Nyree leaned forward, captured by the story.“What happened?”
“We planned a European marriage, with the ceremony the missionaries favored.A few weeks before the wedding, Rawiri came to me and offered a gift between brothers.He told me he bore me no ill will and hoped we would always remain friends.Aroha and I were pleased because we didn’t wish for family tension.”
“Did he lie?”
“He did.His gift to me was a special tattoo.He showed me the design, and it was magnificent.He called it a wedding gift, but it was a curse.Too late, I realized this.”
“How did the tattoo become a curse?Did he tattoo something else?Something offensive?”
“Worse, he wove a curse into the tattoo.When I went to Rawiri’swharethe night before our wedding for the final small part of the tattoo, the curse knit together and sucked me into the piece of stone he had sitting by his firepit.The agony that came with joining the various strands of the curse contorted my face and limbs.I fell unconscious, and when I came to my senses many hours later, Rawiri had imprisoned me within the stone.
“Rawiri spoke with me and joked.He knew I heard him and told me this was what happened when one attempted to go against atohunga.Aroha visited to ask Rawiri if he’d seen me.She came the next day—the day of our wedding—and she was crying because she thought I didn’t wish the marriage any longer.Rawiri comforted her in his arms.He held my Aroha and told her he was there for anything she needed.The entire time, he was watching me with this sly smile that was full of evil.”
Nyree didn’t understand why one brother would inflict that sort of torment on another.“Why wasn’t he honest?”
“Rawiri always held himself aloft from others.It was part of what made him an excellenttohunga ta moko, but once he’d cursed me, I remembered others speaking of bad luck after receiving a tattoo.”
“Your brother did the same to them?”
“Perhaps.Rawiri cursed me, so maybe he did the same to others.”
Nyree stood.“Would you like more coffee?”
“Please,” he said, extending his cup.
It occurred to her if he came from an earlier time, he wouldn’t understand indoor plumbing, and she made a mental note to show him how everything worked.He’d eaten food, so she presumed his body would function in the same way as hers.He was still transparent, though.So many questions for Manu, including ones of cursed magical tattoos.
“Can I watch you make this drink?”
“You can do the work while I tell you what to do,” she said.“It’s interesting the way you can hold objects, although you still look like a ghost.”
“A spirit?”he asked.
“Yes, I wonder if you’re visible to others or just me.”Nyree talked him through making coffee for both of them, and they returned to the lounge to drink it.“Tell me what happened next.”
“I remember the pain and excruciating torment.The agony receded once he’d confined me to the stone.After our wedding day passed, Rawiri took me or rather the stone into town, probably to dispose of me.Perhaps toss me in the sea.He met two sailors who wanted tattoos.Sometimes Rawiri would lower himself to tattoo the visiting sailors to earn coins, so he usually took his tools with him whenever he walked into the township.While he was tattooing the sailor, his friend noticed me.He asked to buy my stone, and Rawiri sold it to him as a souvenir of his visit to Aotearoa.A few days later, the sailor left on his ship, taking me with him.He sailed south, and then he moved to a sealing crew in a distant land.It’s difficult for me to tell you where we went, but we followed the seals and the whales.Mostly, he worked for sealers, but he fished for whales at the last place.”
“What happened to your sailor?”
“As he grew older, he became less nimble.A wave took him by surprise.He dropped me, and I never saw him again.I remained where I fell until you found me.”
Nyree stared at Tawera, curious about the history and events he’d witnessed from his prison.“Do you think your brother knew the curse could break?”
“No, he’d be furious to learn his magic failed,” Tawera said without hesitation.“He must never learn I am free.”
Nyree bit her lip, tentative, but she had to give him the truth.“Tawera, you last saw your brother in 1780.We’re in the twenty-first century now.”She hesitated.“Your brother and his family will be long dead.Aroha.”
Tawera blinked.“I hadn’t considered this.You’re right.Rawiri and Aroha would no longer live.What am I going to do?All these years, I’ve wanted revenge, but if there is no one left, I have no purpose.”
“Not true,” Nyree said.“You live for the moment and enjoy what life you can have now.”
“But how do I get home?I have no boat.”
“We have other methods of transportation.If other people can’t see you, you’ll be able to walk onto a ship and travel to South America.From there, you transfer and fly to New Zealand.”
His brows rose.“A flight?”
“Yes, men invented a machine that flies across the oceans.We have lots of ways to travel that are faster than walking.”
