Tagan's Child Read online

  “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.

  Chapter 8

  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.

  “Oh this is my, er, friend, Ahran Elessar.”

  Constable Harmsworth wrote something in his notebook. I felt the need to explain. “Ahran knows about the attack, he was with me at the hospital.”

  They both nodded.

  “Can I get anyone a tea or coffee?” I asked, feeling my palms grow sweaty.

  All three men declined. I made myself one anyway. I needed tea at a time like this. The policemen waited until I had finished and joined them at the table before they resumed their questioning. Wagner asked the questions and Harmsworth continued to write in his book which I found distinctly unnerving. I was dying to know what he was writing.

  “You found Ms Goodfellow after the attack?” It was a question a
nd a statement at the same time.

  “Yes that’s right,” I replied. “I left Audrey to close up whilst I went to meet with my bank manager. When I had finished I went back to see if she needed any help and found her lying on the floor at the back of the shop. I called the ambulance straight away.”

  “I see,” he said, which for some reason made me feel even guiltier.

  “Can you think of any reason why someone would want to attack Ms Goodfellow?”

  “No, absolutely none, she is the nicest lady you could ever wish to meet,” I said, shaking my head.

  The policeman paused. “Do you have any enemies Miss McAllister?” I fought my natural reaction to look at Ahran.

  “No, not that I’m aware of,” I said, lying through my teeth. What else could I have said? Yes, there is some mad woman from a parallel universe who wants to kidnap my nephew to use as a pawn in a bid for power and land. Ordinarily, I would never have lied to a policeman, but Ahran was watching me like a hawk. I came to the uncomfortable realisation that Toby and I were totally reliant on him and his family, there was nobody else we could turn to, not even the police.

  “Was anything taken after the attack Miss McAllister?”

  “Not that I’m aware of,” I answered.

  Ahran interrupted. “I’m afraid there was. After I found out what had happened I went to the coffee shop to see if anything had been stolen and the till draw was open and empty.”

  I choked on my tea. They all looked at me. “Sorry, went down the wrong way,” I spluttered.

  Ahran continued. “I didn’t want to tell Sophie last night because she was too upset. It looks like Ms Goodfellow was the unfortunate victim of a robbery,” Ahran said, sounding regretful and sincere.

  Both constables nodded, seemingly in agreement. What was it about Ahran that had everyone eating out of his hand?

  “Do you know how much was in the till Miss McAllister?”

  “About £50, we don’t keep a lot of cash, most people pay by card these days,” I explained.

  Wagner seemed satisfied with our answers. “Our forensics will need to go in and do a sweep of your shop; they should be there this afternoon. Will you be able to let them in?”

  “Yes of course.” That was an inconvenience I could do without.

  “Can they call you on your mobile?” Wagner asked, reading out my number from his notebook. They must have got it from the hospital.

  I nodded.

  “Okay, that will be all for the moment Miss McAllister, Mr Elessar, thank you for your help.”

  Harmsworth finished off whatever he was writing in his notepad, looked up and smiled. They both stood up. “I hope your friend makes a speedy recovery,” Wagner said as I walked them to the front door.

  “Yes, thank you, so do I.”

  I shut the door behind them and breathed a sigh of relief. I re-joined Ahran in the kitchen. “You told me nothing had been stolen,” I said, rounding on him.

  “And as I said last night, nothing had been taken. I took the money out of the till to make it look like a robbery. We want the police to think this was a straightforward burglary and that Audrey got in the way. My people can take care of Bazeera,” he said, sounding just like the mafia hood I had accused him of being when we first met.

  “Where’s the money?” I hadn’t meant it to sound like an accusation.

  “In a bag under the stairs.” Anger flashed briefly across his face, he was clearly offended.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t think you had kept it,” I said, backpedalling.

  He didn’t respond but his expression remained cool and it made me feel uncomfortable. I changed the subject. “Don’t you think it is going to look kind of suspicious if Toby and I just take off now?” I hoped he would agree with me that this was a good reason for me and Toby to stay.

  I was disappointed.

  “Not at all, you can tell people that you are going on vacation for a while to get over an upsetting turn of events. There is nothing odd about that.”

  I didn’t like to admit it, but he had a point, a robbery in Hatherley would shock its inhabitants and keep them gossiping for weeks, they would expect the shop to close for a while, especially whilst Audrey was in hospital.

  The phone rang interrupting our discussion.

  I glanced at the clock. It was nearly ten.

  I picked it up. “Miss McAllister?”

  “Speaking.”

  “It’s Dr. Bhandari here.” It was the registrar from the hospital last night. My heart sank, it was virtually unheard of for a doctor to call, unless it was bad news. Please no, Please no!

  “Is Audrey alright?” I braced myself for his response, my heart now in my throat.

  “There’s been no great change in her condition I’m afraid. Ms Goodfellow still hasn’t regained consciousness, but she remains stable.”

  I felt a lump forming in my throat.

  “She’s in a coma?”

  “Yes she is.”

  I clamped my hand over my mouth.

  The doctor filled the silence. “This is not necessarily a bad thing Miss McAllister, a patient who has had a head injury will often fall into a light coma. It’s the body’s way of protecting higher brain function. We suspect that she has sustained damage to the part of the brain called the reticular formation but we are optimistic that she will gain full consciousness within the next few days.”

  His optimism gave me a sliver of hope. They didn’t usually say that kind of thing if they weren’t sure, although I hated the idea of my dear friend lying in a vegetative state in intensive care even for a day.

  “Do you know yet whether there will be any lasting damage?”

  “I’m afraid it is too early for us to tell, as you know she suffered a stroke and until she’s awake it is almost impossible for us to properly assess any damage that has been caused.”

  “Can I come in and see her?” I asked.

  “Yes that’s fine; it’s beneficial for a coma patient to have contact with loved ones.”

  I felt relieved that I would at least be able to see her.

  “In that case, I will be in later on. Thank you for phoning doctor.”

  “Goodbye Miss McAllister.” And with that he put the phone down.

  I was so thankful that it was not as bleak as I had feared. “I can’t believe Audrey’s doctor phoned just to give me an update, what did you say to him last night?”

  “I just said that I would be grateful if he could report on her condition in the morning,” Ahran replied.

  I shook my head disbelievingly. “Thank you.” As much as I didn’t want to admit it I don’t know what I would have done without him over the last 12 hours.

  Ahran looked slightly uncomfortable. “So she’s still in a coma,” he said, diverting the attention away from himself.

  I nodded and my bottom lip began to quiver.

  His expression softened. “As the doctor said, this is normal for someone who has suffered the injuries Audrey has.” He was trying to reassure me but his sympathy only caused my tears to fall.

  I buried my face in my hands and sobbed.

  “She’s going to be fine, it will just take a little while,” he said gently, and I felt his arms around my shoulders. His warmth seeped through my sweater.

  “I hope you’re right,” I said through my tears. He pulled me further into his arms. This man was little more than a stranger to me, but I took the sympathy he offered and cried into his chest.

  “I’m sorry. I keep doing that to you,” I said, pulling away. “I’ve made your shirt all wet.” I went to get some kitchen roll to pat it dry.

  He caught my wrist and turned me back towards him. “Please. It doesn’t matter.”

  We stood there for a few moments looking at one another. Just as he turned away, I saw the flicker of conflict across his face. I stared at his back feeling confused. He gripped the edge of the sink and looked out the window. Showing his humanity seemed to unsettle him. I didn’t know what to make of
it. All I knew was that when Ahran was being supportive and compassionate, I could feel myself being drawn to him like a moth to a flame, but when he was cool and abrupt, it only served to put my back up. I grabbed a tissue and blew my nose.

  “We should go to Ramia tonight,” Ahran said, turning around.

  “Tonight?! That’s impossible.”

  “Sophie, you’ve seen the condition Audrey is in. This really is a matter of life and death.”

  I contemplated Toby coming to any harm and it brought me up short. I knew I had to do what Ahran asked and soon. “Okay, okay, I get it. But I really would like to know what we are getting ourselves into. Is there any way I can meet King Halsan before we go and stay?”

  “Halsan won’t come to Earth.”

  I tried not to feel offended.

  “But I suppose I could take you to him,” he said, considering my request.

  “What about Toby?”

  “Elaya is at the school, she will protect him.”

  I looked at the clock it was nearly ten thirty. I had no idea how long it would take to get to Ramia and back and I wanted to visit Audrey before I picked Toby up from school. “We can’t go today,” I said adamantly. “How long does it take to get there anyway? Isn’t it in a completely different universe?” I couldn’t fathom how far away that was.

  “There are other ways of travelling than the modes you are thinking of Sophie.”

  I felt even more confused. What ways other than a rocket or a spaceship are there?

  “We travel to and from my world through a portal,” he explained.

  “What do you mean, like some kind of gateway?” I’m sure this had been on Deep Space Nine the only time I had sat and watched it with Toby. I wish I had paid more attention.

  “Yes, exactly that, we have created one in the woods just behind your house.”

  “In my wood?” I was shocked.

  “Yes, a wood is a good place for a portal. We are more able to travel through it undetected.”

  I nodded as if we were having the most normal conversation in the world. “Oh, right.” I said, my eyes wide. This explained why Ahran and Elaya were able to get here so quickly.