The woman was fighting against several onlookers who were trying to calm her down. “Let me go!” she yelled. “I have to find my baby!Hayden!” The anguish in her voice as she screamed her son’s name sent shivers down Zach’s spine.
He crossed to her and spoke a quiet spell to calm her a little. Then he reached out and touched her arm, getting a feel for her aura. “We’re going to find him,” he assured her. “What’s your name?”
She sniffed. “Kate.”
“Where did you see him last, Kate?”
Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but Kate visibly tried to pull herself together. “We’d been on the splash pad, but he wanted to look for shells, so we headed down to the shore. I turned away for only a second, I swear. My daughter had fallen and grazed her knee. When I turned back, he was gone.” Her lip began trembling again. “It was only a second. I looked away for only a second.”
Zach grasped both her shoulders. “This isn’t your fault,” he told her. “We’re going to find him.”
Everyone in the park had rallied now and were starting to search for Hayden. Several people were scouring the shoreline, looking behind the logs washed up on the beach and wading into the water. Families were heading up to the playground and searching the amenities block. Zachstepped back, having gotten what he needed, and allowed a young mother to console Kate.
He turned and sent out a wisp of magic, sending it out across the park, searching, searching. Every living being had a distinct aura, but familial auras were very similar. His magic pinged on Kate and her daughter, but there was nothing else close by. Zach sent it out again, further afield this time. Hayden hadn’t been missing for long, so he couldn’t be too far away.
To the north came a faint echo, and Zach headed that way. “I’m going to search the amphitheatre,” he called out to the group. The old man he’d first spoken to nodded, having taken over organizing the volunteers.
Zach hurried away after the faint echo of magic, while around him were the echoes of voices calling out Hayden’s name. Loudest of all, and filled with heart-wrenching fear, was that of Kate, calling for her little boy. It spoke to his own fear for Drew, but where he could do little but wait for others to do their part in the search for his boyfriend, here he could act. He could find Hayden and bring him home to his mother.
He reached the amphitheatre but found it empty, so he once again sent out his magic. The echo returned, stronger this time, and further north still. Could a little boy have wandered that far by himself without an adult noticing? Or had he not gone of his own volition? It was something Zach chose not to dwell on just yet, focussing instead on the fact that Hayden’s aura was getting stronger, meaning he was still alive.
He weaved through the gravel parking lot at the far end of the beach, following the magical trace like a hunting dog. There was a trail where people walked their dogs, and Zach hurried down it, his shoes slipping slightly on the loose gravel. Once he was amongst the shade of the trees, the air cooled noticeably, and the sounds from afar were dulled.
He wanted to call out to the little boy, knowing he was close, but he couldn’t risk it. If Hayden had been taken by someone, Zach didn’t want to alert them to the fact he was close by. He followed the magic traildeeper along the path, before pausing as it veered off into a dense copse of blackberry bushes.
Hayden was close by. Very close. Staying as silent as possible, Zach pushed into the bushes, readying himself for anything. He caught a glimmer of movement from ahead, and he leapt through the last branches, ignoring the sting of thorns scratching his skin.
“Hayden!” he exclaimed when he found the small boy, no one else in sight.
“Hello,” Hayden said, looking up at Zach with his big brown eyes and a mouth stained dark red with blackberry juice.
“Your mommy is looking for you,” Zach said gently, crouching down so he wasn’t looming over the small child.
“Berries!” Hayden cried, holding up a handful of ripe berries.
“You were getting blackberries for your mommy?”
Hayden nodded seriously.
“Okay, that’s nice, but you’ve made your mommy very worried. Will you come with me while we find her?”
Trustingly—too trustingly—Hayden stood and held out his empty hand to Zach. It was also stained with berry juice, but that didn’t bother Zach. He took the boy’s hand and led him back to the path. “My name is Zach,” he remembered to introduce himself.
“Hello,” Hayden said again, before popping another berry into his mouth. At this rate, there wouldn’t be any left for his mom, but Zach didn’t think Kate would care.
As they walked, Zach’s heart rate began to settle. As annoyed as he’d been at Kensington for forcing him out while they waited for the crystal, he was glad that he had. Hayden probably would have been found without Zach’s help, but it would have taken much longer. Anything could have happened in that extra time—Hayden could have wandered down to the water, fallen and hurt himself, or a stranger with ill intent could have foundhim. At least this way Zach had been here to help. It felt nice to be doingsomething.
They emerged from the trail and headed back down towards the park. In the distance, Zach saw people searching, and he didn’t want Kate to worry a minute longer than she had to. He cupped a hand around his mouth and called, “I found him! I found Hayden!”
There were excited shouts, and he heard them calling to Kate, so Zach picked up the pace as much as he could. He didn’t want to freak Hayden out by carrying him. As trusting as the boy had been so far, he worried that would be a step too far. Instead, they both jogged along the road toward the park.
“Hayden! Baby!” Kate cried as she caught sight of them before she began sprinting their way.
“Mommy!” Hayden called, and then pulled free of Zach’s hold on his hand so he could run to his mom.
Kate fell to her knees and pulled Hayden into a crushing embrace when she reached him, sobbing his name over and over.
Zach reached them a moment later and smiled down at the sight. Almost everyone who had helped search for the boy gathered around them, and it was the old man who had been directing the search who asked, “Where did you find him?”
