Elemental: The First

by Alexandra May

  “Half the people at the event last night will be staying there. There aren’t many hotels in town so it acts as an overflow,” said Jez.

  “But if it’s dark with not many people around, he could have been taken there,” I added.

  “I don’t know,” Morgan sighed. “I think we’re still clutching at straws.”

  My head ticked over to conversations of the morning and I stumbled on something Pritchard had said.

  “Wait,” I jumped up in surprise. “I’ve just remembered something. Daisy mentioned it this morning but I didn’t take it in. Henry Cole said he was kept ‘underground’.

  “Underground?” Morgan said.

  “But what’s underneath Warminster? Sewers? Caves?” Debbie asked. She looked at Lucie and they both grimaced.

  “Is there a mine nearby? Jez, see if anything’s online,” I said, reading through the stack of book bindings to see if any could be helpful.

  We were interrupted by Jez’s phone ringing making us all jump.

  “It’s Mira,” he announced. He picked up his phone and left the room.

  “So what do we do, tell the police? Ask them to check out Brokerswood? Or just concentrate on sewers,” said Debbie.

  “The police’ll just think we’re interfering. They won’t listen,” Lucie muttered.

  “Maybe, maybe not,” said Morgan. “It depends who approached them.”

  He looked at me and said, “They’d listen to some people.”

  “What?” I asked. “They don’t know me from Adam. I could be anybody.”

  “But they know Daisy,” said Debbie, catching his train of thought.

  “No!” I gasped. “Daisy’s already warned Jez to stay out of this. If she knew I was involved, she’d kill me. No way, I’m not asking her.”

  “Maybe I could,” Morgan said thoughtfully.

  “No,” I exclaimed. “You said before that this had to be secret from her. Now you want to ask her to approach the Police with our theory? You’re mad, and she wouldn’t do it anyway. Who’s to say they’re not checking it out right now?”

  “What if you’re wrong? What have we got to lose?” he sighed and fixed me with an earnest stare.

  “Jez’s father, maybe,” I said defensively. “But if it got out that we were involved, we could all be in danger, I won’t risk anything happening to Daisy, and you shouldn’t either.”

  “He’s right though,” said Lucie. “Daisy would be exactly the right person to do this.”

  “They would take her seriously,” Debbie added.

  “Oh, so you’re all insane now! No way, Daisy is not to be involved.”

  “Morgan, I think you should ask her,” said Lucie. I glared at her, and she looked down into her hands.

  “Lucie, just mind your own business, okay? And Morgan, if you do, I won’t forgive you for it,” I said with disgust.

  “Rose, don’t be like that. You said it yourself that we have Jez’s dad to lose in this,” Morgan said. “If Daisy is our one shot with the police then we should ask her.”

  “This is not the way,” I said gritting my teeth, and looking fiercely at him.

  “Rose, just”

  The door opened, stopping Morgan in his words. Jez sat down again and faced us.

  “Mira has some interesting information, which corroborates with what Rose has just said,” he started.

  “Where is she?” I said, sitting back down.

  “She’s been with her father, doing some research at the Met Office in Bath. They have all sorts of archives, so she thought she’d check them out.”

  “So, what did she find?”

  Jez’s face brightened as he spoke.

  “Did you know that under Warminster, there’s a whole warren of subterranean tunnels?”

  “Really? No way,” we all joined in at the news.

  “Mira found maps drawn up in 1937, the year the army moved in. It appears that they got busy after their arrival, digging various tunnels under the town, and refurbishing the old sewer system. They join together at intermittent intervals. She’s bringing copies for us to see.”

  “I’ll bet they’ll have been used in the war effort. Do you think that’s why the war ministry was so interested in buying the land around Imber and Salisbury Plain?” said Debbie, dumping some books onto the floor. “I’ll ask my Uncle if he knows anything.”

  “So, where do they start and finish?” Lucie asked curiously.

  “It’s hard to say, they conjoin together like the London Underground. Mira says that one of the tunnels is under your house, Rose.”

  I remembered my tour of the house Daisy had given me on arrival. The door that was under the stairs was to remain locked at all times she had said, offering no further explanation to me at the time.

  “I know where it is,” I said, still thinking. “Daisy showed me, indirectly. I was going to ask her about it but I haven’t had the chance.”

  “And Morgan? It’s under your cottage as well,” Jez added.

  Morgan nodded and was silent; he stood with his arms across his chest, shuffling his feet slightly. “Thought so,” he muttered.

  “You knew about it?” I started at Morgan. “Why didn’t you mention it earlier?”

  “I didn’t know for certain. I had a hunch. If it is a tunnel it’s been blocked off. I didn’t know what the tunnel was used for. I use it as a basement, so it’s just full of junk.”

  “Really?” my sarcastic tone had an edge.

  “We weren’t looking for tunnels earlier, Rose. It wasn’t relevant,” he justified.

  “But did you think that there might be a clue, or something?”

  “No, I didn’t. How would I come to that conclusion until now?”

  Morgan moved into the centre of the floor, his hands rested on his hips, a blood tinge to his cheeks revealing his anger.

  I was angrier. “So, when you moved into the cottage you didn’t think to ask “Oh, I’ve got a basement. How can that be on a brand new building? They don’t build basements any more!”

  “I thought it was an old bunker! The area’s full of them. Why are you having a go at me?”

  “I’m getting at the fact that not only have you got a tunnel under the cottage, that you didn’t feel was relevant earlier, but if you knew that one was under my house and it led somewhere else, it might lead to more tunnels and possibly some underground bunkers. Jez’s dad may be under there right now,” I said, my temper rising. “He could have been under there needlessly because you didn’t think it was relevant?”

  “Hey, it wasn’t relevant before because we’ve only started talking about it today. We’ve only come up with this today,” he gestured at the map. “A few moments ago we were all for the Brokerswood theory, and finding out what the jewels could mean, you didn’t jump at me then.”

  I stopped and finally looked around the room. The others were looking uneasy and awkwardly at us. Morgan and I were the only ones standing, face to face in the centre of the floor.

  “Right, so how long have you known that Mr Portway was missing?” I squared up to him again.

  “Since Daisy told me about Jez’s phone call.”

  “When did you phone Daisy, Jez?” I asked him quietly.

  “About five days ago. Look, Rose, you can’t blame Morgan. None of us knew about the tunnels. It wouldn’t have entered my mind at all, even if we’d known,” Jez offered, looking sheepishly at Morgan who shrugged at his friend’s defensiveness. Debbie and Lucie looked more uncomfortable sat on the bed.

  “I need some air,” I said and abruptly left the room.

  Downstairs, I went through the kitchen and opened the back door to sit on the doorstep. My anger at Morgan was so profound at the moment. Logic dictated that it was an honest discovery, but I wasn’t in the frame of mind for logic. Had we known earlier about the tunnels, prior to Mira’s phone call, we could easily have latched onto the idea before. If I had recalled Daisy’s conversation earlier we wouldn’t have wasted so much time. It w
asn’t Morgan’s fault, it was mine.

  If I knew where the tunnels led there might be a way to investigate, it was possible Mr Portway was hidden underground. It seemed the only plausible explanation after Henry Cole had emerged from nowhere six months on. This town was too small to hide somebody without being seen. Someone somewhere would have talked, even if it was to Daisy. And if Daisy heard, in confidence, of someone else’s observations, I had no doubt that she would have acted immediately. After all, Mr Portway and Daisy were friends. Wouldn’t she do all that was in her power to find him?

  My anger was subsiding, but it wasn’t Morgan’s fault I rationalised. It had just taken a spark and I had looked for an excuse to fight with him.

  I breathed in the dampness of the air, it was a cloudy day, rain would probably come later, I noted. Jez had a back yard rather than a garden. The patio area was decked with wood, a neat table and four chairs were parked against it. Pots of shrubs grew in the corners and one sole Jasmine bush grew against a high fence, its leaves cascading down like a waterfall. Tidy and neat, I thought, a bachelor pad garden to its end.

  “Rose, are you down here?” Morgan's searching voice trailed from the stairs.

  I inhaled again, calming my resolve.

  “I’m here,” I called.

  “Are you okay?” he spoke as he stepped down and sat beside me.

  I didn’t answer. My glare at him was enough, for me anyway.

  “We need to get into that tunnel,” I suggested.

  “I know. We’ve just been talking about it.”

  “Can we get through from yours?”

  “It’s all boarded up on one side and the other is bricked.”

  “But we could, if we tried.”

  “I think so, but”

  “Wait,” I stopped him before he could carry on and closed my eyes using my gift, manually searching the house for anyone nearby. It was all clear; the girls were still upstairs with Jez.

  “We must talk about that sometime. I’d really like to know more,” Morgan whispered.

  I kept my voice low enough for only him to hear. “Okay, sure, but listen. I’m not breaking in from Daisy’s house, before you say it again. There’s too many camera’s, the army guys are everywhere, and it’s too risky. It has to be from yours.”

  Morgan breathed out roughly, nodding as he understood my meaning. “I was just going to say that this is dangerous territory. If we got found out, the consequences could be worse. What if we find Ben’s men down there? He has more than just Aiden working for him, five other bodyguards and they’re guys you wouldn’t want to mess with. What do you think they’d do to us?”

  “Which is why we need to get in from yours and Daisy mustn’t get involved. She has too much to lose. I don’t know what her relationship is with the Deverill’s but I can’t risk it if we get discovered. We’ll deal with it if or when it happens.”

  Silence echoed around the yard, and the sky was becoming greyer. A flock of birds flew overhead in a V formation, away from the gathering wind.

  “Rose, why does this mean so much to you?” Morgan asked softly, running a finger down my folded arms. I jerked away.

  “My dad has been through everything with me. Through all of our house moves, through school, he helped me with studying for my exams; he even taught me how to swim and ride a bike. I don’t know what I would have done without him.”

  “You were close then.”

  “Yeah. Much closer than Amy was to him. I always thought it was because I was the youngest, that maybe he felt sorry for all the trouble his job caused.”

  “And now?”

  “I miss him so much. I know I might sound confident and seem strong, but I’m on my own now. He’s off in the Middle East; it’s dangerous, fraught with problems, even though he’s just a geologist. But I’m scared for him and I wish he was here. He’d know exactly what to do right now, and he wouldn’t hesitate helping.”

  My voice choked in my throat and I swallowed down tears that were on the verge of descending, I didn’t want to cry. Not in front of Morgan, especially now.

  “You’re not your father, you know. You don’t have any shoes to fill here. You don’t even have to get involved with this. It’s nothing to do with you.”

  “But it is. Part of me insists that something’s going to come out of this, and it will be ‘cause I’m a Frost. I want to help Jez. I want to help him find his dad, especially after seeing Henry in the state that he was. But I just feel like I’m out of my depth somehow, and I don’t want to show it in front of Jez. He’s so down.”

  The tears were slipping down, tears of how much I missed my family as well as tears of desperation for Jez. I couldn’t stop them so I let them slide. I bowed my head hoping my hair would hide my face but Morgan was too quick to notice. His arm was around my shoulders in seconds and he pulled me closer. I rested my head on his shoulder, his other hand wiped my tears away, and his fingers were tender and sincere.

  “You know, my dad’s a pain in the backside.”

  I laughed, spluttering a cough as I did.

  “Really?”

  “Oh yes. I had the worst few days of my life, when my folks were home. Do you know how boring it is to listen to ones own father going on and on about how great they are. I had to sit through race after race with a running commentary the entire time. I was so bored.”

  I sniggered again at this, and he did too.

  “I don’t miss my parents at all now. I love being on my own, and living at Daisy’s house. I can do my own thing when I want, with no one looking over my shoulder, saying “When I was your age I’d already won this trophy and that trophy. What are you doing with your life?”

  “Do you think he’s disappointed in you?”

  “No, he’s too busy with himself and his driving to be disappointed.”

  “That’s sad.”

  “Not really. You don’t want what you’ve never had, isn’t that what people say?”

  “Something like that.”

  “But I get it. If I was a dad, who had taught my daughter how to do all those things, I think I’d be very proud of her, right now. And I bet I would be missing her too.”

  “Thank you.”

  His kindness was overwhelming, it was all I could do to stop myself from reaching for his hand, and it would have been so easy to entwine my fingers into his. Morgan made me feel normal again, almost comfortable with myself. He gave me strength in my moment of doubt. I didn’t even know where the doubt had come from, my motivation and determinedness was usually my strongest virtue. I had been so lost in finding Jez’s dad that I hadn’t realised how much I missed my own.

  But I hadn’t forgotten the hurt feeling which still dug in like a knife in my heart. I pulled away and stood up, walking into the yard, staring at the ever clouding sky. The greyness was enveloping everything. The trees seemed duller, the light in the air appeared off colour.

  “We should get back,” I said, to his surprise, and walked back inside to the stairs.

  “Okay,” he muttered, rising slowly and a little unsure. Confusion appeared across his brow but I kept my face pensive, but unaffected.

  Back in Jez’s room the others had already formulated a plan, of sorts. The idea was to break down the wooden tunnel wall and see what was on the other side. Our inventory would have to include torches, rope, chalk, a first aid kit, a compass, and possibly a hammer of some sort, in case of other barriers which would need dismantling.

  “So, when are we going to do this?” I asked.

  “Tonight, if we can,” said Debbie. “Why wait?”

  “Okay, perfect,” Morgan added. “Rose and I will start. Once we get past the barrier walls we may need the rest of you.”

  “What if Daisy checks up on me, later on?” I said.

  “You could just say that you were out with me or sleeping on my very comfy sofa,” Morgan said lightly. He smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. Lucie turned away in annoyance.

  “Okay, Deb
bie, Lucie, Jez. You come over to Morgan’s about six pm, and we’ll pretend we’re having a game’s night or watching TV or something. Bring a takeaway pizza. Then you can sit tight, just in case we need you,” I said. “Bring your phone, and dress for the cold. Ring Mira and see if she can come too. If she knows the maps well enough, she’ll be able to guide us through the tunnels easier.”

  “Sure, I’ll get your gear ready,” Jez stressed. “When I get the map from Mira, I’ll grid reference it so you can see where you’re headed. Debbie, you get a rucksack so they can take everything they need.”

  “Cool. We’ll find your dad,” said Morgan. He placed a hand on Jez’s shoulder to reassure him. Jez nodded.

  “If anyone else asks where you are, you’ll be taking a walk or something,” said Debbie.

  “Good. Or if it gets difficult just say I had a headache,” I said calmly. “Except for Daisy, tell her what Morgan said.”

  “Okay, Jez, we’d better go. I need to find some warm clothes and stuff. I’ll phone later before I pick up Lucie, we’ll just double check everything,” Debbie said, squeezing Jez tightly then departing, Lucie did the same, and gave Morgan a sickly sweet goodbye kiss on his cheek. He looked surprised but didn’t comment after.

  It was just the three of us left.

  “You okay, Jez?” I asked.

  “I’m all right, a bit more hopeful, you know? I just want my dad back,” he sighed; a weary frown furrowed his eyebrows for a moment then his face remained passive.

  “I know. And we’ll find him. If this doesn’t work we’ll think of something else. You’re not on your own any more,” I said and squeezed his hand. “And you need to get some sleep.”

  “I know. Thanks, I appreciate it. You know despite what people say, you’re all right!” his teasing smile lit up his face. I hadn’t seen such a smile before on him. It almost brought a touch of colour to his face.

  “Really, well you’d hate to see me when I’m nice. Wonder what they’d say about that!”

  “Oh, scary, I reckon. Thanks, both of you.”