Tagan's Child (15 page)

“The problem
is, I don’t want to forget it, I want to do it again,” he said
shamelessly, his eyes drilling into mine.

Even though my
heart missed a beat at the thought of him wanting to kiss me again,
I considered slapping him. “Well, you have just made it clear that
this...” I said, gesturing wildly from me to him, “...is
inappropriate because you are about to marry a woman you have been
engaged to for...” How old was he and how long ago was it since he
was a child? His kiss had befuddled my brain and I couldn’t work it
out. “Ugh,” I said frustrated “...God knows how long. I think we
ought to just leave it there.”

I strode off to
the spot where we had appeared a couple of hours ago.

“Can we just
get this over with?” I said, holding my hand out impatiently. The
last thing I trusted myself to do was touch him but I didn’t want
to fall into some intergalactic abyss either. Holding his hand was
the lesser of the two evils.

Ahran hesitated
but then walked over and took my hand in his. I tried to ignore the
electrical pulse that passed between us. So that was what Katie was
talking about. A fat lot of good it was going to do me now, I
thought dismally. I held my breath as we walked through the portal
together.

It was the same
horrendous feeling as before, like I was hurtling towards the earth
and my stomach churned violently in response. A few seconds later I
stumbled out of the portal into my wood. If I hadn’t been holding
Ahran’s hand I would have fallen flat on my face. I regained my
balance and snatched my hand away from his, fighting the wave of
nausea that was threatening to make me lose my lunch. I leant
against a nearby tree and closed my eyes. I took a few deep
breaths, more to fight the tears that were hovering behind my
eyelids than the sickness I was feeling. I had just begun to feel
more cheerful about everything when he had to go and kiss me. Of
course it couldn’t just be any ordinary kiss, no, it had to be a
heart-stopping, earth-shattering mess-with-your-head kind of kiss.
Whether it had been extraordinary because he was superhuman, I had
no idea, but what I did know was that there was a chemistry between
us the likes of which I had never experienced before. The kisses
I’d had with Marcus paled into insignificance compared to what we
had just shared. The irony was that I had thought Marcus had kissed
well until Ahran had to go and spoil everything.

Ahran waited
for me to gather myself. “Are you okay?” he asked sympathetically,
mistaking my turmoil for travel sickness.

“Yes, no thanks
to you,” I spat.

He didn’t
respond.

“Let’s just
go,” I said, pushing myself away from the tree and started to head
back in the direction of my house. Ahran followed a safe distance
behind. I decided as I walked that I would ask Elaya to escort us
back to Ramia. I needed to distance myself from Ahran as soon as
possible.

As I reached
out to open my back gate, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled
it out and looked at the caller display. It was Toby’s school. I
felt the blood drain from my face. Oh Jesus! Toby!

I put the phone
to my ear. I knew something had happened, I could feel it in my
bones.

“Miss
McAllister?”

“Yes,” I
answered, my voice full of dread.

“This is Mr
Harcroft, the Head teacher at Hatherley primary school.”

I knew exactly
who it was. I had begun to feel like I was falling down a deep,
black hole, far worse than the one I had just stepped out of. If
the Head teacher was phoning me, something was definitely
wrong.

“I am not quite
sure how to tell you this but Toby has gone missing.”

My legs buckled
beneath me and I fell to my knees. Ahran was beside me in a
heartbeat. He didn’t need to ask, he’d heard what Mr Harcroft had
just said.

I struggled to
say anything and just about managed to repeat the word that had
sliced through me like a knife. “Missing?”

“Yes, I’m
afraid so,” he confirmed. “He was in the playground after lunch and
didn’t return to his classroom after the afternoon bell, we think
he may have wandered out of the school gates. I have informed the
police and a number of my staff are out looking for him. He can’t
have gone far and I am sure we will have him back in no time.” He
was trying his hardest to sound reassuring.

Toby would
never have just wondered off. Their search was futile. Toby would
be in Ramia by now, God knows where, in the grasp of Bazeera. I
dropped the phone.

Ahran retrieved
it and said a few curt words to the Head teacher before hanging up.
He knelt down opposite me and took my hands in his.

I stared at him
unseeingly.

“We will find
him,” he said, looking into my eyes.

“You said Elaya
would look after him,” I said accusingly. I felt so numb I couldn’t
even summon a tear.

“I know and I’m
sure she would have done everything she could have done to protect
him. We need to talk to her and find out what happened.” He pulled
his phone out of his pocket and dialled her number.

She didn’t
answer. Ahran cursed in Ramian.

I sat on the
ground paralysed by fear.

“We need to
find her.” I could tell by the look on his face he suspected
something had happened to her too. I couldn’t offer any words of
comfort I was too disabled by my own grief.

Ahran offered
his hand to help me up. “We haven’t got time to waste.”

He pulled me to
my feet. I felt like I had become detached from my body and the
only thing I was conscious of was how difficult it was to breathe.
I walked robotically through my back garden and allowed Ahran to
lead me around the front to his car. We drove to the school in
silence and parked in the cul-de-sac outside. “You stay here for a
minute. I’m just going to see if I can find Elaya.”

I didn’t argue
and sat there, staring out of the window. I watched an elderly
couple come out of their house. The lady had a shopping bag over
her arm and the man helped her into the car. They reversed out of
their drive chatting away to each other. A young mother pushed a
toddler in a pushchair. She had a phone sandwiched between her chin
and shoulder as she walked and she laughed at something the person
on the other end had just said to her. Several cars passed by and a
delivery van pulled up outside a house a few doors away from where
I was. How could everyone just be getting on with their lives when
the bottom had just fallen out of mine?

Where was Toby?
Was he hurt? Who was he with? He was only eight. He would be so
frightened. How had they taken him without anyone noticing? Would I
ever see him again?

The questions
kept coming and I didn’t have an answer for a single one of them.
My tears started to fall silently. I didn’t notice Ahran return
until he opened the door and got in.

His face was
lined with concern. I knew it was bad news and my heart sank even
further.

“I’ve found
her. She’s alive but unconscious in a ditch a couple of fields away
from the school. I didn’t want to carry her back in case anyone saw
me. I’ll drive round there and pick her up. I will have to take her
back to Ramia.”

I grabbed his
arm. “No, don’t leave me!” The thought of him leaving threw me into
a blind panic.

“You will have
to go into the school; it will appear very strange if you don’t.
Why don’t you call your friend so you’ve got somebody with you?
I’ll take Elaya back and I will come back for you as quickly as I
can.”

I nodded. I
knew that what he said made sense. I was going to have to pretend I
had no idea where Toby was until Ahran returned and then we could
head back to Ramia and work out what we were going to do from
there.

Ahran gently
held my chin. “We will find him, I promise. Bazeera won’t hurt him;
he is worth more to her alive.” I appreciated that Ahran was trying
to make me feel better, but I struggled to share his optimism. I
nodded weakly. I got out of the car and started to make my way into
the school. I don’t know how I was able to put one foot in front of
the other. I looked back at Ahran and he gave me a weak smile, the
worry was plain to see on his face. The car’s engine roared to life
and he sped off.

I walked
towards the school reception. The sooner I got this charade out of
the way the better. I dialled Bennie’s number.

“Hi,
Sophe.”

The sound of my
best friend’s voice brought a fresh wave of tears.

“Toby’s gone
missing from school.”

“Fuck! Where
are you?”

“I’m just
heading into the school now.”

“I’ll be right
there.” She hung up. Thank God Bennie was staying with her parents
and not still in Africa.

I walked into
the school reception and as soon as the receptionist saw me she
came out and ushered me into the Head teacher’s office. There were
a number of people in there with him; the deputy head, two police
officers and the chairman of the school governors.

The Head
approached me. “Miss McAllister, the police are doing a search of
the area as we speak.” The gravity of the situation meant that he
did away with any preliminaries.

“What happened?
Didn’t anyone see anything? What about Adam, he and Toby are
inseparable, didn’t he see anything?” I fired my questions at
him.

“We’ve just
spoken to Adam. He said they had been playing armies at the back of
the playground, Toby went and hid behind the bank and that was the
last time Adam saw him.”

“Wasn’t there
anyone on duty?” I asked, struggling to hide my anger.

“There were two
members of staff out on the playground at lunchtime but it is
difficult for them to keep their eye on every child all of the
time.”

“Well, you need
more staff on duty then! We put our children in your hands and you
have a duty of care to protect them,” I said, my voice rising an
octave. I knew that there wasn’t a lot the Head teacher could have
done but I took my fear and frustration out on him anyway.

“Miss
McAllister, I can assure you we take our duty of care very
seriously,” he said, only managing to thinly veil his frustration
at my suggestion that they had failed in their job.

“Well you
obviously don’t take it seriously enough!” I retorted taking a step
towards him and stabbing the air with my finger.

“Miss
McAllister I understand this is very distressing for you, as it is
for all of us,” the governor said, trying to placate me. “It isn’t
going to do Toby any good if we all get upset with one another. We
need to concentrate on finding him as quickly as possible.”

I would have
been happy if he had left me to tear lumps out of the Head teacher,
but the governor’s gently restraining arm prevented me from getting
any closer.

There was a
knock on the door.

“Come in,” the
Head instructed, relieved by the distraction.

Bennie put her
head around the door.

“Bennie!” I was
so relieved to see her. I rushed over to her and gave her a
hug.

She put her
arms around me. “Any news?”

The police
officer’s radios had crackled to life a number of times since I had
arrived but nothing significant had been reported.

I closed my
eyes and shook my head, tears spilling over onto my cheeks. Who was
I fooling? Toby was long gone.

Bennie
addressed the policemen. “Is there anything we can do?”

“We have
officers combing the area and we have sent alerts to police forces
in the surrounding areas. Is there anywhere that you can think of
that Toby might have gone?”

“The only place
he would go to is his friend Adam’s, but I can’t imagine he would
have gone there because Adam’s in school.” I took a shuddery
breath. “The only other place would have been my friend Audrey’s,
and she’s in hospital at the moment.” I knew I had to carry on with
the pretence. All I could think about was getting back to Ramia and
to Ahran and the King. They would have a plan, I was sure of
it.

One of the
police officers looked at his notebook. “Ah yes, Audrey Goodfellow.
Am I right in thinking she was assaulted in your coffee shop
yesterday afternoon?” I felt like slapping him. Of course you are
right and that is all the more reason why I should be in Ramia, I
yelled in my head. “Yes that’s right,” I replied.

“Do you think
there could be any connection between the assault on Ms Goodfellow
and Toby’s disappearance?” Yes there’s a bloody connection! “I
can’t imagine what it would be?” I lied.

“Maybe there is
somebody who has something against you Ms McAllister, a debtor or a
jealous ex-boyfriend perhaps?”

It didn’t take
much for them to put two and two together and come up with five, it
looked too much like a coincidence.

“I can’t think
of anyone,” I said shrugging. “Are you suggesting he has been
kidnapped?” I asked, keeping up the pretence.

The Head
teacher looked aghast. It would not be good PR if it got out that
one of his pupils had been kidnapped from the school playground
during lunchtime under his teacher’s noses.

“We just want
to make sure we have considered all possibilities,” the policeman
said noncommittally.

I didn’t have
to pretend to look devastated by the suggestion that Toby had been
kidnapped; I was already tearing myself into pieces wondering what
had happened to him. I sobbed into my hands.

Bennie stepped
in. “I think perhaps, I ought to take Sophie home.”

“That’s
probably a good idea,” the Head teacher agreed, relieved I would be
taken out of the picture.

One of the
policemen spoke. “We have your details Miss McAllister, we will
contact you immediately we hear anything.”

I was relieved
I could finally leave. I hoped I appeared too distressed to join in
with the search. I nodded and Bennie and I walked out to her
car.