Book of Dreams (24 page)

‘Just kidding,’ laughed Kyron, motioning for Kyle to move through the tree again — Kyle chose to walk around however. ‘He’s got no sense of humour,’ Kyron commented to Zoe, who was so gobsmacked that she didn’t know what to say. ‘The Great Spirit gave me the choice of supporting Kyle’s will or not supporting it, in case the human was tempted to abuse my attributes. But I’m afraid the Great Spirit will only allow me to extend my expertise to Kyle.
You
we shall have to take swimming,’ the beast concluded.

‘What else can Kyle do?’ Zoe finally found her voice.

‘Can I fly, like superman?’ Kyle tried a lift-off that failed dismally, much to Zoe and Kyron’s amusement.

‘All right. So I’m not Superman.’

‘Bah, Superman was a klutz compared to a rainbow warrior,’ Kyron scoffed.

‘You’ve watched Superman, Kyron?’ Zoe was surprised.

‘Kyle used to watch it all the time … and Spiderman and Mighty Mouse. You name the superhero and we’ve watched it.’ This last comment almost sounded like a complaint. ‘You don’t need to fly when you can will yourself from place to place.’ The creature raised its arms and shot upwards, where it grabbed a large branch and swung up to perch on it. Kyron waved, before vanishing and then yelling to them from the opposite side of the pool. He then disappeared and reappeared in their midst.

Kyle was smiling very broadly and his heart was pounding ten to the dozen. He felt a foreign power surging through his being, a fearlessness that came from knowing he was connected to all things that were more powerful and knowledgeable than himself. He was not alone and never had been. How could he be alone when he was not a single entity, but one tiny fragment of an awesome intelligence that carefully orchestrated outcomes and new challenges based on the choices and actions of its smaller parts?

‘Well, come on then,’ Zoe prompted. ‘Let’s see it.’ She could see Kyle was dying to give it a whirl.

There was no doubt or hesitation on Kyle’s part; he followed his guide’s actions, willing each step in turn. He looked up at the branch overhead and imagined himself rising swiftly to brace it; he perceived the arms of his astral body extend forth to grip the tree trunk and the next thing Kyle knew he had hold of the branch. He had done some gym work, so swinging up to perch upon the branch was not a problem. He looked to the opposite side of the pool and imagined himself standing there looking over at Zoe and Kyron. No sooner did Kyle espy his astral body standing on the far side of the pool, than his perception altered and he found himself standing in his desired destination. ‘Yahoo! I have
always
wanted to do that.’ Kyle envisioned himself back where he started, and there he was, as if he’d never left. ‘This is
mad
!’

‘You can also will things to you,’ Kyron added, to Kyle’s further elation.

Kyle immediately turned and focused on the car keys lying on the ground, whereupon his auric arm extended and brought the keys into his possession. ‘Excellent!’ But then he had to wonder. ‘Why have I been extended this gift?’

‘So that you can protect the new custodian of this land,’ the creature replied.

‘But you already have these powers,’ Kyle reasoned.

‘Not
me
.’ Kyron bonked Kyle on the head. ‘
Zoe
… and her offspring.’

‘Oooooh!’ Kyle was enlightened and understood.

Offspring!
Zoe was a little alarmed by that suggestion, having just had unprotected sex, but she chose to ignore the implication. ‘But I intend to sell this land back to the people it was stolen from,’ Zoe pointed out.

Kyron shrugged. ‘I’m just the messenger of the Great Spirit. I don’t pretend to know the divine agenda.’ The yowie looked at Kyle. ‘And there’s more for you to learn yet, like how to wield
the glamour
.’ Kyron made it sound a treat and both Kyle and Zoe took the bait.

‘The glamour?’ they echoed in unison.

‘Is that like spell casting?’ Zoe wondered.

‘Pretty much,’ Kyron said casually.

‘As in, like, a wizard!’ Kyle really took to the idea.

‘So that’s what happened this afternoon,’ Zoe teased Kyle, wrapping her arms about her new lover. ‘You enchanted me with your glamour.’

‘I didn’t, did I?’ Kyle was concerned about the possibility and looked to Kyron for an answer. The beast was shaking his head as if Kyle should know better, but Zoe placed a finger on Kyle’s chin and attracted his attention back her way.

‘I’ve been falling in love with you since you read me like a book in my uncle’s office that first day,’ she confessed. ‘Otherworldly glamour had nothing to do with it.’

Kyron stood, tapping his foot, while the couple reassured one another with a kiss, and then another, and then another, and then Kyron cleared his throat very loudly. ‘Zoe’s birthday present!’ he prompted, and they both looked his way.

‘Oh, yes.’ Kyle got with the program.

‘So my present is underwater?’ Zoe asked.

‘Come on, I’ll show you,’ Kyle led her by the hand towards the waterfall. ‘Kyron will take care of the bunyip.’

Zoe was pleased to turn and find Kyron following closely behind them.

They stopped on the bank at a point that was close to the waterfall, but out of reach of the spray and turbulence. ‘Here is good.’ Kyle imagined that this was where his mother had fished his father from the water on the first day they’d met.

Zoe noted bubbles rising in a section of the pool and gasped when the large, dark dog-like head rose out of the water. The head was supported on a long neck attached to a body that was about the size of a horse. The creature was staring straight at Zoe and licking its lips. ‘Kyle?’

‘It’s all right,’ Kyron advised, looking to the offending presence. ‘
Thrunkkun! Iterra!
’

With a snarl the beast faded from the physical world.

‘I gave him the day off,’ Kyron explained. ‘Feel free to proceed. You are completely safe now.’

‘Excellent, I’m roasting.’ Kyle dived right in, taking Zoe with him.

Kyle encouraged Zoe to follow him to the outer perimeter of the waterfall. ‘Actually, there’s something else I should do while we’re here. Won’t be a second.’

Zoe grabbed Kyle to prevent him diving. ‘What are you doing?’

Kyle fixed her with an odd look. ‘Checking Arika’s story.’

‘You’re going to look for bodies?’ Zoe was suddenly a little freaked by her predicament.

‘There’s probably nothing left after all this time, but there’s no harm in checking.’ Kyle dived before she could query his motives further.

A short time later, Kyle surfaced with a few splinters of bone in his hand. ‘I dug these out of the mud at the bottom of the pool.’

‘Are they human?’ Zoe asked.

Kyle nodded. ‘Pretty sure,’ he advised her, letting the splinters return to the bottom of the pool. ‘I found part of a skull, too, but I thought I’d spare you the gruesome details on your birthday. I have a far better gift. Take a deep breath and follow me.’

Zoe nodded, game for the challenge, and took a lungful of air before going under to follow Kyle down below the fall of the water. There was an underground tunnel in the mountain that quickly led into another pool, where they surfaced into a naturally formed palace of gold.

A rocky opening high on the cavern wall allowed some exterior light to penetrate. A fire burned on the cavern floor and supplied the bulk of the lighting; the smoke rose to escape out through the opening in the wall. Huge veins of gold ran through the cavern and great chunks of it lay on the floor, having fallen from the walls.

‘The tribal elders wanted you to see this place, so you would know that it remains untouched,’ Kyle explained as he climbed out of the water.

‘God, my uncle would have a fit if he even suspected that there was
this
much gold here.’ Zoe pulled herself up beside Kyle. ‘It’s so beautiful,’ she said quietly. ‘It’s almost a pity that no one else will ever get to see it.’ She reassured him that the wealth of the mountain made no difference to her decision to sell the land.

‘Aren’t you afraid the locals might be conning you?’ Kyle played the devil’s advocate. ‘Buy the land cheap and then sell out to mining companies anyway?’

Zoe shrugged. ‘I’d like to think not, but even if they did, that won’t be my bad karma, it will be theirs, and they’ll have the
Book of Dreams
to deal with.’ She laughed. ‘And Kyron.’

‘Wow! I misjudged you so badly,’ he admitted. ‘I can’t believe you’d give away millions, just like that.’

‘Well, you’re giving it away too, you know.’ Zoe hugged him. ‘You’re going to marry me, don’t forget, so what’s mine is yours.’

‘In that case, we have more than enough. What’s five million!’

‘We’ve got company.’ Kyron entered through the wall of the cavern to alert them.

‘Ivan,’ Zoe guessed. ‘Is he alone?’

‘No,’ Kyle told her as his vision of the event returned and he saw three other men climb out of the car with him. ‘There are four of them, and they’re all armed.’

‘See,’ Kyron smiled, reassuringly. ‘A nice little challenge for you.’

Kyle was smiling, but Zoe was not. ‘You can’t take on four armed men by yourself, even with the powers you have. You’re not experienced enough.’

‘Well, thanks for the vote of confidence,’ Kyle teased, and almost succeeded in making her feel bad.

‘I love you, and I don’t want —’

‘No need to stress.’ Kyle looked at his guardian. ‘But I do believe Kyron means to give me a crash course in glamour.’

The yowie began to chuckle as it nodded its head to confirm Kyle’s statement.

When Kyle materialised on the bonnet of the intruder’s car, not one of them noticed. Ivan Zevron was inspecting Zoe’s new computer, while the other three men had spread out to look for the missing picnickers in the little light that remained of the day.

‘Are you guys looking for me?’ Kyle bounced on the bonnet a few times.

The four men came to form a half circle opposing him, their weapons drawn and fixed upon his person.

‘Yes, we are.’ Ivan grinned, considering the lad’s appearance was a rather stupid move.

All weapons to me,
Kyle decided. Every weapon his enemies possessed flew towards Kyle and stuck to his body as if he was one large magnet.

‘What the …?’ Ivan grabbed for his departing weaponry to no avail.

Kyle chuckled at their perplexed expressions and at the extraordinary amount of hardware they carried. He counted about nine guns, plus ammunition, a few blades, and some sort of electric prodder. ‘Well, you guys have quite an armoury here. These will go very nicely with the rest of my collection.’ Kyle selected the most powerful looking gun, Ivan’s of course, to hold his attackers at bay with. ‘I’ve been waiting for you, Ivan.’ Kyle waved his hand in the direction of the three other men and they froze, entranced.

Ivan’s hardened visage was beginning to crack. ‘What are you?’

‘No, Ivan, the question is
who
am I?’ Kyle tossed the weapon in the air and it never came down. ‘I am the son of the man that James Nivok tried to frame for the murder of David Nivok. You do remember that little incident, don’t you, Ivan?’

‘What have you done to them?’ Ivan tried to divert the subject.

‘You ought to be worrying about what I intend to do with you,’ Kyle said, and when Kyle pointed his finger towards a rock, Ivan found himself seated there, unable to move.

‘What
are
you going to do?’ Ivan struggled to keep his cool, but his fear of the unknown was making him angry.

‘First, let’s deal with your friends.’ Kyle looked at Ivan’s three accomplices, who seemed like ex-military types. He clicked his fingers to wake them up. ‘What are you guys? Excommandos?’

‘Yeah,’ they all replied.

‘Well, I’ve got a new mission for you.’ Kyle pondered what it should be. ‘You’re on a quest to find …’ He raised a finger when he thought of something remote, yet beneficial. ‘ … the last Tasmanian Tiger.’

‘Yes,’ the men agreed.

‘And as the only thing you’ll ever be shooting with again is a camera, you’d better gear up on your way south,’ Kyle advised.

‘South?’ queried one of the men.

‘Well, you’re not going to find a Tasmanian Tiger in Queensland, are you? So take the car, Ivan won’t be needing it, and get on the case immediately.’ When the three men promptly complied with his orders, Kyle shrugged. ‘Hell, you guys need to chill out a bit. Why don’t you do a spot of fishing while you’re there?’

The last of the men gave Kyle a thumbs-up as he climbed into the car with his buddies, who were very enthusiastic about their new orders.

‘Is it hypnosis?’ Ivan tried to fathom what was taking place. He breathed deeply and couldn’t smell any gas, so he didn’t suspect he’d been drugged.

‘You’re not drugged,’ Kyle guessed what he was thinking, ‘but it is hypnotic suggestion of sorts. It’s just a trait I picked up from my mother’s side of the family.’

‘The old, black witch,’ Ivan gasped, and he cast his mind back twenty years.

James Nivok had been of the mind to evict her from the land, but after one meeting with the witch, James had abandoned the idea and settled for putting fences around the waterhole.

‘So you’ve met my great-grandmother.’ Kyle nodded, figuring James had tried to bully her from her home at some stage. ‘She gave you a good
spook
ing, did she?’ Kyle was delighted to make Ivan jump; Arika must have really freaked him out.

‘What do you want, Burke?’ Ivan hardened his voice.

‘I wish,’ Kyle paused for emphasis and continued in a taunting fashion, ‘that by your heart you will die, if you should ever tell a … fib.’ He smiled warmly.

‘So?’ Ivan scoffed.

‘So …’ Kyle turned on his heel to pace as he questioned the witness. ‘Did, or did you not, plant the bomb in David Nivok’s car that resulted in the death of both David and his wife?’

Ivan said nothing.