were right to fear it falling into the wrong hands. Then come back and I will teach you more, or find someone in your own world who can help."
The ground rumbled and the room shook.
"You have to leave. Go, now."
I removed the stone from its box, reached out my hand, and called the doorway into existence.
"I'll be back," I said to Kaie, after giving him a big hug.
"Stay safe, Traveller," he replied.
I stepped through the doorway and into the only place in my world where I knew one could exist.
Chapter Twelve
I stood, dispirited, in the same small sub-basement room I'd left almost a week ago.
"Hide the stone," Kaie had said.
Great!
Like that would be easy when it shone like a luminous fish in the midnight zone. Still, at least it gave me a light to see by, and the taint was gone from the ley lines. I took some comfort in the fact that I didn't feel like the world was about to implode at any moment.
After securing the stone in my pocket, I took a deep breath and rounded the corner into the Hall of Horrors. Trust me, stuffed animals looked terrifying when I was running for my life, but they looked even worse bathed in the sickly green light of the stone. Twice, I jumped at the sight of gnarled teeth and menacing claws.
I wandered cautiously along the hall. Kaie had said that time here moved the same as it did in his world, so by my calculation, it should be around half past six on Thursday evening. Late enough that the museum would be closed, but not too late to bump into other members of the staff, and I really didn’t need to deal with that issue right now.
Every so often, I heard a faint noise echo through the building. I froze, holding my breath until I was satisfied no-one was coming. When I reached the stairwell door, I decided I couldn’t risk the stone's glow giving me away, so the best course of action I could see was to reason with it.
"Everything's going to be okay," I said, reassuring the Cintamani Stone in the same way the monks had reassured Dawa.
A pang of regret stabbed me in the chest as I thought of my abrupt departure. I had to find somewhere to squirrel the stone and return as I’d promised.
"We're home,” I said. “We just need to get out of the museum unharmed and figure out where to go."
The relic flashed. Its light blinked in a flutter of activity.
"Do you know how creepy it is that I think you can hear me?" I asked.
It flashed again in response.
"Stop that," I said and shivered.
For a moment, I rested my head in my hands and looked at the supposed mythical relic. "I was wrong," I said. "We're not home, but I think that's where I need to hide you."
The light in the stone diminished, which was all the confirmation I needed to show that it agreed my decision to return it to Tibet.
"This is no different to planning any other trip," I told myself. "I just need to research my destination and go there. Easy-peasy." What remained unspoken was that I'd be looking for the closest ley lines and not the closest airport.
I ascended the stairs with renewed purpose. I had a plan. It was doubtful I would run into any members of staff this deep in the underbelly of the museum, and I reasoned Ben and Mr Davenport would be gone. Why would they stay when the object they were looking for was no longer here?
I briefly wondered if Ben had gotten into trouble. He'd lost me and the stone, after all, but any concern soon turned into mirth as I tried to imagine his face when I'd disappeared in front of his eyes.
Upstairs, it wasn't hard to find a room with a computer workstation. I typed in my login details and sighed in relief when they still worked. I'd half expected alarm bells to ring and the police to come barging into the room to arrest me, but then I remembered Doctor Naidoo knew nothing about the stone or the statue. As far as she was concerned, I'd completed my job and return
ed home, or disappeared.
Sure enough, I checked my email and found a message from Doctor Naidoo thanking me for my work, wishing me a safe journey, and expressing regret that she hadn’t found me to say a proper goodbye. Then, I spotted several unread messages from Ben. I shifted in my chair, pushed away from the computer, and looked around. The uneasy feeling of being watched chilled my spine.
I knew it was silly. Ben was long gone. Part of me wanted to switch the PC off and pretend I hadn't seen his emails; another wanted to know what he had to say for himself.
Damn it!
I wasn't the same woman I'd been a week ago. I was Magicai, a Traveller. I could read an email without developing the sweats.
I straightened my back, sat forward with renewed determination, and read the first email.
"Hi, Hayley," it said. "Sorry to have missed you. Please contact me when you return to London. I'd love to catch up and get together for a proper date."
I frowned. What the hell was he playing at?
Email after email read along the same lines. They were platitudes, I realised, designed to throw suspicion away from Ben if I failed to return. A bitter taste hit the back of my throat. I closed my email in disgust and opened Google’s private search mode instead.
I typed in 'ley lines Tibet Mount Kailash' and was shocked to find it described as the Crown Chakra of Mother Earth. It was a high point of energy, and ley lines intersected on its peak. I couldn't believe my luck. I could return the Cintamani Stone to where it truly belonged.
Another quick search confirmed my recollection that the mountain had never been climbed. It was the perfect place to hide the stone. I scanned images of the area on the internet, but I knew none of them were recent. Not one displayed the dig site at the foot of the mountain. If I were to open a door on the summit, I needed as much information as I could get. I needed more recent photographs.
I moved through the museum. The exhibition would still be on display through the main entrance, but I couldn't risk taking the direct route and being seen by security. I walked through the deserted World of Ancient Mammals. Not even the animatronic woolly mammoths stirred.
Hidden Magic: A Ley Line World Urban Fantasy Adventure (Relic Guardians Book 2) Page 6
