The Hunt for Freedom

Chapter Fifty One

    As Lainey was being engulfed in love, an invisible Maggie and Penny stepped up beside Dakari. Penny laid a hand on his shoulder and he too disappeared from sight. In all the commotion, no one noticed. The three backed up a respectable distance so they could watch without worry of being bumped into. A news crew, cameras rolling, came running to the little group.

"Lainey, Lainey," they shouted. "Where have you been all this time? "Were you hurt?" "Can we get a word?" On and on they shouted. Nobody paid any attention.

One reporter got inventive and hoisted himself on the shoulders of his cameraman. Now standing about ten feet tall, the entire group looked up at him.

"Who brought you here?" "How did you get here?" He called.

Penny looked around for Dakari. "I don't know, there was just some boy here in the park when I got here. I didn't know him but I asked him if he could call my parents. I would really like to thank him."

A bevy of police cars, sirens squawking, came right over the grassy knoll. They began to send away the paparazzi, wanting to get answers from Lainey themselves. Maggie knew it would be best if they were well removed from the scene, and finally succeeded in pulling Dakari away.

The three went across the way to some eateries and ordered lunch. They got enough to take sandwiches back to the soldiers, and sat down to eat. From this distance they could safely watch Lainey being loaded into the family car. The police escorted them out of the park, away from the public eye. Dakari sighed, put down his untouched sandwich, and walked away.

"Perhaps a few minutes on his own then?" Maggie said disheartenedly.

"Just a few, it's time we got him home to the island." Penny said, now the motherly voice of reason. "That should cheer him up."

They strolled themselves down the little esplanade, found an indoor coffee shop and stepped inside as the air had grown quite cool. Thick grey clouds had rolled in, promising a cold rain to all who didn't seek shelter. Maggie messaged her brother their whereabouts and they sat down to get warm and watch the little television the shop provided. The sound was muted but they could see ads running for all the things that one could do in the area, the perfect thing for the avid tourists that frequented the place.

They hadn't sipped their coffees long enough for the ads to repeat when Dakari stepped in. In his hand he held a little bag from one of the local gift shops. Maggie's eyes raised in question, but her attention was taken by one of the other patrons shouting at the shop owner.

"Hey, turn it up. It's a story about our little Lainey! I heard she was found today!"

By the time the shopkeeper added some volume to the breaking story, the announcement was half over. No doubt it would run repeatedly as she was a local kid, whose parents were prominent in the area. All three of them stared at the screen, as the reporter who had hoisted himself up filled the screen.

"The police aren't releasing much information at this point." The reporter stated. "They have said that while her clothes were torn, and not the clothes she was taken in some months before, she does not appear to have suffered any physical trauma. We have heard rumors that she has no memory of her captors, or how she got back into the area."

The reporters, scrambling to fill the air time, kept speculating on what could have happened to her, while the footage showed a jubilant Lainey, holding hands with her mother, eating a triple scoop of ice cream. Dakari smiled at the screen, opened the little gift bag and showed the others his newest treasure. He had traded the shopkeeper one of his remaining red crystals for it. On his palm was a little miniature of Smeaton's lighthouse, red and white bands painted brightly. The light was represented by a little white crystal which Dakari has charmed to glow purple.