Looking for Lucy Jo Read online

  ‘She can’t be taken to a hospital,’ Declan told them.

  ‘Why?’ Lana asked, as Barber appeared from downstairs.

  ‘Is she okay?’ he asked.

  ‘I think she’ll be alright in time. She’s broken her ankle – I think in two places,’ Declan answered before turning to look at Lana with raised eyebrows.

  ‘Oh, yeah, her invisibility thing.’

  Ignoring everyone else, Emma had gone into the kitchen and put the kettle on, returning a few minutes later to hand a cup of sweet tea to Sonia.

  ‘Sonia,’ she whispered, pushing the girl’s damp fringe from her eyes. ‘Here, drink this. I’ve heard that sweet tea is good for shock. I’m so sorry for bumping into you.’

  Arabella and Declan shared a smile as Sonia carefully took a few sips before handing it back and collapsing on the sofa.

  ‘Can’t we do anything?’ Emma asked.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Arabella said, ‘the Praxos doctor is on his way and in the meantime, one of the Mentors is coming to help with the pain relief. She’ll be fine. The sweet tea was a very good idea. You’re a natural carer, Emma Jane. Did you realise that?’

  ‘Always been the same,’ said Patrick as he pushed open the door from downstairs and walked in looking exhausted. ‘She’s always tried to look after us all, even when she was a little girl.’ He smiled.

  ‘Any news?’ asked Declan.

  ‘I’ve just spoken to Eleanor. She’s got a group together and they’re coming over as soon as possible. Apparently there’s been some unusual erm… paranormal activity, along the coast. She’s waiting to speak to you, Arabella.’

  ‘I’ll call her immediately, thank you. When Theodore arrives, please show him to Sonia. He’ll know what to do before the doctor gets here.’

  Declan nodded as Patrick and Arabella returned downstairs.

  oOo

  Theodore wasn’t what Emma Jane was expecting at all. In fact, she wasn’t quite sure what she’d been expecting but it certainly wasn’t him.

  About six foot six, Theodore was nothing less than a hulk. His huge bulk of muscles were covered from head to toe in tattoos… well, not his head. From neck to toe. If they’d seen him from behind they’d probably have run a mile, but the moment Emma and Lana looked at his face, they knew instantly that he was nothing but a gentle giant.

  His eyes were so warm and friendly it was easy to imagine that they twinkled a little bit too. He had long dark hair, which he wore loose as he arrived, but before he approached Sonia he twisted it up into a kind of masculine chignon – if a chignon could ever be masculine. But with Theodore, it just worked. He had a long droopy moustache, which Lana thought looked a lot like the ones sported by those heavy looking bikers that drive Harleys in America. He nodded to everyone but didn’t say a word; his only concern was Sonia. And for that reason, Emma Jane smiled.

  Approaching the young girl, Theodore bent his knees so that he was on a level with her and he took both her hands in his massive ones. She opened her eyes to see who it was and at first she visibly shook with fright, but it lasted mere seconds. As her eyes sought out his, the girls watched as she relaxed, a faint smile forming on her pale lips.

  ‘Don’t worry lassie, yer gonna be fine,’ said Theodore in an unexpectedly gentle voice.

  ‘Scottish?’ Lana almost shrieked before her eyes opened wide and she covered her mouth with her hands, embarrassed at her gut reaction.

  ‘Aye,’ he replied with a wink before returning his attention to his patient.

  ‘Sorry,’ she whispered, shrugging as Emma and Barber tried not to laugh.

  Theodore smirked before he released Sonia’s hands and proceeded to hover them above the broken bones.

  Emma was intrigued as she watched a faint glow appear from beneath his fingers and wind itself around the leg.

  Sonia opened her eyes again and gasped. ‘The pain, it’s gone.’

  Theodore smiled, and continued to control the glow for a few more minutes before leaning forward and whispering something into Sonia’s ear. She smiled and closed her eyes, before relaxing further into the soft leather. Seconds later, the sound of her gentle breathing in sleep was all that could be heard.

  ‘Wow,’ Emma said. ‘That’s fantastic. I wish I could do that. My boyfriend has a similar skill.’

  Standing to his full height, Theodore grinned. ‘Am guessin your boyfriend’s Diarmuid, then?’

  ‘How did you know?’

  ‘I have me ways, lassie.’

  Looking confused, Emma wished she could interrogate him but the door from downstairs burst open and Patrick appeared looking like he’d seen a ghost.

  ‘Dad?’ Lana gulped. ‘What is it? What’s happened.’

  ‘They’ve… they’ve found a…a….bo—’ Unable to say anything further, Patrick stumbled, choking on his tears.

  Theodore rushed forward and helped him to the nearest chair.

  Arabella appeared looking a little pale.

  ‘Arabella, Dad… what’s going on?’ Emma asked.

  ‘We’ve received news that the body of a child has been found.’

  ‘No, it’s not her, it’s not. I know it’s not Lucy Jo,’ Lana said as she tried to get everyone’s attention.

  ‘What do you mean?’ asked Barber.

  ‘I don’t know what it is, but I can feel something and I just know that it’s not her. Dad, Declan, Arabella you’ve got to believe me. Lucy Jo is alive. I just know it.’

  ‘Then who is the little lassie?’ asked Theodore.

  Arabella and Declan looked at each other sadly.

  ‘I wish we knew.’ replied Arabella.

  ‘Let’s go and find out. Maybe there’s something we can do. Maybe we can help her?’ said Emma.

  Arabella shook her head. ‘I’m afraid that’s impossible, Emma. She’s dead. We can’t bring her back to life. That’s just… impossible.’

  ‘But… But…’

  ‘There are no buts, I’m afraid,’ said Declan. ‘I wish there were. If only I could somehow pass on my ability to arise from the dead, but I can’t. I’m sorry.’

  ‘Are we… are we… absolutely certain that the little girl isn’t my Lu…Lu…Lucy Jo?’ Patrick could barely utter the words.

  ‘If Lana has a feeling then I trust her one hundred percent. And you should, too,’ replied Declan.

  ‘But… perhaps we should go to the…’ Emma swallowed loudly. ‘The morgue. So Dad can see for himself?’

  ‘No need, we have someone working there who will send us a picture as soon as the body arrives. Let’s just sit tight and wait,’ Arabella said quietly, looking at her watch. ‘The doctor should be here shortly. Theo, could you please carry Sonia through into one of the bedrooms?’

  Nodding, he bent down and picked her up as if she weighed nothing at all, before walking down a bright corridor adjacent to the kitchen.

  Patrick didn’t say a word, he just sat with his face in his hands. It broke Emma’s heart looking at him. Standing, she approached him and put her arms around his shoulders.

  ‘Don’t worry, Dad. Lucy Jo is going to be fine. We’re going to find her.’

  He nodded sadly and hugged her back before Lana walked over and hugged them too.

  oOo

  The little girl who had died was a seven year old Bulgarian child who had wandered off from her parents in a nearby town and walked down to the beach. Her parents were beside themselves with worry until the scream of a passer-by had alerted them to her lifeless body, floating on the water’s edge. All life had disappeared from her previously bright blue eyes, and her scraggly blonde hair had wrapped itself around her neck. Her sobbing father and wailing mother had carried her away from the waves and laid her carefully on the sand, hoping against hope that she wasn’t dead, just unconscious. Sadly that simply wasn’t the case. The little girl had drowned. It had only taken a matter of minutes.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  It had taken him a few days to convince her, but eventually Eleanor
had given in and allowed Diarmuid and his classmates to board the plane with her and the other supernaturals. Destination: Algarve.

  Diarmuid was determined to be there for his girl, Emma Jane, and to help in the search for her kidnapped little sister.

  Although the mood was rather sombre during the flight, the group had tried to cheer themselves up, playing tricks on each other, taking advantage of being surrounded solely by other supernaturals and using their powers for fun.

  Eleanor had turned a blind eye, instead concentrating on the large file she had created over the past few days. In it were details of every unusual occurrence that had happened in the Algarve region and beyond since Lucy Jo’s disappearance. She had fought the likes of Sthenelaus for hundreds of years, but never before had anyone made such a personal attack on any of her students or her students’ families. Anger grew in the pit of her stomach and she felt the stress rise until she wanted to scream.

  Are you alright, Eleanor?

  The voice hadn’t spoken aloud, the words simply popping into her head. Turning, Eleanor watched Ava, who stood and left the others. Walking towards her Guardian, Ava practised her power.

  You look troubled.

  Eleanor smiled and nodded sadly. ‘You’re quite right, my dear.’

  ‘Anything I can do to help?’ Ava asked, aloud this time.

  ‘You’re already doing it, by being here. I had wanted to avoid bringing any of my students towards any sign of danger, but I think in this case it was probably a good idea. That poor little girl,’ she said looking out of the window.

  Ava placed her hand momentarily on Eleanor’s before she turned away, going back to her seat.

  ‘These students are pretty special,’ Beau Madigan said from the seat opposite Eleanor.

  ‘Your daughter among them,’ she smiled back as they both looked over at the fifteen year old with a mass of red curls at the other end of the plane. She was sitting next to Cassie, who also had a mass of curls, but hers were blonde. She was tall and strong, quite different to Daisy’s more petite frame. Even though there was a year between them, the two had bonded over their ability to move exceedingly quickly. Eleanor and Beau watched as they talked quietly, looking very serious.

  ‘Yes,’ Beau muttered. ‘She has grown into a remarkable young woman.’

  He fidgeted slightly with his fingers and sighed.

  ‘Beau,’ said Eleanor, ‘don’t blame yourself for what happened. It is done now, and you are back together, where you belong. It was a tough year for both of you. Don’t forget that. We all deal with grief in different ways. Besides, that year alone,’ she said, nodding her head towards the back of the plane, ‘has made her a much stronger Watcher. She’s special, Daisy is. But I think you knew that already.’

  Beau’s smile belied the pain he still felt at the loss of his wife, Esther, but smile he did. He was determined to give his only daughter a better life, and that began with Praxos.

  ‘Thank you, Eleanor. For everything.’

  ‘You know you really must stop thanking me,’ she laughed. ‘You do it almost every day.’

  Beau’s smile reached his eyes this time. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever stop.’

  Undoing her seatbelt, Eleanor stood and patted him on the shoulder before turning her attention to the group of supernaturals she’d gathered together to help in the hunt for Lucy Jo. They were silently sitting at the other end of the plane, a couple of them clearly uncomfortable in the air.

  Eleanor approached and took a seat next to a very attractive man with chiselled features. He smiled warmly at her.

  ‘Glad you came?’ she asked.

  ‘I’m glad you asked me to come,’ he replied cheekily.

  ‘I knew a man of your skills would come in very handy.’

  ‘Is that the only reason you invited me along?’

  Eleanor blushed slightly. ‘You already know the answer to that question, Giovanni.’

  ‘I’m sorry I can only stay for a couple of days, but I will do everything I can to help.’

  ‘I know, and for that I am exceedingly grateful.’

  She and the leader of the London Werewolves had become close since his assistance with finding the Temporal Stone, several months earlier, much to the amusement of her students, who often made silly quips about her being a dog lover. But Eleanor took it all in her stride. She knew everyone was delighted with the pairing, especially her.

  Giovanni wasn’t a shy man and he took her hand in his and smiled, before closing his eyes. ‘Why don’t you try and get some shuteye before we land?’ he whispered.

  She thought for a second and then followed suit.

  oOo

  ‘Diarmuid!’ screeched Emma Jane as she ran down the steps by the pool and straight into his open arms. They ignored the other teenagers’ stupid comments and kissed each other, laughing. ‘I didn’t know you were coming. I didn’t know you were all coming,’ she said as Lana joined them, hugging each and every one of them—except for Liam, of course. That would be too weird after they’d broken up before the summer. Plus, she didn’t think Ava would appreciate it. Maybe Barber wouldn’t, either.

  Liam whistled appreciatively as they all followed them up the steps and out onto the terrace where they stood for a moment eyeing the view.

  ‘It’s quite special, isn’t it?’ asked Emma.

  ‘You can say that again, Em,’ Imran laughed as Nisha grabbed his hand.

  ‘Hey… you two finally got together huh?’ Lana laughed, pointing, making them both blush.

  ‘Yeah,’ Nisha said quietly. ‘A few weeks ago.’

  ‘Perfect couple,’ Emma added before they all followed her indoors, where Arabella, Eleanor, Declan, Beau, Patrick and all the other supernaturals were filling each other in. Even Theodore had stuck around to lend a hand, much to Eleanor’s delight.

  ‘Theo, it’s been so long,’ she said as they hugged. ‘I’d forgotten you’d moved to Portugal after Inverness.’

  ‘I needed some sun, lassie,’ he chuckled, before they all headed downstairs to what had become the hub for the search for Lucy Jo.

  ‘You kids hang out for a while. Help yourselves to anything in the kitchen,’ Arabella said.

  ‘Except the beer,’ Declan added, looking specifically at Liam and Rupert, who put his hand to his forehead in a salute.

  ‘Shouldn’t we come and give you a hand?’ asked Emma, who was practically glued to Diarmuid’s side.

  ‘No need, not just yet, Emma,’ Eleanor replied. ‘Let us get settled. Don’t worry, we’ll call you when we need you. If you go out, please stay close.’

  The teenagers all nodded as the adults left them to it.

  ‘This is wicked,’ Rupert said, falling onto the large sofa.

  Emma gave him a dirty look.

  ‘Oh man, Emma. I’m sorry,’ he muttered, sitting upright. ‘For a second there, I forgot why we’re here. Sorry, girls.’

  ‘That’s okay, Rupert,’ Lana replied.

  ‘What news has there been so far?’ asked Elliot, who had stayed pretty quiet throughout the whole journey.

  ‘We had an awful scare this morning. A little girl turned up dead. But it wasn’t Lucy Jo, thank God. I mean, it’s so sad for her and her family… erm, y…you know what I mean,’ Emma stuttered.

  ‘It’s okay, sis. We know.’

  ‘That’s it? Nothing else?’ asked Rupert.

  Both girls shook their heads.

  ‘No visions, nothing?’ asked Cassie.

  ‘Nothing,’ Emma sighed.

  ‘Oh man,’ Rupert mumbled.

  ‘I know, right? I feel so helpless. I wish there was something we could do to find her,’ Lana said quietly.

  ‘Have you started an actual search… you know, like a door to door?’ Daisy suggested.

  ‘It’s not as easy as that, unfortunately. The Algarve’s a big place, when you look at it like that. We need a starting point,’ Lana replied.

  ‘So what are they doing downstairs?’

&nb
sp; ‘Trying to find that starting point, I guess.’ Emma said, as she and Diarmuid sat down at the dining table.

  ‘Why don’t I put the kettle on while we have a brainstorm of our own?’ asked Moira, who yawned and stretched like a cat before she took off her glasses, gave them a quick wipe and went into the kitchen.

  ‘Sounds like a plan to me. Thanks, Moira,’ Emma smiled.

  ‘My pleasure, honey. Now, who wants what?’

  oOo

  ‘…the main issue here is that since we put out a Praxos alert, we’ve been absolutely inundated with possible sightings covering the length and breadth of the Algarve and beyond. So, unless we bring in more Watchers from around Europe, we’ll never be able to look into every single sighting.’ Eleanor sighed as she placed the last of the red dots on to the map. A map that looked like a giant red dot, considering how many were actually placed on it.

  Patrick nodded, as did the others. ‘But you guys are superhuman, right?’ he asked gingerly. ‘There must be something you can do with your powers to narrow down the search area? ‘

  Eleanor smiled warmly as Barber opened the door and tiptoed in before she looked at the rest of the group. ‘We’ve already used some of our abilities, but it hasn’t helped enormously, I’m afraid. Giovanni sent word to the local wolves, who are still out there now. We gave them one of Lucy Jo’s teddy bears so they have a good scent to follow, but as yet, nothing.’

  ‘What if this guy has already taken her out of the country?’ Patrick asked.

  ‘We don’t think that’s the case. We are being led to believe that he is toying with us. He’s playing a game of cat and mouse. And he’s unlikely to remove the one thing we want from him,’ Declan added.

  Patrick let out a deep sigh. ‘And the general search?’

  ‘So far it has brought us nothing,’ Arabella answered as she sat down on the armchair.

  ‘This guy must want something from you?’ Patrick asked.

  ‘So far, we’re unsure about that,’ Eleanor replied.

  ‘Didn’t you say something about a stone? The… Temporal Stone, or something? You mentioned he tried to steal it from you? Maybe that’s what he’s after?’ said Patrick ‘It’s a possibility, but an unlikely one. I fear he wants people, not objects.’