Tagan's Child (10 page)

I left him to
come round and went downstairs. Even though I still hadn’t come to
terms with going to Ramia with Toby, I began to think about all the
things I would have to do if we did. Audrey usually had Mungo if we
went away but she wasn’t going to be able to help in her current
condition, and what would I do about the shop?

And then it hit
me. This wasn’t just some trip abroad for a bit of sun, sea and
sand, we were going to another bloody universe! Well, I assumed we
were, unless Ahran’s family had some kind of set up here on Earth.
This was a fundamental piece of information that Ahran had, as yet,
neglected to tell me, although admittedly, I hadn’t asked either.
Bennie would have gone mad if she’d known. I switched the kettle on
and tried to think about how one might travel to another universe.
Unfortunately, my lukewarm liking of futuristic films had left me
severely lacking, all I could come up with was a round spaceship
with blue flashing lights. Great! I had found myself in the
starring role of the sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
I didn’t like flying at the best of times but the thought of
travelling in some kind of flying saucer took my anxiety to a whole
new level. Wasn’t there a decent risk of burning up as you left the
Earth’s atmosphere? Please let Ahran’s family have some kind of
second home somewhere on Earth. Now, if it was a palatial villa in
the Seychelles, I could be more easily persuaded.

The hot water
system fired up and interrupted my flow of thoughts. I quickly
blocked the image of rivulets of water running down Ahran’s naked
body and put the breakfast things out on the table. I really needed
to have sex with Marcus. Having had such a long period without it
was making my imagination run wild. Funny that I hadn’t felt like
this until Ahran had turned up though.

I didn’t feel
particularly hungry but put some bread in the toaster anyway. Mungo
hadn’t moved from his bed and I absentmindedly wondered how long he
would go without having a pee if I didn’t force him out of the back
door. “You need to go out,” I said. He just about managed to open
his eyes and looked at me as if to say ‘It’s freezing out there are
you out of your mind?’

“Mungo!”

He got up
slowly, had his usual stretch and trotted out the back door
ignoring me as I stood there holding it open for him. “I thought
Weimaraners were supposed to be lively,” I muttered to myself.

Now, what do
superhumans eat for breakfast? I scanned the cereal cupboard. The
phone rang and I glanced at the clock. Surely it was too early to
be the hospital, unless something dreadful had happened over night.
My heart skipped a beat. I snatched up the cordless phone from the
windowsill.

“Hello?” I
answered anxiously.

“You were
supposed to phone me last night,” said a groggy, slightly
disgruntled voice on the other end.

I took a deep
breath and relaxed. “I’m sorry Ben, a lot happened yesterday.” I
cradled the phone between my ear and shoulder and buttered my
toast. “Audrey was attacked in the coffee shop and I spent most of
the evening in the hospital.”

“Jesus! Is she
alright?”

“We don’t know
yet, in fact I thought you might be the hospital phoning to give me
an update. When I left last night they had just moved her into
intensive care. She’s had a stroke and is unconscious. Hopefully,
they should know more this morning.”

“Oh God Sophe,
I’m so sorry, is there anything I can do?” she offered.

“Thanks but
there’s nothing you can do at the moment, we’ll just have to wait
and see how she is when she comes round.”

“Bloody hell. I
can’t believe it. Give her a big hug from me. I’ll send some
flowers or something.”

“I’m sure she’d
appreciate that, thanks Ben.”

She paused. “So
you didn’t see the mysterious Ahran Elessar last night then?” she
asked.

I contemplated
lying but I knew she would suss me out. “He met me at the hospital
and brought me home.”

Just at that
moment Ahran walked into the kitchen looking fresh faced and
gorgeous, in a dark navy shirt and dark jeans. Oh dear Lord!

I smiled at him
and pointed to the phone as if it wasn’t obvious what I was
doing.

He stood in the
doorway looking at me, his head cocked to one side, an unreadable
expression on his face.

I put my hand
over the phone. “Help yourself to breakfast.”

“He’s still
there?!” Bennie’s high pitched voice screeched from the other end
of the line.

“Yes,” I said,
irritated by the conclusions that I knew she was drawing and
feeling embarrassed knowing that Ahran could probably hear her.

It was too
awkward putting Bennie straight in front of him and so I opted to
say nothing. I would have to tell her an edited version of what
happened last night, later. Was that a smile I saw on his face?

I picked up my
breakfast and moved into the lounge for some privacy. I lowered my
voice and wondered just how good his hearing was. “Unfortunately,
everything he told me about Toby being in danger is true. He seems
to think the person who attacked Audrey was after me.” I bit off a
mouthful of toast.

“Oh my God
Sophie! What did the police say?”

“I haven’t
spoken to the police yet although I expect I’ll see them this
morning.”

“So, what are
you going to do?”

“I don’t know
yet. Look, I’m going to have to go, I need to get Toby up and off
to school, can I call you later?”

“Okay, but make
sure you do,” she insisted.

“Yeah of
course. Bye hun.” We both hung up.

I went back
into the kitchen and tipped the remainder of my breakfast in the
bin. Ahran was buttering six pieces of toast. I suppose it didn’t
come as much of a surprise that he had a big appetite. “Did you
find everything you need?” I asked.

“Yes, thanks,”
he replied and carried his plate and a glass of milk over to the
table.

“Good, um, I’m
just going upstairs to get Toby up,” I said when I realised I was
staring at him. “He and I need to have a little chat before he
comes down.” I refrained from saying that Toby wasn’t used to
seeing men here. “You know, try and give him an explanation as to
why you’re here.”

He nodded and
took a sip of his milk.

I climbed the
stairs and went into Toby’s room. He had managed to drag himself
out of bed and was getting dressed. I sat on the chair by his desk.
“Toby, there is a man downstairs, his name is Ahran and he is going
to be staying with us for a little while.”

“What happened
to Dr Marcus?” he asked

“Oh Ahran isn’t
my boyfriend.” I couldn’t help wondering whether Marcus was
anymore. “He’s just a friend from London and needs a place to stay
for a little while.” I hadn’t been able to think of anything else
that wouldn’t have him asking lots of questions.

“Did he used to
be your boyfriend?”

“No.” I stood
up and pulled the collar of his polo shirt out of his sweater.
“Come downstairs and have some breakfast and you can meet him.”

I left him to
finish getting dressed. Ahran was still sat at the kitchen table
looking relaxed and at home in my kitchen.

“You need to
make arrangements to leave,” he said. “The quicker we can get you
to King Halsan’s the better.”

“Is King Halsan
Toby’s grandfather?” I asked.

“Yes. He is an
important and powerful man. His home is extremely well protected,
you will be safe there.”

After the
superhuman, alien shocker, I had forgotten that Toby was royalty as
well.

At that moment,
Toby came running down the stairs. “Hello,” he said, greeting Ahran
as he came into the kitchen.

“Hello Toby,”
Ahran replied, studying him as if he was a new and fascinating
exhibit at some museum.

I busied myself
pouring out Toby’s cereal and milk and he sat down at the table.
“So, do you like sport?” Ahran asked. I couldn’t help but smile to
myself, super-evolved being from another planet or not, it was such
a guy question.

“Love it, my
favourite is rugby.”

I put Toby’s
bowl of cereal in front of him.

“I liked rugby
at school too, what position do you play?”

“Flanker,” Toby
said through a mouthful of cereal.

“Finish what’s
in your mouth before you speak,” I corrected. If there was a chance
he was going to be a king one day, I was going to have to be
stricter about his table manners.

“Is it just
rugby you play?” Ahran continued.

“No, I play
football and cricket in the summer,” Toby answered.

“Your dad was a
good cricketer.”

My head snapped
round and I glared at Ahran. What the hell was he thinking?

By the look on
his face I could see he’d realised his error too.

Toby stopped
eating and looked at Ahran. “You know my dad?”

Ahran looked
uncomfortable.

What should I
say? I didn’t want to lie to Toby but nor was this the time to go
into a lengthy explanation about who his father was, his untimely
end and the legacy he had left Toby. He deserved to know the whole
story, but just not yet.

I pulled up a
chair in front of Toby and took hold of his hands. “Sweetheart,
Ahran is your father’s cousin and he wants to tell you about your
dad, but you’ve got school today and we need to get going.” Toby
was about to protest. “We haven’t got time to talk about it now,
but it is very important that you hear what Ahran has to say. So
when you get home from school tonight, when we’ve got more time, we
can talk about it properly then, I promise.”

Toby wasn’t
prepared to let it go that easily.

“But I want to
know about my dad now,” he demanded.

“Let us talk
about it when you get home from school. Auntie Audrey is very sick
and I need to go to the hospital this morning to see her and I
don’t want to be late.” Toby loved Audrey like a grandmother and I
knew he would understand.

“Okay, but can
you pick me up straight after school?”

“Yes, of course
I will.”

He seemed
satisfied with that.

“Now go
upstairs and clean your teeth.” Toby did as he was told and ran
upstairs.

“I’m really
sorry about that, I wasn’t thinking.”

I sighed.
“Don’t worry. He will have to know sooner or later, I just would
rather have broken it to him slightly differently.”

“You dealt with
it well,” he said complimenting me.

I was cross
with myself for liking his praise. “Toby is a smart and sensible
boy,” I said, brushing it off.

I collected the
dishes and started to wash them up. I noticed Ahran didn’t offer to
help. He was probably used to having servants do everything for
him, I thought sulkily. Well, he wasn’t royalty here. I handed him
the tea towel. He looked at it blankly.

“Would you mind
drying up?” Surely he knew what a tea towel was?

“Oh yes, yes of
course.” He stood up and took the towel out of my hands.

We worked
silently for a minute or two.

“Will he be
safe at school?” It was something that had been bugging me.

“It’s highly
unlikely that Bazeera’s people will try anything in such a public
place, they will not want to draw attention to themselves. Elaya
will watch the school. But you and Toby really need to come back to
Ramia as soon as possible,” he urged.

“I know I....”
I stopped as Toby came into the kitchen.

“There you are.
Ready?” I put the last of the dishes on the drainer. I threw Ahran
a warning look not wishing to continue our conversation in front of
Toby.

Ahran offered
to take us to school in his car, but I knew it would set tongues
wagging. He followed us closely behind instead. I looked in my rear
view mirror a number of times. After what had happened in the shop,
it was reassuring to know he was there. When we arrived at the
school gates I kissed Toby on the cheek and he walked in with
Adam.

On my way home,
I stopped off at the shop and left a note on the door to say that
we would be closed temporarily due to unforeseeable circumstances.
I then drove the short distance from the shop back home, thinking
about all I needed to do. I would have to speak to the police at
some point. It was unlikely I would be able to open up until they
had been over the crime scene. It was a horrible thought thinking
that my coffee shop was now a ‘crime scene’.

I rounded the
corner of my road and checked that Ahran was still behind me, when
my eyes returned to the road I saw the police car parked outside my
house.

I parked on the
drive and Ahran pulled up behind me. I took a deep breath. “Morning
officers,” I said as I walked up my front path. Two male police
officers had gotten out of the panda car and were stood waiting
under the porch.

“Miss
McAllister?”

“Yes.”

“I’m Constable
Mark Wagner,” said the taller of the two, “and this is my colleague
Constable David Harmsworth. We understand that one of your
employees was attacked at your coffee shop, late yesterday
afternoon.”

“Yes, she was,”
I confirmed. Ahran was now standing next to me.

“May we come in
and ask you a few questions about what happened yesterday
evening?”

“Yes of
course.” I knew I had nothing to feel guilty about but my pulse
quickened anyway. Policemen always made me nervous, especially now
that I had a whopper of a secret to keep. I glanced up at Ahran but
his face was expressionless.

I unlocked the
front door. “Please come in.” I led the two constables into the
kitchen and Ahran followed. “Take a seat,” I offered. They both
obliged. Ahran continued to stand, leaning against the work
surface. Constable Wagner looked at Ahran and then back to me, his
unspoken question hanging in the air. Ahran was a big presence in
my kitchen and it was hard to ignore him.