by Zuheb Alep
“Kaileena, what are you doing here?” Benjamin asked as he opened the front door. “You should be at home. It’s not safe outside.” Behind her stood Abel, Jama and Anouk, all waiting for him.
“Benjamin, we have to meet up with everyone at Dusty Park after the noon prayer,” Kaileena informed him. “Head boy Aquib has called a Summoning.”
Benjamin frowned deeply. It didn’t seem right to go out after the closing of his school and sanctuarium. “But isn’t it dangerous to go out?” he asked her.
“Not in the daytime. The news said that the children go missing in the night. We need to return home before nightfall or else we’re in trouble. Come on! I don’t want to be late.”
Benjamin didn’t really want to go; it was boring, but he would go if all his friends were going. He grabbed his boots and crept outside into the welcome warm sunshine. Thankfully, his parents weren’t here and Nadine hadn’t seen him leave, which was all to the good. At least Kevin and Alby were safe with her.
Down the road, Benjamin saw a few children shuffling along in huddles. They looked scared, with good reason; any of the adults surrounding them could be kidnappers. Benjamin knew that they were all making a stupid mistake, especially head boy Aquib. Who did he think he was, putting them in danger like that? Dusty Park wasn’t too far away, about a twenty-minute walk from Benjamin’s house.
“Let’s go,” he said. “I don’t want to be responsible for any of you disappearing.”
Compared to most other beautiful parks in the city of Springhaven, Dusty Park was ancient. Although the swings, the slides and the domed climbing frame lay rusted in the centre, Benjamin could see that the park itself would last a lifetime. He didn’t know anything about the history of the park, but would have liked to; he’d spent most of his childhood here.
Upon their arrival they saw hundreds of children, all between the ages of ten and seventeen. Quiet chatter could be heard from the solemn children. They mostly sat on the grass; a few slowly swung the squeaking swings or leant against the fences. They had nothing to do but wait. There was an aroma of incense in the air from sticks that burnt as a sign of respect for those who had gone missing.
The Summoning was gloomier than the last time. Benjamin wished he hadn’t come, but like the others he took a summons seriously. Looking up, he saw that the head boy had arrived and was sitting on the climbing frame with his friends. Aquib was a tall dark-haired youth, with a face serious enough to belong to an adult. They all looked sad and Benjamin could understand why.
Kaileena tugged him over to an empty patch of grass where they sat down, and there he brooded silently. What if Mama came home and saw that he had disappeared? Nadine would be fuming when she discovered his absence. Benjamin didn’t know how to explain why he had left, and using the Summoning as an excuse was unacceptable.
After ten minutes, Aquib stepped down from the climbing frame and raised his hands. He asked everyone to gather around. Benjamin was glad that the waiting was over and looking forward to hearing what Aquib had to say.
“Now we are all gathered here, let’s get straight to the point,” the head boy began. “Most of you already know about the children who went missing recently; it’s been on the news. There should be more of us here today; there are much fewer than usual.”
It was true. Benjamin looked around grimly and saw that the park contained considerably fewer children than usual.
“I suggest that we are the best people to look for them. Let’s try to find them from now until an hour before nightfall!”
This seemed like a very stupid decision. Folding his arms with a scowl, Benjamin wanted to refuse. He looked at Kaileena and saw that she shared his opinion, yet Abel, Jama and Anouk were smiling. To them, nothing was better than an adventurous scouring of the city. On the other hand, Benjamin thought, what about the missing children; how must they feel? If he’d been kidnapped again, he’d have liked some of the other kids to look for him. He gave in. “Okay, I’ll tag along,” he said.
“Are you sure?” asked Kaileena in surprise.
Benjamin nodded. “If you were taken, wouldn’t you like me to look for you?”
Kaileena bowed her head and responded with a nod.
A little later, Aquib formed the children into thirty groups before drawing a map of the city on the sandy ground with a withered stick he’d found nearby. He asked each group to search separately in the area assigned to them and finished with a reminder to return before nightfall. When they were all ready, they set off.
Glumly, Benjamin followed his friends who had been assigned to Aquib’s group. He walked down the road with Kaileena and looked back at the others going their separate ways. Would they be safe? Would he see any of them on the news the next morning as a kidnapped child? He shivered at the thought. Deep down he wanted to tell Aquib to abandon this plan, but knew it would seem selfish. There was nothing to do but go on.
Zigzagging along the roads, he and his companions met the choking fumes of more incense sticks which had been placed on the doors of grieving households; this stiffened their determination. Crowded bazaars filled up half the roads in their assigned area, and they passed many parks with luscious grasses, checking the bushes and branches of the trees. Only a few ventured to explore under the bridges, while some swam in the deep river to no avail.
Abel suggested looking in the train stations, and they did so but found no sign of the kidnappers. Anouk proposed examining one or two of the ten gates in the large wall that surrounded their city, and they followed this suggestion. A search of two of them resulted in failure. There were eight gates left to check, but that would take weeks as the city was very large.
After many hours had passed, Benjamin realised that their mission was hopeless. It was almost dusk and soon they would have to go home. He thought of the description of the kidnappers which his sister had provided; they had come across no one like that. The mysterious trio had made no appearance either.
“Maybe the kidnappers are invisible,” said Kaileena.
“She has a point,” said Jama.
“In the daytime? How could they be?” asked Anouk.
“Or maybe they’ve kidnapped enough children and left already,” suggested Abel.
Suddenly Kaileena froze. Benjamin stopped when he noticed she wasn’t following. He pulled at her but she made no move.
“Kaileena, come on! The others are getting ahead of us.”
Kaileena shook her head and pressed a finger to her lip. Why was she behaving like this? Benjamin glowered at her and then saw that she was pointing towards a quiet alleyway close by. He looked in and saw what she was pointing at. There was no mistake about it; they had finally seen the van Nadine had described.
It was there in broad daylight, the symbol of the bluebird painted in vibrant colour with its wings spread.
Benjamin walked towards the large van without a word. It was dangerous to expose himself, but he was desperate to free whoever was inside the van and didn’t want to waste another minute. Anyway, they should be safe enough here. There were lots of people around to hear if he screamed for help.
As he approached the large van, he picked up a small rock from the ground and held it at the ready. He would use it if he had to. Looking back, he saw Kaileena picking up another. They crept quietly towards the window of the driver’s seat and peeped through.
It was empty.
“There’s no one here,” whispered Benjamin. Kaileena walked cautiously to the rear door where she waited for a few seconds. Benjamin followed. The rear door of the van was bolted. Kaileena got the better of her nerves, raised her shaking hand and knocked three times on the door.
After the third knock they heard mumbling, followed by whimpering cries from inside the van.
Benjamin gasped, hardly able to believe that they’d succeeded. This was the same van that had been used to kidnap the children. With
out wasting a moment, he lifted the rock high in the air then brought it down hard to smash the lock. Kaileena helped him to open the door. Inside were seven of the missing children.
“Kelindra!” exclaimed Kaileena in recognition.
“And here are Musab and Hamish from the kite-fighting tournament!” said Benjamin.
“That little girl – isn’t she the French girl from the same tournament?”
“Yes, that’s Miette! Kaileena, we did it! We found them!”
The children’s hands and feet were thickly taped together and their mouths taped shut. They looked exhausted. Benjamin began to help them out and ripped away the tape. “Who kidnapped you?” he asked the boy called Musab.
“Men in white clothing …”
“You didn’t see anyone else, like a lion, a ghost or a man in a dark cloak?”
Kaileena shot him a dark look.
Musab shook his head weakly. “No, nothing like that,” he gasped. “Just men in white clothing … thank you … thank you …”
A shrill whistle from Kaileena alerted Abel, Anouk and Jama. Two of them turned and ran back towards the van while the other went to tell Aquib what was happening. In seconds Benjamin and Kaileena were surrounded by a swarm of children rushing to help those who had been kidnapped.
Benjamin could see that Aquib was deeply shocked. “Who found them?” he asked.
“They did,” Abel said, pointing at Benjamin and Kaileena.
Benjamin went red in the face. He hadn’t had any attention when he’d saved Prince Adam because people weren’t aware of his actions, but he was receiving plenty now. In fact, he knew that all the credit should go to Kaileena. She was the one who truly found them. Aquib smiled with relief as he hugged a small boy.
“Then I offer you both my thanks,” he said. “You found my little brother who went missing.”
Benjamin drew deep breaths to calm himself. Everyone was patting them on the back and showering them with praise, even the adults who soon arrived and called the police. Benjamin watched the missing children being taken to the hospital in separate ambulances, and he began to realise something which he kept to himself for the moment.
Now that the day was almost over, Aquib called the other groups to cancel the search and decided to buy ice cream for those who had accompanied him to find his brother. Benjamin and Kaileena were the first to choose, and they chose the same flavour because their taste was similar: blueberry ice cream.
It was at that moment when Anouk had the same thought that had occurred to Benjamin.
“Hang on a minute,” she said. “What about the kidnappers? We haven’t found them.”
“That’s true,” said Abel.
“The van was empty except for those children,” said Jama.
“So where are the kidnappers?” asked Aquib.
Benjamin was silent, having no answer to this.
“If you didn’t see them, that can only mean one thing,” Jama muttered. He looked at Abel and Anouk who knew what he was thinking.
“They haven’t left,” he said grimly. “They’re still out hunting children.”
Benjamin caught Kaileena looking at him. Unlike the others, she knew that he was now thinking about something else. Benjamin had realised that the dark cloaked man, the lion and the ghost weren’t kidnappers. There was no connection between the two groups and he had not seen the trio since Prince Adam’s birthday party. That left one question: who were they?
Benjamin suggested to Kaileena that they should visit Prince Adam before it grew too late. It was a short run, only three roads down, but thankfully they arrived safely. Prince Adam came down quickly; they exchanged merry greetings and dashed up to the golden bedroom. There they told him everything.
Prince Adam couldn’t believe his ears when they had finished. “How adventurous!” he said. “I wish I’d been there – it sounds like a lot of fun!”
“No, it wasn’t!” denied Benjamin. “It was dirty work. We were all tired. We’d searched about a tenth of the city. It was hard to find them.” Benjamin looked down at his hands and saw that they were dry and covered with dirt. He rubbed them uneasily.
“But it sounds so brave!” Prince Adam disagreed.
“There’s a chance that we might do it again tomorrow,” Benjamin told him. “If we do, I’ll let you know.” He was ignoring the children’s code. Only the head boy can start a Summoning. Kaileena knew that this was against the rules, but she stayed silent.
“Great! Thanks.”
“But it’s not fun, it’s a serious matter. Do remember that.”
Prince Adam nodded to show he understood. “It’s sad, isn’t it?” he muttered after a long silence. “All those children who’ve gone missing …”
Benjamin and Kaileena said nothing. They all knew it was a major problem and difficult to solve. Prince Adam stood up and went over to the large window, which he pushed wide open. A light breeze blew into the room, rustling the heavy curtains. There was a bowl of strawberries covered with a silk napkin on the window sill. Prince Adam lifted it up.
“Come with me,” he beckoned. He climbed out of the window, waiting for the other two to follow. When Benjamin and Kaileena rushed over to see where he had gone, they found him sitting on the roof with his legs sprawled out.
“Isn’t that dangerous?” Benjamin asked loudly.
“No,” Prince Adam called back. “It’s the same as being on the roof with April Goldenberry! There’s a barrier below, so we’ll fall onto that if anything happens. Don’t worry – just come up!”
It still seemed like a risky thing to do, but Benjamin felt that it could be fun, a memory worth experiencing. He followed Kaileena up the ladder and joined his new friend under the sky. They all seated themselves on the smooth, domed roof at the height of the tower. Benjamin let out a deep breath. From here he could see everything. The dark sky and the moon that hovered high above the dotted snowflakes of stars represented different worlds. Below all that, on the edge of the horizon, the setting sun dimmed slowly as it fell like a splash of blood. It was breath-taking.
The whole city of Springhaven stretched out before them; beyond its protective walls, fields of emerald grass led towards the mountains of unknown mystery. Turning to the west revealed the mesmerising sapphire sea with shimmering tinges of scarlet. Further east the tall, magnificent volcano lay in splendid isolation. Benjamin enjoyed the cool breeze that blew past his rosy cheeks, and overcame any fear he had of the great height. He glanced at Kaileena, whose wavy locks were swaying in the wind.
“This is beautiful,” she said with a smile.
“I come here all the time,” Prince Adam told them. “I like to watch the sunset, so red and beautiful. I’ve never been up here with anybody before, not once. I’ve always been up here alone, all by myself; but I promised myself that when I had real friends, I would bring them up here, and so here we are. Benjamin, Kaileena … thank you.”
Benjamin and Kaileena looked into Prince Adam’s eyes and smiled, their hearts warmed by his words. They felt honoured to be there.
Turning his head, Benjamin watched the last of the sun’s light fade away into another land beyond. “Such a wonder,” he murmured. This city was dear to his heart, and to be exiled from it would make him miserable.
“Here, have a strawberry.” Prince Adam placed the bowl upon his lap and removed the napkin. There were many red, juicy strawberries in the bowl, and they each took one and greedily popped them into their mouths. The sweet fruit tingled on their tongues.
“Strawberries are my favourite!” declared Prince Adam.
“Well, that’s another thing we all have in common!” Benjamin told him. “It’s our favourite, besides blueberries.” Saying this, he placed another one in his mouth and Kaileena followed suit. Prince Adam didn’t mind that their hands were dirty with soot. Then he added, “Blueberries are anothe
r favourite of mine. I like blueberry ice cream.”
Benjamin’s heart leapt with surprise and delight. The three of them shared the same tastes and felt intertwined, as if they were meant to be together. The sun disappeared past the horizon, leaving their part of this world, and thousands more stars appeared, shining brightly like new pearls. The air grew chilly.
“What ever happened to April, do you think?” wondered Prince Adam.
“April Goldenberry?” queried Benjamin.
“Yes.”
“I don’t know, but I miss her.”
“You’re lucky to have met her, though. I wish I had too.”
“Me too,” Kaileena added. “But we might see her one day.”
“I hope so.” Prince Adam pulled down his sleeves for extra warmth. “It was a good thing that she did, setting out to find those missing children five years ago.”
“Yes, it certainly was,” agreed Kaileena, “but do you think she’ll be able to free those being kidnapped now?”
“I’ve no idea.”
“What do you think is the reason for these kidnappings?” asked Benjamin. He didn’t want to talk about the missing children as he would have preferred to savour the moment without any negativity, but it was a good question, one to which no one knew the answer.
“I’m scared, Benjamin … what if I get kidnapped?” Prince Adam looked at him with fear in his face.
Kaileena folded her arms. “I don’t want to go missing either,” she said.
Benjamin saw that they were really frightened. He overcame his own fear to say, “Adam, Kaileena, if you ever get kidnapped, I’ll come and rescue you. I promise.”
Chapter 5
The Unexpected Visitor
When Benjamin got home, Nadine was standing in the corridor. After one look at her, he knew he was in trouble.
“Where have you been?” she asked, folding her arms.
“I was with Kaileena,” Benjamin told her. “We went to the Summoning to look for the children and then we visited Prince Adam at the palace.” He would have lied, but the look on her face drew the truth from him.