Sky Lights (10 page)

The children rolled their eyes at each other and, with a shrug of their shoulders, continued brushing up the yellow grains that were being illuminated by the light from their two tiny companions. The rumbling grew louder, the fumes grew stronger and the smoke grew thicker.

‘It is time for me to do the bravest deed of all now,’ said Peter. ‘It says

Then as the giant begins to wake

Search for the hole that’s round

And right there on the edge of death

The next clue can be found.

So I will fetch clue number two from the edge of death. Be ready when I come back to leave here immediately.’

The children were growing anxious and kept watching for Rochester to reappear to take them down. With fumbling fingers they finally filled the second cup to the brim and taking care not to spill any of the dust, they stood up and watched Peter approach the mouth of the volcano. Suddenly the rumble changed to a hiss, and sparks flew from the hole. Peter ducked behind a boulder.

‘Be careful, Peter,’ shouted Amy. ‘Don’t go any closer.’

‘Do you want to get home or not? If I don’t get the clue we can’t make the fairy dust and you won’t get home,’ answered Peter, dodging the sparks as he ran to the edge. With one swift movement he picked up something from the ground and ran back to where the children waited.

‘Got it!’ he said proudly. ‘We can read it once we get off the mountain.’

‘Where’s Rochester?’ asked Jack. ‘Isn’t he going to carry us down?’

‘No sorry, he only carries you up,’ replied Peter.

‘What? How will we get down? We will never reach the bottom before the volcano blows!’ cried Shelley.

‘Oh child, you do go on sometimes,’ said Peter impatiently. ‘Claudia is here to take us down. In fact she will take us wherever we need to go next.’

‘Claudia?’ said Amy.

‘Who’s she?’ asked Jack.

Peter snapped his fingers and a shape in the form of a lady began to materialise in the clouds just below the top of the mountains. Every part of her was white, and fluffy like candy floss, and she held a diaphanous pillow made of clouds in her hands. ‘Hop on board,’ said Peter, ‘and we shall read the next clue on the way down. Take care with these cups now. Do not spill a single drop or we shall have to go through all that again.’

They sank into Claudia’s soft cushion, finally feeling safe as they floated downwards. Peter handed Amy the object that he had picked up on the mountain. It was a shiny metal cube with writing on each face of it. Amy began turning the cube round and round in her hands trying to make sense of what she was reading. She whispered to herself as she read,

‘Stand still and close your eyes my dear

Don’t fall asleep my friend

Five eggs are sheltered in that nest

And you must bring forth two

Well done brave seeker, you passed the test.

And now clue number two,

Be careful not to touch the rest

Lest a spell be cast on you.

From where you stand, walk 3 miles west

And this is what to do.

But listen…. listen and you’ll hear,

The call of the Growzli Hen.’

‘This makes no sense at all,’ said Amy. ‘What can it mean?’

‘We’ll never find the next ingredient,’ said Shelley.

Once again Amy felt her eyes fill with tears, but she was determined not to let Peter see her cry. She swallowed hard and looked away.

‘Give it to me. If anyone can do it, Peter Pan can,’ said Peter arrogantly.

Amy hoped he was right.

‘Listen to this Doug,’ said Beth, reading the morning newspaper. ‘Here’s an article about a missing local girl; a girl at the same school as Jack and Amy.’

Doug put his pen on top of the crossword, and picked up his coffee cup. ‘What’s it say?’

‘It says Wendy Dante was last seen outside the school gates on Thursday, just before her Dad’s press conference. He’s that famous researcher who works at Roslin.’

‘I remember him,’ said Doug. ‘I remember seeing that news conference. Clever chap. Fancy being able to grow new fingers. Whatever will they do next?’

‘Well anyway, she was supposed to be at the conference but never got there. Didn’t turn up for school on Friday and when the school rang to find out why, they couldn’t contact her father. His office said they didn’t know where he was either.’

‘He’s probably just taken his daughter away for a couple of days till all the fuss has died down….to get away from the paparazzi.’

‘It sounds a bit odd though, don’t you think? Why wouldn’t he tell his office?’

‘He’s maybe one of those absent-minded sorts of professors.’ Doug turned back to his crossword.

‘Wendy Dante? I’ve never heard Jack or Amy mention her. She’s fifteen. She must be a year or two above Jack at school. I hope she’s all right. How strange, though,’ said Beth. She drank a final mouthful of coffee and cleared away the empty plates and cups.

‘I wonder what’s keeping our lot this morning. I’ll pop up and wake them and see if they know this Wendy. The girls were probably up half the night gossiping and giggling. But it’s not like Jack to sleep so late.’

‘Pass over the paper then, and I’ll have a look at the rest of the news.’

‘Aren’t we lucky to be such an ordinary family?’ Beth smiled as she opened the kitchen door. ‘No dramas here.’ Climbing the stairs, she called out, ‘Amy. Shelley. Are you two awake yet? Jack. You’ll be late for Tae Kwon Do.’ There was no response. ‘Lazy lot,’ said Beth under her breath, smiling as she remembered her own teenage years. Her dad used to say she could make an Olympic sport out of sleeping.

She opened Jack’s bedroom door first and was surprised to see his bed empty and already made. Perhaps he was growing up and becoming responsible at last. There was a maths book, some geometry instruments and a jotter lying open on the floor. He was a clever lad and took his studies seriously. Despite his dyslexia he was doing well at school and planned to do biology at university. She thought he must be in Amy’s room. She crossed the hallway and tapped on the door before opening it. She was met by an icy blast of air blowing in through the wide open bedroom window.

‘
DOUG
!’ yelled Beth. ‘Get up here at once.’

One of the twin beds was messed up as if someone had been playing on it rather than sleeping in it, but the other bed, the guest bed, was exactly as she had left it the morning before, with the little pink teddy lying on the pillow. The ipod dock on the book shelf and the bedside lights were still switched on. Two piles of clothes lay, one on each chair; two pairs of shoes and a calculator were by the door. The room looked absolutely normal apart from the fact there were no occupants. Beth glanced at her watch just as Doug arrived at the top of the stairs. It was nine fifteen.

‘Doug, look. The kids aren’t here. Where are they? Where could they be?’ said Beth, her voice rising with each question.

‘Calm down, Beth. They’re probably in Jack’s room,’ he said, walking across towards his son’s bedroom door.

‘No, no, they’re not. I went to wake Jack first. When he wasn’t in his room I assumed he was already up and had come over to Amy’s.’ She shivered, partly because of the open window, and partly with anxiety.

‘And that window - it’s wide open,’ she said, reaching over to close it. ‘Why would it be wide open?’

‘Better leave it,’ said Doug.

‘Why? Why do I have to leave it Doug? It’s freezing in here. Why do I have to leave it? You don’t think….’ Beth couldn’t finish the sentence.

‘It’s probably nothing.’ He put his arm around her shoulders to reassure her. ‘There’s bound to be a rational explanation. They’ve probably gone next door to Shelley’s or something. But just in case, it’s better to leave the room exactly as you found it.’

‘You don’t mean, surely you don’t mean, this could be a crime scene. No, no, that can’t be true. You’re right. They’ll be next door,’ said Beth and she was already half way down the stairs to the phone in the hall. Trembling, she punched in the number for next door and after what seemed like an age, she heard the familiar voice of Shelley’s mother, Yvonne.

‘Hello, 776954,’ she said.

‘Hi, Yvonne, it’s Beth here. Sorry to bother you at this time.’

‘That’s OK Beth. What’s the problem? Has Shelley forgotten her toothbrush? Send her over for it.’

‘No, it’s not that. I thought that maybe the kids had come round to your house already?’

‘Not unless they crept in without telling us. Little monkeys. Hold on and I’ll just check upstairs.’

Beth felt the colour draining from her cheeks. She slid down against the wall until she was sitting on the bottom step. ‘Yvonne’s gone to check upstairs,’ said Beth. Doug opened the front door and looked into the street.

‘No sign of them here,’ said Yvonne quite cheerfully, not understanding the full implications of the situation. ‘Maybe they’ve popped out to the shop. Did Shelley eat breakfast this morning? I have the hardest time getting that child to eat breakfast.’

‘Eh no, none of them ate breakfast yet. That’s the problem. I don’t know where they are.’

There was a pause on the line. ‘What d’you mean? What do you mean you don’t know where they are? Shelley slept at your house last night didn’t she?’ Yvonne’s voice rose with each sentence.

‘Well, yes, yes, I think she did. They both went up to bed around ten o’clock, but when I went to wake them up five minutes ago, they, they…..’ Beth collapsed in a heap and started to cry. Doug took the phone.

‘Yvonne, you had better come round here. Let’s stay calm. I’m sure there’ll be a rational explanation.’

Less than half a minute later a stressed Yvonne McGregor burst in through the Patons’ front door. Beth and Doug were still standing in the hall, not sure what to do next. ‘I knew I shouldn’t let Shelley have a sleep over….. I knew they would get up to something like this….. they are a bad influence on each other….. each one egging the other on, always dreaming up hair brained ideas….. Have you asked Jack? Maybe he knows where they’ve gone…..maybe they’ve headed up to town to do some Christmas shopping….. wish I’d given Shelley a mobile phone now….. she’s been asking for ages….. I got her one for Christmas but it’s still wrapped up under the tree. Has Amy got one? Have you tried ringing her?’ gasped Yvonne, without pausing for breath.

With his arm still around his wife’s shoulders, Doug took charge of the situation. ‘Jack’s not here either,’ he said. ‘He
does
have a phone, but there it is lying on the bookshelf. So there’s no point in ringing it. And I doubt very much if they have gone off on a shopping trip. The girls are still wearing their pyjamas and slippers.’

‘Pyjamas? They’re missing in their pyjamas? They’ll freeze to death. What are they thinking about?’ said Yvonne. ‘Do you think they might just be in your back garden? Maybe Jack is showing them an interesting bird or insect or something.’

‘It’s worth a look,’ said Doug. ‘Let’s spend a few minutes searching the immediate neighbourhood. We’ll begin with our own gardens, including the sheds. We’ll go up and down the street, knock on a few doors. Somebody must’ve seen them. Leave both our front doors unlocked in case they come back while we are looking. If after ten minutes there’s no sign of them we’ll have to call the police.’

Beth was glad to have something constructive to do. She convinced herself that this nightmare would soon be over and that there was a simple explanation for the ‘temporary’ disappearance of the children. She wiped her tears, took a deep breath and nodded, too afraid to speak; afraid she would start crying again. Yvonne, on the other hand, found it necessary to fill every silent gap with speech, even though no one was listening.

‘Right then, I’ll get Rob,’ she said. ‘He and I can go to the right side of the street, after we search our garden that is…and the garage….maybe something interesting in the garage….maybe a strange kind of insect….. Then I’ll ask old Mrs. Chambers, she’s always looking out her window. She’ll have seen the children… if they went that way…’ her voice tailed off as she went out the Patons’ gate, but her lips continued to move until she got to her own door and then a very loud
‘ROB
!’ was heard.

Ten minutes later, the McGregors and the Patons were standing again in the Patons’ hall as Doug picked up the phone and dialed the police.

‘Let’s sit down, and have some coffee, while we wait. They’re sending someone round straight away and there’s nothing we can do until they get here,’ said Doug. Beth sniffed into a tissue. Rob looked worried but thoughtful as if he were searching for an answer. Yvonne went on and on filling the space with nervous half sentences.

When the phone rang a few minutes later they all jumped and sprang to answer it. Maybe it was news of the children or better still, maybe it
was
the children. Beth got there first, and snatching the phone from the cradle said, ‘Hello, Beth Paton here.’ She put the phone on loudspeaker so they could all hear the conversation.

A small voice said, ‘Hi, Mrs. Paton? It’s Jody.’

‘Hello Jody, I’m sorry but Amy’s not in…she…’

‘I know,’ interrupted Jody, ‘that’s why I’m calling.’

‘You know? Is she with you? Let me speak to her,’ said Beth.

‘I can’t. She’s not here. But I
think
I know where she is. And Jack and Shelley too.’

‘Thank goodness for that,’ said Beth, smiling for the first time. ‘Where are they?’

‘In Never Land….with Peter Pan,’ said Jody. ‘Well that’s what it says on the email I got this morning.’

‘What kind of a sick joke is this Jody? We are all out of our minds with worry and all you can do is to make fun of us with some stupid story about Peter Pan,’ snapped Beth. ‘Don’t waste our time. The police are on their way.’

‘Please Mrs. Paton, listen. If you check your email, you’ll find a message too. Jack asked me to call you because he knew you wouldn’t be thinking about looking at emails first thing in the morning, especially after you found the kids missing. But according to the email Peter Pan came late last night and took them on a trip to Never Land. They were supposed to be back by morning but there has been some problem with the pirates stealing the fairy dust. They’ll be back as soon as they can get some more. They say you’re not to worry.’