Tagan's Child (50 page)

“Sophie! Bloody
hell! Where the fuck have you been? I’ve been so worried about you,
why haven’t you called?”

I let her rant.
She had every right to be angry with me after the worry I must have
caused her. The last time I’d seen and spoken to her was when I had
asked her to cover for me just after Toby had been kidnapped and
before I bolted out of my back door leaving her sitting at my
kitchen table wondering what on earth was going on.

“I am so sorry,
it’s a very long story. I don’t suppose you are at your mum and
dad’s?” I tried to sound like me but my voice sounded lifeless.

“No, I’m at my
flat. Sophie, are you alright? Is it Toby?”

“Toby is fine.”
I deliberately didn’t give her a rundown of my wellbeing. “I was
hoping you were local.” I couldn’t face the idea of travelling up
to London to see her.

“Well, as it
happens I had planned to come home tomorrow, I suppose I could come
down tonight?”

“Could you?” My
voice broke and I started to cry.

“What has
happened? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I
lied.

“Thank God for
that, I didn’t know what to think, I thought you’d been kidnapped
or murdered.”

I gave a
humourless chuckle. “No, I am alive.” I was at least that. “I’ll
tell you everything once you get here.”

“I’ll be there
in a couple of hours.”

For the first
time since I had returned from Ramia I felt a glimmer of warmth. I
hadn’t yet worked out what I was going to tell her but I had a
couple of hours to think about it.

“Great, I’ll
see you later.” I went to put the phone down.

“Sophie?”

I put the phone
back to my ear.

“Yes?”

“Do the police
know you’re home?”

“No, why?”

“There’s a
warrant out for your arrest, they think you were involved in Toby’s
kidnap.”

“Oh God,
really?”

“You weren’t
were you?” I could hear the edge of doubt in her voice.

“No, I
wasn’t.”

“Have you found
Toby?”

“Yes.”

“Thank God for
that. Have you spoken to anyone else?”

“No, not
yet.”

“Well don’t, as
soon as anyone knows you are home the police will be knocking on
your door. When I get there we can work out what to do.”

I wasn’t
altogether surprised, the police were bound to be suspicious,
first, Audrey’s attack, second, Toby’s disappearance and then my
mysterious departure.

“Okay,” I
replied and we both hung up.

I made sure the
curtains were tightly shut. I needed to get my story straight
before I spoke to the police. I went into the kitchen, the place
was a tip. I glanced at the clock, it was nearly eight. I set about
tidying up and used the time to think about what I was going to
tell Bennie. I went upstairs to have a shower. I couldn’t remember
if I had even cleaned my teeth over the last few days and it felt
good to stand under the hot stream of water. I stood there for a
long time, my feelings for Ahran on lock down and wondered if there
would ever be a time when I’d feel strong enough to deal with
them.

I dressed in my
old tracksuit bottoms and a white t-shirt feeling the need to cling
to anything that felt familiar. I went back downstairs and made a
mug of tea and took it into the lounge. I decided it was probably
best not to relight the fire and so I turned up the thermostat, sat
on the sofa and wrapped my hands around the mug.

Should I tell
her the whole story? She was my best friend and she had a right to
know especially since I had left in such a hurry without any
explanation. I wasn’t ready to tell her about Ahran, but I didn’t
have a problem telling her about the search for Toby. The big
question was did I tell her about Ramia?

I remembered
the conversation I’d had with Halsan on the beach, he had made it
very clear how much the Ramians valued their anonymity and if I
told Bennie was I jeopardising their security? I knew I could rely
on her, but was I threatening Toby’s security if I told anyone
about Ramia? How much would MI5 like to know about a parallel
universe? Toby would be a seriously interesting case. If I thought
I had lost Toby now, he would be taken away from me for good if the
government ever found out. I just couldn’t risk it. I loved and
trusted Bennie, but for her and Toby’s sake Ramia would have to
stay a secret. I decided to go with the foreign royal family story
and just hoped she believed me.

There was a
gentle knock on the back door.

I made my way
to the door but hesitated.

“Sophie, it’s
me,” Bennie whispered as if sensing my uncertainty.

I opened the
door to my dear friend and we hugged each other tightly.

“It’s so good
to see you Bennie.” I couldn’t stop the tears from cascading down
my cheeks, she was such a welcome presence.

“Come in.”

“What on earth
has been going on? Where have you been?” Bennie asked, holding me
at arm’s length. “I really thought I’d lost you. You look
dreadful.”

“Thanks,” I
said with a wry smile. I grabbed a piece of kitchen roll and blew
my nose.

“Do you want
tea?” I asked.

“No thanks, I
thought we could do with some of this,” she said, holding up a
bottle of rosé.

“Let’s go and
sit down,” I said, grabbing a couple of glasses out of the
cupboard.

“Where have you
been? I’ve been so worried about you both,” she said

“I know. I’m
sorry.”

Bennie sat on
the sofa and tucked her long legs underneath her. She waited
patiently, nursing her glass of wine, giving me the space to begin
in my own time.

“There’s a
limit to what I can tell you,” I said. “I hope one day I’ll be able
to tell you everything but the situation is…” I searched for the
right word, “…sensitive.”

“What do you
mean sensitive?” she asked.

“I can’t answer
all your questions, but I’ll tell you what I can.” I felt
uncomfortable withholding information from her and reassured myself
I was doing it to protect Toby rather than any selfish reason to
protect myself.

“Toby was
kidnapped and after I left here we spent the next week trying to
find him.”

“Bloody hell!”
she exclaimed. “We?”

I braced myself
before I said his name. “Ahran and me.” She cocked her eyebrow and
I ignored it. I punched down the pain that surged through my
chest.

“Was Toby
kidnapped by that crazy woman?”

I nodded,
thankful that I didn’t have to speak immediately.

“Where did she
take him?”

“It took us
ages to find him, but eventually we found out he had been taken to
a remote residence of hers.” A picture of Bazeera’s castle flashed
in my mind. “Even I was kidnapped at one point.”

Bennie’s eyes
widened even further.

“It was
horrific,” I said, shaking my head. “Luckily I was rescued by
Ahran’s sister.”

“His
sister?!”

“I know,” I
said, shrugging and shaking my head. “She’s like Lara Croft’s ninja
cousin.”

Bennie nodded.
Her face was a picture, she was clearly struggling to take it all
in.

“Ahran and a
friend of his, they are both like former S.A.S, rescued Toby. We
all managed to escape and that was pretty much it.” I hadn’t told
her the whole story of course. I neglected to tell her about the
King not allowing Toby to return to Earth, that Ahran and I had
fallen in love, and then, thanks to his vengeful ex, found out that
he had caused the death of my sister. I almost laughed out loud at
the absurdity of it all.

“Flippin’ heck
Sophie, it all sounds God-awful.” Bennie looked scandalized.

“I nodded and
swirled the wine in my glass. I was trying hard to fight the waves
of desolation that were about to engulf me once more.

“So where is
Toby now?”

“He’s with his
grandparents.”

“Whereabouts?”

“I can’t tell
you that.”

“Is he coming
back?”

I shook my
head. “Not for a while.” Tears sprung from my eyes.

“Hey, hey.”
Bennie hugged me.

“It’s not safe
for him to come back yet,” I choked out. “Bazeera is still a threat
and the King can protect Toby much better all the time he is
staying with him.”

I sobbed
quietly. “That’s it, let it all out,” she said, rubbing my arm
soothingly.

“I’m sorry,” I
said.

“Don’t be
ridiculous, after what you’ve been through you have every right to
have a good cry.”

The trouble was
it was all I had done since I had returned.

“It’s over
now,” Bennie said quietly, misinterpreting my silence. “Toby is
safe, albeit not in the most ideal of situations, but you’ve got to
be comforted by the fact that his life is no longer in danger.” She
was doing her best to make me feel better. I very nearly blurted it
all out but wasn’t ready to face my feelings yet. I was content for
the time being to hate Ahran. Hatred was a far easier emotion to
deal with than anything else I was fighting hard to bury.

“You’re right.
I’ve got to think about what is best for Toby.”

Cracks began to
work their way across the barricade I had carefully erected to
protect myself. Hold it together Sophie, hold it together. I closed
my eyes and fought the emotion threatening to assault my fragile
composure.

“Are you going
to be moving there with Toby?” she asked anxiously.

“No,” I said
too firmly. “No. I’ve got the shop and I’ll be able to visit Toby.”
My eyes began to fill up again. I had never felt such a feeling of
crushing emptiness. My limbs felt extraordinarily heavy as if my
lifeblood was slowly draining from me. It felt like I was on the
brink of imploding and I was completely powerless to stop it.

“Sophie?”

I started to
feel dizzy. A kaleidoscope of colours rained down before my eyes
and the room began to spin. Everything went black.

*****

I felt
something cold on my face. I raised my eyelids enjoying the feeling
of not hurting for the first few seconds of consciousness before
the suffocating sense of loss and betrayal washed over me like a
drowning wave. I closed my eyes again and summoned all my strength
to resurrect the fragile barrier I had managed to construct over
the last few days.

I took a deep
breath.

“God Sophie,
you frightened me half to death, I thought you’d died!” Bennie’s
face was etched with concern and she looked pale under her tan.

“I’m sorry,” I
croaked after the first abortive attempt to apologise, my vocal
chords felt like they had stuck together. “Can I have a drink?”

Bennie passed
me a glass of water. I sat up feeling like all my strength had been
sucked out of me and took a few sips. “I don’t know what just
happened. I guess I must have fainted.” I didn’t exactly feel ill,
just heavy and weak. An image of Ahran treacherously flashed in my
mind and the now familiar ache in my chest returned with full
force. I tried to take a few deep breaths to ease it but nothing
changed. I think I preferred unconsciousness where I didn’t feel
anything. I’d lost count of how many times my body had shut down
over the last couple of days.

“You look as
white as a sheet. I didn’t phone for an ambulance, you still seemed
to be breathing so I figured it was probably best not to attract
attention by inviting a blue light down your street.” She waited
for me to condone her lack of action. If the look of indecision on
her face was anything to go by she was still wondering whether she
had made the right call.

“I’m fine,
honestly, I’m fine. I guess my ordeal has taken it out of me more
than I thought.”

I couldn’t tell
her that on top of everything my heart had splintered into a
million pieces and that it would have taken far more than attending
paramedics to put it back together. This had been the worst black
out yet. It had felt like I had fallen down a bottomless hole.

“Have you had
anything to eat recently?” she asked, ready to pounce on me
disapprovingly.

“Um,” I
couldn’t remember when I’d last eaten.

She looked at
me like a reproachful school mistress. “Have you had a proper meal
since you came back? Actually, when did you get back?” She eyed me
suspiciously, drawing conclusions she was clearly unhappy
about.

I raked through
my mind to see if I could add up the days but they all seemed to
blend together, night into day, day into night. I was unable to
come up with an exact answer. “A few days ago,” I offered
noncommittally.

“Jesus Sophie,
you’re clearly in a state. Why didn’t you call me sooner?” She was
angry and I couldn’t blame her.

“I’m sorry
Ben.” The tears began to stream down my cheeks again.

“Hey, come on
now.” Her tone softened and she put her arms around me awkwardly.
“I can’t imagine what you’ve been through, it sounds horrific, all
of it, but Toby’s safe now. You’re probably suffering from
post-traumatic stress or something. Maybe you ought to talk to
somebody, you know, a professional who is used to dealing with this
sort of thing.”

I pulled away
and started to shake my head, the last thing I needed was to go
through it all with a complete stranger.

“I don’t need
therapy, I just need to rebuild my life,” I said, wiping my nose on
my sleeve. “I’ve got a business to run and it’s not that I’ve lost
Toby altogether.” I didn’t sound at all convincing.

Could it be the
case that Halsan would never let him return to earth? Fresh tears
welled up and spilled onto my cheeks. Bennie hugged me again and I
buried my face in her shoulder. I was doing my level best to keep
everything walled up, but like the tiny shafts of light through an
old wooden door, they determinedly found their way through. Bennie
did her best to comfort me. After Toby, she was the closest thing I
had to family and I knew she cared for me like a sister.
Eventually, my tears subsided and I tried to draw strength from her
embrace. Finally, I was able to draw a breath that wouldn’t result
in a sob.